After three years of dating in secret, co-workers Dong-hee (Lee Min-gi) and Young (Kim Min-hee) break up. As hurt feelings and misunderstandings swell up into rage, their emotions for each other can no longer be so easily concealed. Very Ordinary Couple opens with a show of fireworks: the spectacle of two angry ex-lovers bent on hurting and humiliating each other in any way possible. The fact that they work at the same bank, and are forced to see each other five days a week, makes for a tense and highly volatile situation.
This opening segment is highly entertaining, thanks to punchy dialogue and the vibrant performances of the lead actors. Insults are hurled and retaliations carried out with great energy. But storms don’t last forever, and it’s when their anger starts to subside that Very Ordinary Couple emerges as a more reflective and interesting film. Writer-director Roh Deok has said that this is a story not so much about the individual characters of Young and Dong-hee, and the way they develop over time. Rather, it about their relationship itself. The distinction is important, and it accounts for both the way the plot is structured (to say more would be to give too much away), and the manner in which we seem to view the central couple from a slight distance. It’s not that we don’t care about them. But rather than being invited into their heads, we see them always in relation to each other.
Model/actress Kim Min-hee (Hellcats, Actresses) expresses quite a range of emotions as her character Young gets over the initial breakup and starts to see Dong-hee in a new light. The gradual shifts in her feelings are shown with subtlety and precision: a further demonstration that as time goes by, Kim’s acting skills only seem to increase. Her co-star Kim Min-gi gives off a very different kind of energy – focused and hot, compared to her cool nature – but in this film they complement each other well. He too is looking like an actor with great potential.
Somehow, the setting of the bank also works really well for this story. It not only provides for a range of interesting supporting characters (in particular Ra Mi-ran, who is emerging as one of Korea’s leading character actors), but the modern sterility of the bank setting contrasts well with the heated emotions just below the surface.
It seems highly inappropriate to call Very Ordinary Couple a romantic comedy, even though it is at times both comedic and romantic. If it is hard to categorize, that may be due to the way the film avoids standard clichés and story arcs about dating and relationships. Instead, we get a highly engaging but also rather honest look at the way feelings both change and stay the same over time. Instead of simply trying to leave the audience with a warm, romantic buzz, it actually has something to say about the nature of relationships.
The freshness and originality of this film comes as a pleasant surprise. Young directors in the Korean film industry are often not given very much greater freedom, unless they opt to work on a low-budget production. But somehow Roh Deok was able to navigate the commercial restraints placed on her and still turn out a highly distinctive, truthful, personal work. Although not a massive hit, it performed respectably well at the box office and drew favorable reviews. Accomplishing all these things at once is a notable achievement.
Darcy Paquet