Movie Digest
The mother of aspiring singer Soon-deok, with whom she has not spoken in years, visits her. The chance encounter reveals that her younger sister Yoo Ri had disappeared with their savings. The mother-daughter team searches around Itaewon, the international district of Seoul, for the missing girl and their money. They have no idea they will soon have to deal with Yoo Ri’s unlikely secrets.
The Feel-Good Part
The gradual development of a severed mother-daughter relationship is one of the best things to witness in this film. There are diverse characters throughout the film. The young black Korean man is Jeong-bok, played by Terris Brown, and he is just one of the many fascinating and colorful misfit characters who appear here and there throughout the journey of Soon-deok and her mother.
The Disappointing Factor
The film’s ending does not show Yoo Ri to give us closure to the investigation that began the journey of mother and Blue. It seems as if the case resolves itself. Other than that, there is not anything in particular that stands out as a disappointing factor.
In-Depth Analysis
Jazzy Misfits is the second feature film directed by Nam Yeon-woo, who previously captured the attention of South Korean audiences and critics with his intriguing debut feature film Lost to Shame. While Lost to Shame is more intense in comparison, Jazzy Misfits is enhanced by the noticeable mood and spirit on screen, which shows us that Nam is a good director with a lot of potentials. Soon-deok goes by the stage name Blue. Her high school sister lives back and forth with Blue and their mother. Their mother is poor at parenting. Even though it seems like she has money somehow, Blue and Yoo Ri try to avoid her because she’s generally so needlessly hostile and destructive. The movie is blunt in demonstrating that Blue’s mother is a bad parent, even though it successfully styles itself as an offbeat buddy comedy mystery. Between the mother and daughter, there is big visual contrast. The blue suit contrasts with the red coat, long curly black hair contrasts with short, bleached hair, and dark tan against pale white skin are a few examples. The two polar opposite main characters of the movie travel back and forth in a vibrant Itaewon district of Seoul. The film portrays Itaewon as a hideout and safe place for loafers rather than fetishizing it as a hip location where various types of individuals and foreigners congregate. Without ever really liking or trusting Blue’s Mom all that much, the movie made it simple for us to understand her. The eventual revelation of the third act feels anticlimactic, but Kang Hyeong-Joo’s screenplay does not lose sight of the nuanced relationship between Soon-deok and her mother.
Star Power
Cheetah (Soon-deok) did a great job with her role while also showcasing her musical talents. Jo Min-soo and Cheetah together complement each other’s characters very well. The supporting cast Terris Brown, an American, performs admirably and steals the show.
Overall Opinion
It is a fun and heart-touching movie about a mother-daughter relationship that gives all types of emotions. Highly recommend it to all!
