Innocent Steps (Korean: 댄서의 순정; Hanja: 댄서의 純情; RR: Daenseoui sunjeong; lit. "Dancer’s Purity") is a 2005 South Korean film directed by Park Young-hoon. Another English title for the movie is "Dancing princess".
There's a director's cut version of the movie featuring additional 17 minutes of footage and alternative cut of the dance scene at competition.
Plot
Former acclaimed dancer Na Young-sae (Park Gun-hyung) attempts to make a comeback after his opponent, Hyun-soo (Yoon Chan), purposely injures him at a dance competition. At the suggestion of dance studio manager Ma Sang-doo (Park Won-sang), Young-sae then brings to Korea Jang Chae-ryn (Moon Geun-young), an ethnic Korean from China whom he presumes is a renowned, talented dancer. To his surprise, Young-sae learns Chae-ryn knows nothing about dancing and her soon-to-be married, older sister, Jang Chae-min, is the talented dancer. With only three months until the national dance championship, Young-sae trains Chae-ryn, vowing to turn her into a world-class dancer.
The film received mixed to negative reviews. Variety reviewer, Derek Elley favorably compared the film to Dance with the Wind, citing Moon Geun-young and Park Gun-hyung's performances, but wrote "the plot holds no water."[3]Koreanfilm.org critic Tom Giammarco called the film "disappointing and cliche,"[4] and Darcy Paquet credited the film's box office success to Moon's celebrity status and noted that the ending was disappointing: "We never even really get to see the knock-em-dead dance sequence that you'd expect."[5]
Remake
In 2015, Culture Cap Korea announced that it will co-produce a Chinese remake, which will cast a Chinese actor and a Korean actress. 60% of filming will take place in China, and 40% in Busan.[6]
