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[HanCinema's Film Review] "Read My Lips" + Videos

We open up with some extended bad poetry from Karl Marx. Either you're going to find that sentence inherently, weirdly compelling, or you're going to think it sounds really dumb. There's no middle ground here, and that alone is all the information you need to decide whether or not "Read My Lips" is worth watching. This is a film with exactly one joke- nearly every character thinks they're witty and smart, but in reality, they just like hearing themselves talk. And the longer they go on, the more incomprehensible the dialogue gets.

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Like, have you ever had a conversation with someone where you use an analogy to demonstrate the point you're trying to make, then you get so wrapped up in the analogy that you end up telling a long apparently pointless story that only tangentially relates to anything? There's no shame in it. Really there isn't. Sometimes a person just feels that urge to pontificate abroad broader philosophical matters of life even as they slowly become aware of the fact that no one is really paying attention anymore. At least not in a good way.

All of this is, to the person with the corresponding sense of humor, incredibly funny. The script is excellent. It is, in fact, so incredibly naturalistic that I frequently found myself wondering how much of the dialogue was actually written down or whether director Yoon Seong-ho simply instructed the actors to start rambling off a very basic prompt. Goodness knows they certainly speak quickly enough. Even with subtitles it quickly becomes very difficult to keep track of what anyone's actually talking about.

"Read My Lips" is a kind of genre fiction rarely seen in Korean film- the fast-talking jive sitcom. I am, in fact, unsure that I've ever seen a Korean comedy done in this style before, although a few recent American products come to mind as a comparison point. Partially this is because there's often an inordinate amount of discussion about sex. You ever hung around with one of those guys who absolutely will not shut up about sex once the conversation trends to that direction, no matter how awkward everybody in the room feels? There's a few of them here.

But don't worry too much- "Read My Lips" knows exactly who we're going to want to sympathize with, and it's very telling that the most sympathetic characters in the cast are a preacher and his wife. Interestingly, they have very similar speaking habits compared to the more trendy actor and director types. The difference is that they aren't shameless self promoters. Note how they'll let other people talk, provided they have something to say.

The main weakness in "Read My Lips" is a matter of format. This being a sitcom, it's the kind of humor that tends to go down a lot better in small doses. While relatively short, at times the movie's jokes do feel stretched out, especially given the almost complete lack of an actual coherent story. Bear in mind, though, that the original format for "Read My Lips" was as a web drama, so it's entirely possible that it will be an easier (and just as funny) viewing experience by that design.

Review by William Schwartz

"Read My Lips" is directed by Yoon Seong-ho and features Hwang Je-sung, Park Hyuk-kwon, Park Hee-von, Jo Han-chul, Seo Yeong-joo and Kim Jung-hwa.

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