피터팬의 공식 (The Peter Pan Formula) Press Screening Report

This syndrome is often inevitably tied to coming of age dramas, as the pursuit (voluntary or not) of maturity sometimes hits that empasse. Ironically, if we exclude Yoo Ha's 말죽거리 잔혹사 (Once Upon a Time in High School), the best Korean coming of age dramas in the last few years have come from female directors, particularly Jung Jae-Eun's two films and Byun Young-Joo's 발레교습소 (Flying Boys), none of them making any particular impact on the box office, but striking a chord with viewers in other ways. Especially Jung's work, with her 2001 debut 고양이를 부탁해 (Take Care of My Cat) and last year's underrated 태풍태양 (The Aggressives), touches today's generation of young Koreans and their struggle in a way that removes all the stereotypical approaches of the past.

It's also interesting to note how Jung's films have created new starts, not only in terms of visibility, but also for what concerns maturity as actors. Bae Doo-Na certainly didn't need to prove her acting talent, after her performance in Bong Joon-Ho's 플란다스의 개 (Barking Dogs Never Bite), but Take Care of My Cat proved not only that the 2000 wasn't a fluke, but also that we had an extremely talented young actress on our hands. And the same could be said for Lee Yo-Won, whose talent can't be compared to Bae, but she did finally find an identity of her own in last year's 패션 70s (Fashion Seventies), which in some ways drives us back to Jung Jae-Eun finding that energy inside her. The Aggressives and Flying Boys are just as interesting on those terms: Byun Young-Joo's 2004 film might not have been on par with Jung's works, but it had a certain charm, and it once again revealed the talent of Kim Min-Jung. But along with her you could see former G.O.D. member Yoon Gye-Sang in an impressive debut, and a certain Lee Joon-Gi who would later star in a little film called 왕의 남자 (The King and The Clown). The Aggressives brought to the stage the talent of Lee Cheon-Hee, Jo Yi-Jin, Kim Gang-Woo and particularly Cheon Jung-Myung, who closes this 'triangle of coincidences', as he ended up starring alongside Kim Min-Jung and Lee Yo-Won in Fashion Seventies.

Yet, the most impressive talent emerging from those films in my book was On Ju-Wan. The first time I saw him in Flying Boys, he had this Million dollar look, and I don't mean the 'Music Camp Plastic 연예인 (celebrity)' one, but the same fire someone like Ryu Seung-Beom or Hwang Jung-Min show. That 'I might not be pretty, but you WILL pay attention to me' aura. Sure enough, he confirmed that excellent first impression in The Aggressives, where his role was still pretty limited, but you could guess this guy's personality even with two pages of dialogue. On has become a sort of enfant prodige in the industry, as offers are popping left and right. He already debuted on TV, on one of SBS' usual ridiculous dragfests 그 여름의 태풍 (That Summer's Typhoon), and he will star alongside Hwang Jung-Min and Ryu Seung-Beom in the noir 사생결단 (Bloody Tie). Also, Kwak Jae-Yong cast him in his upcoming 무림 여대생 (Fighting Schoolgirl), and On will play the younger version of Jung Doo-Hong in Ryu Seung-Wan's 짝패 (The City of Violence). But even though stardom is still a long way off, On has already made his leading debut, in a small film which created tons of buzz when it debuted at the PIFF and made the usual festival rounds later. I'm talking about Jo Chang-Ho's 피터팬의 공식 (The Peter Pan Formula).

Jo is an interesting case, as he worked as assistant director for a few important directors, namely Im Soon-Rye in the great 세친구 (Three Friends), Byun Hyuk in 인터뷰 (Interview), and especially Kim Ki-Duk in 파란대문 (Birdcage Inn) and 나쁜 남자 (Bad Guy). This is his feature debut, which finally will release in Korean theaters after a very long wait. The Peter Pan Formula had its press screening at the CGV Multiplex in Apgujeong-Dong yesterday, present at the premiere Director Jo and stars Kim Ho-Jung, On Ju-Wan and Park Min-Ji. The film debuts on April 13.

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PRESS REACTION
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As expected, reaction was tremendously positive, especially in terms of acting. Even though the film was really dark, complex and some parts might be harder to accept for female viewers, most commented the director showed impressive skills in dealing with the themes within the film, and that despite the tragic reality the characters have to go through, the film resonates on many levels. If anything, this might be On Ju-Wan's career making film, at least for insiders, and Kim Ho-Jung proved once again what a great actress she is. But of course the problem is box office. Even though the somewhat interesting reaction the film is receiving by the mainstream media, mostly because of sexual issues in the film (masturbation and the various other forms of 'depravity'), might create some interesting, we're not really dealing with a commercial film. Its release will most likely be limited, which at least should make for a quicker DVD release (I hope). Still, a possible gem, judging the general reaction, with top notch acting and directing.

