Song Hye Gyo’s "Fetish" Finally Gets A Release

Nov 17, 2010

It’s been a long time coming, but Song Hye-gyo’s U.S.-Korean co-production Make Yourself At Home — the new title for the project known for a while as Fetish — will finally be released for a theatrical run at home in Korea, two years after it was produced. (It first screened at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2008.)

Though initially touted by Korean media as Song’s “Hollywood debut,” Song herself stated that that’s an exaggeration; she was merely drawn to the interesting concept and character, and thought it would be a good experience.

The plot has Song Hye-gyo playing a woman who marries into a Korean-American family and moves to New Jersey, where she seems restrained and bullied by her mother-in-law. After her husband dies, she connects with her neighbors, an attractive Caucasian couple, John and Julie. Based on the trailer, which you can watch below, it looks like the result is that Julie gets (so to speak) Single White Female-d by Song — or, given the ethnicities at play, I guess you could call it Asian Fetish-ed. (Groan. It pains me to realize that the “Fetish” of the title is not some metaphorical or philosophical allusion but a literal usage.) The copy on the Korean poster reads, “…Can I really borrow this?”

The movie incorporates a supernatural element (Song’s descended from shamans) in an effort to take this thriller premise to another level. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have done that terribly successfully; Hollywood trade rag Variety called it “initially intriguing,” but “pretentious” with “stilted” performances and a tepid narrative.

But Korean viewers will get a chance to see it in theaters on November 25.

Immediately below is the trailer for the movie. Below that is Song Hye-gyo talking about her role (sorry, it’s unsubtitled) at the 13th Pusan International Film Festival.