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Satin shirts and smooth cheeks - Waikiki Brothers is a band going nowhere. After another depressing gig, the three members end up at lead singer Sungwoo's home town, Suanbo. Once a popular hot spring resort - and a place where live bands could thrive back in the 80s and early 90s - Suanbo now boasts karaoke bars and glitzy hotels. For Sungwoo, the return home is filled with reservations and disappointments. He reunites with his old friends, the original Waikiki Brothers - now far from happy - and Inhee, his unrequited first love, now widowed. But when the band is fired from their nightclub gig, Sungwoo is driven to perform on the dreaded karaoke set.
Like Im Soonrye's first film, Three Friends (MIFF 1997), her concern is again with society's oddballs: those aspiring to modern manners yet weighed down by conservative mores. Steering clear of cheap gags at the expense of her subjects, Im's second feature is a moving portrait of youth seeking answers in a changing Korea.
Im Soonrye (born in Inchon, Korea, 1960) completed a masters degree in film studies at the University Paris 8 in France in 1992. Her debut feature, Three Friends (MIFF 1997) premiered at the Pusan Film Festival, where it won the Netpac award for best Asian film.