Trigger warning: this post discusses fatphobia and transphobia!
I first heard about "Beauty Water" about three months ago, when Adum was reviewing it as a part of his Quickie about short films on Fantasia Festival. I have to admit, this title got my interest. Almost hour and a half (due to some technical issues, the version screened during the festival was a special short edit) animated Asian body horror? Totally my jam, sign me in. However, in a really short time I got dumped with university work and other stuff and completely forgot about this movie.
Fast forward to December. During one lesson my lovely Japanese teacher (if You are reading this, こんにちは! 💜) told me about an online Asian movie festival that was taking place at the time and, that she had spotted there a film I might like.
That film was "Beauty Water".
Fortunately, the festival offered an opportunity to watch a single movie without having to buy a general ticket. The price was reasonable too, so I couldn't miss the occasion. Do I regret it? Definitely not. But if you follow me on Twitter (which I recommend, I post shit regularly and even am funny sometimes), then you know that "Beauty Water" sparked some mixed feelings in me. And this is what I want to mostly talk about.
Before we proceed, I want to warn you this post will be spoileriffic as hell, so
SPOILER ALERT!!!
and from now on you're reading it on your own risk.
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| Really, I wanted to write this post without spoilers, but it's impossible... |
"Beauty Water" tells the story of Yaeji – a make-up artist, who works for a famous TV Studio. Due to her weight, she had been bullied her whole life. After she fills in for an absent extra during filming of an ad, her very unflattering photos appear in the internet and she becomes a subject of cruel jokes. However, some time later she receives a package containing Beauty Water – a product she can use to change her body and facial structure. With some help of a mysterious lady, Beauty Water's distributor, Yaeji turns into a beautiful woman and, as Sulhye, begins her own career in the television. However, things don't go exactly as planned...
Most people would probably expect "Beauty Water" to be a typical story with an aesop, where Yaeji learns that appearance isn't everything and the most important thing is personality. However, this movie definitely isn't typical in both the story (which is based on a webtoon "Tales of the Unusual". I haven't read it, so I'll talk only about the film there) and the storytelling. Which, I think, is the reason why "Beauty Water" got such backslash.
Let's begin with the protagonist. Given her role in the plot, it's easy to expect Yaeji to be a "fat girl with a golden heart" type. She isn't. Yaeji is an unpleasant, nasty person, who constantly demands money from her parents and unloads her frustration via writing hateful comments in the internet. Many reviewers criticised the film for it, deeming it fatphobic. I know I look like a devil's advocate here, but I think it's not the case. It would be fatphobic if Yaeji had such a horrible personality because of her fatness. But it's not the fatness that is the reason. Throughout the film it's clearly stated that it's fatphobia itself that made Yaeji who she is. She used to be bullied as a child, she is bullied now, there are even people who are openly aggressive towards her (like TV star Miri, for whom Yaeji works). After years of humiliation her incredibly rude demeanour became sort of a defensive system. I think it's quite realistic portrayal of a bullying victim. Of course, it doesn't excuse her behaviour, especially towards her loving parents, but still, I think it's easy to understand her. Also, Yaeji doesn't change after using Beauty Water. Even slim and with a beautiful face, she still uses her defensive mechanisms a lot, because she still doesn't feel safe to abandon them
Actually, I got quite surprised by this film. "Beauty Water" was advertised as a body horror and while there is a lot of body horror in it, it's mostly psychological horror. From the beginning the movie focuses on Yaeji's psyche and how the events affect her. We see how she's struggling to be loved by others, while also dealing with extreme paranoia regarding her appearance. It's easy to see that she'll do everything just to win people's liking. The scene, where she goes to the Beauty Water's distributor to ask for help after the accident shows it quite well. Yaeji begs her, promises she'll do everything just to get help. She snaps and attacks her only after the distributor hits her weak spot by calling her a pig. Another great scene is the moment Yaeji goes shopping after her first treatment with Beauty Water. She gets scared that people are staring at her and needs a while to understand they don't do that because they judge her weight, but because she's attractive.
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| This movie is more emotionally charged, than I expected... And I love it. |
The film portrays well double standards people engage into while judging others. Yaeji doesn't change her habits or behaviour after getting another appearance and yet everyone are much nicer to her. A good example is the janitor Yaeji meets several times. First time, when she is still fat and bumps into him while going back from shopping, he shames her, calls her lazy and tells her to eat less. Later, after she gets slim, she meets him in similar situation. However, this time he acts nicer and even offers some help.
Also, let's note how getting shamed for her appearance doesn't make Yaeji more motivated to loose weigh. Instead she eats more to cope and, later, completely shuts herself in her room. Unfortunately, this scenes are very realistic. Fat shaming never motivates anyone. Instead, it makes people more depressed and less likely to do anything – they are just afraid of humiliation and more shaming.
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| It's sad that many people don't understand that and keep engaging in shaming, thinking they help. |
There is a subplot about pretty women going missing, which doesn't get much attention until the ending. And, unfortunately, this is what sparked the most mixed feeling in me. The biggest twist there is that the man, who Yaeji meets in the beginning of the story and later dates, is a) the kidnapper, b) actually a woman, who was jealous of her pretty sister, so she started using Beauty Water to turn into handsome man to lure women and steal their body parts. While I can understand the idea here and have to admit that the twist is logical and works well for the story, I can't shake the feeling it's also transphobic. Like, a person changes their gender to easily get close to women and lately assault them? Really?
I'm not accusing filmmakers of being transphobes, though. As I said, the twist is kind of justified by the story, so I doubt it was put there out of sheer malice. I think it's rather a shining example of unfortunate implications and, probably, lack of knowledge too. Which is why proper education is extremely important.
Okay, enough about the plot, let's move to the technical side.
The audio is done decently. The voice acting is good, same goes to the sound editing. I can't say anything about the music, besides the fact it... Exists. It doesn't disturb, but isn't anything special either. To be honest, I can't even recall any particular melodies now. It just fills the background and nothing besides it.
I've noticed, many people shit on the visuals. "Beauty Water" blends both 2D and 3D-stylised-as-2D animation. Personally, I really enjoyed it. I'm a big fan of the latter and love its smoothness and porcelain-like effect. However, when characters animated in both ways appear in one scene, it's easy to see the differences – pure 2D animation looks quite choppy. But you get used to it quickly.
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| I'll be honest: it's one of most visually pleasant movies I've recently watched. |
Do I like "Beauty Water"? Of course. It's a solid psychological horror with some nice gore in it. It's also decently paced and doesn't drag at all. Do I recommend it? I'm not sure, especially when it comes to the ending. The plot is great, but the transphobic twist at the end ruins the experience. Quite a pity, isn't it?
Image sources:
All movie stills were screenshot by me from the official trailer and belong to Triple Pictures.
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