Category: South Korea

Bungee jumping of their own 情约笨猪跳


Type: Drama, South Korea 2001

Director: Dae-seung Kim

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Byung-hun Lee 李秉憲 .... Seo, In-woo
Eun-ju Lee 李恩宙 .... In, Tae-hee
Hyeon-Soo Yeo .... Lim, Hyeon-bin
Su-hyeon Hong .... Yeo, Hye-su

Story:
In 1983, a young man called In-woo was a college freshman, one day a girl who's also a fresher at the same college called Tae-hee walked and stood next to In-woo under his umbrella on a heavy rainy day and he fell in love with her on the first sight and still pursuing her and soon she fell in love with him too. And they had a wish to try bungee jumping in New Zealand. On another rainy day, they felt close to each other and in love with each other than ever and went to a lover's hotel, but out of nervousness, he couldn't do it. Soon In-woo needed to serve in the military, they promised to each other to wait for each other. She was supposed to show up at the station to say farewell before he went off to military service but she never showed. 17 years later, In-woo is married with a young baby and he is now a high school teacher, one of the boys in his class Hyeon-bin catches his attention, because Hyeon-bin seems to remind him of Tae-hee in many ways and he will say things that Tae-hee used to say to In-woo. In-woo is really confused and feels he is hopelessly drawn towards Hyeon-bin. Did Tae-hee reincarnate as the boy Hyeon-bin?

My review:
Also known as 'Beonjijeompeureul hada', this is an interesting movie and caused a lot controversy in Korea when it was released. Does love last forever and across different lifes? Is love a pure thought and doesn't matter whether it is between man/woman but now turns into man/man love? If it really is a pure thought that counts why do they need to committ sucide and hope for the best to become man/woman in their next life? In-woo and Hyeon-bin could have just continued their love as a couple (man/man).

Taegukgi

Image from Amazon
Tae Guk Gi - The Brotherhood of War (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, South Korea 2004

Director: Je-gyu Kang

My rating: 4
Key actors/actresses:
Dong-Kun Jang .... Jin-tae
Bin Won .... Jin-seok
Eun-ju Lee .... Young-shin

Posted by Dominic
Story:
Two brothers happily living in a small city with their mother. The elder brother, Jin-Tae repairs shoes for a living to support the family and the younger brother Jin-seok to study. Jin-tae has planned to married Young-shin soon. The Korean civil war broke out on 25 June 1950, the two brothers have been unwillingly drafted to fight in the army. Jin-tae sworn to protect his younger brother, he intended to fight hard and obtain the Medal of honour in order to secure Jin-seok's early return to home. But Jin-tae did not have the understanding of Jin-seok and the war has turned Jin-tae's world upside down...

My review:
This is Korean's answer to USA's saving private ryan. The war scenes are intense and well filmed.

The brotherly love during war time creates very strong bonding and can change people's value and perception. It shows how the war can make people crazy. The Korean war is a very sad tragedy in Korean history where people of the same race are fighting and killing each other. It has been used as countless storyline in Korean movies.

Overall, Taegukgi is well filmed and well acted. Very entertaining. Though I think the mis-understanding between the brothers was a bit far-stretched.

Everybody has secrets

Image from Amazon
Everybody Has Secrets (2004) (buy from Amazon)

Type: Comedy Drama, South Korea 2004

Director: Hyeon-su Jang

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Byung-hun Lee .... Choi Su-hyeon
Sang Mi Chu .... Han Ji-yeong
Hyo-jin Kim .... Han Mi-yeong
Ji-Woo Choi .... Han Seon-yeong
Yongnyeo Seonwoo .... Mother

Story:
A story about how one man encounters and goes out with the youngest sister out of 3 sisters ends up secretly having affairs with all 3 sisters. Each sisters have very different personalities but all end up loving the same guy, the eldest sister is married with kid and the 2nd sister is a typical 'bookworm' type of girl with thick glasses and always studying and the youngest sister is an energetic person who sings at clubs for a living.

My review:
A funny comedy about adultary affairs. I have seen a Spanish comedy called The Age of beauty where the guy had affairs with each of the 4 sisters.

Art museum by the zoo

Type: Comedy Romantic, South Korea 1998

Director: Jeong-hyang Lee

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Eun-ha Shim .... Chun-Hi
Sung-jae Lee .... Chul-su
Sung-kee Ahn .... In-Gong

Story:
Two strangers under some unforeseen circumstances are forced to stay in the same house and they didn't get along at the beginning, but soon things began to turn for the better and love is in the air...

My review:
You guessed it, happy ending, boy and girl fell in love and lived happily thereafter...

Samaritan Girl

Image from Amazon
Samaritan Girl (buy from Amazon)

Type: Drama, South Korea 2004

Director: Ki-duk Kim

My rating: 3
Key actors/actresses:
Ji-min Kwak .... Yeo-Jin
Min-jeong Seo .... Jae-yeong
Eol Lee .... Yeong-ki
Kwon Hyun-Min .... Salesman
Oh Young .... Musician

Posted by Dominic
Story:
2 girls Jae-yeong and Yeo-Jin who are best friends and they are making money by Jae-yeong acting as prostitute and Yeo-jin is managing the 'business', yeo-jin hated those men. 1 day, Jae-yeong jumped out of the window during a policy raid while she was at business, she was seriously injuried and was dying, her dying wish was to see one of men she slept with a musician again. Yeo-Jin tried to fulfill her best friend's dying wish, but that musician would not come unless Yeo-Jin slept with him. Jae-yeong died before he arrived. Since then, Yeo-Jin decided she would sleep with all the men that Jae-yeong slept with and returned the money to these men. Little did she know that her father who is a policeman had found out about her activities and he intended to punish these men...

My review:
A controvisial story on a sensitive topic of young girls going into prostitution. Yeo-Jin intended to change those men by sacrificing herself, it is an unusual thought, but in the process her father was deeply hurt.

Dogma #7 Interview

Type: Drama, South Korea 2000

Director: Hyuk Byun

My rating: 3

Key actors/actresses:
Jung-Jae Lee .... Eun-seok
Eun-ha Shim .... Yeong-heui

Story:
A film maker doing interviews of people telling their love stories, he falls in love with one of the interviewees. As his feelings for her continues to evolve, her lies are uncovered...

My review:
An interesting plot that needing one to pay more attention to appreciate.

Old Leglessbird Movie guide

You can find the old leglessbird movie guide here.