The Clue (aka Detectives in 40 Minutes aka 4th Period Murder Mystery) (2009)

Some people are born to be detectives; others are pushed into it.  Han Jung Hoon is in the latter category.  Upon entering his classroom to find classmate Kim Tae Gyu brutally murdered, Jung Hoon realizes he is the prime suspect.  Another fellow classmate, Lee Da Jung, is convinced Jung Hoon did not kill Tae Gyu, but she knows others will not so easily believe their story.  To prove Jung Hoon's innocence and preserve the school's image, the pair must solve the murder and catch the culprit before fourth period ends - a mere forty minutes from when they discovered the body.  The clock is ticking on Jung Hoon's freedom, his reputation, and his life.



Let me just begin this review by saying this is one awesome movie.  I can't even describe it beyond that.  You'll understand more as I get further into it, but first things first: the cast.

• Yoo Seung Ho as Han Jung Hoon
• Kang So Ra as Lee Da Jung
• Kim Dong Bum as Do Il
• Jeon Jun Hong as MBC
• Park Chul Min as Michinge (Crazy/Mad Dog)

So without further ado, let's dive right in.  First up is our main man who gets a whole lot of screen time, Han Jung Hoon, played by Yoo Seung Ho.  Before I go any further, I'm just gonna put this out there: I am a Yoo Seung Ho fangirl.  I really like him - I mean REALLY like him.  He's a fantastic actor, he's really good-looking, and he's just all around awesome.  That being said, his performance in this movie is awesome as well.  I find no faults with anything he does in this movie, beyond the little quirks and tiny stuff that is easily ignored.

Next is a character I can really relate to, surprisingly.  Lee Da Jung, played by Kang So Ra, is a mystery buff who is a social outcast because of her "creepiness".  She is known in the movie as "curtain girl" because of the way she wears her hair (it's like a curtain that covers up her face).  I say I can relate to her more because I was not the most popular person in high school - though it wasn't because I was "creepy" - and I love a good mystery (though I can't go so far as to say I would want to actually solve a real murder in my school - that's just taking it a few steps too far).  As for the acting, Kang So Ra is a pretty good actress.  There were times when her acting felt a little underdone in my opinion, but for the most part, she didn't feel overly simplified or stereotypical, as would be the temptation with a character like this.  Overall, good performance.

Even with these great actors on screen, however, a story like this would not work very well without some sort of comic relief (to break the tension - I think it's more so that no one in the audience has a heart attack during the movie from build up of suspense...and adrenaline).  This next character brings just that to the table.  Do Il, played by Kim Dong Bum, is our comic relief.  He does play a part in the conflict resolution, eventually, but he's mostly there just for kicks and giggles.  That being said, however, Kim Dong Bum does a pretty decent job.  He's goofy, but he reacts appropriately to the...erhm...circumstances...and he never backs out on his friends.  All in all, a pretty decent performance for a pretty decent character.

Okay, now to go toward the antagonists of the film (of which there are several).  The first of these I will discuss is a teacher with the nickname MBC (no, he doesn't actually have a name in the movie - he just goes by that nickname; it stands for "margarine, butter, cheese" by the way - he's supposed to be a slimy character, and therefore "greasy").  This wonderful role is filled by Jeon Jun Hong and he is excellent.  This teacher is the first character in the movie that the audience is led to assume is a bad guy, and boy does he act the part.  I can't say much because [spoilers], but just know that this guy is a picture of a nervous wreck.  Jeon Jun Hong gave a really good performance on that front.

And now for the other antagonist I will be discussing, another teacher who goes by the nickname "Michinge" (which means "crazy" or "mad dog" - I like the second one better), and he is portrayed by Park Chul Min.  This guy freaks me out.  This is one teacher I would be legitimately terrified of if he were to come teach at my school.  All the students in the movie are scared of him too, obviously (come on, he goes by "mad dog" - I think the kids are truly scared of him).  As far as the actual acting from this guy goes, I'd say there were a couple of parts that were just a bit too over the top, as in he started to feel like a character you'd only see in the movies, but there were some parts where he was really scary and quite real.  So basically, it's a mixed bag for him.

Now, on to the writing.  I have a few comments to make on that front, both good and bad.  Let's start with the good.  It's always better that way.

First off, we've got the pacing.  This movie has a ton of background to lay down before you can actually get to the murder (the kid doesn't actually die until about thirty-five minutes in), but the upside is none of it feels wasted or unnecessary.  All of it was important information that just added to the atmosphere once the murder did actually occur.  One of the major problems I usually have with murder-mystery movies that aren't building on a franchise is that they never have enough time or good enough planning to get the audience used to the characters.  This movie totally did away with that problem.

My other comment regarding what's right with this movie is the atmosphere.  Oh, boy, the atmosphere.  I was on the edge of my seat for most of this movie.  There was so much tension and so much suspense, I got completely caught up in what was going on, regardless of anything else that I may comment on in a minute.  One of the things that I think added a lot to this movie's atmosphere as well was how it incorporated the passage of time.  If you recall in the synopsis, Jung Hoon and Da Jung only have forty minutes to solve the murder.  This means that the passage of time (both how quickly it passes and how much of it has passed at any given time) is a very important part of the plot.  But instead of just doing a countdown or just showing a clock ticking, the movie goes all crazy with it and goes inside the clock, zooming all around it, and when the clock ticks it echoes and reverberates - it's awesome.

Okay, sadly now we must transition to the negative side of my comments on this movie, the first and biggest of which is this: the "science".  I mean, I can suspend my disbelief as much as the next person, but there are just some things you shouldn't do in a movie like this.  Without going into spoilers, let me give you an example: there's a scene wherein Da Jung and Jung Hoon have to break into a locked room.  To do that, Da Jung takes off her necklace, runs the chain inside the door above the lock, grabs it on the other side of the lock, and pulls.  It has the same effect that a credit card would have on a lock of that type (a standard knob lock).  After I saw that, I literally had to pause the movie and think for a minute, and you know what?  I'm sorry, but in my mind that would not work, or at least not as easily as it did for her.  The chain would be too thick, it wouldn't slide through well (or at all), etc, etc.

