Saturday, May 5, 2012

Kmovie Review: Actresses (2009)

I’m a huge fan of documentaries and ‘Actresses’ is the first Korean documentary I have watched. ‘Actresses’ follows 6 leading ladies of Korean cinema at the Vogue Korea Magazine Photoshoot.

The 6 leading actresses are Choi Ji-woo, Yoon Yeo-Jeong, Lee Mi-sook, Ko Hyeon-jeong, Kim Min-hee and Kim ok-bin. The documentary focuses on the 6 actresses and how they interact together on set.

There are a few elements that make the documentary interesting to watch. The generational tension that is seen between the actresses was evident; whose ages span from 20s to 60s. In addition, a lot of drama was seen amongst the young actresses arguing who is the 'bigger' celebrity. Things got quite catty, but in comparison to American reality shows, it was rather tame.

Rumors had it that this film was scripted. It actually wasn’t, however, the director said each scene had an outline (similar to how TV show ‘Curb your enthusiasm’ is made). The outline required the actresses to improvise in the given scenario.


The director wanted to show the women’s character in real life. When I was watching the film, some sections felt contrived – like the actress was putting up a performance. Which reminded me of the quote shown in the opening credits of the film:

'There are 3 types of people in this world, Men, Women and Actresses'.

There were some delightfully funny moments between the actresses when they start to warm up to each other. 

I was most surprised about Choi Ji-woo’s diva antics. We’re so familiar with her girl next door image in movies and TV dramas, so it was surreal to watch the ‘real’ her being a diva and having a whinge. She’s a convincing actress, however ironically in this film she comes off as over acting.

This documentary doesn’t feel authentic. I would actually label it as a mockumentary. I'll give it 3/5 stars.

Check out the trailer:

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