Han So-hee and Jeon Jong-seo's meeting alone makes "Project Y" a work well worth seeing. But when you actually watch the film, you realize that its true charm lies beyond the two leads' chemistry in the very faces of "women who desire" that unfold on screen.
"Project Y" (director Lee Hwan, provided and distributed by Plus M Entertainment) is a crime entertaining movie that depicts the story of Miseon (Han So-hee) and Dokyung (Jeon Jong-seo), who dreamed of a different tomorrow in the middle of a glamorous city and, at the edge of their lives, steal black money and gold bullion. The cat-and-mouse development, brisk pacing and genre pleasures first grab the audience's hand and pull them in. And within that, the film fills the word "desire" with the most honest faces.
The first thing that stands out is that the film's female characters are not commonly sorted into familiar formulas. They are not consumed as women who only embody "maternal instinct" or "familial love" for the sake of someone, nor do they remain precarious beings waiting for someone's salvation. They are not characters explained by taking out sexiness like a tool. "Project Y" boldly sidesteps that familiar frame and foregrounds women who move by their own desires and choices like people who exist in reality.
At the center, Miseon and Dokyung show desires of different resolves. Miseon, who dreams of an ordinary daily life yet jumps into danger, looks to the future with lack and fondness. Dokyung, on the other hand, runs thoroughly toward "fulfillment." Cold and resolute, she does not stop even for the "new family" (Miseon) she has chosen. Even standing within the same incident, the two women's tones differ, and that makes the film more interesting. The balance created by Han So-hee and Jeon Jong-seo drives both the film's tempo and emotional line.
What makes "Project Y" special is that this spectrum of desire does not stay with the protagonists alone. Gayoung (Kim Shin-rock), who seizes opportunities that come, Hwangso (Jung Young-ju), who brutally disposes of everything, and Hakyeong (Yoo A), who holds information that shakes everyone. Those who harbor desire in their own ways overwhelm scenes with different faces. In particular, Hwangso, played by Jung Young-ju, dominates the screen with a presence that changes the air of a space just by appearing, beyond the simple modifier of "strong woman." Without lengthy narrative explanation, you can sense what world that character has lived in through her eyes and movements. The choice to newly realize roles commonly regarded as the preserve of male characters through female characters feels fresh.
As all these faces become entangled over one incident and one gold bullion, the film maximizes the fun of "character play." More important than a simple dichotomy of who is good or evil, or who is right or wrong, is what each person wants and how far they can go. At this point, "Project Y" does not lose the pleasures of the genre. The thrill at the moment of discovering the gold bullion and the chasing rhythm that begins thereafter push the 108 minutes forward briskly.
In the end, the biggest viewing point that "Project Y" offers is one. The film does not "explain" women; it "shows" them. And it pushes to the end the fact that the ways they desire are different. It is rare to experience various female characters running on one screen by their own choices. "Project Y" successfully places that precious scene atop the genre pleasures of noir.
"Project Y" is a film where you go to see the combination of Han So-hee and Jeon Jong-seo but ultimately come out having encountered the multilayered faces of women driven by desire.<
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