Also along those lines, but not really to do with science, is the fact that a lot of the circumstances in this movie feel REALLY convenient (I wouldn't go so far as to say they feel contrived, because I don't think that's the right word for it - there are a fair amount of "coincidences" in this movie though).  I can't really go deeper into that because [spoilers], but just trust me, if you watch the movie you'll see what I mean.

Now we come to a problem I have that I think could be solved by watching the movie again (several times, but still, that might fix the problem): the ending.  Don't worry, I won't say anything too spoilerific, but I have to address this.  This ending...oh, boy.  Basically suffice it to say that when you come to the beginning of the ending (that's how it must be addressed...odd, I know) the movie kinda says, "Oh, this guy did it!  Oh, no, wait, THIS guy did it!  Oh, no, wait, THIS guy really did it!"  There are no less than three (count 'em, three!) red herrings for who the culprit is and at the end of the day, it was all I could do to keep up with who hated whom and who wanted revenge for what...  It's rather strenuous to watch this ending.

Now, I won't say the ending is terrible - it's not.  It's interesting, wraps things up well (if rather confusingly), and does its part to make sure you're satisfied with what happens.  So although it's not a great ending, it is definitely not a bad one.  All in all, it works decently well for what it's worth.

My final comment is more of an observation than a real negative component to this movie.  This movie, if you haven't noticed by now (really?  read the synopsis), takes place in high school.  Now, I've never been to an actual Asian high school, nor have I ever even seen an actual Asian high school, but I still think this comment has value.  The high school in this movie is rather odd - it manages to be believable and totally unbelievable at the same time.  Let me explain.  It is believable in that the kids do act like teenagers and the setting is very realistic.  I like that.  But it is also totally unbelievable.  An example: the kids don't even try to hide their cell phones most of the time when they are texting during class.  I don't know about you, but my teachers had cell phone radar.  They could tell when somebody was texting even if the kid wasn't even looking at the phone.  Another example: the teachers totally don't notice when kids very obviously fall asleep in class.  Here I'm not talking about you fall asleep with your head on your desk and it looks like you're just waiting for something or listening.  I'm talking about kids being sprawled out at the desk very obviously sound asleep and the teachers DON'T NOTICE.  Really?

But enough of my griping.  As for a warning section, here I do have a legitimate warning: this movie does contain some rather graphic violence (it's a murder mystery - what are you gonna do?).  If you don't like the sight of blood splattering all over everywhere and watching a kid get killed in cold blood, don't watch this movie (or if you do watch it, just cover your eyes - that always works for me).  Aside from that, not really anything else of note.

As far as a message goes, I don't know that there really is a message to be had in this movie.  It really focuses on the action and solving the mystery of who killed Tae Gyu.  I mean, I suppose there's a little bit about friendship in there somewhere, but that's more of a component of telling the story than an actual message to be gained from watching.

So, all in all, I really liked this movie.  It's got a lot of good suspense and heart-pumping action in it, as well as a lot of tension, which for a movie like this is a requirement.  I'd recommend this to just about anybody that likes murder mysteries and maybe some people who like stories set in a school setting, because there is a romantic subplot in this movie (it's rather well done too).  The confusing ending can tend to dampen the excitement of watching this movie and make it a little less enjoyable than it would've been, but the story leading up to the ending is one heck of a wild ride.  If you really do have problems understanding the ending (welcome to the club) I'd really recommend that you watch the movie again, as this can help with seeing where the different plot threads come together and all that.  Overall, this is a good movie and well worth a watch.  But don't take my word for it.  Find out for yourself.

Ouran High School Host Club Live Action (2012)

Fujioka Haruhi is an honor student at Ouran Academy, a very prestigious and expensive high school attended only by those with money and social status.  The middle-class Haruhi is attending the school on a full-ride scholarship and she doesn't really fit in.  One day, as she is looking for a quiet place to study, she happens upon the Third Music Room where the Ouran Academy Host Club, a group of six of the most attractive male students at the school, gathers to entertain female "clients".  During her first encounter with the club, Haruhi stumbles and knocks over a vase valued at 8 million yen.  Unable to pay back the debt, it is decided that Haruhi must work off her debt with service in the club.  In this spin off/continuation of the live action TV drama, Haruhi must learn a thing or two about how she feels about Tamaki, the overzealous leader of the Host Club, when a new face enters the school - the face of a "princess" that seems to be perfect for Tamaki.  But this princess is not all that she appears to be.  How will this affect the Host Club, Tamaki in particular?  And how will Haruhi cope with her new-found feelings?

All right, all that to get to this: I didn't expect to like this movie - AT ALL.  I went into it with the lowest of low expectations.  And I'm here to tell you, I was completely and utterly WRONG.  This movie, while it has its flaws, is SO much better than I ever expected.  But I'm totally getting ahead of myself.  First, the cast.

• Kawaguchi Haruna as Fujioka Haruhi
• Yamamoto Yusuke as Suou Tamaki
• Daito Shunsuke as Ootori Kyoya (second-in-command of the host club)
• Takagi Shinpei as Hitachiin Hikaru
• Takagi Manpei as Hitachiin Kaoru
• Chiba Yudai as Haninozuka "Honey" Mitsukuni
• Nakamura Masaya as Morinozuka "Mori" Takashi
• Ryo Ryusei as Nekozawa Umehito
• Mariko Shinoda as Monaru Michelle
• Nickhun as Monaru Lawrence

Now, first off, this review is a bit different from all the others I've done previously in that I've already discussed most of the cast to a large extent.  That being said, I do have a few comments.

My first comment concerns our leading lady.  I mentioned in my review of Ouran High School Host Club the live action drama that I thought Kawaguchi Haruna did a bit of a lackluster job in her acting as Haruhi.  I still stand by that opinion - for the DRAMA.  I don't know why, but I know that as a portrayal of the character of Fujioka Haruhi, Haruna did a much better job here than in the drama.  While she still isn't totally up to par with the whole whiny thing (she still needs to up the sarcasm), she isn't the sweet little girl that she was previously, and for that I am grateful.

