My Sassy Girl

Or otherwise called 엽기적인 그녀 in Korean literally meaning That Bizarre Girl. I have been wanting to watch this movie for sometime but never had the chance to due to my forgetfulness. So in the 2 days that my brain stopped functioning I decided to labour all my will into watching Kdramas for the entire 2 days or I will go insane from the neverend work piling up. Besides from the useless rant I can only say I regretted not watching this movie earlier considering it was released in 2001.

Synopsis: The story is often told in first person by Gyeon Woo, a pathetic college student. It tells the story of the relationship (often violent but funny as!) between Gyeon Woo and the Girl (her name is never revealed throughout the movie). It tells the story into 2 parts of the movie. I guess the only way to describe the movie is to actually just watch it because most of the part consisted of how the met, and how their relationship developed through, often, strange occurences.

Casts: Chae Tae-Hyun, Jun Ji-Hyun

Review: I love this movie! The interaction between the characters are honest and the Girl is just well... cool! I just thought they have one of the most unusual relationship I have ever seen. But the movie is not all about humour and comedy of a relationship but also trying to go through different types of hurdles such as family and uncertainties. Overall, I think this was a great movie and I enjoyed it tremendously, it has a very honest sense of humour and the selfishness of the Girl really doesn't seem so bad but rather funny. I would definitely recommend this. But there was a bit of editorial problems that maybe might have occured just on my version of the movie but understandable regardless.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Additional Information: I never knew this but apparently it was inspired by a true story written on the net by a guy. And also they will be making a western remake of the movie (of which I don't think would succeed as much as the Korean one maybe because of cultural differences but who knows...). Also for more info I found several infos on Wiki so check it out if you want to.

The King and The Clown

One of the best movie I have ever seen. I may not be Korean nor speak the language but the effort that has been poured into the movie is just amazing. The casts are brilliant! It was rather controversial when it was premiered in Korea for its hint into homosexuality, but nonetheless it went on to become box office hit with 1/4 of the population went on into watching it (courtesy: seoulstyle.com)

Synopsis: taken from seoulstyle.com because I'm not particularly familiar with the historical periods of Korea,

"The King and the Clown takes place in the Joseon Dynasty, like so many other generic Korean dramas, but the plot has a very original spin. The story centers on a band of impoverished traveling entertainers. The two main characters Jang-Saeng and Gong-il are lovers. The fact that they are both men should be shocking to Koreans, but Gong-il played by actor Lee Jun-ki is looks so much like a girl; you almost want to believe that he’s female. It’s obvious the two have an amazing bond as they really look out for each other. They decide to go to Hanyang (now Seoul) where they can put on a bigger and better show. There, they find other talented minstrels to join their act.

In order to draw a crowd and make more money, Jang-Seang, the default leader of the troupe, decides to stage a show mocking the King and his favorite concubine Nok-Su. One of the King’s officials gets wind of the show and has the troupe arrested for treason. The official agrees to let them perform for the King with the agreement that if the King enjoys the show, their lives are spared. In fact, the true motive the official has in taking the troupe to the palace is to expose the corruption plaguing the King’s regime.

Enter the tyrannical King who is brilliantly played by actor Jung Jin-Young (This character is based on a real-life king). The king becomes psychologically marred as a result of a childhood trauma when his mother was forced to commit suicide by the royal family. As a grown man, he exhibits the unstable caprices of a spoiled and profoundly wounded boy. However, after seeing the clowns perform, instead of being insulted, the King is so amused that he decides to invite the troupe to become court jesters in the palace. In fact, is seems as if the king himself is a frustrated theater actor who unfortunately just happened to be born into a royal bloodline. Eventually, the King becomes enamored with Gong-il’s talent and androgynous beauty, and this infuriates Jang-Saeng, Nok-su and the ministers."

Casts: Lee Jun-ki, Kam Woo-seong, Jeong Jin-Young

Review: Brilliant! Without the slightest doubt one of my most favourite movie I have ever seen foreign or not! Considering that none of the lead actors are big name actors the movie is very impressive and the actors are just amazing to watch. Whether you are conservative or not towards the matter of homosexuality I think the movie does not hover around the theme too much but rather the storyline. It is a heartfelt movie full of emotions and an amazing plot that does not drag around. I love it without a doubt!

