Deep down we’re all the Ballerina. Lee Chung-Hyun’s 2023 film Ballerina is a character study of quiet pain and loss, punctuated with visceral, over the top action and a villain you love to hate.
Starring Jeon Jong-Seo (Rachel Jun) as a cold and detached security specialist in what is sure to put her on the map, Ballerina has a painfully methodical and unspoken narrative. Sparse though it may be, when the action hits, it hits hard with some genuinely creative storytelling in the brutal ballet of violence.
Shout out to Kim Ji-Hoon as the villain Choi Pro, who is definitely choice bro. Handsome, insanely fit and definitely unhinged, chewing every piece of scenery. Sporting a wonderful cameo for National Grandma Kim Young-ok wielding a flame-thrower, there’s something here for most everyone. Watch and wonder then listen with us.