Now, this next thought...  I don't know how to say this, so I'll just give you an idea of what was running through my head during this movie.  It was something akin to this: Oh, my goodness, Tamaki is actually being serious.  While he had his moments in the drama when the character became more serious, he has far more of those moments in this movie, all of which are wonderfully acted by the amazing Yamamoto Yusuke (seriously, the dude can swing from being totally doofy and off-the-map hyper one minute to being serious and calm the next - and it's BELIEVABLE!).  I was very happy to see this character get more development apart from the goofy stuff.  Also, side note...  Tamaki has brown hair in the drama.  Why is he blonde?

My next comment concerns the twins.  Oh, Hikaru, Kaoru...how I love both of you.  I especially love that someone thought to give them actual serious development right alongside Tamaki.  Seriously, these guys are probably my favorite characters in the live action version of OHSHC, and I am so happy that they got a serious part of the subplots that were going on.

And finally, before I move on to discussing the characters unique to this movie, a quick note about another character that I really like.  Mori.  Mori is awesome.  I did have one problem with how he's portrayed in this movie though.  He's too talkative.  He got a total of maybe, what, seven or eight lines in all eleven episodes of the drama.  In this movie he gets about five or six.  The drama was five and a half hours total - this movie was an hour and forty-five minutes roughly.  You can see my point.  Not that it detracts from the character...much.  I still like him, but I just think he's a bit too talkative to fit the impression I got of him from the drama.

All right, new faces.  First is our lovely "princess", Monaru Michelle (I'm only putting the name Michelle second for consistency...it kinda bugs me though) and she's played by Mariko Shinoda.  The only comment I really have to make about this girl is that she's a fairly decent actress.  I wasn't too blown away by her performance, but the emotion she portrayed felt pretty believable and real.  Her character is kind of bland to begin with, so given that, I'd say she did a pretty good job with what she was given.  She does get more interesting in the second half of the movie though, so there you go.

The only other new face worth mentioning (in my opinion) is Michelle's brother, Monaru Lawrence (again, consistency...it still sounds weird to me).  Playing this character is K-pop boy band 2PM's Nickhun.  The only reason I really think this character is even worth mentioning is because he has a pretty major role in the climax and main plot resolution in this movie.  Other than that, he only has probably three or four scenes, most of which are in English, but he's a pretty good actor nonetheless.  For how small his part was, he did a good job.

All right, whew.  Writing is of course next.  Like I said before, this movie totally blew away my expectations.  I was expecting this to be rushed, not well thought out, and very choppy.  Again, like I said before, I was WRONG.  I was so wrong I don't think I've ever been this wrong...ever.  This movie takes place after the main story of the drama has concluded (that fact is kinda hard to pick up though - it took me until about halfway through the movie to figure that out).  For the most part it is what I would consider a well written continuation of the drama.  As far as I know this story is not part of the original manga (I haven't read it, so if this is in there, great - it's a good story), but the movie doesn't suffer for that.  Whoever had the reigns as far as writing goes on this project should definitely handle more of these things.

That being said, I do have one rather minor gripe with the storytelling in this movie.  In the beginning of the story, Haruhi has to have some way of telling her story of how she came to be in the Host Club in the first place.  That must've been difficult to come up with, I'm sure, but my gripe is in the fact that she's pretty much just telling the story.  She might as well have started the whole thing with the phrase, "Here's my story".  It would've been about as subtle.

As for warnings, I stand by what I said about the drama with one addition.  The homosexuality thing I discussed before is a little bit more prominent in this movie than it was in the drama (as a whole).  I do think though that if you got through the drama, you'll be fine here.

On the flipside, I still stand by the focus on family ties and the message of family being the most important thing in the history of the universe.  I jest, but seriously, the heavy focus of this movie is the same as the drama...turned up to eleven.  That's not necessarily a bad thing though.  I think it works to the movie's credit.

Once again, by way of wrapping this up, I will say that this movie far exceeded my expectations.  It has a good heart behind the story, and while it still keeps the goofy tone and silly antics of the drama, the seriousness of the character arcs and main story are wonderfully maintained as well.  The characters are well fleshed out and developed (that was the part that REALLY made me happy) and the relationship issues that some people had with the drama I think are addressed well here.  All in all, I will probably watch this movie again sometime soon, and I suggest that if you liked the drama, you should watch this too.  I will comment that you probably should watch the drama first if you haven't seen it already, but that's only because the story is explained better and you get a better sense of who the characters are by way of introduction.  Aside from that though, watch this movie.  I liked it and I think you will too.

Finding Mr. Destiny (aka Looking For Mr. Kim Jong Wook) (2010)

Seo Ji Woo is a disheveled theater director who can't seem to forget her first love, a man she can barely remember.  Her father, whose lifelong priority is to see Ji Woo get married, drags her by the ear (figuratively) into the office of a company that specializes in tracking down first loves.  The man who runs this company, Han Gi Joon, is a fastidious man whose number one focus in life is cleanliness and order.  After some cajoling from her father, Ji Woo finally agrees to let Gi Joon try and find her first love.  There's only one problem: she can only remember his name.  Kim Jong Wook.  Throughout the process, Ji Woo insists Gi Joon should not continue with the search, as she really is not interested in finding her first love.  But being who he is, Gi Joon in turn insists that he must complete the task, since she is his first client and it is important that he finish what he was hired to do.

I love this movie.  I know I say something like this every week, but who cares?  I have a lot of movies I love.  There are a few problems with this movie, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  First, let's see the cast.

• Im Soo Jung as Seo Ji Woo
• Gong Yoo as Han Gi Joon
• Lee Chung Ah as Seo Ji Hye (Ji Woo's sister)
• Chun Ho Jin as Colonel Seo Dae Ryung (Ji Woo's father)

All right, I know I've done this before, and it is mildly annoying, but it's my review, so I'll do it if I feel it's necessary.  I'm sure it's pretty obvious that there are far more than four actors in this movie; however, for the sake of the review and the fact that most of the remaining side characters are either comic relief or barely in the movie to begin with, I'm only going to talk about the two leads (which will get a little complicated in a minute, but you'll see that when we get there) and two particular side characters.

