Gangnam Beauty

Between a traditional Korean mask dance and a humanoid robot, we are introduced to the internet personality Oli London, who has a dreamy look in their eyes. This English-born 30-something is totally hooked on South Korea, especially the K-pop idol Jimin. Oli has already spent a fortune on plastic surgery in an attempt to look exactly like their great love—not always with the desired results.

While Oli talks (mostly off-screen) about what drives them, their story is accompanied by expressive images of enchanted landscapes, wooden masks, dancers, street scenes, and other evocations of traditional and modern Korea. This attractively stylized hybrid form fuses documentary with theater, and myth with dream and reality.

Parallel to this personal account, Oli also plays the two leading roles in the re-imagining of an ancient legend, which tells of an artisan who hopes to appease the spirits by making a series of masks, unaware that the love of his girlfriend will lead to a dramatic conclusion.