Please Teach Me English

Please Teach Me English (Korean: 영어완전정복; RR: Yeongeo Wanjeon Jeongbok; lit. "The Complete Mastering of English") is a 2003 South Korean comedy about a young woman who begins English lessons after she is unable to help a foreigner at her government office.[1]

Please Teach Me English
Theatrical poster
Hangul영어완전정복
Hanja英語完全征服
Revised RomanizationYeongeo Wanjeon Jeongbok
McCune–ReischauerYŏngŏ Wanjŏn Chŏngpok
Directed byKim Sung-su
Produced byJo Min-hwan
Kim Sung-su
Written byNo Hye-yeong
Choi Hee-dae
Kim Sung-su
StarringLee Na-young
Jang Hyuk
Music byJo Seong-woo
CinematographyKim Hyung-koo
Edited byNam Na-yeong
Distributed byCinema Service
Release date
  • 5 November 2003 (2003-11-05)
Running time
118 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean
English

Synopsis

Park Mun-su (Jang Hyuk) and Na Young-ju (Lee Na-young) are classmates in a private English class. Mun-su frequently chases women while working in his shoe shop. However, Young-ju has an unreciprocated interest in him. They eventually become friends, and frequently sit together in class.

One day, Young-ju boasts about a pig on her grandparents' farm who can recognize the English alphabet. The class decide to visit the pig, only to discover it has been eaten the same day and Young-ju just invented the whole story. Young-ju tries to train a piglet to recognize the alphabet; and when Mun-su finds out about her efforts, he tries to help her. However, the pig escapes, and has to be recaptured. The class and Young-ju's family have a party that night.

One day, while riding the bus, Young-ju catches Mun-su showing the photo of a woman who she mistakenly believes to be his girlfriend. Discouraged by this, Young-ju skips English classes. Her teacher, an Australian woman, tries to convince her to return to the classes. Young-ju attends a farewell party for the class, but Mun-su is not there. Afterwards she meets Mun-su's mother, who is looking for him. She discovers that his mother is about to meet the girl in the photo.

The girl, known as Victoria or Mun-young, speaks no Korean and needs Young-ju to translate. Dressed in a hanbok, Mun-su's mother and talking to Victoria, Young-ju, who thinks Victoria is her rival, purposefully translates incorrectly telling Victoria; "You looked more beautiful in the photo." Victoria is astonished. Young-ju tells Victoria that everybody hates her because she is not Korean. Victoria asks her to tell Mun-su's mother that she came with good intentions and leaves. Mun-su arrives to find his mother weeping. Young-ju hides. Victoria has checked out of the hotel, but Young-ju stops her car, and admits that she lied. Victoria reunites with Mun-su and his mother. Ashamed, Young-ju boards a train but Mun-su follows her, leaving his family behind. She tries to hide from him, but Mun-su finds Young-ju, loudly confessing to her that Victoria is not his girlfriend, but his long-lost sister from New York. They make up, kissing in the train, with the entire train cheering them on. They marry and have a baby.

The animated opening credits illustrates the protagonists' confrontational stance with the language.

Cast

  • Lee Na-young as Na Young-ju
  • Jang Hyuk as Park Mun-su
  • Angela Kelly as Catherine
  • Na Moon-hee as Mun-su's mother
  • Kim Yong-gun as Young-ju's father
  • Kim Young-ae as Young-ju's mother
  • Kim In-moon as Young-ju's grandfather
  • Moon Mi-bong as Young-ju's grandmother
  • Jung Sang-hoon as Young-ju's younger brother
  • Lee Chang-hwan as Richard
  • Baek Ye-young as Julie
  • Jung Suk-yong as Tyson
  • Hwang Hyo-eun as Betty
  • Choi Joo-bong as Chief of district office
  • Kang Nam-young as Bo-kyeong
  • Lee So-eun as Mun-young
  • Kim Sun-hwa as Madam
  • Jo Jae-yoon as Manager Hong
  • Jang Ji-soo as Miss Lee
  • Yoo Hae-jin as Subway passenger (cameo)
  • Lee Beom-soo as Subway passenger (cameo)
  • Jung Doo-hong as Terrorist (cameo)
  • Kim In-kwon as Sergeant (cameo)

References

  1. Paquet, Darcy. "Please Teach Me English". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
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