Genre: Drama

While it does have its fair share of amusingly bizarre dialogue and cheesy action sequences, it also has quite a bit of uninteresting filler that regularly drags it down.

‘Hong Kong 1941’ is a powerful and moving study of the effects of war on the ordinary person and the strains of such pressure on any friendship.

‘Hooked On You’ is neither stars’ best work, nevertheless it is a production with effective humour and a keen eye for the details of the decade it covers.

‘House Of Flying Daggers’ has too many trappings of an arthouse production that screams ‘self-conscious’ throughout.

It’s a solid study of the strains that sudden fame has on friendship, especially when the screaming girls and management team are favouring two members over the whole five.

Ultimately, ‘Hula Girls’ lacks its own identity. It takes a popular concept and rests on the fact that it apparently has a factual source material as its inspiration.

Suo can craft works that move the mind and the heart while entrancing the viewer along the way.

Something of a minor undiscovered gem, it’s not hard to see why ‘I Love Lolanto’ was a box office hit in its day and remains well worth seeking out as a latter-day diversion.

Not even the odd moment of black humour and Kim Jee-Woon’s knack for crafting exhilarating sequences of action and tension can elevate his film beyond pure nihilism.

‘I Wish I Had A Wife’ plods along with the piano score that seems to be indelibly tattooed onto the soundtracks of Korean rom-coms.

By no means a disaster but a frustratingly mixed bag from a usually consistent and exciting filmmaker.

Brilliant. Heart-breaking. Life-affirming. Devastating. These are the first words that came to my mind as the credits rolled.