Green Chair

Writing about Green Chair, director Park Chul-Soo notes, "I only desire to suggest yet another equation/symbol of love." With sex, one supposes, as there is plenty of it in this stylish depiction of the affair between Kim Mun-hee (played by the lovely Seo Jeong), a 32-year-old, self-described "slutty divorcee," and her 19-year-old boy toy, Hyun (Shim Ji-Ho). As the story opens, Kim is being released from prison, where this forbidden love has landed her, Mary Kay Letourneau-style. No sooner are our May-December lovers reunited than they repair to the nearest hotel and engage in what Mun-hee describes as "enough sex to make us sick of it" (there's ample nudity, but the sex is neither explicit nor graphic; director Park specializes in soft-lit tableaux of artfully posed naked bodies). Various complications ensue, during which Mun-hee tries to break it off, Hyun persists, Mun-hee goes to work in a facility for women suffering from senile dementia (in order to fulfill the community service part of her sentence), and the lovers continue their affair, albeit without the constant coupling of the film's first half-hour. Not a whole lot happens, beyond the lovers struggling vaguely to come to terms with a passion that can neither be denied nor fully accepted, and it all comes to a head at Hyun's 20th birthday party (20 is the legal age of consent in Korea), where a truly bizarre cast of characters assemble to celebrate (including her ex, her mother, his parents, a young girl who wants Hyun for herself, a patient from the old folks facility…even the cop who arrested Mun-hee). Cocktails are consumed, tempers flare, accusations fly, and tears are shed. You'll have to see for yourself if love conquers all. A strong optional purchase. (S. Graham)