Release Date: 25 August 2005

Synopsis :

Chae-ryn came all the way from China in place of her older sister who had won the state's dance contest consecutively. She is only a novice in dancing but hopes to win a place to bring it back home.

On the other hand, Young-Sae, once an acclaimed dancer is looking forward to meet Chae-ryn. Since he lost his partner to his rival in the past, he hopes to make comeback with new partner at the Championships scheduled to be held in 3 months! However, her little secret is soon exposed to Young-sae which let him with great disappointment. He initially refuses to take her but gradually opens up and admits her as his new partner. From then, Chae-Ryn learns dance sports from Young-sae.

Having discovered that Young-sae's previous partner Seh-young used to dance the Grand Allegro (a very difficult dance technique), Chae-ryn wants to master it. Feelings stronger than trust develop between the two and their dancing starts to dazzle even stronger...

Movie Review:

After watching excellent ballroom dancing films like “Strictly Ballroom” and “Shall We Dance”, it seems that there are no more new tricks to pull in this genre. However this heartwarming Korean feature came along and struck a charming chord with a different angle from all the previous films about ballroom dancing.

“Innocent Steps” started with Ng Young-sae as one of the best ballroom dancer in the Korean Ballroom Federation. Together with his partner, they are poised to win the championship until fate dealt a deuce: Ng Yong Sae lost his partner to an unscrupulous archrival.

Losing more than a just dancing partner, Ng Young-sae lost his passion for dancing and wallowed in depression. His friend tried to help him stage a comeback for the Grand Championship in three months time by finding a new experienced dancing partner from China. The catch: Ng Young-sae and his China partner had to fake a marriage in order for the Chinese girl to stay in Korea.

Problems arise after they register for their marriage, Ng Young-sae finds out that his wife, Jang Chae-ryn, is in fact the younger sister of the experienced dancer that he should be expecting and his new wife has almost zero experience in dancing.

Although lacking experience, Jang Chae-ryn makes up with enthusiasm and after some pleading, Ng Young-sae decides to take Jang Chae-ryn under his wings and trains her for the Grand Championship. Besides learning the difficult dancing routines and steps in the short time frame, this couple had to face inquisitive government agents who are not convinced with the validity of their marriage.

Jang Chae-ryn and Ng Young-sae seem like a pair of mismatched couple initially. Jang Chae-ryn, played by the naïve looking and petite Moon Geun-young, looks way too young for Ng Young-sae, played by Park Gun-hyung. The comment that Ng Young-sae was a cradle snatcher by a convenience store clerk pretty much sums up how mismatched this couple are.

It was reported that the director, Park Young-hoon’s intention was to show how Ng Young-sae slowly finding love after having taught Jang Chae-ryn everything that is within him, even though the couple could not possibly suit each other in love. As the story proceeds, credible romance starts to blossom between both Jang Chae-ryn and Ng Young-sae while they prepare for the championship.

Although the ballroom dancing serves as the secondary plot device in an unlikely love story, it still dazzles nonetheless. While Park Gun-hyung had some musical performance training before, Moon Geun-young had to start from scratch and it was reported that she spent six hard months in training for the ballroom dancing performance in Innocent Steps. It’s a commendable effort on the cast and the 300 professional dancers, who served as extras, in this film in creating an excellent ambassador film to ballroom dancing

Movie Rating:

("Innocent Steps” is simply Delightful and Sassy)

Review by Richard Lim Jr