My Girlfriend Is an Agent

aka 7-geup gongmuwon

2009
Directed by Sin Tae-ra
Written by Cheon Seong-il

Kicking it old school TarsTarkas.NET as we go over a Korean romantic comedy, something we haven’t done in over four years. Oddly enough, there hasn’t been a lot of good Korean romantic comedies in the past four years (although there are several from back then we haven’t covered and might get to eventually.) But retro TarsTarkas.NET is where we are right now!

This is a return of the kind of quality we took for granted from Korea for a few years, but then the industry crashed and the flow of great films slowed to a trickle. Still, some great films came out, and we hope that the slow trickle will once again turn into a mighty Mississippi again.

My Girlfriend is an Agent had great use of editing. I specifically enjoyed the use of flashbacks/scene cuts to complement dialogue. I personally find that smart filmmaking, though I know there are people who don’t like it. But screw them, this is my website! There is also some nice splitscreen editing.

The Korean title 7Keup Kongmuwon means literally 7th level civil servant – in South Korea the ranking of public servants starts from 9th (lowest) on down to 1st (highest). Now you are an expert in Korean culture and should go out and eat some kimchi.

Ahn Soo-ji (Kim Ha-neul) – An agent of the Industrial Security Team NIS, which is a secret to everyone, including her long-suffering boyfriend Jae-joon who leaves in the beginning of the film and then pops up later in her life. Then the romantic comedy/spy drama happens. Kim Ha-neul was previously on TarsTarkas.NET in My Tutor Friend and Too Beautiful To Lie. Lee Jae-joon (Kang Ji-hwan) – A mild mannered accountant. And by accountant, I mean secret agent. His ex-girlfriend Soo-ji is also a secret agent, and both are secret to each other. Wacky things happen! Chief Kim Weon-seok (Ryoo Seung-yong) – – Chief Kim of the Harimau doesn’t take any guff, even from rookie Jae-joon. Team leader Hong (Jang Young-nam) – – Coworker and good friend of Soo-ji. Is the best friend character, but isn’t a wacky best friend like she would be if this was an American film. Victor (Domashchenko Vadym) – Count Victor is the Russian guy who is totally evil. How evil is he? He’s so evil he isn’t really Victor, he is secretly… Sonya Victoria (Elizabeth Sujin Ford) – The evil mastermind! She’s so evil, she jumps bikes over the Grand Canyon. Officer Jang (Yoo Seung-mok) – Officer Jang is the cop who is always on duty when Soo-ji and Jae-joon get into arguments. Factors into the finale of the movie. It pays to be the cop on duty during domestic situations.

Continue reading →