Seok-go (Ryoo Seung-beom) is a quiet and seemingly unassuming maths teacher living alone in a Seoul apartment block. Deeply enamoured with his neighbour, Hwa-seon (Lee Yo-won), he visits the cafe where she works each lunchtime without fail - always ordering the same takeaway food - but, try as he might, his shyness repeatedly prevents him from connecting with her on an emotional level; managing only an almost embarrassed 'hello' and 'thank you' he walks away frustrated and unfulfilled on each occasion.
On hearing a commotion coming from Hwa-seon's apartment one evening, Seok-go knocks on her door to ask if she needs his assistance only to find that she has killed her ex-husband in a vicious struggle and is planning to hand herself in to the police.
Seok-go immediately suggests that, instead, he'll dispose of the body; help Hwa-seon to hide her crime and talk her through any subsequent police investigation.
However, before long questions begin to surface as to the true reasons behind his seemingly altruistic actions...

What would you be prepared to do for love? More than that, if someone told you they "did it for love" would you assume they meant love for someone or love from someone?
From the very moment we are first introduced to Seok-go as he awakens in bed hearing Hwa-seon talking to her niece outside her apartment, director Bang Eun-jin beautifully accents a link between the two main characters - a link initially only existing from Seok-go's point of view - and not only hints at his (too) deep feelings for a woman he barely knows but also foreshadows later revelations without directly stating their existence; thereby allowing for a feeling of hindsight when the true state of play begins to show.

In fact, scenes, narrative elements and character personalities having more to them than first meets the eye really is the order of the day throughout Perfect Number and in terms of Seok-go's persona we quickly learn that a simple maths teacher is far from what he is: For here we have an incredibly intelligent man whose analytical brain can seemingly plan for every variable, on the spot, in any given situation; a man who is utterly convinced that he can out-think anyone and everyone. As such, when he is brought face-to-face with the dead body lying on Hwa-seon's floor, he instantly sees the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, if you will: By helping Hwa-seon to hide the murder (and her part in it) he's sure he'll be seen to be acting out of love - hopefully making her fall in love with him, in the process - and by meticulously planning for every eventuality that a police investigation may bring he will, at the same time, resolutely prove his superior intelligence and his ability to outwit anyone without even breaking into a sweat.

More than once during the course of the film, reference is made to a classical mathematical theorem that Seok-go has been obsessed with trying to prove since his school days. However, in helping Hwa-seon hide her crime his focus increasingly shifts from a sole preoccupation with the concept of a Perfect Number to a deep-rooted intellectual and emotional need to maintain her alibi and thereby create the perfect murder.
Hwa-seon is, by comparison, a far more straightforward and altogether simpler character. While she could be said to stand as a personification of the idea of single parent families - with her life, it could be inferred, the result of breakdown of the classic 'family unit' increasingly seen in Korean cinema - she serves as much, if not more so, as simply the catalyst allowing Seok-go's numerous character traits (shy and caring to needy and clawing to self-serving, manipulative and worse) to gradually show themselves; in spite of her character's story being at the very crux of the narrative.

This is added to yet further by the third piece in the character puzzle; that of Min-beom (Jo Jin-woong), the police detective in charge of the case who is also an old school friend of Seok-go:
From almost the moment he is assigned to the case, Min-beom is utterly convinced that Hwa-seon is guilty of murder despite there being no evidential proof to be found, and as he re-acquaints himself with Seok-go it soon begins to dawn on him that not only is his high-school friend intelligent enough to bury the truth and provide Hwa-seon with an airtight alibi but also that the challenge of doing so would be almost impossible for him to resist.
Thus, Min-beom unrelentingly continues his investigation of the two, almost to the point of harassment; pushing them to extremes in the process and catapulting all involved towards the climactic conclusion of the tale.

Ultimately, for all his intelligence Seok-go is set to find an answer he didn't even know he was looking for... the answer to the question "In a battle between heart and mind, which will win?"

Johntron Vr ((install)) Review

Then came Jontron playing Gorn .

The beauty of Jontron VR is the internal monologue. He stops mid-swing, looks at his virtual hands, and asks, "Am I the bad guy?" He then answers his own question by using a pool cue as a javelin. It’s lowbrow, it’s silly, but his improv skills turn a tech demo into a character study. Let’s be honest: Jontron’s VR videos are held together by duct tape and hope. You can see the tracking glitches. You can see the moments where his controllers drift into the void. In one famous blooper, he tried to lean on a virtual table in Half-Life: Alyx and face-planted into his carpet.

Furthermore, his VR videos brought a new audience to the medium. Many of my own friends bought Quests specifically because they saw Jon screaming like a banshee while trying to reload a virtual shotgun. He made VR look accessible because he was bad at it. As of today, Jon hasn't fully committed to VR full-time. He dips his toes in for sponsored videos or when a massive title drops (like Metro Awakening or Behemoth ). He has admitted on stream that VR makes him "too sweaty" for regular recording. johntron vr

He reminded the industry that VR is, at its core, stupid fun. He validated the indie devs making weird sandboxes. He proved that you don't need a 4K OLED display to have fun; you just need a physics engine that lets you throw a stapler at a goblin.

If you have never watched his VR playlist, do yourself a favor. Start with Richie’s Plank Experience . Watch him sweat. Watch him curse. Watch him push a virtual button with the tip of a broom because he’s too scared to use his hand. Then came Jontron playing Gorn

But when the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift started hitting the mainstream (circa 2016-2018), Jon finally took the plunge. And it was magic.

This honesty is refreshing. In an era where VR marketing is all "immersive wonder," Jon reminds us that VR is also "sweaty goggles, tripping over wires, and accidentally punching your TV." Looking back, Jon’s VR content arrived at a pivotal moment. In 2019-2020, VR was trying to be serious. Half-Life: Alyx was the cinematic masterpiece. Lone Echo was the emotional drama. It’s lowbrow, it’s silly, but his improv skills

Jon didn't laugh. He stared into the void and whispered, "This is the future of gaming?" He then proceeded to beat a null-body to death with a crowbar while humming the Star Wars Imperial March. It perfectly encapsulates the Jontron VR experience: frustration followed by spontaneous musical violence. In Drunkn Bar Fight , you simply beat up polygons in a dive bar. Jon started with noble intentions ("I will only defend myself"). Within 90 seconds, he was throwing a potted plant at a woman in a leather jacket while screaming "SHE PULLED A KNIFE."

DVD

The DVD edition reviewed here is the Korean (Region 3) Art Service Limited Edition First Press version. The film itself is provided as an anamorphic transfer with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and there are no image artifacts (and no ghosting) present.
The original Korean language soundtrack is provided as a choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby 2.0 and both are well balanced throughout.
Excellent subtitles are provided throughout the main feature but English-speaking viewers should note that, as with many Korean DVD releases, there are no subtitles available on any of the extras.