I’m going to make a sweeping generalization that is probably going to land me in hot water but here goes. There is a common behaviour among women in this part of the world (east Asia) who are in their 20s to behave like sweet, chaste maidens who would blush and giggle at the mere mention of anything sexual. This all changes, however, when they snag a man and get married. Then the mask comes off and it’s all business. The weird thing is that we men all know it’s an act yet the game continues to this day. The Korean film FORBIDDEN FAIRYTALE presents audiences with one such woman but, because of circumstances thrust upon her, she has to deal head on with her faux prudishness.

From the time she was a little girl, Dan-bi (Park Ji-hyun/박지현) wanted to follow in her father’s footsteps and write fairy tales for a living. Economics got in the way though, and Dan-bi had to get a job to pay the bills. Her new job finds her as a rookie member of a Youth Protection Team that blocks illegal pornography but she’s barely there a week before she accidentally runs her bicycle into the vintage Porsche belonging to Mr. Hwang (Sung Dong-il/성동일, PAWN), the CEO of a company that publishes erotica, causing 100,000 won in damages. Not able to pay, she signs a contract with Huang to write 20 erotic stories for him. The only problem is that she’s never written erotica before. Fortunately, her two girlfriends have plenty of their own sexual escapades to share with her. With the help of her male colleague Jeong-seok (Choi Si-won/최시원), who has his own sexual hangups, Dan-bi’s writing becomes an overnight sensation, eventually reaching the radar of the very agency that is trying to protect children from reading it.

Conceptually, this is a very good story idea and there are certainly a few LOL moments, particularly the ones that involve the two girlfriends, but unfortunately the movie is hampered by the prudishness of Dan-bi who shrieks at the mere sight of an image of a nude body. Jeong-seok is no better as he gets uncomfortable when Dan-bi, in a drunken stupor, talks to him about men’s erections. Are we really supposed to believe that such sexually repressed people would even consider working at a job where all you do is look at porn sites all day? Grow up!

Korean audiences have been lukewarm to this film. Although it opened on January 8th there, it’s already sitting at #9 on that country’s top new local releases. My audience found it a lot funnier than I did so maybe it will do well here.

FORBIDDEN FAIRYTALE opens in Hong Kong today (February 20th). Don’t expect a lot and you won’t be disappointed.

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