Don’t tell papa is a film Starring Jeong Woong In, Yoo Seung Ho and Chae Min Seo. There are many other side characters and cameos as well. This movie that came out in 2004 is really funny, although there are parts that are corny and I can’t help but to come back to it every so often.

The story is about a father by the name Kim Chul Soo ( Jeong Woong In) that becomes a single father while still in High School with a girl name Lee Ae Ran (Chae Min Seo). One day a baby gets delivered in a basket from a man that works for Quick Service and he ends up raising his son named Kim Cho Won (Yoo Seung Ho) all alone. Chul Soo works at a nightclub as an entertainer to make ends meet while Cho Won is baby sat by the people there. This says a lot about a kid that is raised only by his father. He is motherless so when his father is at work he need to tag along as well. Most kids would be miserable by this but it seems like his father is his best friend, which is very charming. However, I cant help but to feel bad for the child.

I really enjoyed the father and son relationship between Chul Soo and Cho Won. Cho Won’s father works a lot at the bar that is almost like a comedy club, to take care of his boy and they are just about always stuck together. Chul Soo takes his son to his workplace and while he entertains his patrons, Cho Won is in the dressing room keeping himself company or people that work there play with him.

Even though Cho Won does not have a mother he still looks pretty happy and I think his dad does a good job in raising the boy. However,Cho Won has a bad habit of using adult language and that would be the only negative thing influenced by his father.One day the 8 year old boy Cho Won starts asking about his mom more than ever before, while lying down in bed with his dad. Once Cho Won learns more about his mother he seems to think about her,although he doesn’t really show it to his dad.

Cho Won is pretty mature for his age because sometimes I feel that the dad acts more like the kid than the son. Cho Won is very close with his dad and lives a good life even though he is without a mother. As Cho Won becomes more curious about his mother things start to change around him bit by bit.

This film has serious elements but does it in such a comical way that you don’t really realize it until the middle section of the movie. Most of these kinds of films tend to have a more serious tone to it  but this particular presentation deals with heavy subject matter in a light hearted way; which I really liked.

I enjoyed the side characters and cameos as well. Borisoo (Im Ho),  Gu Julgoo (Kim Yang Woo), Gong Soon Mi (Lee Young Ja), Erina Kim (Lee Eung Kyung), The Professor (Jeong Bo Suk) and Quick Service Driver ( Jo Hyung Gi). My favorite side character was Borisoo. She is a transgender and I really dug his silliness. Borisoo has a thing for Chul Soo and it was really cute. I believe that Borisoo is based on a real transgender in Korea and her name is Harisoo.

Julgoo is Chul Soo’s high school buddy that works under Lee Ae Ran at the lingerie company and I find this man funny as well, a lot of cursing but still quite humourous. Gong Soon Mi is a mutual high school friend of both Chul Soo and Jul Goo and she was there to counsel the father of the baby during their young years. Erina Kim works at the nightclub and she doesn’t have much to do performance wise so she is in the dressing room most of the time and she is there to watch Cho Won. Cho Won’s mother is kind of dull as a character so I don’t think I was very engaged with her. However, her backstory is quite interesting so I am guessing that it could possibly be the acting on Chae Min Seo’s end of things.

I really liked the fact that this movie doesn’t shy away from transgenderism. It was cool to see an actor like Im Ho playing such a role. I am so used to seeing him play masculine roles for the most part. In a society like Korea and probably in still many parts of the world, transgenderism would be frowned upon even till this day. However, this movie deals with it in a funny manner. The story is more about the father and son but the transgender thing also plays a big part, even though it’s just in the background. Borisoo has a group called Okama. This transgender person is the leader of the Okama sisters where her and the team are men that changed their sex. The Okama Sisters sing and dance at the same time. Their stage outfit is a bit over the top and even their performance seems to be that way as well but it fits the atmosphere nonetheless.

The music and cinematography aren’t the best things that I have ever seen in film history but it gets the job done. Despite all that there some parts where the music was actually amusing. There was this one part where we get to see Julgoo’s workplace and there they play some jazz music in the background. The thing that I was disappointed as far as music goes is the repetition of certain type of music and  just like K-dramas I got to hear this one song over and over again. However, amusing sounds of music makes up for it. Cinematography wise it’s nothing special really. It’s better than a regular tv drama of that era but it wasn’t impressive or anything.

I know I can be a bit shallow but the sole reason for me watching this movie was because of Yoo Seung Ho. Lately, I been fangirling over him so much that I have been watching just about anything he was in it that I could get my hands on. The two main actors in this film are Jeong Woong In and Yoo Seung Ho and I liked their acting more or less on an equal level however, I was excited to see Yoo Seung Ho a bit more. Jeong Woong In usually plays a lot of slimy weasel characters so it was refreshing to see him being a single father trying to raise his son by himself and his interaction with Yoo Seung Ho was entertaining. Also, Yoo Seung Ho was only 11 years old at the time but he was able to pull off a child that can be kind of adult like. This is when I realized that Yoo Seung Ho had acting chops despite what he would say about it.

Don’t Tell Papa is a very lighthearted film despite the subject matter and there are a lot of silly moments where you can’t help but to chuckle. Some scenes can be rather embarrassing but it’s just easy to laugh it off. I really had a good time watching this movie from the very beginning and no matter how many times I have seen it, I keep on coming back for more.