The first of the two leads I'm going to call out is Seo Ji Woo, played by Im Soo Jung.  This woman is a pretty good actress, in my opinion.  Seo Ji Woo is kind of a difficult character to play.  She lives a high stress life working with difficult people and dealing with flak from many different sides.  There are scenes when Ji Woo must be tough without being abrasive, but still she is the main focus of the romance in this movie, so she needs to be subtle as well.  Soo Jung is great at both sides of this coin, but particularly in pulling off the subtle part.  The romance in this movie isn't overly sappy at all, and I think we have Soo Jung to thank in part for that.  Great performance overall.

Now the next lead I want to discuss (I'll try to keep the fangirling to a minimum) is Han Gi Joon, played by Gong Yoo.  This is another one of those actors that I've decided that I must watch everything he's been in.  Not only is he a fantastic actor, but he's very good-looking as well (as he should be).  As to this particular character, he's playing a very goofy and dorky character who over-prepares for everything and is totally obsessed with order and cleanliness.  That coupled with the natural charm he embodies practically everywhere makes for a wonderfully adorkable character.

This leads me to the complicated piece of things I was alluding to earlier.  Gong Yoo actually plays two characters in this movie, which was (I believe) a very smart and clever move on the part of the director (and whoever else had a hand in that decision).  He plays the Kim Jong Wook character in Ji Woo's flashbacks, which tell the story of how she met and fell for him originally ten years earlier (this isn't really a spoiler; the fact that Gong Yoo plays Kim Jong Wook in Ji Woo's flashbacks really has nothing to do with how the plot plays out; I just think it's worth mentioning...that and Gong Yoo looks pretty good with a mustache).

The only other characters that I shall mention at all are Ji Woo's sister, Seo Ji Hye, and father, Colonel Seo Dae Ryung, played by Lee Chung Ah and Chun Ho Jin respectively.  I mention them because Ji Woo's father is the driving force of this movie to a large extent, and because Ji Hye is wonderful comic relief when the tension gets too high in the story.  The acting from both of these two was at least believable and I give them credit for breathing life into these two rather interesting characters.

Now, on to the writing.  The writing in this movie is good in one sense, and not so good in another.  I'll explain.  The dialogue is great.  It doesn't feel campy or overly deliberate (as some films like this one have been before) and when the characters speak it really feels like they mean what they're saying (in other words, they sound like real people...for the most part).  The romance is also well written.  There is a lot of subtlety in this story and I like that (I think I'm not the only one).  The slow and subtle (yes, I like that word) process of change that the characters go through throughout the movie is quite well paced and well planned out.  The other thing that I think is well written is the comedy aspect of this movie.  The moments of comedic goofiness that pop up from time to time don't feel forced or thrown in your face (too much; there are a couple that could've been planned better).  For the most part the goofy moments are placed in just the right spots to make the audience lighten up a little (I mean, after all, this ain't a sad movie...for once).

There are a couple of things that definitely could have been done better though.  For one thing, there are a few moments when something important happens and it's definitely not explained as much or as clearly as it should be.  There are times when the audience is left to assume too much, and that can lead to confusion and a required rewatching of the movie to understand what really happened (mind you, since I do love this movie, I didn't mind watching it again...and again...and again).  I do believe there is a time and a place when leaving certain pieces of information up to the audience to figure out is a good thing, but there is a line that must not be crossed, and this movie crossed it.  On a side note, there's also a scene right at the beginning of the movie that I still haven't figured out what its significance is...and I've seen this movie nine or ten times.

The other less important thing that could've been done a little better is the pacing.  This movie is S L O W.  It takes a good third of the movie to really get the story going, and once it is going it really takes its time.  The plot points are spaced out REALLY far, at least until the final quarter of the movie.  I think with all the subtlety in this movie, it was probably a good idea to keep the story slow for the sake of not making things feel rushed, but this is a two-hour movie, and I think it could easily have been cut down to an hour and a half (that's just me...I know nothing about film technique).

As far as warnings go, I don't think there's anything really of note in this movie that would make anybody uncomfortable.  There's no sex (surprising for a Korean movie, I know) and there's no swearing that I remember.  All in all, it's pretty G-rated.

On the flipside, this movie is kind of just a really well-made romance comedy.  It's a chick flick, basically.  But I don't mean that in a bad way.  Even with all the subtlety in the story and all of the depth of character that is achieved so well in this movie, it's a chick flick.  It's a feel-good movie.  However, if I had to settle on something of a message, it would be that making peace with the past and moving on is a crucial part of life and that if you never complete anything in your life you will never truly live.

Overall, as I've already said, I love this movie.  This movie is in my top five favorite Asian movies of all time.  Despite the fact that it does have a few problems, the story is really unique and well told, and the characters are really interesting and totally likable (in some cases lovable).  With all that being said, make sure you understand that this is, in all honesty, a chick flick.  If you are not the kind of person that enjoys a good rom-com or the occasional very girly movie, you probably won't enjoy this as much as I did and still do.  But hey, not everyone likes the same things.  If they did, the world would be boring.  So with that, I say go check out this movie.  It's really worth watching, if only for the eye-candy involved (Gong Yoo!!).

Paradise Kiss Live Action (2011)

Hayasaka Yukari is an average high school student who is trying very hard to be above average.  She attends a prestigious high school, but can't seem to find any sort of meaning in her daily routine.  She feels as though she has not truly lived.  One day, a strange boy approaches her on the street and "asks" her to be a fashion model for a small group of students attending a fashion and arts high school, the school that Yukari views as being beneath her.  Given her snobbish attitude and reluctance to join the project, it takes intervention from Isabella and George, two other students in the group to get her to stay.  Once she's in, though, she's discovered a whole new world where she may just find the meaning in her life that she's been searching for all along.

