[HanCinema's Film Review] "Pick Up Artist"

The four main characters in "Pick Up Artist" all suffer from the same basic problem. They feel completely emasculated by the cold unforgiving world around them, and in order to rejuvenate their masculinity, they resort to maximizing their sexual output by working in a team specifically designed to cover all the personality traits that women find attractive. Then, after a night of carousing, they and their partners become drunk enough to take their paramours to a night of intercourse.

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There's an inherently depressing quality in that mechanical description that "Pick Up Artist" wisely never bothers to escape from. The opening scenes are an excellent look into how the process of being a stud with women works. Step by step, the narration details how to slowly build up the sexual tension, how these men become more persuasive and attractive as the night drags on, and how they keep the chemistry moving even as they move on to new locales and eventually separate into male / female pairs.

Of course, having the process explained so well kills almost all of the appeal. It lends an extremely creepy countenance to the four men that doesn't really go away even when we consider the fact that the women are also probably looking for the exact same thing. It's all an outrageous game of malarky to these people. Why in the world would anyone choose to present themselves in such a disingenous, misleading way?

Well because they want sex. Although the reasons as to why the men want sex are actually quite varied. Interestingly, none of the men are perverted horndogs who just want to release biological urges. In many ways they're just depressed, or feeling betrayed. Specifically, a lot of them feel betrayed by women- either their significant others or distant memories of past interactions. Manipulating strangers into sex is one reasonably effective way to feel confident and strong again, having been humiliated in the past.

If this all sounds terrible that's because it is. While director Jun Do-han clearly feels sympathy for these men, he doesn't romanticize their situation. Indeed, a specific point is made of the fact that it's an absence of honest communication in their lives that have caused the four main characters to resort to this lifestyle. These men are trying to escape that moment of honesty where they might seriously get hurt, and even the promise of commitment-less sex can only extend the deadline so far.

The main stumbling block "Pick Up Artist" runs into is when the story finally addresses these points. Inevitably the men must recognize that they, and everyone else they know, is an actual person with feelings rather than a mindless sex machine. The denouement is predictable, and perhaps a bit too happy given the negatives we see of the process. Regardless, "Pick Up Artist" still manages to succeed on the force of its blunt honesty, tackling a social topic sympathetically rather than trying to force its characters into stands of arbitrary villainy. There's a pretty good parallelism with the misogynist bent of pick up culture there to boot.

This review was written by William Schwartz as a part of HanCinema's PiFan (Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival) coverage.

"Pick Up Artist" is directed by Jun Do-han and features Park Yong-bum, Choi Ho-joong, Tak Ho-yeon, Kim Dae-woo-I and Jung Min-gyul.