Old Boy

"Old Boy" is sick. Plain and simple. Of all the disturbing movies out there, this one takes the cake. If you decide to watch it, be advised, it's very disturbing. The closest analogy to "Old Boy" that comes to mind is one of Stanley Kublick's psychologically inflicting dramas, like "A Clockwork Orange." But even Mr. Kublick's dark, atypical films don't stack up to Director Park Chan-wook's repulsive "Old Boy."

The whole revenge scheme in "Old Boy" is wrong, uncivilized and unnecessary. It's unnecessary to put someone in jail for 15 years. It's unnecessary to cut off the tongue and yank the teeth out with a hammer. And it's definitely unnecessary to plot revenge of such mass scale. Boys will be boys. They do and say stupid things. Let's all forgive each other and run to the ice cream truck for some Klondike bar or drumstick ice cream cone. Let's hug each other and watch Transformers or Looney Tunes on Saturday mornings.

That is why society emphasizes good parenting. Without good nurturing and spankings, youngsters will turn into fanatical maniacs and spend too much time plotting evil instead of learning grammar and arithmetic. If every grade school bully end up plotting revenge such as in the movie, civilized society would be nonexistent.

The only thing Director Chan-wook succeeded in accomplishing with "Old Boy" is disgust viewers with gory scenes and a despicable incest revelation at the end of the movie. I'm sorry to say, but the Oedipus Rex ending doesn't quite work here. It is neither tragic nor heart-rending. It doesn't make us lament the madman. Instead, it makes the viewers sick and walk out of the theater.

"Old Boy" is a pile of crap gigantic pile of crap. My copy ended up in the trash can.

F

My Little Bride

Starring Moon Geum-Young (A tale of two sisters) and Kim Rae won (Rooftop cat,...ing) is a light hearted romance comedy about an arranged marriage. Sang-min (Rae Won) and Bo-Eun (Geum Young)are to be wed to fulfill a wish of their grandfathers. Both Grandfathers had intended to wed their kids to each other, but both ended up with sons. Fortunately (or unfortunately) their sons gave birth to one girl and one boy. Bo-Eun at 16 and still in High school is attracted to another boy in the same school, while Sang Min is finishing up college and working on this teaching credentials, are tricked by their dying grandfather into going through with the ceremony. Although it may be a sensitive issue (marriage at a young age), the director takes the subject and throws in many realistic and unrealistic scenarios and creates an entertaining film. I do have to say though, Kim Rae won is just like himself, the Kim Rae Won that we may have seen in ...ing, rooftop cat, or My Love Patzii. But Moon Geum Young steals the show with her cute looks and facial expressions. She creates the mood for all the events that happens...this little one has a lot promising talent. The Ost is also very good, a catchy opening and some nice instrumentals that'll get you whistling with the song. A nice romantic comedy. B+ for this one.

Full House

“Full House” is a house full of hate and love as most of the mini-series consists of harsh bickering followed by gentle, hesitant make ups between the two main characters. A romantic comedy starring Lee Young-jae (Korean pop star "Bi" or "Rain") and Han Ji-eum (Song Hae Gyo), it is a story about an arrogant, aloof actor and a sassy, struggling writer trying to settle their differences and getting along under the same roof. The drama draws its humor from arguments across the dining table, in front of the bathroom sink, on the Mercedes roadster ride to/from the city, and pretty much everywhere else in between.

Most of the dialogue sequences eventually lead to childish remarks and quarrels over trivial matters, like for example, which toilet paper to get. One ply or two ply? This brand or that brand? In the end, someone gets his or her feelings hurt, and ultimately it leaves the viewers hoping for a reasonable resolution.

The source of such dysfunctional relationship lies in the fact that Young-jae is: 1) incapable of expressing his true feelings, and 2) he suffers from a real bad case of the saving-face syndrome. The former is so severe that it took the whole series for him to finally open up and spill his heart out in the last episode.

Indeed, Young-jae would make a great psychological case study. Let's take a few examples. Instead of a simple apology, he becomes hostile and makes Ji-eum do chores. His “I’m sorry” comes out as “Go clean and cook!” His “I love you” is something like “Do you want ice cream?” It is this kind of arrogant, tough-guy attitude that inflicts mental trauma and instigates conflicts. Watching the dialogue sequences is like waiting for a train wreck to happen.



