Sunday, May 27, 2007

A Fine Day For An Affair, 'Barampigi Joeun Nal' (KR2007)


A Fine Day for an Affair (KR- 2007)
A Fine Day For An Affair, 'Barampigi Joeun Nal'(2007) Cast: Kim Hye-su, Yun Jin-seo, Lee Jong-hyeok, Lee Min-gi, Park Sang-myeon ...

This chronicles two women who are cheating on their respective spouses. One is cheating on her cop husband with a man she met online and has had "conversations" and dialogue for a few months. She just wants to talk and connect, he is done with talking. The other is with a college student and she wants to give revenge her husband who had previously had an affair.. Both women see each other at the same hotel a few times. Until one day circumstances brings them together.

(review from YESASIA.COM below)
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What makes women cheat?


When the protagonist of Han Hyung Mo's 1956 masterpiece Madame Freedom opened herself to Western culture and started dating another man, it was enough to shock the country. Half a century has passed, and adultery has become a common enough occurrence to serve as the center of A Day For An Affair. Common as it may be, however, adultery is illegal in Korea, and the police will enforce it when called upon to. And it's usually women who end up on the shorter end of the stick. Beneath the sexy and lighthearted capers, A Day For An Affair deftly and smartly touches on the modern female's needs and perspectives, without making any excuses about this whole business of cheating. Kim Hye Su gives a lovable and alluring performance that matches her outing in Tazza: The High Rollers, while Yoon Jin Suh (Oldboy) brings subtle coyness and an identifiable yearning to her character. Lee Min Ki, who shot to fame through Spring of Dalja, plays the younger man again with likable doofiness.

Sexy, feisty, and slightly kooky, Dew (Kim Hye Su) tumbles into bed with a young, inexperienced college student (Lee Min Ki), who willingly and happily abides to her every wish. For Dew, this is payback against a cheating husband. But when her husband calls the cops, is she prepared for the consequences? Little Bird (Yoon Jin Suh, Oldboy) married young, and now finds herself in a stable, but loveless marriage. Looking for something more, she meets up with an internet friend whom she has grown smitten with. She wants to talk, to connect, but he's just interested in getting her into bed.

The second feature film from director Jang Moon Il, A Day For An Affair is neither a sex comedy nor a feminist anthem, but an honest, good-humored look at modern life and relations. It's no surprise that Jang's career has been marked by unconventional genre films and arthouse classics. Jang actually started as an art critic, and then moved to filmmaking as assistant director for two of the best films of the 90s, To the Starry Island and Jang Sun Woo's masterpiece A Petal. His first film The Happy Funeral Director was a glorious little comedy centered around creative characters and situations, just like A Day For An Affair.


Like A Virgin (KR 2006)


Cheon Ha Jang Sa Madonna (2006) 천하장사 마돈나

KR flick-aka Like a Virgin

I enjoyed this movie. Not your typical Korean movie but it deals with a young teen's dream of becoming Madonna and he has a crush on his Japanese teacher (cameo of Kusanaga Tsuyoshi of SMAP fame). He knows he is different from every one else and he desires to "live life" on his own terms. It is difficult but he decides to raise the money for his sex-change operation by joining the Korean wrestling team.

The young teen who plays Oh Dong Gu does a brilliant job. Whenever he is depressed he goes to his secret drawer and puts on lipstick. His own life is not easy being teased, his father is a drunk and his mom left the family.

I thought the ending with Dong Gu's performance of "Like a Virgin" to be a lot of fun!

Like A Virgin (2006) - 천하장사 마돈나 (Cheon-ha-jang-sa Ma-don-na)

Director: Lee Hae-yeong, Lee Hae-junCast: Ryu Deok-hwan, Baek Yun-sik, Mun Se-yun, Kim Yong-hun

(http://www.supermovie.com/ review from this site below)=======================

Like a Virgin is a Korean Drama Comedy stars Ryu Deok Hwan. This movie has won Lee Hae Joon and Lee Hae Young the Best New Director Award at the 5th Korean Film Awards and the Best Screenplay Award at the Baeksang Awards. The story is about Oh Dong Gu (Ryu Deok Hwan) a boy who has different dreams from any other boys at his age. He wants to become Madonna. To reach his dream he enter contest in a ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling). He will try his best to win the contest to get money and has sex changed. Maybe ten years ago this kind of movie will draw controversies, but Lee Hae Joon and Lee Hae Young wrapped on sweet comedy. Japanese Star, Kusanagi Tsuyoshi of the popular group SMAP, also stars as a Japanese teacher who Oh Dong Gu bears a crush on.

