Cyrano Agency is based on a simple but brilliant idea. Since a successful romantic relationship is such an overwhelming life-objective for young Koreans, there presumably are plenty of economic opportunities for anyone with the talent and skills for fulfilling that need.
Enter the Cyrano Agency, a group of hungry theater actors who borrow a few pages from the manuals of the Mission: Impossible team and clandestinely construct dramatic situations and “accidents” so that their “target” will “naturally” fall in love with their “client.” The team includes a scripter, a dress coordinator, a researcher/eavesdropper, a diction coach (who does double duty as a geomancer, designated to pick “lucky days” for the client) and even a pretty seductress in charge of stoking jealousy in the heart of the targeted female.
In a witty and slick intro, we see the agency members, led by Byung-hoon (Uhm Tae-woong, Chaw), work their spell on a soccer-loving dork (a hilarious turn by Song Sae-byuk, Mother) and a pretty cafe worker. Further hilarity as well as potential heartache ensues when a handsome but still dork-ish fund-manager client Sang-yong (Choe Daniel) approaches the Agency, and Byung-hoon recognizes the man’s “target” (Lee Min-jung, the stunningly beautiful nun from Pruning the Grapevine).
The intro sequence accurately communicates the interesting tonality of Cyrano Agency: whimsical, slightly corny and surprisingly, earnestly romantic. Director Kim Hyun-seok (YMCA Baseball Team, Scout) is rather unfairly seen in some circles as a specialist in baseball films, but he is one of the few Korean directors I know who can make gentle, comic melodramas without driving them aground with forced emoting or lathering them with soap. He knows the difference between genuine witticism and the crude slapstick that passes for “comedy” in so many recent movies.
Here, Kim expands his range by giving female characters their due, especially Hee-joong, who is far from being a macho Korean guy’s “dream girl,” yet no less real or attractive for it. The situational comedy is well constructed and streamlined, with a minimum of annoying plot devices. He retains suspense regarding the characters’ potential actions and motivations to the very end, almost like a caper film. It definitely showcases Kim’s skills as a screenwriter. In the end, I wish his resolution of the movie were a bit drier, although its faithfulness to the spirit of the original Cyrano de Bergerac might surprise and win over viewers skeptical of its unabashed sweetness.
All the actors carry their roles with light steps that occasionally hit dancers’ grace notes. Uhm Tae-woong and Lee Min-jeong have wonderful chemistry together, and are totally believable even in the somewhat overcooked climax. But the movie’s biggest surprise is Daniel Choe, whose Sang-yong begins as a callow dumbbell and yet by the climax has earned rights not only to his prize but also considerable audience sympathy. Yet another surprise is how technically adroit and visually beautiful Cyrano is, with production designer Kim Joon (Paju) keeping the ambience of a friendly, intimate small theater and DP Kim Woo-hyung (The Warrior’s Way) skillfully orchestrating golden and amber light as the romantic mood strikes the characters.
Cyrano Agency is a deft, clever crowd-pleaser that is also a genuinely lovely motion picture, the kind of Korean cinema undeservingly ignored in the foreign market (except probably among Udine attendees), and another winner from the redoubtable Kim Hyun-seok.
Kyu Hyun Kim