All right, despite the rumors and opinions floating around out there about this movie and how it "doesn't compare to the anime", I don't care.  I still love this movie, mostly because I've decided already that I don't want to watch the anime (personal reasons), and so this movie is a great stand-alone feature for me.  But we'll get to all that later.  First, the cast.

• Kitagawa Keiko as Hayasaka "Caroline" Yukari
• Mukai Osamu as Koizumi "George" Jouji
• Yamamoto Yusuke as Tokumori Hiroyuki
• Igarashi Shunji as Isabella
• Kaku Kento as Nagase Arashi
• Omasa Aya as Sakurada Miwako

So, let's dive right in.  First up is our leading lady in this story, Hayasaka Yukari, played by Kitagawa Keiko.  Now, unlike ninety-five percent of the actors I've discussed so far in previous reviews, I have heard of Kitagawa Keiko, and I have seen her in a couple of other things.  I was rather pleased to see her in this movie, as I know she is a good actress and quite beautiful to boot.  That being said, however, I will say most of the acting in this movie from her was good, but there were moments where it definitely felt over-dramatized (I don't know, maybe I'm just not catching the spirit of the anime...or whatever they call it).  I don't think this detracts too much from the story, but it did get a little irritating sometimes.

Next...oh, my goodness.  I love Mukai Osamu.  He's so amazingly good-looking (sexy too).  They couldn't have gotten anybody better to play George.  The first time I watched this movie I remember staring in awe when George came on the screen and fangirling every time he had a closeup.  Anywho...on with the review.  George is a somewhat...interesting character, and I think Mukai Osamu did a good job of capturing that.  He has a quirkiness to him that really draws the audience in (or maybe that's just the looks...and the hats).  From what I've seen of the anime (I did watch the first couple of episodes before I swore it off entirely) I think George is actually supposed to be a little bit more...I guess it could be described as assertive...than he is in the movie, but frankly, as if you couldn't already tell, I don't care.

And now, another familiar face...well, to me anyway.  Yamamoto Yusuke plays Tokumori Hiroyuki, the soft-spoken quiet boy that Yukari has a crush on.  This character is one that I think exemplifies just how good of an actor Yamamoto Yusuke is.  This is the only time in all of the things I've seen him in that I've seen him play a quiet character.  Every other character is loud, boisterous, silly, goofy, etc.  It was quite surprising to see him in this role.  He did a great job too, given that the character really isn't all that interesting and he doesn't really do very much.  I still prefer Yusuke's role in Atashinchi no Danshi, but here he did a good job too.

Now we come to a character that honestly creeps me out just a bit.  I suppose you get used to her after a while, but still...  The character I'm referring to is Isabella, played by Igarashi Shunji.  Isabella is the major player in getting Yukari (or Caroline, as they start calling her) to stay with the group and be their model.  I don't know what to say regarding how well this character is done, as I have nothing to compare the performance to and that's that.  As far as I can tell, she is played convincingly and I think for the movie she plays the part well.

Next is another strange-ish character named Nagase Arashi, played by Kaku Kento.  This is one of those times where you look at the character in the anime and you think, "How on earth are they going to find someone who'd be willing and able to play a character like that?"  Well, they somehow managed to pull it off.  Arashi in the anime and Arashi in the movie are honestly so close in personality, character (which they should be), and looks (apart from the hair) it's amazing.  Granted, his role in the story apart from being an art student and being the one that ropes Yukari in in the first place is not much, but I still really liked his character.  He's obnoxious as heck, which is one trait I think it can be difficult to pull off and still make the character likable.  So overall I think Kento did a good job with this one.  I'm just really glad they didn't actually put a safety pin through his lip.

All right, now comes the token annoying chick.  Filling this role in the story is one Sakurada Miwako, played by Omasa Aya.  This character really annoys me.  Her only role it seems is to add a minor subplot and help make clothes, aside from being Arashi's "playmate" (if you know what I mean).  I understand why she's there.  I think were she not there the group wouldn't feel quite as cohesive or realistic (I never thought I'd be applying that term to this story), but still...  She annoys the heck out of me.  As for the acting, it's decent.  It's not stellar, but it's not terribly bad either.  Overall, she fills the shoes of the anime character as well as she can (once again, having only seen two episodes of the anime, I may be a little out of my comfort zone in saying that; still, I stand by my opinion).

Okay, writing.  This is another one of those tricky sort of movies where the source material is regarded as a very well-done story with great characters and good writing.  I can't fairly assess whether or not this truly translates to the movie, but as I mentioned before, as a stand-alone this movie is pretty decently well done.  The writing, while it feels a bit forced at times, is not terrible.  It does sometimes feel like they were trying to cram too much story into too little time, but that is easily understood given the original source material.  This is a rather complex story, so to try to cover every facet of it in two hours is really stretching it.

That being said, the reason why I love this movie so much (apart from George...eeeeeee!!) is mostly because it's about a bored high school student trying to find her place in life.  That is something I can totally identify with and get behind.  The writing in general does convey the difficulties of Yukari's life appropriately and convincingly.  There are certain spots where the melodrama does get a little out of hand, but that's forgivable (again, my opinion).

As for a warning section...  Oh, boy.  There are some rather adult subjects touched on in this movie (far more so in the anime).  Most of it involves sexuality of some sort, but it's not nearly as strong as it is in the anime.  Fair warning has been given.

Apart from that, though, there is a very strong, very complex message about being who you are and following what you feel is your "calling".  Yukari struggles with the pressures of a very strict mother who values grades and academia above everything else, and this pressure is dealt with in a rather mature way.  The message is very much "do what you want to do with your life" and "don't live your life for someone else".  Both of these are things I can get behind.

On the whole, as I said, I love this movie (or rather I'm IN love with this movie).  While it might not be the greatest adaptation in the world (understandably so), it still makes a pretty good stand-alone movie.  The characters are strange, the world they live in is different, and the story overall is very much a sort of coming-of-age kind of story.  Learning about where you want to go in life and what you find meaning in is a rather important thing for teenagers (well, for anybody, really), and I think this issue is dealt with rather well in this movie.  It could've been better, but it could've been SO much worse.  So now go watch this movie.  But don't watch it for me.  Watch it for George.

