I'm a Cyborg but that's Okay 20th anniversary review

 Park Chan Wook is certainly one of the best filmmakers of Korean contemporary cinema. This week not only marked his 63rd birthday but also the 20th anniversary of one of his most artistic and best films, "I'm a Cyborg but that's Okay" (2006). Here's my review and analysis.

A special screening and cinema talk was held in Seoul on Saturday 29 for the film's 20th anniversary reuniting the filmmaker, the script writer and the lead actors. "I'm a Cyborg but that's Okay" is a crazy sci-fi romantic comedy starring Im Soo-Jung and Jung Ji-hoon in the roles of two tormented and emotionally wounded young patients who meet in a mental institution. The girl refuses to eat food since she believes she's a cyborg. The boy hides constantly behind masks and thinks he can steal other people's behaviours. 

Park Chan Wook's film has a clear nod to classic art cinema directors such as a Fellini with its wonderful surrealist imagery, filled with dreamlike sequences, a nod to Antonioni with long shots of empty spaces and landscapes. And to Kafka's Metamorphosis. 

The premise of the film highlights the cyborg body as a device. The cyborg punk aspect can be taken as rebellious spirit. 

The story and the main character's relationship can be understood as mental healing from the point of view of contention, acceptance and empathy, affection and tenderness as it can be seen through the character of the boy who cares for the girl and he is the one who actually helps her healing and at the same time, he heals himself. The other character that shows acceptance and empathy to the girl is the female doctor. 

Both main characters carry strong symbolic objects depicting their mental and emotional ailment. In the case of the boy we have the masks, toothbrush and an object with his mother's picture he carries with him all the time. All are symbols associated to parental indifference and emotional abandonment in childhood, a form of child abuse, which has deep psychological, emotional and social impact in adulthood. The mask as an object to be 'noticed' and 'visible' as a consequence of being constantly ignored by the parents in childhood and abandoned by the mother, he developed a constant fear of disappearing, so the mask  and the act of stealing works as "anti-fading" protection. The toothbrush associated with guilt for his mother's abandonment, the boy uses it too 'minimise' himself in size as a little kid.

In the case of the girl, she is bound by codependancy to her schizophrenic grandmother's dentures, symbolising a forced separation and loss when the grandmother (who raised her) was taken away to a mental institution. That beautiful and mind-blowing sequence in the isolation room depicts the no gravity act of flying away to a desert landscape as a way of liberation, where she meets her grandma and is able to bid farewell. 

It is also very interesting how the director portrays the other patients, not with medical pathologies but with exaggerated behaviours and regular attitudes of common people he had met in his life. 

Aside from the outstanding acting performances of both I'm soo-jung and Jung Ji-hoon, I highlight the beautiful cinematography and the brilliant and playful music score.