Dasepo Naughty Girls

A movie featuring an entire class getting STD's from a teacher—and each other—sounds like it would be a grim fable or a shocking attempt at humor. Dasepo Naughty Girls (based on a Korean web comic) manages to avoid being either by incorporating some of both. Add in some very entertaining and cute song & dance numbers and you get a film that is sometimes poignant, frequently hilarious, and hugely enjoyable. Dasepo Naughty Girls is a wickedly funny high school romp. If you're going to watch one high school musical, I strongly recommend this one.

The movie is filled with entertaining characters too. It largely focuses on Poor Girl (Ok-bin Kim), and impoverished girl who has begun moonlighting as a teen prostitute. If that sounds grim… well it is, a bit, but her customers aren’t actually paying her for sex. One just wants someone to play Playstation games with, another is a cross-dressing loan shark gangster who just wants to hang out and engage in teenage girl gossip. Despite that, the film doesn’t take the easy way out on controversial subjects—it portrays many of the issues it tackles with wit and genuine emotion.

Those issues include transgender teens, kids trying to deal with being gay (definitely a tough subject in Korea, but it’s been getting more media attention lately), a possessed teacher hell-bent on purifying the school, poverty, adoption, physical deformity leading to being a social outcast, and more.

Pretty much every time the story starts getting a little too sad, it gets spiced up with a musical number. These are excellent, often highly colorful numbers, set to a wide range of music, including surf rock, mariachi, small soulful pieces where the kids sing about their true feelings, and even some Swiss yodeling. There’s even a great intro number where pink-haired, pink schoolgirl-outfit attired girls that wouldn’t be out of place as punk Rockettes dance around the school introducing characters. These numbers would easily fit in a really good Bollywood comedy. They have the same joyous energy as great Bollywood musical numbers, and that’s a good thing.

Is this a film for everyone? No. The controversial subject matter is bound to upset some people, and they might as well skip it. If, however, you have a thicker skin and it sounds interesting, I highly recommend checking it out. You don’t get a movie that combines these elements successfully often.  Dasepopo Naughty Girls does, and I enjoyed it immensely.