Beef aside, “Full House” is a funny and captivating mini-series. While the constant arguments may irritate some viewers, the series' other qualities cannot be disregarded. It progresses quickly and is never boring. The actors truly embody their roles and their smart, witty dialogue makes the series entertaining and interesting. Ji-eum’s jokes may suck and Lee Young’s name-calling may be hurtful more than amusing, but it is this kind of chemistry that makes the viewers laugh. After a while, the incessant banter/whining/argument across the dinner table doesn’t really get old. Instead, it becomes satisfying and heart-warming, for that’s when we know that everything is “normal.”



Most viewers might not mind so much (or even notice and care), but there are few inconsistencies with the whole scheme of things that just doesn’t make sense. First of all, what's with the poor writer/maid wearing designer Paul Frank t-shirts and jammies? It looks great on Ji-eum, but those monkey-faced t-shirt ain’t exactly cheap (don’t get the wrong idea, I wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of those. I got some female friends who dig that stuff). And then, you have this nice luxurious house without any appliances, like a washer, dryer and dishwasher. What is up with that? What really doesn't fly tough, is the whole idea about having a beautiful, expensive house with no car. That's just wrong. Although, it is conceivable that Ji-eum was never able to buy a cheap Hyundai after her parent’s accident.

I’m not going to dissect the whole drama apart, as I realize every mini-series has faults. So before things get sidetracked, let’s get back to the review.

The ending is a bit of a disappointment. Most viewers would surely disagree with me, but the happy ending sure feels less satisfying than one that would’ve amounted to a painful, even tragic, ending. Although I’m definitely not asking for a soul-crushing depressing ending for "Full House," it would’ve been favorable, and in many ways, consistent with the series for the two leads to walk away from a relationship that seems to be doomed from the very start.

A perfect example of this idea is the 80’s sitcom “Cheers.” Similar to Young-jae and Ji-eum’s rocky relationship, Sam and Diane’s turbulent tale ends amicably. But unlike our couple in “Full House,” the ending for Sam and Diane’s saga is a bittersweet one. Diane, an ambitious, career-oriented woman decides to quit waiting tables and leaves "Cheers" for the opportunity to use her intelligence and make it big as a writer, and in the end, Sam watches Diane leave the bar for the last time while uttering to himself “Have a good life.”

That been said, the reader must realize that this is coming from a critic of happy endings, and thinks the whole idea of “opposites attract” is horseshit. A neat freak (Young-jae) cannot live with a slob (Ji-eum). No way.

In the last episode of “Full House,” the unhealthy relationship is all but gone. Young-jae’s tough-love and Ji-eum’s sassiness are replaced by two characters forcibly trying to get along and make things work. It is a hasty solution to a complicated, long-term relationship problem; one that doesn’t quite work in reality. But it is a minor weakness compared to the story as a whole. As romantic comedies go, it is perhaps more fitting to have a beautiful, cute finale.

A-

Ayumi Hamasaki - Arena Tour 2005 "My Story"

My god, I swear, if Ayumi ever had a concert held anywhere in the west coast, I'm there for sure! I recently went Ayumi Live in Concert crazy, and ended up buying a couple of her concert dvds. (It's an extremely cheap ticket to her concert, lack of a better excuse). After reading some reviews about her latest concert dvd, I decided to pickup the Areana Tour 2005 based on her album My Story. Ayumi's concerts are always full of awesome sets and beautiful outfits. This may be the one of her most expensive ones, considering all of the props. Besides the visual, this one is a must have for all Ayumi fans, she starts off with "Happy Ending" and continues to please the crowd with old and new songs. Here she performs the song "Moments" in a beautiful black/red dress (sorry I don't know what the correct name of this type of dress is, maybe someone could comment me and let me know).


Just a little background info, I believe she started her career around the mid 90's and has rip up the charts for over ten years. (You could always google Ayumi Hamasaki and find some very informative sites with her profile info). From all of the dvds I've seen, she always goes all out to entertain the crowd. Not many artist would spend that kind of money to have even a set that is half as good. Ayumi truly loves her fans, as you could see from some these pictures (while she was performing "Walking Proud"). I've been listening to this song all day...can't get it of my head...



Those ain't no fake tears, you could really see that she tears up for all the loyal fans she's had for so long. (I think in Japan, you'd be lucky to have any following for over a year or two). One site had said, "No other artist can compare to Ayumi when in comes to concerts." This is so true - check out, even if you're not a JPOP fan. You're going to wish you could go to one of her concerts. I think I might have to fly to Japan to go to one of her concerts, maybe that's what I'll do next year. :) My only disappoint with this concert is that she didn't sing my all time favorite song "A Song for XX," But I guess the song is kind of outdated (and she's sung at almost all of her previous concerts).
Ayumi wa totemo utsukushii desu...ayumi daisuki desu...