Fly, Daddy, Fly (2006)

Jang Ga Pil is a typical salaryman who works hard to provide for his wife and teenage daughter.  One day he comes home to discover that his daughter, Da Mi, has been assaulted and raped by a group of boys while out at karaoke.  The leader of the group is Kang Tae Wook, high school boxing champion and the son of a powerful congressman.  After persistently trying and failing to get a proper apology and acknowledgement from Tae Wook and his parents, Ga Pil becomes so desperate as to try to stab Tae Wook on his way home from school.  This poorly thought-out plan fails, however, and Ga Pil meets another high school boy named Go Seung Suk.  Seung Suk is the only one to have ever beaten Tae Wook at boxing, and after some persuasion, Seung Suk offers to train Ga Pil so that the middle-aged man may get his revenge through a proper boxing match on even terms.

Oh, my goodness.  I've been looking forward to this review for so long.  I freaking LOVE this movie.  But before I start on a five-page essay about why this movie ROCKS epicly, let me start with the cast.

• Lee Moon Sik as Jang Ga Pil
• Lee Jun Ki as Go Seung Suk
• Lee Joo as Kang Tae Wook
• Kim Ji Hoon as Chae Soo Bin (Seung Suk's friend)
• Nam Hyeon Jun as Oh Se Joong (Seung Suk's other friend)
• Kim So Eun as Jang Da Mi
• Lee Yeon Soo as Ga Pil's wife

So let me just head this off by saying, oh, my gosh, the acting in this movie ROCKS!  Everyone did a fantastic job, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  First is the focus character of the movie, Jang Ga Pil, and he's played by Lee Moon Sik.  Now, being the relative newcomer that I am to Korean movies, I only know a handful of younger actors and only one or two older actors.  Thus, you already know what I'm going to say.  I'd never heard of Lee Moon Sik before this, but he did such a good job as Ga Pil that I don't even care about that.  He is SO good at portraying emotion properly and convincingly.  It is absolutely amazing.  Almost from the first moment he comes on screen you begin to sympathize with his character and the pain that he's going through.  This movie is built around Ga Pil, so his believability as a character is essential to the success of this story.  Moon Sik did such an amazing job carrying the movie all the way to the end.  This is one character you will most certainly be invested fully in by the time the big fight comes around.

Next up is my personal bias in this movie, Lee Jun Ki.  He's playing Go Seung Suk, the reluctant trainer.  The reason I say he's my personal bias is not because I'm a squealing fangirl (well, okay, I kind of am), but because he is one of the most mesmerizing and enthralling actors I have ever seen.  I have only seen a little bit of Jun Ki's work, including this movie, but oh, boy, is that gonna change.  I'm sold.  I've pretty much decided from seeing this movie that I must see everything else he's been in.  His ability to keep the audience not only interested but personally invested in what's happening on screen is quite amazing.  Jun Ki does a wonderful job acting as the strong quiet guy who's had a tough life and needs somebody to look up to.  Although he really isn't the full focus of the movie, I love Seung Suk as a character.  He has a wonderful emotional foundation, he has a tragic past that doesn't seem cliched, and Jun Ki delivered a performance that I will not soon forget.

Moving on from that, what is a movie without an antagonist?  That role in this movie is filled by Kang Tae Wook, played by Lee Joo.  This character isn't all that deep, but he doesn't really need to be.  We can tell from his actions and his attitude that he's a jerk and needs to be taught a lesson.  That is thanks to Lee Joo's acting.  He does a good job as the really perturbing jerk who doesn't understand what manners are and thinks the world pretty much revolves around him.

The next two characters I will only mention in passing, simply because they don't really do very much in the story.  They are worth calling out though because they are both lovable and serve their purposes in the grand scheme of things.  I am of course talking about Seung Suk's friends Chae Soo Bin and Oh Se Joong, played by Kim Ji Hoon and Nam Hyeon Jun respectively.  These two are really only there for two purposes: two rather important plot points and comic relief.  In my opinion, both purposes are served well.  The acting from these two is decently good, being goofy enough to still fit within the tone of the movie and yet allow for a little relief from the emotional pressure of the story.

The only other characters worth mentioning are Ga Pil's daughter Da Mi, played by Kim So Eun, and Ga Pil's wife (she doesn't have a name), played by Lee Yeon Soo.  The acting from So Eun is good.  She acts like a real teenager and nothing feels fake or anything like that.  Yeon Soo's acting is also good, but you don't really see very much of her in the movie, so a stellar performance isn't so important.  I'm not saying she didn't do a really good job bringing the emotion of the story across, but her character isn't so important overall (in my opinion; I don't want any skewering to occur over this comment).

All right.  On to the writing.  Oh, boy, this story is well written.  I mean, REALLY well written.  I've already talked about the emotion that comes across in the actors' performances and how well it's portrayed throughout the whole of the movie.  Now I get to talk about the other reason that worked so well.  The first reason was good acting; the second reason is good writing.  The emotion in this story is almost overwhelming, as well it should be.  This kind of story can't work without a good emotional foundation.  If we as an audience don't care about the lives of the characters, Ga Pil in particular, this movie is worthless.

That being said, however, emotion without a solid premise is pretty flimsy.  This story and the concept behind it are quite well thought out as well as being amazingly realistic.  I don't want to gush too much, but aside from the incredibly believable circumstances that allow for this story to occur, the way this premise works with a high school student being the teacher of a middle-aged man in something so hardcore as boxing is very well done.  I don't know any other way to put it.

Ah, the obligatory warning section.  There really is nothing to warn about.  Aside from a little bit of foul language and a bit of "gang"-related violence, there's nothing to really note on that front.

On the flipside, however, there is a ton of heart in this movie.  There is a very strong focus on the importance of a father figure/someone to look up to.  There is also a heavy message about what it means to do anything for your family.  It really is encouraging and heartwarming to see what lengths one man is willing to go to for his daughter's sake.

