Let's dispense with the elephant in the room as soon as possible - Elbowroom is a South Korean drama featuring a young female lead playing a character with cerebral palsy. There's no ignoring the bar in this regard has been set phenomenally high by Lee Chang-Dong's Oasis (2002), with a stunning performance from Moon So-Ri that netted her the Marcello Mastroianni award for best first-time actress at Venice that year.

Much of the praise that can be awarded director Ham Kyoung-Rock boils down to basically confirming while his first feature does not reach Oasis' brilliance, it more than stands by itself as a worthy alternative - to the point where the main criticism of it is while Elbowroom remains a great film and an outstanding debut, unfortunately it fails to live up to the promise of its fantastic opening.

In all seriousness, Elbowroom is in many respects quite different from Oasis. It takes a far more realist, almost documentary approach, drawing from several similar stories Ham encountered while working with the handicapped and its story is far less about two people against the world, more about one girl trying to get some measure of success out of life (safety, security, luxury) by any means necessary, despite how badly the deck has been stacked against her. That she happens to be disabled is almost beside the point.

The film takes place in an explicitly Christian home for the disabled, where many of the staff struggle to mask a general low-key contempt for their charges, treating them with patronising disdain when not outright bullying them into co-operating. So-Hee is one resident somewhat better off than the rest; though left nearly mute and severely physically hampered by her cerebral palsy, she's still capable and resourceful, able to cope with her condition to the point she can help with day-to-day chores. Intelligent and independent, she's well aware of the prison she's confined in within and without, but one way or another she's determined to see her needs met even if no-one else will.

Perhaps the biggest talking point about Ham's film is unlike Moon So-Ri his young lead is an ordinary university student who is actually afflicted with cerebral palsy in real life. The actress [who must unfortunately remain nameless unless someone can clue me in] gives a tremendous performance - So-Hee is not an entirely sympathetic character, taking out her frustrations on other residents with acts of petty cruelty, and clearly not as smart as she believes herself to be, but neither Ham nor his lead back away from provoking the audience's distaste.

On a related note Elbowroom is also another film not shy of acknowledging the disabled lust after sexual fulfilment just the same way as 'normal' people do. Any young actress brave enough to jump into a fairly explicit love scene not ten minutes into her first feature film role deserves some measure of respect - suffering from a severe physical disability the choice is nothing short of astonishing.

The problems with Elbowroom lie with how after introducing an intelligent, multi-faceted, morally complex lead overcoming daily frustration, repression and pain to nurture a fledgling relationship that sustains herself and her partner it fails to go the places the viewer might hope for. Perhaps more accurately, while the narrative develops in all kinds of potentially interesting ways, the lack of any kind of character arc for the rest of the cast and a dearth of overt exposition in a film where the lead actress can barely speak means it's never really entirely clear what these developments actually stand for.

The film remains engaging viewing throughout, but it's largely for Ham's direction and the performance from his young lead than any flair or invention in the pacing, and after such a tremendously promising opening this proves immensely frustrating. Out of everything that ultimately happens, how much did So-Hee plan for and how much did she not expect? The viewer could very easily take it one way, but the press release (which annoyingly gives away or blatantly misrepresents most of the film) implies Ham intended quite another. Imagine The Usual Suspects with half its running time cut out at random and this may convey something of the resultant sense of irritation.

For all it peters out Elbowroom is still an astounding debut and more than worth watching. The idea the lead actress will never work in the industry again is heartbreaking (Ham stated at the Rotterdam premiere they agreed the danger to her health was too great). With just one feature Ham Kyoung-Rock establishes himself as worth watching - confidently and capably directed and shot, despite not living up to its initial promise Elbowroom remains a bold, impassioned, moving film anchored by a brilliant lead performance that deserves all the attention it can get, and comes highly recommended.