A Bittersweet Life

A Bittersweet Life stars Lee Beyong Heon as sun-woo, a lonely gangster who dedicates his life to his organization. After winning the boss' favor, he is given a task to watch over the boss' girlfriend while the boss is away. In this task he fails, and even more falls in love with the girl. After the boss finds out, many events occur and sun-woo finds himself trying to find a way out. Directed and written by Kim Ji woon (A Tale of two sisters), the film is shot very nicely and music is a plus. (In Spain, the film won an award for it's OST). Lots of blood and violence, the film takes you right into the fights with sun-woo. An entertaining film, well directed and shot. I liked this film much more than John Woo's "The Killer." Maybe because the director and lee byeong heon made you feel like you're right there with them.

Arahan

In anticipation of the new fantasy film "Shadowless Sword," I decided to watch Arahan again (since Yoon Soy stars in it). It's a decent popcorn flick, with some slight humor. (maybe they were trying to be funny, but was weak on the execution)
Sang hwan is a nerdy cop with little or no common sense. After an accident the Seven Masters discovers that there's a very strong Chi in him and wants to recruit and train him. But being the lame idiot he is, he refuses, as the story goes on, only a hot chick could (Eui jin) could get him interested. The story is so so, the action sequences are decent. Yoon Soy may prove to be an actress that can play the roles of martial arts beauty. She looks well trained (she looks even better in the trailers of shadowless sword). My Intial viewing of the film, didn't really impress me, but this second time around I notice some of the direction of the film and editing. This film did win some award in Korea, possible for it's effects and action sequences.

2046

In Wong Kar Wai's “2046,” Chow Mo-Wan plays a Bogart-looking, vagabond-like writer interested only in getting by and swinging chicks. Most of Chow’s life goes something like this: he meets a lady and then bones her. Then he meets another lady and bones her too. Then he meets another lady and guess what? He bones her as well. After a few meaningless relationships, Chow meets Bai Ling, who lives in hotel room 2046, conveniently located across from Chow’s room. Bai Ling eventually falls in love with Chow, but like his many previous affairs it doesn’t last long, as the ladies’ man soon descends into his routine of one-night stands, gambling and drinking.

The only true love in Chow's life comes not from real life, but from his science fiction novel about a Japanese man falling in love with a female android in the year 2046 (the year and title of Chow’s fiction are inspired by none other than the room number across from his own). Needless to say, the android doesn’t love him back because she/it lacks emotions.

I had my fair share of bizarre movies, but this one easily ranks up there on my list of “Huuuhhh?” movies. It might take me a couple of more viewings of “2046” for me to fully understand the underlying meaning of Wong Kar Wai’s ambiguous plot.

But it does not take a PhD in Freudian psychology to piece together Wong’s hidden message/theme. At first glance, it seems like Chow’s countless unsubstantial relationships underscores Wong’s message of incapacity of constructing true relationships and the agony that goes along with it. By writing about a man in love with an android, Chow is subconsciously establishing the notion of such impossible love and perhaps, his real-life state of impotence for love and long-term relationships. On the heels of “In the Mood for Love,” Wong Kar Wai once again shows the idea of unfulfilled desires and ultimately, life’s disappointments.

If what I just wrote sounds confusing, you are right. But you can think of it this way: Wong is showing the painful feeling you get when you are too afraid to ask that hot girl out; or worse, when you have countless affairs in hopes of being emotionally detached because of your past failed relationships.

It takes skill to make a film of this caliber; one that combines the elements of cheap sex, cyberpunk androids, and breathtaking 1960’s scenes, into a story about painful breakups and failed relationships. “2046” is one of those movies that make you go “WTF?!?!” when the credits roll, and makes you want to watch it a second time to completely appreciate and comprehend the movie.

B

...ing

After a long break from posting reviews, I think I'm going to do more as I watch them...I guess maybe this film pretty much got me going again.



This film was released in 2003 (dvd released in february 2004, so it's not exactly a new film), but I just watched it two nights ago. It's a story about a girl name mina (Lim so jeong) who lives with her single mom, misuk (Lee mi suk). She meets a guy of her dreams Young-jae (Kim Rae won) and falls in love with him. Though I really think this movie was more about the mom and daughter than Mina and young jae.





