Innocent Steps (2005)

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The part of Innocent Steps that deals with the developing love between professional dancer Young-Sae and innocent 19 year old immigrant Chae-rin succeeds brilliantly. There is nothing that is not entirely believable and touching about their love, from Young-Sae's initial rejection of Chae-rin, to his compassion for her when she is in danger of being forced into prostitution, to the gradual development of their relationship from being a sham marriage into becoming a real couple, and ending with their lyrical declarations of mutual love during their (separate) immigration interviews.The dance-competition-thwarted-by-malevolent-gangster portions of the movie suffer greatly by comparison. It's simply not believable that Chae-rin can go in only three months from being a complete novice to what is apparently the best female dancer in all of Korea. So much so that Young-Sae's chief rival goes to extraordinary lengths to not only break up the partnership but also steal Chae-rin for himself. That's quite an achievement for a 19 year old girl, who looks more like 12. I wasn't buying it. Even if I did, the plot twists guaranteed that there would be no triumphant performance for Young-Sae and Chae-rin in the national competition. Admittedly, having the underdog succeed against all odds is a sports movie cliché. I would have been receptive to a well thought out alternative, but in this case the alternative reads something like "The world is an evil place. Get used to it." What a disappointment.Fortunately the writers came to their senses soon enough to allow Young-Sae and Chae-rin a future together. Overall, Innocent Steps rates a five for a great love story mixed with an overly melodramatic plot.

Innocent Steps is a South Korean film.It stars Moon Geun-Young, Kim Byeol and Park Geon-Hyeong. The film was written and directed by Park Young-hoon. The theme of this movie is "Success can not bring you happiness if the one you love is far away".Chae-rin, without even knowing the basics of dancing, comes to Seoul to attend a national sports dancing championship as a substitute for her dancing-queen sister, who is forced to skip the Seoul event for personal reasons. Chae-rin thus manages to enter South Korea on her sister's passport. Her partner in the competition is Na Young-sae, a former member of the country's dance sport team. But Chae-rin is soon caught living a lie. After some twists and turns, she learns dancing from Young-sae and love, too.Though the movie is formulaic,clichéd and predictable,it still manages to entertain viewers who love a good romantic comedy.

Typical underdog story about a fallen dance champ (Park Kyon-hyeong) forced pair up with a mousy Korean-Chinese immigrant (Moon Geun-young from A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) in need of citizenship in order to take back the crown. Plays all the familiar notes from just about any sport competition movie you'd care to remember, but cleverly opts out of the usual, predictable triumphant ending by having Moon enter the big dance finals with with Park's dirty rival (!). Moon's a doll in this, as she has been in everything she's been in so far (think LOVER'S CONCERTO or better yet, MY LITTLE BRIDE). WIth a face seemingly purpose-built for crying at the slightest hint of heartbreak, she can only be a natural; her character has to remain doe-eyed and lovestruck with Park, and typically selfless in spite of his harsh ways, while becoming a seasoned professional dancer in a very short period of time. Another reason I like a movie like this: the leads are actually required to DANCE. Their routines are modest, but frequent long tales reveal that they did indeed learn some killer moves. The championship dance is built from editing more than performer skill, but one can still see the effort being applied.

Na Young-sae was once touted as the best dance trainer in Korea, and was in contention for another trophy during the national dance competition, until dirty underhand tactics by rivals ruined it all for him. Seeking a comeback, his manager and him hatched a plan to import a foreign talent from China, Jang Chae-rin, to partner with him and reclaim his spot at the top.Alas, Chae-rin turns out to be the inexperienced teenage sister of the real mccoy, and Young-sae goes into a frenzy as the championships is only 3 months away. Reluctantly, and realizing the lack of time, Young-sae has no choice but to make do with what he has, and put his training skills to the test in turning a rookie into a professional ballroom dancer.The storyline sounds familiar, like Dirty Dancing's, exploring the situational device of having a teacher and his protégé go through their lives together experiencing new found relationships through the language of dance. They start off awkwardly, and most of the time the plot focuses on the rigorous training in which Young-sae puts Chae-rin through. There is an unnecessary subplot though, of the marriage investigators who probe into the fake marriage between Young-sae and Chae-rin (that's the rouse used to get her to Korea), just to add to some laughs.Dance has always been associated with passion, feelings and love. This movie doesn't stray from these themes, and the main leads heat up the screen with their sensual dance moves, albeit too little screen time. Just when you thought it's time for them to take on the championships and arch-rivals, the plot takes a twist, which I thought was probably an attempt to avoid being predictable.Ladies might want to prepare your hankies for the emotional scene towards the end, where Young-sae and Chae-rin declares their love for each other indirectly at the marriage bureau. Extremely touching that, especially when you think back on their attempts to fabricate a fictional story on their relationship, which has taken on for real.It is of course helpful that the two leads are eye candy. Park Keon-hyeong as Young-sae seemed to have the easier role of the mentor, snarling most of the time with a diva-ish, yet tender attitude towards his protégé. Mun Guen-yeong has the tougher role to flesh, transforming herself from simple naive girl into chic professional dancer, with a heart pining for Young-sae. The chemistry between the two is superb, and their dances together once they got their groove right, just magical.Which of course brings me to my main gripe - I want more! But the attempt to make the story unconventional turned my request down, although the end credits featured a clip of them dancing, serving as some kind of compensation for the lack of dancing screen time. It's not the partner, but the partnership that mattered, said Young-sae. It rocked, and left me wanting more! Some might find it "been-there-done-that", but I recommend this for those who which to get jiggy with it on the dance floor. I found myself tapping to the soundtrack as we get whirled around the ballroom, and I'm sure ballroom dance lovers, or romantics at heart, will do the same too.