Hyungtae is a game programmer working on the ultimate online dating game. Working 24/7 on the 30th floor of the tallest building in Seoul, the company's future, whether or not it sinks to the bottom depends on the success of the game. Inju, a former champion swimmer, works on the bottom floor at the Sea World aquarium, feeding the fishes and seals. But things are not going well. Hyungtae's company is running out of money, he desperately needs sleep, and a beta-test player with the login name "Byulee" has declared that she hates the game. As for Inju, she's working hard to perform as a mermaid but having trouble holding her breath.
Hyungtae finds out that "Byulee" works in the same building and he sets out to make "Byulee" fall in love with his game and his online character "Mello." "Byulee" is in real life Inju, and when Hyungtae meets Inju, he soon finds that the game is becoming more real than he imagined possible. And for Inju, she finds in "Mello" a perfect partner, but is also attracted to Hyungtae. When and where does the game end and love begin?
Another of the recent string of Korean romantic drama movies focusing on the N (Network) generation, Who Are You pulls the same formula of routine boy-meets-girl movies similar to “You’ve Got Mail.” Yet it successfully pulls away with a few new tricks up it’s sleeve. What it does similar to other movies of the genre are that Hyung-Tae meets Inju, and falls in love with her, and just when Inju seems to fall for him as well, Hyung-Tae does something to foul up what could have otherwise been a healthy relationship. And you just know that she’ll forgive him and they’ll be happy ever after. What “Who Are You” does different and saves itself from mediocrity is how the story and production are executed.
In what could have been another hum-drum story, we are taken through CG segments where the characters interact with each others persona where they meet online in the fictional dating game world “Who Are You.” The game is somewhat similar to Will Wright’s “The Sims,” only not as deep and complex. The character’s meet in a sort of “Everquest” manner and are able to create small worlds for each other. The character of Hyung-Tae’s “Mello” creates Inju’s “Byulee” an artificial lake based off of her favorite real life lake: Titicaca. They can turn on a real time voice translator which allows them to talk to each other and hear each other’s voices through their speakers. However, through the beta testing of the game, they are only allowed to converse with their game partner. For purposes of advancing his own aspirations, Byulee’s partner is Hyung-Tae’s alter-ego Mello. In the virtual world, under their game identities, Mello and Byulee have late night chats, and go for virtual rides through digitized areas of Seoul. During the day, the two also converse and see each other on a regular basis. However, it is actually only online that Hyung-Tae says and does the right things. In person, he’s actually quite the bastard saying all the wrong things and just pissing off Inju. Hyung-Tae’s character is such an arrogant pompous for the majority of the film that I really wanted his character to drown or get shot just to satisfy my hatred for him. At one point in the film, he pushes one of Inju’s friends and tells her to stop crying and that he hated it when women cry. What kind of man is that I asked myself. Lying to this poor girl and taking advantage of her to ensure his game’s success! This guy deserved the bubonic plague for all I cared! I wanted him to contract a rare exotic disease and have his skin melt off. Luckily, he redeems himself later on in the movie, which stopped me from taking this movie out and chucking it across the room. Now don’t think that I absolutely hate this movie because I assure you, it’s quite the contrary. Well, after that point on, I can honestly say that I enjoyed the movie. The way that he redeems himself and ensures the company’s success is applaudible. Through his actions, he grows from his sniveling brat of a boy that he was and into a self-respecting man.
Another thing that this movie has going for it is its outstanding cinematography and music composition. I enjoyed the dynamic camera angles used in the production of this movie like the segments that take place in the aquarium among others. The music was also something that I really took pleasure in. I am such a music whore. I know it and I love the fact that I am. The music used in this movie was either very melodic or alternative sounding. There are tracks by such bands as Crying Nut, Lazy Bone, Julia Hart, and Blue In Green. I liked the soundtrack so much; I ordered the CD soundtrack the very next day.
I had one minor gripe with this movie though, and that has to do with the editing. During some scene transitions, the editing would just be very abrupt. Occasionaly a song would begin to play and the scene would just end, cutting off the song instantly. Sometimes I’d think, “Oh cool, something good is about to happen” because some good music began to play, and guess what? It would just end all of a sudden and switch to the next scene. I was let down a couple times because of this problem with the editing. Nevertheless, I found “Who Are You” to be an engaging and decent movie despite some of the problems of predicatability and editing.
CJ Entertainment provides us wth a pretty decent DVD of an equally decent movie. Video is a clean, crisp, and vibrant 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. As for audio, we are given a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1, or Dolby Digital 2.0. Both sounded fine for the given material. Extras include Making Of, Production Notes, Behind the Scenes, Cast & Crew, Music Video, Still Gallery, and Trailers for Who Are You.