The Art of Seduction (2005)

The male protagonist Min-jun, and the female protagonist Ji-won, are both manipulative, lying opportunists who use strangers for their own gains. Judging from the first few minutes of the film, I would hope that both of them get the lengthy jail sentences that they so richly deserve. Neither of them succeeds by merit, unless on counts their skills in identifying the weaknesses of their targets and exploiting those weaknesses. They are parasites who regularly commit felonies.In early part of the narrative, we see the depredations of the pair as they act separately on their marks. Eventually they meet one another. She likes to ram stopped cars with single drivers then victimize the person she hit. She pulls that on the male protagonist, and is surprised when he does not fall for her bovine scatology. They lie to each other, then lie some more, then lie some more. The music indicates that this is supposed to be humorous.As the story continues, they have to deal with their previous targets. They also get to like each other, even though they continue constructing plausible lies.Do the protagonists get together and stay together? Does one get the upper hand and crush the other? Stay tuned (if you can stand it) to find out.------Scores------Cinematography: 10/10 Excellent with very few exceptions.Sound: y/10 Moot, I suppose. The voiced Korean seemed quite soft. I had to trust the subtitles.Acting: 5/10 More like mugging. There must have been over 100 instances of 'oh, did that idiot believe me?'Screenplay: 5/10 It is a story of (ethically) ugly people doing ugly things to people whom they hold in contempt. When the protagonists get to know one another, they sharpen each other; that is, improve their 'A' game. There is neither redemption nor punishment in this collection of vignettes about con artists.

With a story and screenplay that seems to have been written by a high schooler, 'The Art of Seduction' fails to deliver the romantic, sophisticated experience it tries to bill itself as. The two main characters have the potential to be interesting - both male and female lead are "swinging singles (or in the female lead's case, engaged)", but 'The Art of Seduction' doesn't even try. Shirking from a frank examination of these two characters' personalities, 'The Art of Seduction' eschews anything of substance for a basis of thin, lean stereotype. 'The Art of Seduction' is insulting - insulting to its characters, insulting to men and women, and insulting to its audiences' expectations. It takes the awful beautiful people we all know and plays out their painful interactions while expecting us to idolize them. Ji-wan is an immature, spoiled, manipulative bitch. The viewer is expected to like and forgive her flaws because she's pretty. Min-jun, well, he's exactly the same. Neither are nice people. The "humour" in this film primarily revolve around Ji-wan and Min-jun's outlandish attempts at outdoing each other in the honourable art of lying and manipulation. No character development occurs, and we never learn why Ji-wan and Min-jun are like this. We are simply expected to take them as they are, and not ask questions - they're cute!, and that's all that matters. The copious references to the celebrity of the main actors in azn cinema scenester's reviews may tip you off to 'Art of Seduction's shallowness. If you're still in high school, you liked Grease, or you are a yellow fever victim, you may like this movie.Despite its "Romance" tag, this is not a very good date movie.

Truth be told, if I were to come across Son Ye-jin's Han Ji-wan character, with those bambi eyes and pretty face, I would go jelly too. But that'a about it. I guess I pretty much ruled myself out of the dating scene, for the time being at least, to fall for her manipulative charms. Perhaps it's true that a pretty face can turn a monster into a mouse, and boy, does Son Ye-jin turn heads.She plays a "player/swinger" Han Ji-wan, a private banker who uses her good looks to win customer confidence, or uses it to seduce any man she fancies, for whatever multiple reasons. If anything, players/swingers are quite insecure folks, despite the confidence they project on the exterior. Audiences might have noticed her playing opposite Korean heartthrob Bae Yong-jun in April Snow, where her character was mostly calm, composed, demure, quiet. Here, she goes to the opposite end of the spectrum, with her gregarious, scheming nature in full contrast with the former character's. She also seemed to have slimmed down a bit from her chubbier April Snow outing, but yeah, nobody's complaining ;-P Playing the alpha-male seducer, her counterpart/rival/mark, is actor Song Il-guk. As a good looking architect, Seo Min-jun is a chip off his father's playboy ways. Like Ji-wan, he too is able to turn on his charms to snag the woman he desires, and when he's tired of it all, after reaching his goal, he brings them to a setup fortune teller, using Fate as an excuse that things will not work out.So The Art of Seduction presents to you, the tricks both sexes use on their prey. And it turns up the heat, when the two players meet. Here's where the usual tricks don't seem to work, especially when used on experienced, first-rate players who have worked the ground using similar tactics, and counter-tactics. The narrative was played out rather ordinarily, with one side being presented a scenario created by the other, and how they wriggle out from, then the tables are turned using a different scenario, and it goes on. And unfortunately, for far too long.It does get to you after a while, as you'll start to feel the length of this 100 minute movie. Some of the tactics used were recycled, like Ji-wan's expensive car accident trick, and Min-jun's cost of cigarette statement. For non-Korean speaking folks, you might get lost during the early sight gags where MCQs in Korean flashed on screen. Thankfully this technique isn't used for the entire movie.Many situations presented in the movie also pushes the envelope of believability - how much would a man go to satisfy the unreasonable/weird demands of a girl? It's the games people play, and how much do you want to get involved? And it does seem weird that the men Ji-wan snags (with her skills) always turn out to be the ah-peks (older men have all the fun?) while Min-jun does well with better choices (by better I mean more pleasing to the eye).On the whole, the movie is pretty campy fun, despite some scenarios not being reasonably plausible. You get to laugh at the jokes (some being quite weak though, and can be seen a mile away), toilet humour even, but more importantly, depending which way you swing, the eye candy on screen would be satisfying enough to forgive the flaws.

Like his father, Seo Min-jun (Il-guk Song) is a rich playboy, he knows the way to a woman's bed, a lot tricks to reach it and then move on. Han Ji-wan (Ye-jin Son) knows the art of seduction too, and meticulously uses it to find the perfect husband. One day they become their respective targets, and a war begins.This romantic comedy is like a pre-engagement "Mr. and Mrs Smith" without weapons and spy plots, or a light version of the war of the Roses if you prefer. The two main characters, while apparently playing the roles of a dating couple, engage an escalation of lies, denigration and accidents. Each of them tries to take control on the relationship, and mostly ends failing, thus generating an humorous interaction, with the help of the said father, a stubborn ex and the omnipresent single female friend. The premise was appealing, and most of the film was too. Towards the end it takes the inevitable romantic route losing some of said appealing, but the ending wasn't so typical as i thought.As most of Korean comedies the photography is warm and neat, the actors are valid, there is a "hidden dragon, crouching tigeresque" scene and words appear on screen every now and then. Not too bad.