Life behind bars can be downright cute when you're a pretty young thing (Hong Ye-ji) who has bludgeoned her rapist (Hyun Young Kyun) to death as a way to protect her deaf mom. Your cellmates will paint the walls of the bathroom with your favorite flower, protect you from sexual predators in the prison yard, and sew baby clothes using stolen scraps of fabric should you happen to end up pregnant. Additionally, the warden (Jeong In-gi) may brew you chrysanthemum tea while a guard will put aside some sticky rice buns. Even the judge at your retrial will dramatically shorten your sentence because you find life in prison scary. Will you appreciate all the attention? Not if you're in Mo Hong-jin's girl-bonding flick 2037.
All you wanted from life is a government position. Your dreams are modest. You career goals momentarily derailed. But you didn't ask for special treatment from your fellow convicts. You didn't ask your the prison doctor for an abortion or work relief. What you did do is stockpile painkiller pills and keep to yourself, banned your mother from visits and wrote appreciative letters. Some might say you were not appreciative enough. Others would say you were suffering from PTSD. I would say, I wish you'd been in a different women-in-prison movie that really tested your mettle and got you to toughen up. Would the Roger Corman or Jonathan Demme of Korean cinema please step forward already? In 2037, we've got a Korean Kathy Bates (Kim Mi-hwa).
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