...ing refers to the present continuous tense that used to express in english words. It's a simple and beautiful story, and I am so glad I watched it. The leads did an excellent job. Lim so jeong (the lead from "A tale of two sisters") is a great actress, she proved that in her previous film, and continues to show that she can play a different role this time. The soundtrack is also very nice (i have mine on order already). The film itself is so beautifully shot, you have to give it to first time director Kim Jin for doing such a wonderful job. I'm glad she made this film, with such an eye and mind to create this film....

I kind of regret that I did not watch this earlier. It's been out for over a year, and I never crossed it. It's actually out of print and no longer distributed by the publisher (according to yesasia), so I had to find another source to pick it up. One site had it, but I didn't want to buy it from them, as they tend to over charge, give bad service (and I didn't really know how good this film was). So I decided to drop by the local korean music/dvd store (usually my last option or when i'm extremely desperate to get it on the same day) -- and got real lucky to get this limited edition version. (the one site that had it, wanted $85 bucks + shipping). After watching this film, I wouldn't have minded paying the 85. It would've been worth every penny.

Dae Jang Geum - Best Mini Series

It's been a couple of months since I've watched the final episode of Dae Jang Geum (The Great Jang Geum or the international title "The Jewel in the Palace"). Eventually I got off my butt and finally got myself to start writing this review. I'm not sure why it took me so long, but for the past few months, all I've been doing is rewatching bits and pieces of the series. I've even spent time just reading what others had to say about the series, their perspectives on this historic drama, the development of the series, and the history of the chosun era.

This Drama is quite long compared to the other korean ones out there. (It's 54 1-hour episodes or in some other countries it's 70 45-minute episodes). But believe me, it will go by so fast, you're going to wish that it never ended.

I'm not going to go into too much details about the actual story itself (I'm going to leave it to you to watch it and enjoy every bit of it).

The story takes place around the mid-1400s to mid 1500s, during the Chosun Dynasty era. The main character Lady Suh Jang Geum (acted by Lee Young-ae) dreams of entering the palace to become the highest kitchen lady.

Images of her dressed in different hanboks...



She begins her life in the palace as a court lady and learns about many methods of cooking and various ingredients.

Jang Geum and her friend Yeung Seng concentrates on the dishes being made in the kitchen.


Jang Geum discovers something and discusses it with Keum Yeuong (another court lady who entered the palace the same time)


Jang Geum smiles and follows her teacher Lady Han...


Even though it's a drama about food and medicine, there are fierce compeitions throughout the story, here Jang Geum competes with Keum Yeuong in a food competition...oh...the food, you're going to love the food -- You're going to want to go out to your local korean town,(if you're lucky enough to have one nearby you), and start eating some of these delicious dishes. Some of the dishes in the series are still served today, you just have to know where to go. (or ask any of your korean buddies to take for some cold noodles-the buckwheat one on a hot day, or sol long tang, their classic beef broth noodle on a cold day...)



Sir Min is always behind Lady suh no matter what happens...even if it meant death.


Another picture of Lady Suh, here you could really appreciate the beautiful hanboks. It helps that the actress is so beautiful herself. :)


At times when Jang Geum is so happy, it will make you happy as well.


Through all the joys and struggles of lady suh, she becomes Dae Jang Geum.

The production of this series is amazing. The sets are so well made and the scenes are so beautiful. The music is also another major piece of this wonderful drama.

I could go on and ramble about how great the series is, but some of you might think I'm just out of mind, so I decided to post some statistics (found from various sources)

In Korea, the series aired from September 2003 to March 2004 broke many viewer ratings. The average viewer rating was 47% and reached 57% on its final episode. (Only 4 other dramas has ever reached 50% rating since 2000).

In Hong Kong, it broke all records. The series itself had a viewer rating of 47 percent, the Dae jang geum Special was 43 percent and Dae jang geum prologue was 38 percent. Dae Jang Geum has or will make its way to other countries such as Taiwan, singapore, malaysia, Japan and Middle east.

As you've noticed the unbelievable statistics above, this isn't just your typical drama series. It has drawn young and old, male and female viewers with its addictive storyline, its wonderful cast (All the cast did such a wonderful job, that after the series, they were given many contracts to do other series), nice music, and beautiful sets.

This is really a journey which you follow the life of Jang Geum. She will take you with her and make you laugh, cry, happy, at times even jump out of your seat and root for her. This series has truly been the best series I've ever seen, and I'm glad that many people around the world had the chance to enjoy it as much as I did...


Sources:

http://daejanggeum.blogsome.com/
http://www.hancinema.net/korean_drama_Dae_Jang_Geum.php
http://www.xanga.com/suprob/DJG