Like many movie lovers out there, romantic comedies are often annoying as all hell to watch, but if there was one country’s rom-coms that you should see at any festival that showcases cinema it has got to be the Korean films. Every year at both the NYAFF and the Fantastia Film Festival I end up being the most satisfied with the work coming out of Korea. Despite the predictability of some of them, I thoroughly enjoy the Korean romantic comedies so much more than any nations, including the US, which is why I was happy that Fantasia included Lee Won-seok’s debut feature, How to Use Guys with Secret Tips because I ended up missing it at the NYAFF and had heard it was terrific.
After finally getting a chance to watch the movie, I have to concur with my NYAFF-going brethren, How to Use Guys with Secret Tips was an absolute joy to watch. In the film, Choi Bana (Lee Si-yeong) is an assistant AD for a production company and has been for the past five years. The once bright eyed young woman is now a disheveled and hardened person pissed off with life because she hasn’t moved up at all. She also recognizes that she hasn’t been able to move forward because she doesn’t know how to get by in this male dominated world.
Cue Dr. Swalski, a street vendor selling “how to” tapes who eventually persuades Choi to buy the full set of self help videos aptly titled “How to Use Guys with Secret Tips.” The next day, pissed off that she dropped $500 on a handful of tapes, Choi watches the films and puts some of the advised tips to the test and, wouldn’t you know it, they work. What was once thought of as a waste of money now becomes Choi’s religion and she transforms into a confident woman and director, making quick advances in her career when it was going nowhere for so long. As mentioned, this wouldn’t be a romantic comedy without the romance, so throw in Lee Seungjae (Oh Jeong-se), an attractive commercial actor whose ego is eventually popped when Choi gets confident. The movie follows your tried and true rom-com formula where Lee falls head over heels for her and then drama occurs and, well, you know the deal.
As mentioned, How to Use Guys with Secret Tips follows your standard rom-com story arc but the process through that arc is laugh out loud funny and highly entertaining. The movie is bursting with energy and it’s hard to walk away not feeling highly satisfied at the way everything unfolds. While there are some great gags at the expense of Lee Seungjae’s seduction attempts, much of the film owes its energy and success to the way it was shot and edited. The film is plays out like a feature film/instructional video hybrid, building the instruction into the narrative which makes its own awareness a punch line. On top of that, the instructional video uses randomly awkward white people as the test subjects, which I think was a hilarious little quirk for a video that is clearly Korean.
Furthermore, the film takes a nice jab or two at the film indu
stry and how it functions as an organizational entity. If you work in or are very familiar with the industry, especially the production side, you’ll get a few good kicks out of the first half of the film.
Lastly, there is no cringe worthy melodrama. I didn’t realize it at the time but the conflict that does arise, which you can see coming from a mile away, is so simple and easy for the leads to overcome that it leads to minimal downtime and eventually further laughs as the characters attempt to rectify their upsetting situation.
Like last year, I’m happy to say that I was able to walk away from the NYAFF/Fantasia Film Festival with another Korean romantic comedy as one of my favorites of the festivals. Lee Won-seok’s film may have been predictable and cookie cutter-esque but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a lot of fun to watch, in fact it went well beyond that. You’re able to forgive any standard tropes because you’ll be laughing through them and walking away with an easygoing smile on your face.
Rating: Sometimes the secret to making a fun rom-com is to stick with what’s been done and just give it an extra energy kick and editing twist (6.9/10)
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