...Ing (2003)

Genre : Romance, Comedy, Melodrama.

Language : Korean
Country : South Korea
Cast : Im Su-Jeong, Kim Rae-Won, Lee Mi-Sook.
Directed by : Lee Eon-Hie
Run Time : 104 min
Release Date : 24th November, 2003

Synopsis :

“...Ing” (Korean : Ai En Chi), also known as “The Guy Was Cool” or “The Cool Guy” is a 2003 South Korean film that follows the life of young woman who has become reserved and indifferent to the world as a result of her chronic illness and deformed hand.

The film quietly portrays the unconventional, yet endearing relationship between mother and daughter Min-Ah (Im Su-jeong) and Mi-Sook (Lee Mi-Sook) as well as the development of Min-Ah as she is befriended by the high spirited and carefree photographer Young-Jae (Kim Rae-Won) who moves into their apartment complex.

Plot :

“…ing”, oddly as it sound but yet a highly engaging romantic melodrama about living life one day at a time. Kang Min-Ah (Im Soo-Jung) is a pretty high school girl who has had the misfortune of spending most of her life in hospitals, especially during her formative years. Min-Ah has a deformed hand, and unbeknownst to her, a terminal illness within her. However, Min-Ah’s single mother Mi-Sook (Lee Mi-Sook) does know the truth and keeps it hidden from her daughter, instead trying to turn this negative fact into positive motivation. Although hurting on the inside, Mi-Sook puts on a brave face, encouraging her daughter to take life by the horns and live in the here and now. Min-Ah is skeptical, but soon finds the possibilities of life re-opening to her.

On the way to school, she finds a person who lost his love in a road-accident at the front of Min-Ah's high school. For this reason, he helps the school girls to cross the road. Min-Ah heard from the teacher that the man lost his girl-friend in front of the school on a rainy day, so in the rain the man cries missing his love. According to Min-Ah, "TRUE LOVE IS NOT ABOUT GETTING, BUT IS GIVING!"


Soon enough, a photographer named Young-Jae (Kim Rae-Won) enters both of their lives by moving into the downstairs apartment. Upon seeing her, Young-Jae immediately does his best to win Min-Ah’s attention, engaging in a series of well-intentioned, but slightly juvenile acts that he hopes will make her change her mind about him. Although highly resistant at first, Min-Ah eventually caves in to Young-Jae’s goofily charming persistence, and the two embark on a tentative friendship. Much to the delight of her mother, the friendship between Min-Ah and Young-Jae eventually turns to love (albeit chaste), and they soon plan a trip to Hawaii together to see the sea turtles. But with the bitter realities of Min-Ah’s fatal illness looming low on the horizon, one begins to wonder if the budding couple will be able to make it to Hawaii before it’s too late..!

Cast :

■ Gang Min-Ah (Im Su-Jeong) 
■ Young-Jae (Kim Rae-Won) 
■ Mi Sook (Lee Mi-Sook) 
■ Kyung-Soo (Yun Chan) 
■ Guard (Kim In-Mun)

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.4/10;  HanCinema.net = 9.1/10; SpcNet.tv = 4.5/5
[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, HanCinema, SpcNet]

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Too Beautiful to Lie (2004)

Genre : Romance, Comedy, Melodrama.
Language : Korean
Country : South Korea
Cast : Kim Ha-Neul, Kang Dong-Won.
Directed by : Bae Hyeong-Jun
Run Time : 115 min
Release Date : 20th February, 2004

Synopsis :

“Too Beautiful to Lie” a.k.a. “Don't Believe Her” (Korean : Geu-nyeo-reul Mid-ji Ma-se-yo) is a 2004 South Korean romantic comedy film starring Kim Ha-Neul and Kang Dong-Wan. It’s a romantic, melodrama comedy film about a beautiful and cunning ex-convict girl, and an innocent and naive village guy!

“Too Beautiful to Lie” is Kim Ha-Neul’s second venture into the comedy genre after ‘My Tutor Friend’, and Kang Dong-Wan’s movie debut. This film was not a big blockbuster or a box office hitter in South Korea, like ‘My Tutor Friend’, but was praised elsewhere in Asia and abroad for its subtle and funny humour!