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COMMENTS
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DIRECTOR JO CHANG-HO
"I think there's a profound difference between just sleeping with someone and what In-Hee (Kim Ho-Jung) does to Han-Soo (On Ju-Wan). Just masturbating him without sleeping with him has a meaning, as she understands sex is not necessarily a way to solve Han-Soo's problems. Yet, not 'giving' him anything would make her worry, fearing that perhaps Han-Soo would close into himself even more, so she chooses something in the middle. This masturbation is like something she does not to make his life fall like branches from a tree. This is a commercial film, I don't want people to label it independent just because of its themes, and I hope it will break the stereotypes about 'Festival Films' being boring and hard to understand."

ON JU-WAN
"I don't think the act of masturbating is anything to condemn, or something negative, no matter if it's a woman doing it for you. After all it's just a way to know yourself better. One of the instincts the men in this film feel is that regression to the mother's womb, so I hope people see the scene in light of that. Of course it was hard to shoot, and just like that scene, when I started reading the script there were many parts I didn't understand, so every time I'd growl at the director. Still, even though shooting this film was as painful as the feeling of going back inside your mother's womb, I think it was a really special experience for me."

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INTERVIEW WITH ON JU-WAN
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nKino I finally saw the film yesterday on VHS.
On Ju-Wan: A VHS? Ahh... that's not the way to watch that film. How large is your TV (laughs)?
nKino (Timidly).... 29''.
On How was the film, was it a little hard to understand?
nKino Well hard... what can I say. It does portray young people in quite an extreme way, especially when it came to Han-Soo and all his terrible misfortunes.
On More than extreme, you could imagine things like: "I mean, are there really people like that out there?". But if you're a male, then I think you'll understand a little that concept of 'returning to the mother's womb' that is the focus of the film. It's not just the fear that his mother might die soon and he might miss her. If you look at me, now I'm living apart from my mother, and sometimes I do miss her, that's just another recurring thought. Men try to look tough, but without the love of a woman they become animals.

nKino: When you think of new actors, most people like you try to star in big mainstream films to make an instant impact, or at least have that kind of desire. Don't you feel any of that?
On If it's something which will teach me something, if it's a positive experience, then I don't worry about scale or anything like that. Of course in the future there'll be offers to star in bigger films, but that doesn't mean I'll avoid small films with potential like this one. But most importantly, now that I'm 24, I just didn't want to forget my life as a 19 year old [his character in the film is 19]. And when you think about it, the older I get, the harder it would be to portray that kind of age convincingly. I wanted to improve on my work in Flying Boys in that sense, add more detail to that age. And of course there were several things I shared in common with Han-Soo.

nKino After looking at the final edit, were you satisfied with your performance?
On Oh... I don't know about the rest of the cast, but I'm never satisfied with my acting. Sometimes I even regret about certain scenes, thinking 'if I was just a little more ambitious there...", just like that. But people who watched the film kept complimenting me, and we even received praise at overseas Film Festivals. But I think what I liked the most was that people said I completely changed my image from X-man [a popular Variety Show On starred in].

nKino So after shooting The Peter Pan Formula, what will change for you as an actor?
On When I started acting, all I thought about was how to look cool, that's just because even up to a year ago, I never thought I had looks to fall for (laughs). But as I started working with [Ryu] Seung-Beom and [Hwang] Jung-Min in Bloody Tie, I stopped caring about that. There was this time when we went with Director Byun to Japan, to promote Flying Boys, and she told me: 'I just can't forgive pretty kids when they can't act.' When I asked her why, she just told me: "People who aren't helped by visuals have to give 90% to reach 100% [10% would be looks]. Pretty people only need a mere 50%, I don't really know why they don't even bother with that". In a way I was a little shocked, but then again that just meant I had to focus more on my acting than my face. But it feels like I've completely given up on my face now. Oh boy... that's so strange (laughs).

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QUICK JUDGMENT
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Screen's Kim Do-Hoon
Film Quality: GOOD
Box Office Potential: AVERAGE

Movieweek's Kim Soo-Yeon
Film Quality: GOOD
Box Office Potential: AVERAGE

Herald Economy's Lee Hyung-Seok
Film Quality: GOOD
Box Office Potential: GOOD

Joynews 24's Jung Myung-Hwa
Film Quality: GOOD
Box Office Potential: AVERAGE

JoyCine's Seo Jung-Hwan
Film Quality: GOOD
Box Office Potential: AVERAGE

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피터팬의 공식 (The Peter Pan Formula)
Director: 조창호 (Jo Chang-Ho)
Cast: 온주완 (On Ju-Wan), 김호정 (Kim Ho-Jung), 옥지영 (Ok Ji-Young), 박민지 (Park Min-Ji)
Official Website
Theatrical Trailer (Streaming, 700k, Windows Media)
Movie Stills
Produced By: LJ 필름 (LJ Film)
Distributed By: CJ 엔터테인먼트 (CJ Entertainment)
Rating: 18 and Over
RELEASE: April 13

[Sources: nKino, nKino, Joongang Ilbo, Joongang Ilbo, Film2.0, Yahoo Korea]