Watermelons on the highway and other absurdities of life
Kyu Hyun Kim (qhyunkim)
A nebbish-looking stamp-maker Tae-han (Park Kwang-jeong, a well-known theater actor immortalized in Korean popular culture as "Rimbaud" in "No. 3") suspects that his wife is two-timing him with a womanizing taxicab driver Joong-seok (Jeong Bo-seok, "Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors"). He hires the cabbie for a one-way trip from Seoul to Yangyang, the Eastern Seaboard resort town, where his home is located. However, Tae-han seems clueless about what to do with his nemesis: does he want a confrontation with Joong-seok at the precise moment of illicit encounter? Or does he just want revenge? Adding complications to the matter is Joong-seok's rambunctious common-law wife So-ok (Jo Eun-ji, "A Bizarre Love Triangle"), who unexpectedly arouses Tae-han's sympathy.
"Driving With My Wife's Lover" starts off as if it will be one of those light romantic comedies with some predictable (tear-jerking) twists down the lane, but as soon as the two gents begin the ride, the film veers off into a surrealistic, stream-of-consciousness territory in a leisurely pace. Some of its vignettes are funny or strangely touching without making a whole lot of "logical" sense: the cascading tsunami of watermelons, the way Tae-han's hair begins to morph into a rooster's comb, the zigzag steps that climb the side of a green hill, leading to Tae-han's wonderfully seagull's nest-like white abode overlooking the magnificently blue ocean.
The cast members are all well cast, Park Kwang-jeong effortlessly conveying Tae-han's figurative and physical impotence with his squinty eyes and mumbling delivery of lines, and Jeong Bo-seok hilariously embodying an all-too familiar Korean stereotype of blustery, sex-obsessed macho dog (Pushing 47, Jeong even gets to show off his impressive physique in a few nude scenes!). But the real praise must go to Jo Eun-ji. Often cast as a loud-mouthed, empty-headed party-girl type, Jo here is casually sexy and believably desperate, bringing a surprising level of depth to her characterization of So-ok.
Even though the material could have been milked for torrid melodramatics, director Kim Tae-sik, who studied under Imamura Shohei, is clearly more interested in the mental gymnastics of his outwardly eccentric or smooth but inwardly forlorn characters (One might almost regard "My Wife's Lover" as a shyer, more introspective variation on the latter's "Eel"), illuminating his characters with clear-eyed compassion and knowing appreciation of the absurdity of obsessive love. The result may not be exactly an Eric Rohmer, but is all the same thoughtful, entertaining and, in the end, uplifting.
English 