Plot :

‘Ju Yeong-Ju’ (Kim Ha-Neul) is a cute and innocent looking ex-con artist with excellent deception skills who is imprisoned for fraud. But using her talent she managed to go through the evaluation and able to receive a parole for attending her only sister's wedding. While on the way, she runs into a shy and confused young guy, ‘Choi Hee-Chul’ (Kang Dong-Wan) who is on his way to see his girl friend in Seoul by train. He is a country bumpkin, and physician who is the only son of the mayor of a sleepy countryside.

However, Hee-Chul accidentally drops his engagement ring awkwardly under the legs of sleeping Yeong-Ju and while trying to retrieve it, creates a hilarious misunderstanding. After clearing up the misunderstanding with Yeong-Ju, he gets up to leave, but Yeong-Ju notices a pick-pocket stealing his ring at that very moment. Keeping herself safe from any legal trouble, Yeong-Ju gets out of the train to retrieve the ring, which she successfully does. But unfortunately, she misses the train and leaves her bag which contains her sister’s wedding gift in it with Hee-Chul!





Determined to find her bag and return the ring, she tracks down Hee-Chul and reaches his hometown. While carrying his engagement ring, she unwittingly gets mistaken by Hee-Chul’s family as his girlfriend. This leads to a lot of hilarious moments where unwilling to tell them the truth due to her own safety, Yeong-Ju even manages to convince Hee-Chul’s family that she is pregnant with his child. The situation gets more complicated when Hee-Chul finally returns home after failing in his marriage proposal because he has lost his ring. He is shocked to find everyone treating Yeong-Ju as his wife-to-be and even blaming him for ignoring her after getting her pregnant. He even gets beaten up a lot by his family and kicked out of the house making his life more miserable!

However, following the many romantic and hilarious twists, the bitter enemies that are Hee-Chul and Yeong-Ju start to fall for each other and Hee-Chul begins to see that behind Yeong-Ju’s deceptive and cunning exterior, there is actually a sweet and vulnerable girl. However, the truth is revealed to the family, which causes more chaos in the situation. But after all the upheavals in their life, everything works out well in the end!

Cast :

■ Ju Yeong-Ju (Kim Ha-Neul)

■ Choi Hee-Cheol (Kang Dong-Won)

■ Hee-Cheol's Father (Song Jae-Ho)

■ Hee-Cheol's Grandmother (Kim Ji-Yeong)

■ Husband of Hee-Cheol's Paternal Aunt (Lim Ha-Ryong)

■ Youg-Deok (Lee Cheon-Hee)

■ Doctor (Lee Ju-Seok)

■ Soo-Mi (Lee Yeong-Eun)

■ Hwa-Sook (Myeong Ji-Yeon)

■ Jae-Eun (Nam Sang-Mi)

Awards :

1. It won the 40th Baek Sang Arts Award for the Best Actress - Kim Ha-Neul in 2004.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.0/10;  HanCinema.net = 9.1/10; SPCNet.tv = 4.5/5; ZingMovie.com = 3.1/5

[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, HanCinema, SPCNet, ZingMovie]

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The Classic (2003)

Genre : Romance, Comedy, Tragedy, Melodrama, War Drama.
Language : Korean
Country : South Korea
Cast : Son Ye-Jin, Cho Seung-Woo, Jo In-Sung, Lee Ki-Woo.
Directed by : Kwak Jae-Yong
Run Time : 127 min
Release Date : 30th January, 2003

Synopsis :

“The Classic” (Korean: Keulraesik) is a 2003 classic Korean romantic melodrama film starring Son Ye-Jin, Cho Seung-Woo and Jo In-Seong. "The Classic" is director Kwak Jae-Yong's long-awaited follow-up to his 2001 smash hit "My Sassy Girl”.

This film shows the parallel love stories of a mother and daughter, bridging two different time periods. The story of the mother is told partially in flashbacks. It will be justified to say that “The Classic” is an important milestone in the history of Korean romantic melodramas!

