One Perfect Day
One Perfect Day
| 30 April 2013 (USA)
One Perfect Day Trailers

Searching for love, a young man goes through a series of unsuccessful dates. As yet another girl walks out on him he laments on his father's life advice.

Reviews
Horst in Translation ([email protected])

"One Perfect Day" is despite the title a South Korean Korean-language movie from 2013, so this video release will have its 5th anniversary next year. It is among the more recent efforts by writer and director Jee-woon Kim, one of the country's more successful filmmakers and he also managed a successful transition to Hollywood with his Schwarzenegger/Knoxville film. But just like his cast of actors here, especially the two first-credited, he is a much bigger star in Korea than internationally. With this 35-minute short film we got here, he gives us is take on romance and makes a seemingly strange connection between love and the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. But could it work out? I would say no sadly and it never felt somewhat natural to me to be honest and the bizarreness of the entire idea also hurts the otherwise somewhat beautifully looking final scene. The flashback scenes with his father certainly weren't enough to justify this crucial plot component. It's a negative deal breaker for me sadly. I guess how much you end up liking the movie will also have to do with how much you like the lead actor and his character here and this is another area where the movie came short to me as I did not once cheer for him finding happiness and maybe that is a reason why I just didn't make a connection. Besides I felt that he was so different comparing the date and the final scene as if it wasn't the same character. Perhaps this is why I felt the ending was a forced happy ending that did not have much authenticity and it is certainly style over substance. It's not deep or anything, more like for-the-sake-of-it, maybe even pretentious here and there. Overall, this short film lacks strong writing and focus on many occasions, so that it feels overlong at 35 minutes already. I give it a thumbs-down and suggest you skip this one. Not recommended.

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Adam Peters

(62%) A charming romantic comedy that manages to be more funny, romantic, and better made than quite a lot of multi-million dollar studio backed movies in the exact same genre. There's a fair bit of depth added into this neat little package, with a very sharp, witty script, and a very amusing opening five minutes that's very well observed. The lead character could be considered a little annoying at times, but it's clear his heart is in the right place. What makes this stand out though is its direction and fine production values; the final setting with the blossom falling like snow makes for a fitting end to a short made by someone who knows what they are doing.

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karluk99

The protagonist of this film is a socially awkward young man named Un-cheol who is looking for a girlfriend. Through a series of flashbacks, we see him pursuing a series of disastrous first dates, and as the film opens is involved in yet another date with a young woman named Yoo-jin. The couple goes on a long walk and ends up at the bottom of a series of steps. Un-cheol proposes that they play a game of rock-paper-scissors to see which of them will make it to the top of the steps first. Yoo-jin, desperate to ditch this klutzy young man, intentionally allows him to win. Eventually he gets so far ahead of her that she is able to slip quietly away into the night, no doubt thanking her lucky stars that Un-cheol was so involved in the game that he didn't realize he was being ditched.So far the moral of the story is simply to stop acting like a jerk and your dates will go better, but now the story gets a little more complex. We see additional flashbacks of Un-cheol with his father, who taught him all about the fine points of rock-paper-scissors, along with some life lessons that have stuck with him. He returns a stray dog to its owner, a sweet young woman named Eun-hee. He gets to play one last game of rock-paper-scissors with Eun-hee with the reward being a date with her if he wins the game. But he tells her in advance what he is going to play, so she has the choice of whether to intentionally win or lose. What will she do?By the end of the movie I had come to the conclusion that Un-cheol's apparent poor choice of activities on his date with Yoo-jin was actually not so bad after all. Sure, he managed to drive an attractive young woman to take extreme measures to ditch him, but all that really means is that they weren't compatible in the first place. There's nothing wrong with taking long meandering walks with the woman you love, or to engage with her in a spirited game of rock-paper-scissors, if that's what you both like to do. Yoo-jin hated every minute of it, so it it's good that she left. Eun-hee is quite a different person, and the film ends on a note of anticipation, with the audience wondering whether Un-cheol will get a chance to date her and what the outcome will be if he does.Not bad at all for a film clocking in at 35 minutes. A lot of movies run several times as long without ever saying as much.

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Achi Oragvelidze

Personally i despise romantic comedies, because mostly they fail to deliver cinematic experiences, which might be the only reason i ever watch movies.That being said, it was really hard for me to decide whether to watch this one, or not, and i am very happy that i did! (In my case, director + retarded crybaby friend made me do it.) Truth be told, after the very first minute the film manages to suck you in with it's lightness and slender approach. Not that it ignites one's interest as a phoenix fire, but honestly, you'll be entertained enough to sit through. And sitting through this one is pure pleasure. Unforgettable atmosphere!The movie actually is quite funny, and though the main character is a complete idiot, the presence of some pretty girls and professionally set scenery, will "help" you love the film.Can't say much about the actors/actresses, their "ACTING" does not really come to one's mind after watching this film. What is magical in here, is the professional and "spot on" directing. Catching some amazing nuances in scenes will assure you that the creator of this movie is not an amateur.Movie is simple, one sided, and epic in it's script. A very humane, magical and provokingly ruthless conclusion of a choppy eye-candy."In the end we are all what we are... Never more, ALWAYS LESS!"Whether you are a fan of "Serious" (Pfff...) film making or pure entertainment, this one's recommended. Great piece of fun.

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