Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

A Masterpiece!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Lee Na-yeong stars as Ji-hyeon, a woman facing the challenges of living a new life after a sex change operation. Unbeknownst to her she has a nine year old son from an earlier marriage, who longs to find his birth father. One day the son appears at her door, and she has to face the difficult challenge of being a father to her son while at the same time pursuing a promising relationship with her make-up artist boyfriend.The plot sounds contrived, but it actually works quite well on some levels. The producers could easily have made the same movie without the sex change and still had a very interesting story of a young boy trying to form a bond with the birth father he's never met.Where Lady Daddy falls short is oversimplifying the complex relationships being portrayed. All of the characters act as if they are aware they're being filmed and need to be on their best behavior at all times. The ex-wife doesn't seem to feel any trace of bitterness at being abandoned, nor does the step-dad show any real jealousy that his son seems to prefer Ji-hyeon to him. Ji-hyeon warms up quickly to her previously unknown son instead of resenting the intrusion that threatens to unmask her former life. The boyfriend initially recoils from Ji-hyeon after learning her secret, but quickly realizes that he loves her after all.It's all very convenient and leads to a conventional happy ending. Taken individually I have no problem with believing any of the characters. Any of them COULD act that way, after all. But there aren't just one or two characters that insist on acting supremely rationally for the good of the group. When everyone acts that way, it begins to feel less like a slice out of real life and more like the escapist fare it is.Lady Daddy isn't a terrible movie and it does deliver the uplifting message that what's on the inside is more important than appearances. It just fails to deliver the emotionally satisfying ending that it could so easily have had with a more realistic plot.