Plot :

The film begins in the present day, where the daughter, Ji-Hye (Son Ye-Jin), is cleaning-up around her house when she comes across a box containing an old diary and some love letters belonging to her mother, Joo-Hee (also played by Son Ye-Jin). Periodically in the film, Ji-Hye reads one of these letters, which starts a flashback scene which begins narrating the 1960’s story about the love triangle that formed between Ji-Hye's mother Joo-Hee, her future father Tae-Soo (Lee Ki-Woo), and Tae-Soo's best friend Joon-Ha (Cho Seung-Woo). Though Joo-Hee fell in love with Joon-Ha after a chance meeting in the countryside, she was already engaged to Tae-Soo in an arranged marriage!

Meanwhile, in the present, Ji-Hye has some romantic entanglements of her own to work out. She is in love with Sang-Min (Jo In-Seong), the boyfriend of her narcissistic best friend Soo-Kyeong (Lee Sang-In) and a senior in the theatre club, yet finds herself unable to express her true feelings. On the other side, Soo-Kyeong asks Ji-Hye to do her a favor – write a love letter to Sang-Min. Ji-Hye pours out her own feelings for him on paper, but sadly in her friend’s name. Touched by the letter, Sang-Min is attracted to Soo-Kyeong, and Ji-Hye. Feeling uncomfortable and even guilty, Ji-Hye tries to avoid him. And yet by coincidence or by fate she keeps running into him. Bouncing back and forth, the film draws parallels between the heartbreak, lessons learned, and travails of mother and daughter, whose destinies are inextricably intertwined!

Flashback to the summer of 1968...The mother, Joo-Hee visits the countryside as a student during her summer vacation and meets Joon-Ha. Together they explore the countryside, playing near a small river bridge with the fireflies. When a storm starts they take shelter together under a tree, but not before Joo-Hee twists her ankle and is rendered helpless. Joon-Ha carries her on his back and they struggle home, only to be confronted by her angry parents. Before they separate, Joo-Hee gives him a necklace, which he keeps close as a precious reminder of their time together.

Having parted with Joo-Hee without a word of farewell, Joon-Ha spends the rest of the summer heavy-hearted! With summer vacation being over Joon-Ha also returns to Seoul. At school, his classmate Tae-Soo asks him to write a love letter to send to a girl. And who would it be but Joo-Hee, Joon-Ha’s dream girl. Unable to confess his own summer love story, Joon-Ha reluctantly complies with his friend’s request!

Unfortunately, as often happens in affairs of the heart, a third party prevents any deepening of their relationship. Joo-Hee has been promised by her parents as a bride to Tae-Soo, Joon-Ha's best friend. But Tae-Soo, a noble friend, finds out about Joo-Hee and Joon-Ha's attraction for each other and helps the two communicate secretly by letting them use his own name in place of Joon-Ha's in their letters. When Tae-Soo's father finds this out, however, he beats Tae-Soo. Tae-Soo tries unsuccessfully to commit suicide so that his two friends can be together!






Meanwhile, in the present, Ji-Hye falls for Sang-Min in whom her friend Soo-Kyeong is also very interested, but he seems not to notice. Then, in a sweet scene, they take shelter from the rain together under the same tree. He uses his coat to cover both of them and escorts her to where she needs to go. The moment, while magical, does not go anywhere as she feels his help was only due to his generous nature and not from any feelings for her on his part.

Back in the past, Joon-Ha is guilt-ridden over his friend's attempted suicide and Joo-Hee's own guilt. Determined to prevent any more hurt to her, Joon-Ha joins the army and goes to Vietnam. There he loses his eyesight while he tries to retrieve the necklace Joo-Hee had given him. When he returns to Korea, he meets again with Joo-Hee, and, trying to hide his blindness, convinces her that he has married in the hope she will move on with her life. Though heartbroken that their relationship cannot continue, she does move on and eventually marries Tae-Soo. After they have been married for several years and have a young daughter (Ji-Hye), Joo-Hee is approached by friends of Joon-Ha, who relate Joon-Ha's last wish – ‘that his ashes be scattered by Joo-Hee in the river, now a reservoir, where they first met!’ She then finds out that Joon-Ha hadn't married, but he later did after she married Tae-Soo! She was told that he had a son also. The heart-break is too much and she cries.

