Movie Review
Review Miss Granny
Oh Mal Soon (Na Moon Hee) is an elderly lady with a penchant for speaking her mind and causing trouble. She causes great stress towards her daughter-in-law (Hwang Jung-min), spoils her grandson (Jinyoung), and is even in conflict with a woman who frequents the coffee shop in which she works (Park Hye-jin). After discovering Forever Young Portrait Studio, Mal Soon decides to get her picture taken before she loses any more of her looks, and once the photographer declares he “can take 50 years off” her, it is obviously meant literally. She takes what she believes will be her last self-portrait, but when she comes out of the studio, Mal-soon is dumbfounded by her own reflection in the mirror: a fresh, young 20-year-old woman. Taking on the pseudonym Oh Doo Ri – a playful twist on Audrey after Audrey Hepburn – Mal Soon re-examines her life and takes on new experiences.
The movie succeeds due to Shim Eun-kyung's ability to capture many of her predecessor’s quirks and mannerisms. She also makes it perfectly believable that she is really a 74 year-old in both her movements and speech. While Ban Ji-ha character played by B1A4 Jinyoung always invites laughter in every appearance.
This movie is for normal people, touching real life issues, making you laugh, shed a tear or two, amaze you and yes with some corny cliches but definitely zero explosions. In this day and age, I had honestly come to the point where I thought it would be impossible to watch a movie without an explosion and be impressed. Despite very strong comedy element, but does not reduce the content of the message in the movie. After an hour-and-a-half of near non-stop laughter, this 124-minute movie hits squarely on that sore spot where the fear of death, a grief for a misspent youth and the joys of a life we mostly don't appreciate, uneasily co-exist. A bit lengthy, but never dull, Miss Granny may not offer anything new to the straight forward formula, but it does try to tackle every issue you can think of. It avoids jokes that have been worn out by previous films and also contains two sweet love stories that do leave the film open as to how it will all pan out. Explaining the change back to her original age is a controlled choice, as well as showing that there are plusses to both age and youth; this isn’t merely a ‘be happy with who you are’ tale. Like Mal Soon herself, the blood running through the veins is more youthful than what’s on the outside.
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