So on a final note, as if it wasn't painfully obvious enough by now, I LOVE this movie.  I've seen it twice and I'm going to see it again very soon, as well as making several people I know watch it.  This is one of the best movies I've ever seen, Asian or otherwise.  It's definitely at the top of my favorites list and will continue to remain there for quite a long time, I can assure you.  So watch it for the action, watch it for the family drama, watch it for the heartwarming story.  But for whatever reason you decide to watch this movie, you will not be disappointed.

Hear Me (2009)

Deaf sisters Xiao Peng and Yang Yang work to support each other in every way possible.  Xiao Peng is working to become an all-star swimmer in the Deaflympics, and Yang Yang is always there to cheer her sister on.  One day at swim practice, a boy named Tian Kuo comes delivering lunchboxes to the swim team.  He immediately takes an interest in Yang Yang, and the two quickly develop a relationship.  However, as time goes on, Yang Yang begins to question whether a hearing person and a deaf person can have a working relationship and whether or not Tian Kuo is willing to stick it out for the long haul.




Oh, my gosh.  I love this movie.  I'm so excited to talk about it, but first, the cast:

• Eddie Peng as Tian Kuo
• Ivy Chen as Yang Yang
• Chen Yan Xi as Xiao Peng

As with Spellbound there are only a few actors with parts that are important enough in the movie to name.  First off, we have Eddie Peng as Tian Kuo, the lovable dork.  I feel a bit like a broken record for saying this, but once again I didn't know anything about Eddie Peng or his work until I saw this movie.  Oh, boy, is he good at being dorky.  Not just goofy either.  Dorky.  Granted, he can seem a bit immature at times, and this can be a little distracting, but all in all, Eddie brings on the dorky in just the right mix of silly and serious.  He reminds me a bit of a high school boy trying to get up the courage and wherewithal to go tell the girl how he feels.  All around a very lovable character.

For the other half of the main couple we have Ivy Chen playing Yang Yang.  Now, unlike most of the other people I talk about on here, I have heard of Ivy Chen.  I have also seen her act.  She's pretty good at it too.  Ivy brings the right amount of innocence and maturity to Yang Yang to offset Tian Kuo's dorkiness, which provides a nice balance throughout the movie.  The other thing that stands out about Yang Yang is how good Ivy is at speaking sign language.  I don't know really anything about Taiwanese Sign Language, but I do know a few things about American Sign Language and I gotta say, as someone with small hands that didn't grow up learning ASL, it's really hard.  It's hard enough to do all the signs in the right order with the right facial expressions, but it's even harder to do it quickly.  I give all the people in this movie extra props for making the sign language look as natural and smooth as they did, because I can assure you most of them, if not all of them, are hearing.

But if you're gonna talk about someone who did a good job with sign language, you have to look at Chen Yan Xi playing Xiao Peng.  All of Xiao Peng's dialogue is in sign.  In addition to this, Xiao Peng is a very emotion-driven character (okay, that might be a tad obvious).  Yan Xi does a fantastic job pouring the emotion into the character without "saying" a word.  She conveys all the nuances of how the character feels through facial expression and body language alone (pretty much).  She's just awesome.

Now we come to the writing portion of the review.  This movie is well written...mostly.  There are a few scenes that are somewhat corny and/or just a little bit weak, but all in all, it is a well-written piece.  The story is two-fold: it focuses on the romance between Tian Kuo and Yang Yang and the bond between Yang Yang and Xiao Peng.  On the former, I will say that it is cute, goofy, and all around heartwarming.  It is definitely the lesser of the two focuses of the movie, however.  The romance in this movie serves to be more of a stage for the issues addressed in this movie, rather than the actual issue at hand.  It is definitely funny and lighthearted though, especially as you see Tian Kuo trying to tell Yang Yang that he likes her when she isn't paying attention (literally or figuratively).

But on the other focus of this movie, the bond between the sisters, it's so well done I'm not even sure what to add.  It is clear throughout the movie that Yang Yang and Xiao Peng depend on each other and they mean everything to one another.  That comes through very well both in the writing and the acting (as I said before).  There is a time in the movie when the bond between sisters is tested and that makes for what I think is the most emotional and moving scene in the whole movie.  So all around, fantastic writing.

Warning time.  There's nothing really in this movie to warn you about.  There's no sex at all (the one scene that could be considered suggestive is played for laughs).  Nothing really of note.

On the flip side though, this movie does have a very strong message about family and what it means to be supportive of someone.  It also tackles some of the issues that the deaf often face in today's society in any part of the world.  Not very often do I find a movie that does that so well.

My final comments come down to this: I really, really, REALLY love this movie.  I've seen it probably fifteen or so times and I will probably watch it again in the next couple of weeks.  This is a great feel-good movie.  If you're looking for a story that has heart to it, cute characters, and a really interesting ending, this is the movie for you.  It's a heartwarming tale that will leave you smiling non-stop long after it ends.

Spellbound (aka Chilling Romance) (2011)

A/N: For future reference, I'll say this here so I only have to say it once.  For this segment movies and dramas are interchangeable.  In other words, I will either review a movie or a drama, depending on which one I want to do.  All right, on with the show.

Ma Jo Goo is a street magician that became famous after designing a horror-themed magic show around a strange girl, Yeo Ri, he discovered during a show one night.  She always wore black, never smiled, and made sure to always distance herself from everyone.  After hiring the girl to work in his magic show, Jo Goo tries to draw her out and find out why she's so reclusive by inviting her to go out with the crew for drinks, but she always declines.  One night, when he is finally able to get her to go have drinks with everyone, she gets completely hammered and ends up spilling her secrets to Jo Goo and everyone else at the table.  Yeo Ri's biggest secret?  She can see dead people.  Upon this confession, everyone else is scared away, thinking she must have something wrong in the head, but Jo Goo is fascinated by her and becomes all the more interested in her life.

Okay, it's not quite that simple, but we'll get there when we get there.  First, the cast:

• Son Ye Jin as Kang Yeo Ri
• Lee Min Ki as Ma Jo Goo

Now obviously there are more than just two actors in this movie, but these are the only two that have big enough roles and distinguished enough characters to discuss, which is in a way a good thing.  There are some side characters worth mentioning, but I'll get there later.

