Content warning: This story mentions suicide, sexual abuse
Netflix’s global release of the South Korean film, Ballerina is a visually stimulating, hour-and-a-half, toe-gripping cinematic experience.
With a powerful, but rather misunderstood female main character, and a young director (Lee Chung-Hyun) taking creative approaches, this film has an elementary, but captivating story. Its storyline is uncomplicated, but that doesn’t mean it is boring, or bad.
Ballerina is about a former bodyguard named Ok-ju, who returns to South Korea after her work had her in the Middle East and Africa. Ok-ju walks around socially and emotionally disinvested. It is not until she becomes friends with a ballerina named Choi Min-hee. Ok-ju and Min-hee were middle school classmates. After catching up, a strong friendship is founded (I would argue much more than that, but that’s a personal opinion).
Min-hee knows how to get Ok-ju out of her shell, and you can see Ok-ju values their friendship– arguably her only friendship– greatly.
Min-hee calls Ok-ju asking her to come over in a last-minute manner. Ok-ju goes to her friend’s place, which is full of vibrant neon lights and an aquarium, playing a visual symbolic contrast to the lowkey dark greens, grays, and browns of Ok-ju’s home.
Ok-ju looks around, not able to find her friend. She finds a note on Min-hee’s bed with an unfamiliar Instagram handle. She walks to the bathroom to see that Min-hee has taken her own life, with a note saying, “Avenge me”.
What is uncovered is that a sex trafficker had taken advantage of Min-hee while unconscious, filmed it, and used it to blackmail and extort her. He had done this to numerous women. He was working in a sex trafficking ring whose main trade was formulating and distributing date rape drugs.
From there, we are taken on a plot of straightforward revenge.
Ok-ju exhibits a silent rage that has dealt with violence in the past. She knows how to get around without anyone noticing her, but isn’t afraid to take the most obvious route.
This is why I argue this movie is just so unpredictably predictable.
Oftentimes as seasoned movie-watchers, we see movie protagonists taking the least convenient route as a means to extend movie minutes.
Do you ever think, “The main character could literally just do this right now and everything would be solved– right then and there?”
As my roommate and I watched, we made those same comments.
In one of the final scenes, Ok-ju comes face-to-face with the head of the sex trafficking ring. She’s in a room full of his workers in this ring, but she’s the only one with a gun.
The ring leader arrogantly sits down, pours her a drink, and tells Ok-ju to have a conversation with him.
At that moment, I said, “She really could just kill him right now, why do they need to talk?”
I expected that Ok-ju would sit with this man, again, purely to push the plot. Can you blame me? I experience this all the time, the main character encounters the head honcho and they talk. The head honcho is arrogantly unafraid of the main character’s threats of retribution. Ultimately, we know the main character will fulfill their promises, but later on.
In Ballerina, Ok-ju spares no time. She doesn’t even let the ringleader finish his sentence. Ok-ju takes him out right then and there.
Everyone present is shocked that this one woman took out such a powerful figure. She pulls the trigger again, but no shocks ring out.
Welp, looks like she needs to fight with her hands and take on 40 men with knives. Oh– turns out she has another gun! She takes out a good chunk of men with the second pistol but eventually runs out of ammo again.
Now, it’s time to fight with her hands, and she actually does. Until she is finally able to get her hands on another clip.
In a slurry of– rather creative– violence, Ok-ju gets straight to the point with no ifs and buts.
All in all, Ballerina is a simple watch, if you want to experience a story of friendship, loss, revenge, and a female protagonist that seriously doesn’t give a f**k.