In the present, Ji-Hye's own story unfolds. Sang-Min reveals his true feelings for Ji-Hye - feelings that mirror her own! It is also revealed that their taking shelter together during the storm was no accident – he had purposely left his umbrella behind in a shop so that he could join her under the tree. Then, when Ji-Hye pensively reveals her mother's story to him, tears stream down his face. Silently he lifts a necklace from around his neck and places it around hers. It is the necklace that Ji-Hye's mother, Joo-Hee, had given to Joon-Ha when they met. The circle is completed – Joo-Hee's daughter and Joon-Ha's son have fallen in love!

In other words, the eternal love between Joo-Hee and Joon-Ha has finally got its destination across the divisions of time – in the shape of the love between Ji-Hye and Sang-Min! ...The younger generation has accomplished the aspirations in their lives what their parents could not!

Cast :

■ Ji-Hye / Joo-Hee, Mother of Ji-Hye (Son Ye-Jin)

■ Joon-Ha, Father of Ji-Hye (Cho Seung-Woo)

■ Sang-Min (Jo In-Seong)

■ Tae-Soo, Friend of Joon-Ha (Lee Ki-Woo)

■ Soo-Kyeong, Friend of Ji-Hye (Lee Sang-In)

■ Na-Hee, Friend of Joo-Hee (Seo Yeong-Hee)

■ Shopkeeper (Im Ye-Jin)

Awards :

1. It won the 40th Dae Jong Sang Award for the Best New Actress - Son Ye-Jin in 2003.
2. It won the 39th Baek Sang Arts Award for the Best New Actress - Son Ye-Jin in 2003.
3. It won the 24th Blue Dragon Film Award for the Most Favourite/ Popular Star - Son Ye-Jin in 2003.
4. It won the 9th Moscow International Love Movie Award for the Best Couple in 2004.
5. It was nominated at the 2004 Hong Kong Film Awards for the Best Asian Film.

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.7/10;  HanCinema.net = 9.1/10; KYHB.com = 9/10

[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, HanCinema, KMDb, KoreanMovie, MediaCircus]

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A Millionaire’s First Love (2006)

Genre : Romance, Comedy, Tragedy, Melodrama.
Language : Korean
Country : South Korea
Cast : Hyun Bin, Lee Yeon-Hee, Lee Han-Sol, Jo Yong-Jun.
Directed by : Kim Tae-Gyun
Run Time : 116 min
Release Date : 9th February, 2006

Synopsis :

“A Millionaire's First Love” (Korean: Baek-Man-Jang-Ja-Ui Cheot-Sarang) is a successful Korean romance film starring Hyun Bin and Lee Yeon-Hee in the lead roles. The basic theme of this movie is "Nothing is more important than the true love of your heart!".

Plot :

The story of the movie revolves around the life of a typical rich guy, Kang Jae-Kyung (Hyun Bin) who has no goal in life, and is just busy in enjoying the luxuries. He’s arrogant, spoilt rotten, drives sporty cars, attends the big clubs and rides through school corridors on his motorbike. On his 18th birthday, he’s set to inherit his grandfather’s multi-million dollar fortune. But to his surprise, there’s a strange condition in his grandfather’s will that he has to graduate from an unknown and low-profile school in a hilly town, Gangwondo, if he wants to inherit that fortune. The only way to inherit his fortune without a certificate from this school is to get expelled!

Until then all access to his penthouse, cottage and credit cards is denied. Should he fail to graduate or drop out then he loses everything. With little choice he heads out to the countryside and a small town in which daily life is far removed from what he’s used to. Now, he makes all the trouble he can but everything fails. He even bribes the principal to expel him, but it’s futile. Trapped in a place where everything is forgiven, he has no choice but to finish school!

