Kim Jin-yeong (김진영)

'Fortune' Shows Crude Depiction of Love/Fate

Source | 2009/10/29 | 0 comments | Permalink |

By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter

Funnyman Im Chang-jeong returns opposite yet another screen beauty, Park Ye-jin, in the slapstick "Fortune Salon". It appears difficult for the "Sex Is Zero" star to shed his typecast character in this half-way sex (rather than romantic) comedy, which rather strenuously tries to show that love (or lust) can prevail in the face of cruel destiny.

But more often than not, fate laughs at chance.
It's a shame because the movie could have done so much more with the classic premise of fate versus free will set against the exotic shamanist subculture that exists in modern Korea. Instead, it makes a disgrace out of one of the oldest traditions/religions here.

South Korea has long been rooted in shamanist beliefs. The fortune-telling market here amasses up to 3 trillion won annually. "Saju" (reading one's fate using one's birth date), physiognomy and, most recently, Western tarot-card reading booths and parlors can be easily spotted around town.

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