Dasepo Naughty Girls (2006) Movie Review

Although “Dasepo Naughty Girls”, based upon a sexually explicit online comic called “Multi-Cell Girl”, to an extent marks a surprising change of direction for Korean helmer Lee Jae Yong, best known for dramas such as “Asako in Ruby Shoes” and “The Affair”, it can perhaps be seen as a continuation of his exploration of the same issues he tackled in his saucy and sumptuous period drama “The Untold Scandal”. The two films certainly have a lot in common, poking fun at the hypocrisy regarding morality and sex often inherent in Korean society, as well as its treatment of outsiders and the ever growing gap between the rich and poor. In “Dasepo Naughty Girls”, Lee approaches these subjects head on, and with a surreal, sugar coated style drenched with camp craziness and packed with off the wall musical numbers, making for a viewing experience that is strangely innocent and sweet considering its constant taboo-baiting.

The film does not have much of a plot as such, and basically revolves around a number of students at a high school aptly named ‘No Use High’ and their encounters with sexually transmitted diseases, underage prostitution, strangely alluring transsexuals, demented cross dressing gangsters, and even aliens. These include the poverty stricken ‘Poor Girl’ (played by Kim Ok Bin, also in “Over the Rainbow”), a rich transfer student from Switzerland (Park Jin Woo, “My Little Bride”), and a virginal Cyclops (actor Lee Kyeon of “Yeon Gaesomun” and “Hello, Francesca”), all of whom run into a variety of wacky scrapes and compromising encounters.

Director Lee does try to work in a plot in the later stages of the film, involving students at the school somehow being brainwashed into working hard and abandoning their promiscuous ways, though this is drowned out by the constant barrage of risqu’ gags and mock-karaoke music videos. Inevitably, as with any film which is basically a series of scatological comic sketches, there are a fair few which fall flat, and as such the pace is somewhat variable, with a rather dry section in the middle where most of the jokes seem to revolve around excessive mugging by the young cast.

However, for the most part “Dasepo Naughty Girls” is both funny and inventive, with some genuinely hilarious scenes, especially those involving Anthony’s struggle with his feelings for a transsexual school girl/boy. Although a lot of the film’s jokes are based around slapstick humour and crude sexual gags, Lee also runs a nice line in social commentary. Some of which, involving class attitudes and materialism is surprisingly scathing and subtle, while others are simply bizarre, such as Poor Girl having a small grey figure called ‘poverty’ hanging on her back for most of the running time. And then there are the frequent appearances of weird stereotypes from various religions who run across the screen waving their arms.

The film works well as a satire of modern Korean society, with its bubblegum flavour proving arguably more effective than other more po-faced efforts. What is perhaps most surprising about the film is that it features not one iota of nudity or indeed any scenes of graphic sexuality of any kind. Whilst this may unfortunately prove to be a turn off for viewers expecting another “Sex is Zero”, to be honest, the inclusion of any skin in a film which revolves around such a young cast would have turned it into something rather more creepy, and would largely have missed the point. As a result, the film has a strangely naïve and moral heart, and has a genuinely uplifting and positive feel, an impression furthered by Lee’s lively direction, along with the insanely bright and cheerful set design and the bouncy musical interludes.

Whilst “Dasepo Naughty Girls”, like other hard to categorise Korean films such as “Save the Green Planet” runs the risk of being alienated due to its surreal approach, it works well on many different levels, and deserves to attain some kind of cult status at least. Although at times unfocused, it is certainly original, and makes a brave stab at tackling the usual issues seen in Korean cinema in a decidedly refreshing manner.

Je-yong Lee (director)
CAST: Ok-bin Kim …. Gananeul deunge eupeun sonyo
Kyeon Lee
Jin-woo Park …. Anthony