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Audio Format: DD 5.1
Video Format: Widescreen 1.85:1 (Anamorphic)
Languages: Korean, Thai
Subtitles: English, Korean, Thai
Region Code: 3, PAL
Year Made: 2005
Running Time: 103
A story of "amour fou" between a 32-year-old divorcee and a 19-year-old college student (who, under Korean law, is considered a minor until he turns 20). After being arrested and sentenced to community service, Moon-hee attempts to ditch handsome young Hyun, but he refuses to disappear, and the two go on the lam together.
 Mun-hee, a divorcee in her early thirties, has fallen in love with Hyun, in his last year of high school. Mun-hee is arrested and sentenced to 100 hours of community service for having sex with a minor, but upon her release Hyun meets her in front of the police station and they go to a love hotel for several more days of exhausting sex. Eventually, doubts begin to creep into Mun-hee's mind, and she declares that their affair is finished. Hyun is persistent, however, and soon their relationship enters a new phase.
At first Park Chul-soo's Green Chair sounds like a fairly straightforward tale of sex and the occasional pang of guilt, but it ends up being much more interesting than that. The film's first reel is highly explicit, and will turn off a lot of viwers, but later things settle down and we get to examine all the little details of Hyun and Mun-hee's unusual relationship, from Hyun's talent for cooking to Mun-hee's preference in mattresses. The film presents such details with warmth and humor, resulting in a nuanced, touching, and subversive love story.
As in many of his previous features, such as the grisly "cooking" movie 301,302 or the ob-gyn extravaganza Push! Push! , Park's direct, non-judgmental approach can be alienating for mainstream viewers. This turned into a problem for Green Chair when its investor, Hapdong Film, decided it was too bizarre to have any commercial potential, and shelved it.
Apart from Park's inimitable style of directing, Green Chair draws strength from its great cast. Suh Jung, best known from Kim Ki-duk's The Isle, brings a slightly unhinged vitality to the character of Mun-hee; while newcomer Shim Ji-ho plays Hyun as passionate and self-confident beyond his years. A special treat is the appearance of ultra-cool actress Oh Yun-hong (The Power of Kangwon Province) as Mun-hee's friend -- the warmth and camaraderie the three characters share is one of the film's key strengths.
 Another Korean movie based on a true story, GREEN CHAIR is the first film infour years from controversial director Park Chul-Soo, best known for Video.Seo Jeong (THE ISLE) plays Kim, a nice 32-year-old woman who's making whoopeewith a 19 year old boy, Hyeon (first time actor, Shim Ji-ho). Unfortunately forthem, 20 is the age of consent in Korea, and she's arrested, sentenced, andlocked up.
But the second she's finished with her sentence, she makes a beeline back toHyeon (who wouldn't?) and the two shack up for a marathon sex session. Thoselooking for pervy kicks will be disappointed: while there's plenty of sex ondisplay, the movie is wrapped up in the essential comedy and potential problemsinherent in every sex-based relationship, compounded when one partner has to doa little time for it.
Funny and beautiful, with some gorgeous poetic digressions, GREEN CHAIR is yetanother pro-sex movie in this year's New York Asian Film Festival. Hopefully,it'll give you lots of ideas.
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