Honestly, I was just looking for some easy entertainment that didn’t require a lot of brainpower, and the South Korean action movie Ballerina (2023) seemed like a good fit. By the end, it delivered what I was looking for — but it also made me reflect on my ongoing crisis with movies in recent years.
Grieving the loss of a best friend she could not protect, former bodyguard Ok-ju sets out to fulfil her dear friend’s last wish: sweet, sweet revenge.
When a ballerina ends up dead and her best friend discovers her body, things take a sinister turn. Now faced with the task of avenging her, Ok-ju (Jeon Jong-seo) uses her refined skills in combat and killing to hunt down the man responsible.
The movie itself is straightforward—no twists, no mystery—though there are some layers to the villains, because of course, every bad guy has a boss. The action is sleek and clean, but nothing we haven’t seen before. This style of action has been gracing our screens for years now.
Ok-ju also feels like your stereotypical quiet, introverted protagonist. We don’t get to know her particularly well. There are a few flashbacks showing her friendship with the ballerina, but they simply confirm what we already assumed: they were close.
Along the way, she picks up a potential new friend, though this character adds very little to the story and mostly serves to soften Ok-ju’s more stoic, masculine demeanor.
There was one moment in the final act that genuinely surprised me. Blink and you might miss it, but it offered a refreshing spin on the usual good guy vs. bad guy showdown. Beyond that, though, Ballerina didn’t leave much of an impression. And that’s what made me think about my growing disconnect with movies.
As my Letterboxd activity will tell you, I haven’t been watching many films these past few years. I have watched plenty of K-dramas though, don’t get me wrong, I’m still very much into staring at a screen late into the evening. Just… not with movies.
A few of the films I’ve seen recently have been amazing (The Substance, Challengers), but the rest have ranged from just okay to downright awful. I’ve barely touched award contenders, Oscar-winning films, or big blockbusters.
While watching Ballerina, it hit me: the reason I’ve drifted away from movies is connection. Very few manage to connect with me these days. I’m used to 16 hours of character development in a single K-drama season! Which is ironic, considering I’m also the person who complains when the movie is longer than two hours.
But so few movies manage to make full use of their screen time with the kind of rich, immersive storytelling I crave. Besides, the rom-com era has been long lost to raunchy sex-comedies. I’m sure there are still films out there that have all that and are rom-com-esque, but honestly, I’m too unmotivated to even try. Ballerina was just background noise. I watched it, but I didn’t experience it. And that’s what’s changed for me. Experiencing movies doesn’t happen as often anymore, and that makes me a little sad.
Will I ever get back into it? Or will I just keep putting on forgettable action flicks to fill the silence and carry on as I am?
METTEL RAY 
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