The two female leads in A Day For An Affair are known only by their internet chatting IDs. “dewdrop” (Kim Hye-soo) is a bored, married thirtysomething who decides to have a fling with a university student ten years her junior. Bold and confident by nature, she embarks on her affair and never looks back. “littlebird” (Yoon Jin-seo), also married, has been flirting online for some time with a man who calls himself “twofoxes”. After some hesitation, she agrees to meet him in person. She's not particularly afraid of her policeman husband, but something in her causes her to hesitate before stepping over the line into adultery.
“dewdrop” and “littlebird” don't know each other, but through a weird coincidence they seem to keep checking into adjacent motel rooms, and bumping into each other in the parking lot. As time passes, and their carefree affairs start to get more complicated, the fates of these two restless women begin to intertwine more closely.
As in other countries, the portrayal of women in Korean cinema tends to fall into broad categories: the pure-hearted, nurturing angel, for example, or the sultry, calculating temptress. Every so often a mainstream film will make a point of throwing off the sociological baggage and presenting characters that are a little closer to what people are like in real life. Audiences often respond well to such efforts: Marriage Is A Crazy Thing (2002), Singles (2003), and Rules Of Dating (2005) have all found success at the box office in recent years.
A Day For An Affair doesn’t go quite as far in breaking with the usual characterizations, but it does at least allow these two actresses a chance to be sexy, kind-hearted and independent all at the same time. (The men, for their part, act mostly like hyenas during mating season, but they're good-looking enough and it doesn’t seem to hurt the flow of the narrative).
It’s worth mentioning a few of the supporting actors. The husband of “dewdrop” is played by Park Sang-myun, a gifted comic actor who many will remember as the clueless husband in My Wife Is A Gangster. He has appeared in very few films in recent years, so it's nice to see him back. Sharp-eyed viewers will also recognize Hwang Jeong-min, the friend that “dewdrop” turns to in trouble, as the woman who played Shin Ha-kyun’s devoted girlfriend in Save The Green Planet.
Director Jang Moon-il imparts a bouncy, commercial feel to A Day For An Affair which works for the most part, despite a few moments in which he seems to be straining too hard for laughs. Despite being somewhat of a “tease” in that the film is far less sexually explicit than its advertising suggests, the Korean audience gave it a warm welcome when it was released in February, with a total of 1.8 million tickets sold.
However it will probably come as no surprise to hear that the best thing about this film is Kim Hye-soo. An experienced actress whose career has soared to new heights in the past year with Tazza (2006) and Skeletons In The Closet (2007), Kim’s portrayal of “dewdrop” starts off simply enough but acquires added depth as the story progresses. It’s not so much the character as it is written, but Kim’s screen presence that makes “dewdrop” so interesting to watch. The feelings that she expresses - anger, amusement, determination - are like floating icebergs in that what we see onscreen is so effortlessly delivered, it suggests much larger reserves of emotional energy beneath the surface. In short, there is a power to Kim’s acting that very few other stars can deliver, such that she can transform even ordinary characters into something exciting.