by awcoconuts

What will those zany Korean filmmakers come up with next? School of Youth is a 19+ rated Joseon-era comedy movie that’s been getting press for its blatant sex scenes and nudity. Its filled with teenage hijinks and thankfully, relatively little sageuk-speak, although perhaps that would have added an extra level of hilarity to the bizarre premise?

The film stars Lee Min-ho (the former child actor, of Prime Minster and I, Rooftop Prince and The Moon That Embraces The Sun), and Bae Seul-gi (Unemployed Romance) as students at a local village school. When Lee Min-ho and his friend are pounced on at night and, uh, subsequently de-flowered by an unknown female assailant, the two boys and a third friend (who laments his misfortune at getting left out) embark on a search for the aggressor’s identity.

Remembering that the attacker had a noticeable mole on her rear end (pffft), the trio stake out the local gisaeng house. The boys come up with some elaborate and some not-so-elaborate ways to peep at unsuspecting men and women in compromising positions, looking for exposed body parts and the telltale beauty mark. After they discover Bae Seul-gi has a mole on her bottom, she becomes the prime suspect.

Sung-eun

Actress Sung-eun (full name Park Sung-eun; she was in Fantasy Tower) is gaining notoriety for a topless scene in the movie. Both she and Bae Seul-gi show some skin, a source enthusiastically promoted.

Bae Seul-gi

There’s some diarrhea humor involving a teacher thrown in (think Dumb and Dumber) and the overall vibe I’m getting is American Pie in the Joseon era, with a little mystery and suspense thrown in. When I ignore the obvious problems with the plot (I can’t imagine a slapstick comedy about the rape of two teenage girls and a male predator would go over as well, but maybe if you throw everything under a sageuk cloak, where the leads aren’t really underage and where the term sexism doesn’t exist, audiences won’t take issue?), this could be a case where a movie is sooo wrong, it somehow is ingeniously right.

Filming began last September and School of Youth hits theaters March 27th.

There’s also a more sexually explicit version of the trailer, which is NSFW.