March 5, 2011

신선한 공기 생각나는(Blast of fresh air)


A friend once commented "Kab tak blog karega. You'll get bored one day". Truly, I haven't posted a single "readable" post in the last two months. matter of fact, I haven't done anything interesting at all. My camera's sitting in it's bag, untouched. Every once in a while I pick up my pens and makers to sketch. Last update was two weeks ago so there goes.

Movies. How does watching three movies back to back sound? I am doing it everyday! After a slew of awful Hollywood movies like Predators, Mechanic and some comedy crap that was more obscenity than laughs ,I started looking elsewhere. Korea!

I got in the race late. A decade late actually... Korean movies started making a splash back in 2001 for their spontaneous humor, clean themes and tear jerking melodrama...The genre is popularly called "pure love". It all started with A Sassy Girl which, obviously, was the first movie I got. This is not a movie review but I can safely say this: NOBODY can hate this movie. I have a buddy who hates every movie I recommend- He'll like it too. he chemistry between the lead couple is so sugary sweet, they can give Hollywood stars a run for their money. And it cracks me up every time I see that poor bloke getting punched by the pretty actress Gianna Jun. MUST WATCH.

I then proceeded to get anything I could get my hands on. Some names: Windstruck, My girl and I, A millionaire's first love, A moment to remember, ...One theme common to most of these movies is Tragedy. In most cases it is a terminal disease affecting one of the leads, or a breakup as in My Sassy Girl and My tutor friend. It can get annoying sometimes(like when you're watching three movies at a go :-p) but you have to give it to Korea: they are good at this.
Very good.

A case in point is "A moment to remember"... The movie is so subtle and the actors so brilliant it left me with a huge lump in the throat. Hollywood can never pull this off. The story starts off with a premise we're all very familiar with: rich girl and poor boy. But that's about it. What follows is a script that is so moving and yet spotless clean(if you know what I mean), before long you're rooting so deep for the couple you don't want any harm coming to them!

I'm so digging Korean movies now! Have 12 already.

Some worth watching are listed below:

A Sassy Girl
A Moment to remember
My girl and I
A millionaire's first love
My tutor friend
Windstruck
How to keep my love




All movies are in native Korean which I think adds to the whole experience. English dubbing takes away the feel and intensity. Slow readers may face trouble catching the subtitles but the visuals themselves do the part nicely and lack of dialogue does not make a difference in most cases. Just turn up the music because scores rock! In every movie.

If they 'click' and you find yourself yearning for more and more of these, Google is right there to help you. Just remember to keep a box of Kleenex ready.

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