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Sunshine) as a former detective named Seo Joon, who now runs a construction site. The film stars Byun Yo-han (famous for his role in K-drama Mr. 2021 action movie On the Line imagines what might happen if victims of such scams decided to take revenge. Phone scams afflict people all over the world, South Korea included. The movie is complemented by ’90s signposts, including VHS tapes, pagers and public phonebooths, while certain scenes rekindle memories of some of the most iconic K-pop videos and TV dramas of the era, including Deux’s “In Summer.” Bo-ra’s father runs a video rental store, which sets up a comic scene where she’s busted at school with a copy of “An Affair,” an R-rated 1998 erotic drama featuring “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, and forced to hold it up in detention.Korean title: 보이스 | Directors: Kim Gok, Kim Sun | Starring: Byun Yo-han, Kim Mu-yeol, Park Myung-hoon | Genre: Crime, Action, Mystery While the movie offers very little about the person Bo-ra grew up to be (played in the present by Han Hyo-joo, who also hails from Cheongju in real life), it does reveal that her career choice was shaped by what Woon-ho once told her in a goofy moment, some two decades earlier. Kim You-jung is both convincing and delightful as Bo-ra, who, in many seemingly insignificant yet occasionally heartbreaking moments, has yet to realize the significance of what she’s going through. Bang captures the feeling of devoted teenage friendships and the joys of sharing confidences with fellow girls, while acknowledging how they are inevitably meant to change - despite genuine efforts to sustain them - as time goes on.
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The film is loosely based on director Bang’s own experiences growing up in Cheongju, a relatively quiet town in central South Korea, as well as time spent with her girlfriends in high school. When Yeon-doo finally returns, Bo-ra is hardly prepared for what awaits her. But things take unexpected turns when Bo-ra realizes, for the first time in her life, she is falling hard for a boy: Woon-ho (Byeon Woo-seok), Hyun-jin’s thoughtful and closest friend.
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Fiercely loyal to her ailing friend, Bo-ra uses creative if sometimes silly tactics to learn about Hyun-jin, diligently e-mailing everything she discovers - from his shoe size to his best friend’s home address - to Yeon-doo.
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