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"Aren't we pretty?"
The first impression after watching the short film is that I was facing another story about bullying, gender discrimination, bullying, the lack of social acceptance... I needed to watch it one more time to understand it.
In my opinion, 'Lipstick' ('Libseutig' in Korean) is not about any of this, much less about imaginary friends.
This raw and emotional Korean film explores the pain of acceptance in a very hostile environment.
The person who asks the question that gives the review its title is not a mysterious girl or an imaginary friend named Chan Mi with whom the male protagonist meets in a laundromat while drying his clothes. NO.
The story revolves around a young transgender woman named Chan Mi (played by debut actress Cho Ha Eun), who comes to accept herself while waging an internal struggle about transitioning. Finally, the girl comes to feel comfortable with herself and learns that her own perception of herself is okay after the gender change, also known as gender change, through a vision in which she discusses her present and future with her alter ego under the name of Jin Joon Won, while dreaming after a suicide attempt.
In other words, the female and male characters are the same person before and after the transition.
The main male character is played by an actor known in the BL world for being the protagonist of the two seasons of 'Color Rush' (2021) and in the two films derived from them, as well as in South Korean queer cinema for participating in the drama, action and crime genre film 'High Heel' ('Haiheel, 2014).
The girl is no stranger to Joon Won. "I was always here, you fool," she tells him.
For the audience to take into account the lipstick that falls from the male protagonist's hand on two occasions and rolls on the floor, the female clothing that both the boy and the girl (that is, the same person) fight over shouting "this is mine"; the mirror in which both look at each other to recognize that they feel good and better about themselves just as they want to be in body, mind and relationships.
The light at the end of the tunnel, the sea, the horizon, infinity, doubt, decision...
In my opinion, 'Lipstick' ('Libseutig' in Korean) is not about any of this, much less about imaginary friends.
This raw and emotional Korean film explores the pain of acceptance in a very hostile environment.
The person who asks the question that gives the review its title is not a mysterious girl or an imaginary friend named Chan Mi with whom the male protagonist meets in a laundromat while drying his clothes. NO.
The story revolves around a young transgender woman named Chan Mi (played by debut actress Cho Ha Eun), who comes to accept herself while waging an internal struggle about transitioning. Finally, the girl comes to feel comfortable with herself and learns that her own perception of herself is okay after the gender change, also known as gender change, through a vision in which she discusses her present and future with her alter ego under the name of Jin Joon Won, while dreaming after a suicide attempt.
In other words, the female and male characters are the same person before and after the transition.
The main male character is played by an actor known in the BL world for being the protagonist of the two seasons of 'Color Rush' (2021) and in the two films derived from them, as well as in South Korean queer cinema for participating in the drama, action and crime genre film 'High Heel' ('Haiheel, 2014).
The girl is no stranger to Joon Won. "I was always here, you fool," she tells him.
For the audience to take into account the lipstick that falls from the male protagonist's hand on two occasions and rolls on the floor, the female clothing that both the boy and the girl (that is, the same person) fight over shouting "this is mine"; the mirror in which both look at each other to recognize that they feel good and better about themselves just as they want to be in body, mind and relationships.
The light at the end of the tunnel, the sea, the horizon, infinity, doubt, decision...
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