Ballerina

Jeon Jong-seo

I had very low expectations for Chun-Hyun Lee's Ballerina, an offshoot of the John Wick films, but was pleasantly surprised. The Korean feature, currently streaming on Netflix, is a revenge flick with unexpected reservoirs of characterization and a stylistic elan that is rare in the action genre. Ok-ju (Jeon Jong-seo), a former bodyguard and assassin, discovers that her best friend has committed suicide, driven to the act by an involuntary BDSM session with a sex trafficker and drug dealer named Choi Pro (Kim Ji-hoon). Ok-ju gets her revenge after much carnage, though the film avoids the balletic action sequences that distinguished the John Wick series until the final reel.

Mr. Lee films the flashback sequences detailing Ok-ju relationship with her bestie by highlighting pastel colors and the nostalgia for happy times past. The sequences of Ok-ju seeking her revenge have a more realistic, grittier color tone. Throughout, Lee presents a narrative in which characters rise above or succumb to their shame, a notion which is perhaps old hat to the occidental world. Both Ms. Jeon and Mr. Kim are superb in this action genre delight. Mr. Lee is, at times, overly beholden to the influence of Refn's Drive, but Ballerina is a pop movie with genuine fizz and personality.