Grade: A-
A Werewolf Boy is no Twilight.
I mean that in the best way possible—in
spite of the comparisons you may read elsewhere, Korea’s
lycanthropic yarn is no easy wish-fulfillment love story. In truth,
it shares more DNA with Frankenstein or Edward
Scissorhands, those classic, bittersweet explorations of what
happens when feral innocence meets the jaded experience of the modern
world.
A hit that has spent more than five
weeks on top of the Korean box office, Werewolf Boy is a study
in contrasts—storybook and reality, past and present, wild and
tame. Its tone is matter-of-fact and everyday, but tinged with a
nostalgic, fairytale glow that bears the faintest resemblance to the
work of Tim Burton.
One thing that’s probably sold a lot
of this movie’s tickets is its star: heartthrob Song Joon Ki, whose
celebrated KBS drama Nice Guy finished airing just last month.
Song, always a scene stealer, ably brings to life the titular wolf in
spite of remaining silent throughout almost the entire film. He uses
his body and eyes to tell the character’s story instead of words, and
transforms into a guileless, unspoiled human with all the tendencies
of a wolf. (Or maybe it’s the other way around?)
But as fun as it is to see flower-boy
Song Joon Ki playing fetch like the family dog, this movie is really
the story of his master, a sickly young woman named Suni (Park Bo
Yeong), whose family moves to the countryside on the orders of her
doctor. As in every great creature feature, they find more than they
expect there: the family is quickly swept up in the dark history of
their new home with the discovery of a dirty, starving boy running
wild on the property.
Awkward and isolated, Suni is a girl
desperately in need of a friend. And that’s exactly what she gets
when her softhearted mother decides to care for the strange boy until
local officials can find a home for him. Christened Chul Soo, the
name Suni’s parents had intended for the son that never arrived, he
needs Suni just as much as she needs him—he doesn’t know how to
speak or wash, and he eats with the single-minded, violent abandon of
an animal.
Suni slowly domesticates Chul Soo with
the help of a long-forgotten dog training manual, earning his eternal
devotion in the process. The chaste, not-quite-romance that develops
between them is tender and heartbreaking: He sleeps like a guard dog
outside her bedroom door; she stands in the path of a bullet for him.
Sweet and sad, cute and funny, A Werewolf
Boy tells the story of two damaged people coming together in
spite of the misgivings of the world around them. It’s an
old-fashioned monster movie that knows the truth—the real
abomination isn’t the mysterious, super-strong boy with no blood
type and a body temperature of 115 degrees. Instead, it’s the
society that reacts to someone who’s different with fear and
cruelty.
We first meet Suni as a seemingly
contented grandmother who’s hiding a hole in her heart. That’s
how we say goodbye to her, too, but in the intervening scenes she’s learned important lesson: Even over the course of a human
lifetime, some things can never be lost, like beauty. And love.
***
A Werewolf Boy is
now playing in select theaters throughout North America (according to
some sources, complete with a never-before-seen alternate ending).
For more information, see the official site.
Reviewed for Soompi.com. (Thank you, Susan!)
Reviewed for Soompi.com. (Thank you, Susan!)
