Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

The Beauty Inside Blu-ray Movie Review

To thine own selves be true.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 30, 2016

If you’re like most people, at some point during the day, probably fairly early in the morning, you pass by your bathroom mirror and take a gander at yourself, reacquainting yourself with what you look like. It’s such a regular feature of life that most folks probably don’t give it a second thought, simply taking in the “sights” and moving on without ever really pausing to ponder the mystery of existence, unless of course some fright like a gigantic new pimple has shown up at the tip of the nose. Folks who have undergone extensive plastic surgery or (even more dramatically) had to undergo the relatively new phenomenon of the face transplant have had to deal with getting used to an at least partially “new” face greeting them in the mirror every day, and for those folks, the central conceit of The Beauty Inside may be more relatable than it will be for the vast majority of audience members. Based on a little remembered 2012 “social film” (an interactive entry designed around the supposed blandishments of social media) put together by Toshiba and Intel (there’s a producing team for you), this South Korean “reboot” focuses on a young man who has been experiencing a rather bizarre phenomenon since his eighteenth birthday: every morning he wakes up as a new person, at least on the outside. While his consciousness remains the same, his physical appearance changes, with absolutely no tether to age, gender, ethnicity or nationality. Sometimes he spends the day as an aged senior woman, on other occasions he can be a raucous young boy. That virtually defines The Beauty Inside as “high concept”, and that concept in and of itself may provide enough interest for some viewers. But with at least a few gaping plot holes in evidence, and a frankly kind of surprising unwillingness to really tackle some issues this concept raises, The Beauty Inside often ends up playing like a just slightly more provocative than usual romantic comedy.

Well over one hundred actors and actresses are credited with playing the central character in The Beauty Inside, a young (originally) male furniture designer named Woo-jin. Since his eighteenth birthday, Woo-jin has withdrawn from public life for obvious reasons, with only his mother (Moon Sook) and kind of nerdy best friend Sang-baek (Lee Dong-hwi) knowing about his rather peculiar anomaly. That doesn’t stop Sang-baek from repeatedly urging his buddy to go out clubbing, especially when Woo-jin's “face of the day” is a handsome young buck sure to attract female interest. In just the first of several elisions that don’t really stand up to much scrutiny, a montage of sorts has the two friends carousing through a series of females, with Sang-baek almost gleefully telling the girls about his friend’s odd transformations (not that they believe him, of course). Since Woo-jin “morphs” overnight, when he does indulge in a one night stand (which he seems to do regularly, at least based on this very montage), he needs to sneak out unnoticed the next morning when he wakes up as a “new” individual. Some analytical types may already be wondering why Woo-jin doesn’t just indulge in carnal activities during the day to preclude this potentially embarrassing situation, but like several other issues which are never adequately detailed and/or explained in the film, it’s simply a given here, one the viewer is forced to accept as part of the overriding conceit.

Things get ostensibly even more complicated when Woo-jin falls for a gorgeous young woman named Yi-soo (Han Hyo-joo). His initial strategy to woo the girl involves waiting until he’s really attractive (which he does), and then trying to forego sleep in order to stave off any horrifying transformation. As could be predicted, this approach is doomed to failure, but perhaps surprisingly, the film doesn’t go into farce mode detailing the proceedings. Instead, a relatively facile resolution is achieved fairly early in the proceedings, leaving the rest of the film to wallow in various predicaments as Yi-soo has to deal with staying in love with a guy who may in fact not be a guy the next time she sees him.

It’s interesting and perhaps even instructive to contrast The Beauty Inside with other “gender transformative” films like Orlando. The Beauty Inside tends to deal with the whole sexual issue that arises from these changes almost discursively, with little throwaway (supposedly comedic) moments like Sang-baek urging his friend to “do him” when Woo-jin is an attractive young female, without ever really taking the time to explore how Woo-jin feels about being a female. That approach tends to erect a wall of sorts between the audience and any emotional content, since The Beauty Inside ultimately seems to be more interested in how Yi-soo responds to the situation rather than how Woo-jin is handling it. By way of comparison, Orlando was a much more “interior” affair, perhaps more artfully exploring some of the psychological nuances that would attend such a startling change.

Needlessly over convoluted "metaphysics" aside, The Beauty Inside creates a number of questions it never satisfactorily answers, and as such tends to defeat its very concept at several key junctures. The film, which runs a bit over two hours, could have been judiciously trimmed, which may have helped achieve a bit more emotional momentum as things cascade toward the kind of happy ending that doesn't depend on what you look like (or indeed even what gender you may be at the moment).

The Beauty Inside Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Beauty Inside is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Digitally shot with Arri Alexa XT cameras, this release sports a solid if at times kind of undistinguished looking appearance, one which offers the typical sharpness and precision of the digital format while never really popping in any significant way. Part of this is due to the fact that much of the film takes place in the shadowy interiors of Woo-jin's office design studio, and part is also due to the fact that (as seems to be increasingly the case these days) director Jong-Yeol Baek and cinematographer Tae-kyung Kim opt to shoot into (or at least towards) light sources, something that often bathes at least part of the frame in a kind of gauzy softness, as can be clearly seen in some of the screenshots accompanying this review. Generally speaking, though, detail levels are well above average, contrast is consistent if not overly strong, and black levels are similarly decent if never overwhelmingly deep. There are no issues with image instability or compression anomalies.

The Beauty Inside Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Beauty Inside features a workmanlike DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track (in the original Korean, with optional English subtitles) that only rarely has forceful opportunities to strut its surround credentials. Sequences like the early montage in a club offer good immersion and nicely placed surround effects, but much of the film takes place in interior locations with just one or two characters, something that in and of itself doesn't offer a wealth of spectacular surround opportunities. Fidelity is fine and dialogue, effects and the occasional score elements are all prioritized well.

The Beauty Inside Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 1:52)

The Beauty Inside Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I frankly never saw the "social film" which sparked this Korean reboot (it's still available on YouTube for those interested), but even without that context, this film's reach exceeds its grasp, which is not to say that it is ever less than enjoyable on its own peculiar merits. Putting aside some logical inconsistencies, The Beauty Inside veers rather uneasily between some quasi-farcical elements and more serious dramatic interchanges that supposedly seek to delve into what this phenomenon might mean for someone. That second aspect could have received a much more fulsome development, though, and the result is kind of like sitting through a two hour gimmick. With caveats duly noted, and with an understanding that technical merits here are generally strong, The Beauty Inside comes Recommended.