We begin with Son Ye Jin's performance as Kang Yeo Ri, the girl that sees ghosts.  First, let me just say, Son Ye Jin is a wonderful actress.  She's very good at portraying emotion properly and convincingly, which is something that takes true talent to accomplish (on a side note, she's also very good at acting drunk).  There is a lot of emotional drama in this movie, mostly from Yeo Ri, and Ye Jin is fantastic throughout the whole of the affair.  You really get a sense of the pain she experiences from being rejected by everyone she loves and has ever known because of her...er...gift.  Also, the comedic moments are not lost on Ye Jin, though hers are few and very far between.  The other thing worth mentioning about Ye Jin's performance that I'll include here is how she acts scared.  Most actors, women in particular, when they act scared they overact.  They put way too much into it and it becomes cheesy and feels very fake or forced.  But in this film, I totally didn't get that from Ye Jin.  She acted scared in what seemed to me to be a totally realistic way.

Now to the other major player in this story, our street magician, Ma Jo Goo.  I had never heard of Lee Min Ki before I watched this, but I think, given the tone and the feel of the movie, he was the perfect choice for Jo Goo.  He's good with being on a stage (most people think all actors are good on a stage...oh, so far from the truth) and when he's doing his magic act, he plays it up just the way a real magician would.  I've seen my fair share of magic acts and I definitely see the same style and flare a real magician has to have to be successful, particularly at a horror-themed show like the one in this movie.  There are two other things that also must be mentioned, however.  The first of these is how Min Ki is at doing comedy.  For the tone of the movie, which is not meant to be straight up laugh-out-loud comedy, he did a good job.  He played well off of the other characters, he had good comedic timing, and the jokes were not overacted.  The second thing I have to mention is the romance.  This is a rather heartwarming story, comedy aside.  Min Ki did a wonderful job at making the romance subtle and portraying the emotion appropriately.

The only other characters that really do anything at all are: Jo Goo's stage manager of sorts, who has a name, but it's never really said and thus I never picked up on it (I had to look it up on the cast list; his name is Pil Dong); and Yeo Ri's friends Min Jung and Yoo Jin.  Pil Dong mostly comes across as the character that Jo Goo talks to instead of talking to himself.  He doesn't do much, and he only has a few scenes.  Yeo Ri's friends, though, have a bigger role. They explain things to her about romance (romantic comedies, to be precise) that she doesn't know or really have a reason to know.  They don't actually help the situation generally, but they do have a little bit of a character arc in the movie, which allows you to sort of connect a little bit to them regardless of how little you see them.

Now for the section I'm not looking forward to doing.  The writing.  Oh, dear, this movie.  Let me just clarify for everyone out there: I love this movie.  It's funny, cute, and has a touching romance.  BUT there are some issues I must point out in this part of the review that I don't like talking about.  The first and most major of these issues is the pacing.  For the first two-thirds of the movie, the pacing is wonderful.  It's slow enough to seem somewhat realistic, yet fast enough to keep you interested.  But somewhere around the beginning of the final third the pacing goes haywire.  It gets choppy and it feels almost like they realized two-thirds of the way through the movie that they had a time limit and they had to really rush the last third of the story.  This is really a shame because the last third is where it gets really interesting.  Not that it's not interesting before that, but the last third has the plot twist in it, as well as the relationship resolution that wasn't handled all that well in this case.

Another problem with the final third of this movie is the tone.  I said before that the pacing gets choppy, and that also applies here.  It's almost like it can't decide what kind of ending it wants to be.  It can't decide whether it wants to be a happy silly ending or a serious heartwarming ending.  Had they not tried to rush the final third so much and actually picked a tone to stick with, I really think this ending would've been much better without changing much of anything.

And the last issue I have with this movie, particularly the final third, is a small one, but important to me.  That is, the girlfriend.  I haven't mentioned Jo Goo's girlfriend up to this point because she's hardly in this movie and she doesn't do anything accept to be the reason why Jo Goo stops seeing Yeo Ri for a brief (and I do mean brief) period of time.  I don't have a problem with the token girlfriend concept.  I DO, however, have a problem with the way she reacts at a certain point in the movie.  It's right around the point where the plot starts to feel rushed and choppy; in fact, it's right at the beginning of the final third of the movie.  The situation is this: she comes home from a trip to France to find Jo Goo and Yeo Ri asleep together in the living room (you'll understand if you watch the movie).  Not only does she not freak out that her boyfriend is with another woman, but later when she figures out that Jo Goo is in love with Yeo Ri, she completely steps out without a fight, without so much as a cross word to her ex.  THAT is completely unrealistic to me.  That, and also it feels kind of like they didn't know what else to do with the girlfriend so they swept her under the rug, so to speak.

Now for the obligatory warning section.  Not much to say this time around.  The only thing I might warn people of is there are a few jump scares in this movie and there are a few scenes in which I really didn't want to look at the screen (I'm a wimp when it comes to scary movies).  Most of the scare factor comes out of shock value, however.  A lot of it is just the surprise and creepiness of how the ghosts look when you see them for the first time (the music doesn't help either; it just makes it freakier).  Lastly, there is a sex scene in this movie, but I don't actually know if it counts because they show NOTHING.  Absolutely NOTHING.  This intrigues me, because typically Korean movies have at least one sex scene where they show stuff, of course depending on the movie.

Otherwise, this movie has a rather heavy focus on what it's like to be alone in everything and exploring what that means.  This story does a good job of showing how people can't function to the fullest extent entirely on their own, and the writers did a decent job of showing how painful it is for someone to be completely cut off from everyone.

All right, final comments.  As I said before, I love this movie.  It's pretty well done in places, and for all its flaws, it was a fun watch.  It's not really a horror movie so much as it is a romantic comedy with horror elements to it.  It's kind of a horror-that's-not-a-horror movie.  So I'd say if you're looking for a movie that's scary without being scary, watch this movie.  Just go into it with an open mind and see what you think.