Rating: 5/5 stars

Additional Information: for more information or if you are interested in another review as well as additional information click at [link]

Seducing Mr. Perfect (aka Seducing Mr. Robin)

Do not ask me why there are two titles to the same movie. This was probably one of the very first movie debut for Daniel Henney, one of the most gorgeous Korean (half-Korean that is) man I have ever laid eyes on :)

Synopsis: Min-Joon is a believer of true love, whilst Robin Heiden believes it is a game of power. One fine day Min-Joon bumped her car onto Robin's. Robin insisted (through english) on getting compensations for the damage, assuming Robin knows no korean Min-Joon rude-mouthed to her horror the newly transferred manager of her company, who understands korean though have difficulties in speaking the language. Robin decided to make Min-Joon his assistant because of the incident and thus friendship develops, though at this point Min-Joon is still in love with her boyfriend and cannot let him go even when she saw him with another woman. Desperate to correct her 'faults' she decided to seek love advice from Robin. And I will stop there.

Casts: Uhm Jung-Hwa, Daniel Henney

Review: I cannot say this was one of the best movie I have ever seen, nor can I say it was too bad to be seen. Of course with the slightly cliched storyline doesn't help either to convince me to give it a good rating. I can only say that it is an OK movie. Daniel Henney didn't give out a bad performance he was rather believable as the suave, charming foreign manager, his voice just makes you swoon at times, he has such a rich baritone (if you understand what I mean, I'm not exactly music terminologically savvy). He also took part in an MV with Alex from Clazziquai, with a feature with Uhm Jung-Hwa. One thing that I love about this movie are the songs, it has a jazzy quality to them with great singers, I'd love to find the OST but unfortunately couldn't *sigh* o well maybe next time.

Rating: 3/5 stars

Below is the MV where Daniel sang Kissing Me.

200 Pounds Beauty

One of the most exhiliratingly funny at times and humiliatingly real movie. Truthfully I'm a sucker for all rags to riches themed storylines, but not on how a poor person suddenly become rich, just someone who is emotionally lost found their place to be. And this can be considered as one of those movies.

Synopsis: It's a Korean movie revolving around Kang Hanna, an (artifical-looking) obese young woman who has an amazing voice and found herself a job as a singer, in voice only. She became the singing voice of Ammy, a popular korean singer that found fame through Hanna's amazing voice. Hanna is an honest, warm-hearted although naive girl who fall in love with Ammy's (and consequently Hanna's) music producer, Sang-Jun, but one day she was humiliated by Ammy on Sang-Jun's birthday. (a part of the synopsis is stopped here due to my fear of spoiling the plot) And thus Hanna's determination to get a plastic surgery makeover. And thus the new person, Jenny was born. Through the makeover she learnt of what she gained and lost, she experienced inexpressible joy and indescribable pain. The movie follows one big-hearted girl's emotional journey through the fear, joy and pain of gaining a new physical body and yet her inability to lie to herself on who she truly is.

Casts: Kim Ah-Joong, Joo Jin-Mo

Review: As I have said up there *points up* I quite like this movie, I squirm with delight when Hanna was being Hanna and hide in embarassment when things started to go wrong for her. The light-heartedness of the movie came with modest humility through the casts, especially Kim Ah-Joong's performance, she was a delight to watch, and her singing voice was just amazing to listen to (check out her MV for Maria, notice the voice). Somehow I have a feeling I was cheated from the movie because I didn't recognise some scenes in the MV, they must've edited it or something. But besides that it is a feel good movie that you should watch when the rain's pouring outside with a warm hot cocoa sitting on a huge sofa :)

Rating: 4/5 stars

And below is the MV just for your convenience.



Enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome welcome, those of you from near and far! Lo and behold! A new blog! I was getting tired of the old one because of its endless rant. Me being an organised person as I am, in theory only, thought "hmm... I need a blog just for reviews" and thus how this blog has come to be.

So first up, for the opening of the century I shall move onto the next post for my very first review.