By Frank Hecker, Staff Writer
I like to highlight yuri series from different countries (why should Thailand get all the attention?) and from new directors and studios. In that spirit, today’s pick is She Makes My Heart Flutter, a short web series (just over an hour in total running time) from South Korea’s SOO NOT SUE Studio. It’s not exactly new, having been released almost two years ago, but I wasn’t around these parts to review it then; please allow me to rectify that omission.
She Makes My Heart Flutter wastes no time in kicking off its plot, as “optimistic” 20-year-old Seol Kang (or Gang Seol—the subtitles have inconsistent romanization as well as name order) awakens to her girlfriend breaking up with her via text message. Meanwhile her aunt, “considerate” 33-year-old One Jung, posts a “help wanted” poster for Dickinson’s Room, her café and bar, which is frequented by Seol’s friends. (The series also doesn’t waste time introducing its characters: they each get an introductory graphic with name, age, and personal traits.) As she joins her friends for drinks, Seol is surprised to learn that her aunt is the cafe’s owner, and schemes her way into getting a part-time job.
This sets up the first of the show’s two plot threads: unlike Seol, who is proudly out, One is both closeted and very reserved, and wants herself and her café to have as low a profile as possible—the café has no exterior signage and its social media account is private. As Seol brashly points out to her, this strategy is not conducive to running a successful business, and Dickinson’s Room is often empty of patrons. Well, not completely empty: Re Lee, the woman who designed the café’s interior, now comes in every evening at 8 pm sharp to have a drink and talk with One. Seol’s friends think Re is straight, but it’s impossible to miss the sparks flying between the two. The two parallel subplots briskly play themselves out, with conflict between generations on the one hand and mature reticence on the other, but all is well in the end.
She Makes My Heart Flutter is a romantic comedy that separates the two aspects: Seol and her friends provide the comedy (along with Bin Yu, the café’s manager) and One and Re supply the romance. This works quite well from both a story and character perspective. Ji-Hyun Byun as Seol Kang is the very model of an extroverted young lesbian who’s come out at a time when that’s increasingly a normal thing to do, while So-Mi Park as One Jung gives a subtle and touching performance as a mature thirty-something who still fears the disapproval of her parents and society at large.
The director of She Makes My Heart Flutter, the pseudonymous Soo Not Sue, has released two other web series on YouTube, the 15-minute short Chalna: Enough Time to Fall in Love and the 3-episode series Out of Breath. In an interview, she’s expressed her desire to make more shows reflecting the reality of lesbian life in what is still a relatively conservative and hostile South Korean society. I hope she gets that chance.
Story — 8
Characters — 8
Production — 7 (director Soo makes maximum use of limited resources and locations)
Service — 2
LGBTQ — 10 (the series reflects the lesbian scene in Seoul’s Hongdae neighborhood)
Overall — 8
She Makes My Heart Flutter is a can’t miss combination of young adult lesbian comedy and mature adult lesbian romance, both wrapped up in an easy-to-watch one-hour package. If you missed it back then, consider checking it out now.
Erica here: This year there was finally some good news for same-sex couples in Korea, as a high court ruled that discrimination by national insurance is illegal, but Korea is generally far behind on rights for queer folks.