Cinderella (KR 2006)


Cinderella (KR 2006)
신데렐라 (Sin-de-rel-la)
Last night, I caught "Cinderella" a Korean teen horror film directed by Mon dae Bong. One theme that creeps up on alot of Asian horror movies is the lady with the long hairs and this horror flick is no exception. This flick throws in the requisite bloody scenes, chilling flashbacks with creepy music for added effect. Hyun Su (Sin Se Kyeong)is the daughter of a mom who is a renowned plastic surgeon. They have the perfect mother daughter relationship but Hyun Su does not keep in contact with her father. A few of her friends go to Hyun Su's mom (Do Ji Won)for help to be "prettier". It is now a social acceptable norm to have double eyelid surgery in Korea. After their surgeries, Hyun Su's classmates are terrorized by the "long haired girl ghost" and start committing suicide by cutting up their faces. Later on, Hyun Su realizes her mother has withheld some secrets from her.

The pace of the movie picks up after the slow beginning. There are some moments in the story telling that caused me to scratch my head. The end in particular was very confusing. I did not find it scary. For true horror fans, you will be disappointed. I did think the acting was good though. But overall it was entertaining for two hours as horror is not my usual favorite genre.

Barefoot Gi Bong (KR 2006)





Friday night, I caught the movie "Barefoot Gi Bong" 맨발의 기봉이 Maenbal-ui Gibong-i a touching Korean movie of the tender relationship between an adult son and mom who live in a small village somewhere in South Korea. Gi Bong is a 40 year old mentally challenged man who means the world to his mother and vice versa. He was sick when he was young and ever since then he is the village "fool" plus he always ran around the village barefoot. He survives doing odd menial jobs for the other villagers. His other passion is taking photos. He finds beauty in everything including the mundane items such as the "potty pot". One day, he inadvertently wins a half marathon when he is trying to return a runner's number as it fell down. This then starts a slew of events where the mayor of their town wants Gi Bong to run the marathon. He then gets him into a vigorious regimen. Gi Bong is in it for the money to buy a set of false teeth for his mom. Per her doctor, she has stomach problems for improperly chewing her food. He is such a fine filial son and loving too. It is hard not to be touched by this simple heart warming tale of love, devotion, persistence and purpose. Even my little sis teared up at the end as she was worried about Gi Bong. The actor Shin Hyun Jun who played Gi Bong did a great job! I have seen him in "Bichunmoo" with Kim Hee Sun and also in "Stairway to Heaven" a famous K drama with Choi Ji Woo and Kwang Sang Woo along with the beautiful Kim Tae Hee back in 2004.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Ninja Warrior (aka "SASUKE") on G4---awesome tv!

Left to right: Shiratori, Nagano, Yamamoto, and Takeda (SASUKE ALL STARS)


So this past weekend on G4 (one of my sis fave channels ever) I watched a marathon (part of it) of the Japanese TV Show "Ninja Warrior" or "Sasuke" サスケ held in Midoriyama, Japan. I was hooked! I have watched it here and there for the last few months. But we really got to watch many episodes of it.

There is a kids version, seniors, womens and of course regular version. It has been in Japan for over decade. This show tests the phyisical capacity of a person---strength, flexibility and balance. For women's Ninja Warrior it is less about strength but more agility, balance, flexibility. There are several stages of this obstacle course, Olympians, stars, comedians, and regular people have gotten the "Sasuke" fever that they have even made the obstacle course replicas in their own homes!!!!! There are four stages! Everytime a seasons starts, filmed over three days, there are 100 competitors (you have to qualify to make it to the top 100) then a rare amount make it to stage 2, stage 3 and the final stage to race to the top and be NINJA warrior! There first stage is timed, second is timed and the third is not with the final stage a timed race to the top!

In all the seasons of Ninja Warrior only two men have made it to the final stage out of 18 seasons!!!! Season four was a fisherman Kazuhiko Akiyama (he could never do it again despite trying mulitple times) and season 17 Sasuke Veteran and sea captain Makoto Nagano As for Ninja Warrior for women a petite nimble acrobat dancer Ayako Miyake has been successful in making it three times in a ROW!

My sis was glued to the tv as she was saying she had never seen so many buff Asians in one place in her life! (I told her you have never gone to a Dragon Boating competition). I love that they use the original Japanese announcers and subtitle the show. I would have not liked it as much if they dubbed over the Japanese announcer. Plus since I studied Japanese before, I get some Japanese listening practice in too!

For more info check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja_Warrior
http://www.g4tv.com/ninjawarrior/index.html

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Woman at the Beach (KR) 2006





Woman at the Beach (KR) 2006

Last night I watched Woman on the Beach (2006) - 해변의 여인 (Hae-byeon-eui Yeo-in) Starring Kim Seung Woo (Hotelier--kdrama) Ko Hyeon Jeong (first film role), Kim Tae Woo, Seong Son Mi (White Tower) last night about a director Joong Rae (Seung Woo) who asks his friend to go to the Beach (a road trip). He is having writer's block. There he meets two women and in the process learns about himself. From this revealing process, he is able to write out his script. Along the way he charms two young women who inspire him to be able to finish his screenplay. The film was a bit long at 2 hours and 5 minute.