Romance Joe

This sly, entertaining, lively puzzle-piece drama from South Korea sees a successful young movie director holed up in an all-night drinking session with a guileless young prostitute. He’s there to work on his new script, but has a severe case of writer’s block. Instead, it’s the story that his paid-up companion tells him – about a gloomy young man called Romance Joe – that grips him. Stories reside within stories, and flashbacks disclose further flashbacks in director Lee Kwangkuk’s intriguing debut. The structure is intricate and sophisticated but Lee’s touch is light, playful and quietly assured.