[HanCinema's Film Review] "A Case of a College Girl Lee Nan-Hee of Special Investigation Center" + Full Movie

When a film starts with an intro like this "This story is an investigative record of the criminal acts of the South Labor Party, based on investigations at the army, prosecution, court's rulings and testimonies" which is preceded by a group of communists putting acetic acid in eggs to use as weapons, it is not easy to realize that the whole thing is going to be intensely propagandistic. At the same time, however, the genre effort here is so bad, that the whole thing ends up being cult. Let us take things from the beginning though.

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The rather messy story seems to go like this. Lee Nan-hee is a very beautiful college girl, who has been recruited by her boyfriend Park to be a member of a communist terrorist group. However, when he dies during an operation, the Federal Investigation Bureau starts searching for the girl, who manages, though, to escape arrest with the help of her comrades. Through a network that includes a florist who gives orders when he receives the proper codes, Lee Nan-hee is trained to assassinations techniques, and is eventually sent to kill the Chief of the Investigation Bureau, Kim. Using her appeal, she manages to get pretty close, but the man is saved at the last minute. However, Lee soon finds herself in love with him and not able to carry out her mission, as a series of arrests, time in prison, and fights between the two opposing factions takes place.

The way Seol Tae-ho approaches the story and purpose of the film does not stand to much critique, since the narrative is filled with faults and holes while the majority of the characters, and particularly Nan-hee look like caricatures, while the leftists are also portrayed as rather violent individuals, eager to fight both the enemy and among themselves.

If one does not take the whole thing seriously however, in b-movie, cult terms, the whole thing truly thrives. For starters, An In-suk truly stands out in the titular role due to her clothes and intense make up, but Seol has also taken care of showing her in a number of instances where she could only be described as sultry, with the prison one in particular winking at exploitation films, even though the movie never crosses to any sex or nudity. This aspect also benefits the most by Hong Seong-uk's cinematography, which can easily be described as sleazy on occasion, and amusingly faulted in others, as in his use of some curved shots that appear out of nowhere. The intense punishment she receives, also from other women, cements this approach.

Furthermore, the way the romance proceeds, with Nan-hee changing from femme fatale to a victim of her feelings is also dlightfullyl cheesy, even if the effort to show how a leftist girl cannot help herself when she stumbles upon a rightist, rather worthy male specimen, is one of the most propagandistic elements in the movie. Lastly, the many and occasionally rather lengthy fighting scenes (particularly when one considers the overall aesthetics of the movie) are truly bad, in the most entertaining way. Starting with the fact that most fighters are elderly and not particularly fit, continuing with the whole concept of the exploding eggs, and finishing with the rather absurd sound and Kim Chang-sun's editing, everything here points towards a b-movie, with the fact that this was not the director's purpose adding even more to the fun the title offers.

And that is all essentially about "A Case of a College Girl Lee Nan-Hee of Special Investigation Center" a film that viewers will suffer if they take it seriously and have a lot of fun if they take it as a b-movie.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"A Case of a College Girl Lee Nan-Hee of Special Investigation Center" is directed by Seol Tae-ho, and features An In-suk, Choi Moo-ryong, Jang Hyuk-I, Lee Dae-yub, Lee Hyang, Park Na-yeong. Release date in Korea: 1973/11/03.