Shortly after settling into his new home he meets 18 year-old class monitor, Choi Eun-Whan (Lee Yeon-Hee), who just happened to run into him back in Seoul. They don’t exactly hit it off; he’s far too stubborn and cool for school, while she sees hope for him and sets out to make him see it for himself. As they eventually draw closer, thanks to a set of coincidences and school projects they learn more about one another, and love finds its way to the heart of this rude, spoiled boy. Her existence creeps into his heart and shakes up his closed-minded world. Kang Jae-Kyung learns of Choi Eun-Whan's terminal disease and does what he can to make her happy. He even tells his lawyer that he would give up his inheritance so he could buy and save the orphanage for her.

 

Once during the rehearsal of a play at the school, Kang Jae-Kyung notices that the play is actually like the incident that had happened in his life. He recalls a childhood memory of being at the orphanage at Gangwondo, where he had met Choi Eun-Whan and had made a promise to return in ten days. He was unable to fulfil his promise and did not remember his promise nor the girl because his parents had died in an accident so he erased all his memories of the tragic and unfortunate past!

Their lives are forever changed as they fight the disease together and their love grows even stronger with time! “A Millionaire's First Love” also reminds us some similarities in its plot and characters with the hit American romance film, “A Walk to Remember”!

Cast :

■ Kang Jae-Kyung (Hyun Bin)

■ Choi Eun-Whan (Lee Yeon-Hee)

■ Goo-Ho (Jo Yong-Joon)

■ Myungshik (Lee Han-Sol)

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.1/10; HanCinema.net = 9.1/10

[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, HanCinema, KMDb]

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Windstruck (2004)

Genre : Romance, Comedy, Crime, Action, Drama.
Language : Korean
Country : South Korea
Cast : Jeon Ji-Hyun, Jang Hyuk, Lee Ki Woo, Kim Chang-Wan, Cha Tae-Hyun.
Directed by : Kwak Jae-Yong
Run Time : 123 min
Release Date : 3rd July, 2004

Synopsis :

“Windstruck” (Korean : Nae Yeoja Chingureul Sogae Habnida a.k.a. Yeochinso; Literally means, ‘Let me introduce (you to) my girlfriend’) is a 2004 South Korean romantic-fantasy comedy film starring one of the most famous Korean actress Jeon Ji-Hyun and up-and-coming actor Jang Hyuk. The film was a major success, ranking as the 8th-highest grossing Korean film of 2004.

In fact, some critics have retorted that ‘Windstruck’ is just another sappy version of ‘My Sassy Girl’. This is true, to a certain extent. However, you could say that Kwak's style of directing has been recombined to give a new bittersweet formula. It seems that Kwak has drawn from his experience in directing comedies such as ‘My Sassy Girl’ and melodramas such as ‘The Classic’, and decided to try both formulas in the same project. The result you get is – ‘Windstruck’!

Plot :

In an interesting opening, the movie has ‘Jeon Ji-Hyun’, standing at the top of a building, attempting to commit suicide, with ‘Jang Hyuk’ as the background narrator. It then moves on to a flashback and switches to a narrative mode to tell the story of the preceding events which eventually lead to the opening scene. Throughout the narration, we witness the encounters of our two protagonists and how they eventually end up together. There were a couple of hilarious moments and scenes which tickle the audience's funny bone!

The story of this movie revolves around Officer Yeo Kyung-Jin (Jeon Ji-Hyun), an ambitious young female police officer serving in the Seoul police department. One day while chasing a purse snatcher, she accidentally captures Ko Myung-Woo (Jang Hyuk), a physics teacher at an all-girls school, who was actually trying to catch the thief. Later, Myung-Woo discovers the stolen purse, but just as he picks it up, Kyung-Jin spots him and tries to arrest him again. Later, Myung-Woo was released as the real thief was caught by the police with the help of the sketch drawn by him!

Kyung-Jin is then given the job of escorting Myung-Woo who was volunteering for patrolling through a dangerous district, only to be distracted when she tries to break up a meeting between Russian Mafia and Korean gangsters. With Myung-Woo handcuffed to her, Kyung-Jin almost single-handedly brings down the two rival gangs (although she is helped when she accidentally causes the groups to start shooting at each other)!

