Natural City

Title: Natural City
Should be Known As: Korean Blade Runner
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Sci-fi, Drama, Action, Romance
Starring: Ji-tae Yu (Oldboy)
Director: Byung-chun Min
Language: Korean

If you need a single phrase to summarise it, “Korean Blade Runner” fits perfectly. In fact, the director apparently made the comparison himself, and many of the DVDs have this proudly branded on the front so let it be known that it's nothing if not apt. Yet, I also feel compelled to make a Tarantino comparison; in the same way that he treads a fine line between 'homage' and 'rip-off' with many of his films this feels the same, and neither are any the worse for it. No, you should not watch this instead of the classic Ridley Scott work but instead think of it as something of an unofficial sequel further exploring the depths of his dystopian vision.

It doesn't take long for the film to get under way with a rapid romp through a medical centre to find rogue combat cyborgs led by the villainous Cyper and discover their purpose there, but this brief foray into matrix-like overuse of slow-motion is a misnomer; this is not what the film is about at all. The easy to remember character called “R” that the film centres around may be a gifted soldier in combat, but he is not without his own agenda, risking the lives of those around him in order to sell the control chips from the defective cyborgs on the black market, desperate to accumulate funds and it's only when you learn his purpose that things begin to make sense. Scolded by his superior officer, Noma, he endures the hardship if it means he can afford the procedure that would save the life of Ria, the woman he loves.

Except – as you might have guessed – she isn't exactly a woman but a cyborg, bought as though from a store to fill the purpose of dancing in a busy club and alluring customers there, given all the free time she could want outside of her dancing hours, and like a piece of hardware she has an expiration date; a point when the mechanics of the chip in her mind will begin to fail, but there is still a faint glimmer of hope in this tragic tale in the form of a mad scientist, Dr. Giro. Removed from the city for conducting unapproved and dangerous experiments, he has derived a means to transfer consciousness from a cyborg chip into the mind of a compatible host, in this case Cyon, a young adult condemned to the outlying slums and recently mourning the loss of her father, trying to find her way through a city that offers no respite or possibility of redemption. As the two meet, R begins to question whether he has the right to end one life in order to save another but his contemplation is short lived; Cyper has been following them and he has his own reasons for wanting her.

It wont make the plot and the technology abundantly clear at first glance; it feels no compulsion to spoon-feed you details and instead will thrust you immediately into the story without explanation making it initially difficult to come to keep up with the plot. It's got little time to pander to Hollywood stereotypes either; R can't really be referred to as a hero in the story given his quest to kill a young girl in his own selfish desires, but the film acts from this point of view. His mannerisms and motivations are not that of an altruistic character but an altogether human one, and like the lack of a narrator guiding you by the hand through each detail, it is this humanity and their fallibility that is left on show, giving you a snapshot into this creative work.

It's also worth emphasising that this is a dramatic film well before it becomes an action film, and going in with any illusions otherwise will leave you sorely disappointed as outside of the few major action sequences it may well appear rather slow, and yet this is also where much of its beauty derives. Ria is often cold and distant, not without emotion but rendered primitive by her rapidly approaching expiration demonstrated by her base desires to dance as she was originally programmed for. And whilst this makes it more difficult to connect with her plight when she doesn't seem to understand it herself, the strength is in the reaction to her slowly decaying mind; the lead protagonist desperately in love with her as she loses her memories like an alzheimers patient, and it takes Cyon the course of the film to fully comprehend the consequences of this bitter twist of fate.

Shot on a budget of only a few million the backdrops even look similar to Blade Runner, and ample time is devoted to exploring the world in both its post-apocalyptic slum surroundings and the hotbed of technology housed within the cramped city, the dirty skyline littered with neon lights hiding the clubs and bars on the fringes of the law allowed the free reign to carry about their affairs. For such a modest sum the money clearly went to great use in creating (or perhaps re-creating is more appropriate) a rich and vibrant world; the use of CGI never feels disconnected to the locations and the result is one which is all too easy to become lost in. The story may not raise as many psychological questions but the moral is far more clear cut than that; cyborgs may not exist in modern times but taboo relationships certainly do, and despite the condemnation of others the simple fact remains: you can't control who you love.