STDs and Prostitution – For Kids!

Welcome to No Use High School, a multi-religion private school where students study atheism, the teachers beg to be spanked, and the principal might very well be a mythical beast. Dasepo Naughty Girls is Korea's entry into the hyper-stylized candy-colored absurdist comedy genre that has been popular of late in Japan, and it fits nicely alongside films like Survive Style 5+, Yaji and Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims, and Funky Forest. Based on the Internet manhwa Multicellular Girls, this comedy-musical (yes!) is surprisingly quite chaste, given its title and subject matter. Granted, students are either prostituting themselves or riddled with sexually transmitted diseases (or both), and there are transvestites, transsexuals, and something called instant virgin chips, yet there's little to be found that appeals to the prurient interest. After a catchy opening credits song and dance number, Dasepo Naughty Girls introduces us to a group of (mostly) unnamed students who are learning to cope with differences that separate them from their classmates. Sexually frustrated (and eponymous) Cyclops is the class' lone virgin, whose drop-dead gorgeous sister Two Eyes is the object of affection for Swiss exchange student Antony, who struggles with his own sexuality when he learns that she is in fact a he. Then there's Poor Girl, a sweet, destitute teen who literally carries poverty around on her shoulders. Her relationship with cross-dressing gangster Big Razor Sis just might be the key to providing financial support for her sickly mother who is involved in a pyramid scheme selling.....yep, pyramids. Like its source material, the film has an overwhelmingly episodic feel to it. Though this segues into a more traditional narrative by the third act, some early scenes actually close with the "wah-wah" of a muted trumpet, right out of some second rate sketch comedy. It's somewhat of a mixed bag, but there are a handful of clever, hysterical sequences to make up for those that fall flat. Credit must be given to the cast of young actors who play it straight throughout, no matter how absurd the material gets. Same goes for their performances during the musical numbers, which are presented karaoke style, with highlighted lyrics for those who wish to sing along. In some ways the film is a tremendous departure for director Lee Je-yong, whose last film, Untold Scandal, was a Chosun Dynasty-era rendition of Dangerous Liaisons. However, in that film (as well as his earlier An Affair) Lee exposes a certain hypocrisy in Korean moral attitudes towards sex, and that criticism can be found in Dasepo Naughty Girls as well, though exaggerated for comedic effect. The kids of No Use High are a product of our times, where access to the Internet is a requirement for all but the most basic life functions. When not relying on their portable devices to answer questions in class or arrange dates, they use it for everything from sexual advice to quickly learning the difference between yin and yang. Is Lee making a statement about the co-dependent relationship between today's youth and new technology, or how the Web has become something of a surrogate parent? I tend to think so, but I'm not entirely sure. The difficulty in determining exactly what Dasepo Naughty Girls is meant to be might explain its extremely poor showing at the Korean box office. It's too intelligent to be a simple teen sex comedy, yet not edgy enough to attract a wider spectrum of viewers. Still, it is unquestionably one of the most original, memorable, and funniest Korean films of 2006. Dasepo Naughty Girls will be shown in the Panorama section of this year's Berlinale.