meganbmoore | kmovie: Once Upon A Time (Reply)

Once Upon a Time is an action/caper comedy set in 1944 Korea. When the Japanese get ahold of a legendary diamond, two Koreans set out to get it for themselves. One is Bong-bu, a con-artist, the other Choon-ja, a lounge singer who is also a burglar who has been robbing the Japanese blind so she can open her own Jazz bar in Russia. She may think it's cute that he's been trying to win her over for months, but neither one is about to let that get in the way of their prize, though. There's double crossings, fake torture, rescues, and witty repartee all over the place. It's billed as a comedy, and is, but is played almost as a straight noir caper that fits the more serious subplot dealing with Korean rebels, and life in Korea at the time. I'm not sure what all to say that isn't very, very spoilery, but it was very good and funny, the leads had great chemistry, and it had it's share of twists and was a good cat and mouse story between equals. I'm not always big on con-artist/swindler characters and plots, especially with a romantic subplot(all to often, it ends up at least partly centering the con conning or planning to con the other party, and even though they generally get "redeemed," more often than not, I'm left with the feeling of a major power imbalance) but they usually work for me when it goes both ways.

Here, have the trailer:

And pics: