New Year Blues: More Than a Couple of Romances

At first, New Year Blues doesn't look like your typical, traditional, ensemble romcom: When paralympian snowboarder Kim Rae-wan (Teo Yoo) proposes to horticulturist Han Oh-wol (Choi Sooyoung), he pulls out one of the ugliest engagement rings I've seen in quite some time. And yet... maybe that's intentional. After all, flashy diamonds aren't what love's all about. Travel agent Oh Yong-chan (Lee Dong-hwi) and his Chinese bride-to-be will learn that when his company's embezzled by a new employee. Divorced Detective Kang Ji-ho (Kim Kang-woo) will learn that while enforcing a restraining order for physical therapist Lee Hyo Young (Yoo In-na).

In true fictional feature fashion, all the stories are interconnected: Lee is Kim's rehab go-to and Kang has been assigned to Oh's criminal case. Even the one outlying story involving the recently dumped Min Jin-ah (Lee Yeon-hee) who flees the country for a last-minute holiday trip to Buenos Aires has loose ties to the other stories. Are their narrative narrative improbabilities? Of course. Would a Korean tourist in Argentina really hop on a Vespa driven by an old man who just happens to play the washboard in a cafe band? I doubt it. But I still shed real tears as everything started to come together in the end. There's something lovely about a man getting a pep talk on relationships from his exwife and a bad google translation bringing two future sister-in-laws together. (Nice work, Yeom Hye-ran.) And it's hard not to embrace the feel-good sentiment underlying director Hong Ji-Yeong's final images. "Next year let's be happier than this year."

Extreme Job: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Police Lineup

"Are we cops or a chicken joint," one of the characters asks in Lee Byeong-heon's ultra-silly Extreme Job. That's a false polarity though because clearly as the movie goes on, this deep-fried squad is actually both. Sure, they're collectively running a thriving business inspired by the ribs recipe of Detective Ma (Jin Seon-kyu). But they only ended up "pretending" as a cover for their real career as narcs, hoping to bust an operation that's set up shop across the street. None of them were expecting this sideline scheme to end-up being such a success. Least of all, Captain "Zombie" Ko (Ryu Seung-ryong). So what's to do when the cash starts flowing?

Sabotage their business model? They try, time and again yet no matter how limited the menu and how overpriced, this spicy sauce-up can't stop from being an internet sensation. And while Ko's new financial security has its charms, Extreme Job might wait a little too long before the martial arts kick in during this action comedy. Considering Detective Jang (Lee Hanee) and lead surveilance Young-ho (Lee Dong-hwi) have martial arts in their backgrounds, it seems a shame to wait until the very end to let the physical hijinks emerge. An earlier scene involving two shirtless male crews going head to head in a loft while sexily entertaining doesn't feel especially connected to the tale at hand. Not that you can ever have too much hot sauce.

The Bros: Siblings in Death

How many times have I started The Bros? Four times? Six times? More? A comedy you don't find funny is always a tough film to finish, even if it's the only Korean feature in the Netflix lineup that you haven't seen. Yet today, I am committed. And so, once again, I cue up the movie, hit play, and watch the story of two antagonistic brothers seeking resolution and riches at their grandfather's fortune-making funeral. Brother number one is Suk-bong (Ma Dong-seok), an impoverished history professor in search of two gold Buddha statuettes; brother number two is Joo-bong (Lee Dong-hwi), a low-level exec who works for a development company that wants to plow through the hometown.

Once the family secrets come out, as they often do at such occasions, nothing will be as it was: bloodlines will be questioned as well as who is alive and who is dead. Despite the dire predicaments, a happy ending seems inevitably ahead. But this comedy of manners requires a greater understanding of Korean cultural rituals and mores than I have, even with my many years of reviewing Korean movies, in order to generate laughs. Would the slapstick, fashion choices, family dynamics in Jang You-jeong's silly satire be riotous if I understood the references, taboos, and transgressions throughout? Until I get there, I'll have to settle for a kooky mom (Lee Hanee) and fraternal love.

The Beauty Inside: I Love All of You

We like to think there's an essential "me" inside of each of us, a self that exists free of the superficialities and realities and randoms that are our actual bodies, our haircuts, our bank accounts, our bloodline. Some call this "our true selves." Others, a soul. So it goes to follow that a soulmate is someone whom we connect to from this deepest place inside ourselves without regard to how we look and what we do. Kind of.

Baek Jong-yeol's marvelous The Beauty Inside both challenges and supports these ideas by having the male romantic lead, a furniture designer named Woo-jin, suffer from a condition that causes him to wake up in a new body every day. I guess you could call it, multiple body disorder. His mother (Mun Suk) -- wisely -- doesn't take him to a doctor. His best friend (Lee Dong-hwi) thinks it's a hoot. Longterm dating is off the table. That is, until he meets Yi-soo (Han Hyo-ju), a furniture salesperson who connects with him from that very special place within. Home decor does tell us a lot about a person, scoff if you must.

That means she's willing to stick around and cuddle even when he wakes up as a middle-aged bald guy (Kim Sang-ho), an attractive young woman (Ko Ah-sung), an old lady (Lee Myeong-ja), a child... Fortunately, she gets a number of handsome men (Lee Dong-wook, Lee Beom-su, Lee Jin-wook) to tide her over but a love that keeps changing its face, its voice and sometimes its language is definitely be hard to sustain. That Yi-soo is game to try speaks volumes about her integrity and her sense of adventure. There's a few asides that suggest Woo-jin tried initiating a relationship with other women prior to her but once you've found your soulmate, let's face it: All the others just disappear.

Awards: Han Hyo-ju was rightfully nominated as best actress for the Baek Sang Art, Blue Dragon and Grand Bell awards. But that Yang Jin-mo didn't win the Grand Bell for editing, despite also being nominated, is the real crime here! At least Baek Jong-yeol won best director.