Notable, however, is that when Woo-jin has an important emotional or psychological moment, he usually is in a womanвЂ™s body: Japanese actress Juri Ueno ( Swing Girls) Chun Woo-hee ( Han Gong-Ju) and Ko Ah-sung ( Snowpiercer). ThereвЂ™s no real dive into gender identity or the impact on romantic love for E-soo if Woo-jin were to ultimately вЂњstickвЂќ in a womanвЂ™s body. The storyвЂ™s romantic touchstones come when Woo-jin is in the body of heartthrobs like Park, Do Ji-han, Lee Beom-soo ( 200 Pounds Beauty), Lee Jae-joon ( Night Flight), Lee Jin-wook, Seo Kang-jun, Lee Dong-wook, Kim Hee-won ( The Man From Nowhere) and Yoo Yeon-seok ( Hwayi). The Korean version plays it safe, changing Woo-jin, mostly, from one good-looking Korean man to another. It is unchallenging in precisely the way the DoremusвЂ™ films were not interested in the thematic potential of suddenly being black, Latino or Muslim (as a start). The Beauty InsideВ is a missed opportunity on several levels. K and Park Jung-ye focus on the difficulties they face being in an unconventional relationship: Friends and family want to meet the mystery man, E-soo herself canвЂ™t recognize her lover on any given day, and her boss questions the fact she вЂњsees a different man every night.вЂќ Of course there are tears, a break-up, physical illness and miscommunication before a final reconciliation in Prague (Korean romances often reconcile in medieval European capitals).

But after coming clean and having E-soo accept his odd condition, the film takes a turn for the melodramatic as the pair try to further their relationship nonetheless. Up to this point, Beauty is a nearly shot-for-shot copy of DoremusвЂ™ original. Overseas it could easily find a home in urban markets familiar with the source material and where the Korean brand is still viable. Beauty was presold at Cannes to several Asian markets where itвЂ™s likely to do well if its moderate box-office success in Korea in August is any indication. That being said, just as there is an audience that buys into the idea of an evil intergalactic empire with robed knights wielding Day-Glo swords, so too is there an audience for this kind of magical romance. Poke at it too much and the entire thing collapses. Blessed with a MLB rosterвЂ™s worth of veteran character players ( Kim Sang-ho, Kim Min-jae, Jo Dal-hwan) and buzzy young stars, Beauty is equally cursed with a narrative structure that is a house of cards. Is it really whatвЂ™s on the inside that counts? ThatвЂ™s the central query that drives first-time feature director BaikвЂ™s The Beauty Inside, a frothy slice of romantic fantasy in the vein of Lee Hyun-seungвЂ™s fantastical weepie Il Mare.

The beauty inside kdrama trailer