The first half of the film, told from Myung-Woo's point of view, details the couple's growing attraction and love for each other, which climaxes with a trip to the countryside where Myung-Woo tells Kyung-Jin that if he were ever to die, he wanted to come back to earth as the wind. Kyung-Jin narrates a local folklore about the romance between a Princess and her Prince charming (pinky effect!) to Myung-Woo. Soon after, he is almost killed in a freak car accident, but Kyung-Jin saves his life.

The film takes a turn into the fantasy genre in its second half after Myung-Woo is accidentally shot dead by another police officer, Yeong-Ho Kim (although the situation is such that Kyung-Jin thinks that it was her shot that killed him) as Kyung-Jin chases after a notorious criminal, Chang-Soo Shin. Kyung-Jin falls into a suicidal depression over his death and attempts to kill herself several times, almost succeeding when she throws herself off a building, only to be saved when a giant hand-shaped balloon floats under her. Soon after, she experiences visitations from Myung-Woo, who appears as the wind, sending her messages and, at one point, he even appears in her dreams in order to give her the will to live after she is nearly shot to death by the same criminal.

Ultimately the film follows a similar path set out by the American film ‘Ghost’ with Myung-Woo and Kyung-Jin communicating and sharing one final gesture of love before he moves on to the afterlife. Myung-Woo said that he will whisper, when she hears him whisper in the wind, and she will meet someone with a soul like him. Myung-Woo told Kyung-Jin that he will always be beside her inside a book with a photo left by Myung-Woo in the restaurant before he rushed to meet Kyung-Jin who was chasing the insane criminal.

In the first half of the film, Myung-Woo told that his only memory of high school was his high school trip. The book and the photo is found and returned to Kyung-Jin in the police station. The photo showed that on Myung-Woo's trip, Kyung-Jin was also nearby with her friends. This proved Myung-Woo's "I'm always beside you!" was true to Kyung-Jin. Kyung-Jin rushed out to locate the finder of the book, ultimately ending up in the train station, where she is saved by Cha Tae-Hyun's character (credited as ‘The Guy’) from being hit by the arriving train. Myung-Woo whispered that ‘The Guy’ is the one with the soul like him. Kyung-Jin whispers that "he is always beside her!”

Connections to ‘My Sassy Girl’ :

‘Windstruck’ shares the same leading actress and director as an earlier popular South Korean film, ‘My Sassy Girl’. As a result, ‘Windstruck’ contains several subtle references to the previous film. For example, a photo of Jeon Ji-Hyun from ‘My Sassy Girl’ is visible on Kyung-Jin's piano (while playing the piano). Plus the final scene of ‘Windstruck’, in which Kyung-Jin meets her new soul mate (played by Cha Tae-Hyun, the male lead from ‘My Sassy Girl’) on a train platform, is similar to the beginning scene of ‘My Sassy Girl’ and her character from ‘My Sassy Girl’ is distraught over the death of her true love!

Also, when Kyung-Jin is chasing Chang-Soo Shin in ‘Windstruck’, she tells a random citizen to act as a steppingstone to climb over the wall just like in ‘My Sassy Girl’, when she accidentally steps on a runaway soldier (played by the same actor) when she and Cha Tae-Hyun visited the amusement park during her birthday.

Jeon Ji-Hyun also plays the piano in both movies. However, "Windstruck" is not a full 'prequel' to "My Sassy Girl" in the literal sense of the term, but you can feel the connection between them!

Cast :

■ Yeo Kyung-Jin / Princess (Jeon Ji-Hyun a.k.a. Gianna Jun)

■ Ko Myung-Woo (Jang Hyuk)

■ Yeong-Ho Kim, Assistant Inspector (Kim Jeong-Tae)

■ Police Chief / Sheriff (Kim Chang-Wan)

■ Prince (Lee Ki Woo)

■ ‘The Guy’ at Platform / New Soul Mate (Cha Tae-Hyun)

■ Chang-Soo Shin, Criminal (Jeong-Ho Bin)

Ratings : IMDB.com = 7.1/10;  RottenTomatoes.com = 4.1/5; HanCinema.net = 9.1/10; MovieFilmReview.com = 5/5

[Source : Wikipedia, IMDB, RottenTomatoes, HanCinema, KoreanFilm, MovieFilmReview]

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