[HanCinema's Film Review] "A Bride on the Second Floor" + Full Movie

The 90th digital remastering project of the Korean Film Archive was a truly obscure movie, since it was lost after premiering in 1968, and was only discovered in 2012 from a TV broadcasting station in Hong Kong.

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The movie begins with the wedding of a young couple Mi-jin and Jo-han, and sets the tone for the rest of the movie, as the former's rather mini dress draws the attention and is the cause of gossip around the "elders" attending the ceremony, including the latter's mom, Mrs Yoon. After the rather comical events there, we are transferred to the Yoon's family estate, where Mi-jin is married into. The young girl tries to modernize their lifestyle, but her mother-in-law is having none of that, essentially treating her no better than the maid, feisty Chak-sil. Between her husband's needs and Mrs Yoon's pressure, Mi-jin starts to feel suffocated, continuously asking her husband to take her side, in a futile effort that leads in chastising, and eventually, to a boxing fight between father and son, with the former, even winning. However, when Mi-jin catches her father-in-law enjoying the caresses of a female employee in his shop, the newlyweds find a new ally in their efforts for change.

Allow me to start on a different, more personal note. Kim Hee-kap always had small comedic parts in the films featured on the Korean Film Archive's YouTube channel, occasionally including even actual clowns, but I felt he manages to steal the show most of the time, particularly with his overall demeanor. As such, it is a pleasure to finally see him in a protagonist role, as Jo Woong the father in law in here, with his presence setting the overall comedic tone of the movie from the initial scene, which actually finds its apogee in the boxing match and his cheeky endeavors with his wife.

Apart from that, and although through hilarity, Lee Seong-gu manages to make a number of comments regarding life on the brink of the 70s, when the western-oriented modernity had reached Korea quite intently, bringing a clash with the old traditions. This clash is excellently portrayed by the friction between Mi-jin and her mother in law, with their interactions highlighting both the aforementioned, but also the chasm between the two generations, as much as the fact that women were the ones in charge, particularly in this story. This aspect also owes a lot to the two actresses, with Moon Hee and Hwang Jung-soon respectively being excellent in their parts, especially through their antitheses, which is also mirrored in the way they dress. Lee plays intently with this last aspect, with the scene where the latter tries on a mini-skirt being one of the funniest in the movie.

The rest of the narrative follows the usual episodic nature of the movies of the time, with the events following one another in an effort to entertain, but also present the aforementioned comments. Again, this approach owes a lot to the acting, and to Yu Jae-won's editing, who induces the movie with a very fitting fast pace, in order for the plethora of episodes to be presented in all their glory. Although the movie begins in a contradictory mode, the befriending of the two generations is the inescapable ending, with the love for one's parents emerging as one of the main messages here.

Jang Seok-jun's cinematography portrays both the interior of the house, where most of the movie takes place in, and the the various exteriors, with realism, while focusing intently on the inescapable beauty of Moon Hee and her overall difference with her mother-in-law.

"A Bride on the Second Floor" is not exactly high art, but is funny, well-shot, does not overextend its welcome and is almost fully devoid of melodramatic notions, resulting in a rather easy to watch movie.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"A Bride on the Second Floor" is directed by Lee Seong-gu, and features Moon Hee, Koo Bong-seo, Kim Hee-kap, Hwang Jung-soon, Do Kum-bong, Heo Jang-kang. Release date in Korea: 1968/12/29.