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.

Romantic Princess (2007)

Xiao Mai is a poor girl who lives in a small rundown apartment with her loving parents.  Life is not good, but manageable as Xiao Mai works to earn enough money for a down payment on a house.  One day, however, a very polite but adamant butler arrives to tell Xiao Mai she is actually the long lost granddaughter of the richest man in Taiwan, Huang Fu Xiong.  Xiao Mai doesn't believe him at first, but as time goes on and she's introduced to the old man, she begins to accept it.  Upon being ripped away from her adopted parents, however, Xiao Mai discovers it's not quite as great as she imagined being a rich girl if it means she can't be with her family.  Along the way she also learns that she must marry the successor to the Huang Fu company, which will be one of four boys from the Nan Feng family who were brought to the house to study in hopes of becoming said successor.  Not all of the Nan Feng boys are happy about this arrangement, however, and soon pull Xiao Mai into the whirlwind of complicated business transactions that make up the life of a Huang Fu heiress.

Now before I get into the meat of this review, I must preface it with this comment: this is one of the first dramas I ever saw.  When I first saw it I thought it was great, but that was four years ago.  Now coming back to it and seeing it again, I see a few things that I missed the first time around that I shall address as I come to them.  Now, on to the cast.

• Angela Zhang as Mai Qiu Sui/Huang Fu Shan (Xiao Mai)
• Wu Chun as Nan Feng Jin
• Calvin Chen as Nan Feng Cai
• George Hu as Nan Feng Lin
• Lee Ang Lin as Nan Feng Ying
• Gu Bao Ming as Huang Fu Xiong
• Genie Zhuo as Gong Mo Li

Let's start with our leading lady, the "romantic princess" herself, Xiao Mai (aka Huang Fu Shan, aka Shan Shan, aka Mai Qiu Sui...you get the picture; she has a lot of names).  Angela Zhang is an actress I had never heard of then because I had just been introduced to Taiwanese dramas (or Asian dramas in general), but strangely enough I still haven't seen anything else with her in it.  I don't know if I'm just not watching the "right" things or whatever...I digress.  Anywho, overall her acting is pretty good in this show.  She has moments where she's really annoying and just plain irritating, but she brings out the emotion of the whole affair in a credible way that makes the audience sympathize with her plight.  I can't say hers was a stellar performance, but it wasn't at all bad either.

Moving on to the brothers.  The Nan Feng boys are arguably the most memorable characters, mostly for their widely varying personalities and opinions about what Huang Fu Xiong (whom they call "Emp") is putting them through.  First of these is Nan Feng Jin, played by Wu Chun (or Zun, depending on the translation).  He is a very interesting character, mostly because he's the only one who's willing to stand up to Emp and fight back against a future that he doesn't want for himself.  Wu Chun is, for the most part, a very talented actor and singer, and I think that's pretty obvious in this drama.  He has his great moments and his moments that are just good, but he does have moments when it feels like he might have been trying too hard.  Overall, still a good performance with no particularly bad moments to mention.

Next is Nan Feng Cai, played by Calvin Chen.  Now, I have no doubt that Calvin is at least a good actor.  Also, having become familiar with his actual personality and habits, I can say I have no doubt he's a good playboy as well (playboy is a general term here; I don't mean that in a derogatory way AT ALL).  He's probably the one that gives the most solid performance throughout in this drama, having no real changes to his character or personality overall (that's not counting the second half of the drama; SPOILERS).  He gives a good performance as the polite playboy that's not only interested in bedding women (if you know what I mean).  He actually seems truly interested in getting to know them as people first, women second.  This also goes for Xiao Mai, but I'll get to that later.

The third member of the Nan Feng foursome is Nan Feng Lin, played by George Hu.  Now, I am a pretty decent fan of George Hu; I've seen him in a couple of other things since I watched this drama, and I'm fairly certain in this assertion: he's capable of better acting than this.  Before anybody gets mad at me for saying that, let me say I do understand that this character is supposed to be childish and immature.  I get that; however, there are some scenes in which the acting from this dude is just a bit...how shall we say...over the top?  I don't have anything against this character or his acting in this drama, but I just think some of it is a little bit overacted and just the slightest bit annoying for that very reason.  Overall, good performance and I still really liked the character.

The last one to round out the group is Nan Feng Ying, played by Lee Ang Lin.  Okay, people who have already seen this will understand me when I say, I don't really know what to say about this guy because he's hardly in this at all.  He's really only there to pad out the cast (that's my opinion; he does have a pretty good running gag though; ANGELA!!!).  He doesn't do anything in the story that I know of and I don't really know why he's in this in the first place.  But from what I do recall of his acting, it's good.  He's a decent actor (I've seen him in another series where his role was far bigger).  Nothing bad to say about him.

Another key character in this story (in fact, he's the driving force of the whole plot pretty much) is Huang Fu Xiong, played by Gu Bao Ming.  This is one of the few older actors that I can actually recognize because he's been in a few other things I've seen (like Down with Love).  Huang Fu Xiong, whom I shall call Emp from here on out, is one of those characters that you don't really know if he's good or bad.  He just is.  One minute he's doing something to make Xiao Mai hate him, the next you find out that he did that for her own good.  He simply exists to please his granddaughter and run his business.  With a character like this, I'm convinced Bao Ming is a really good actor.  He can make you hate his character and feel sorry for his character AT THE SAME TIME!  That, my friends, is one of the marks of a great actor.  Great performance from him.

The last character that's really worth calling out is a really annoying pipsqueak named Gong Mo Li.  She's played by Genie Zhuo (or Zhou, or Cho...I can't keep track anymore).  Her acting in this is good, but I've gotta at least mention I've seen her in far better roles than this.  She plays wonderfully in a serious drama.  She's good at being REALLY irritating as well, but I think the fact that she pops up at the least opportune moment and causes such a fuss (again, spoilers) is most of the reason why I didn't like her in this drama.

Okay, moving on.  Writing.  Oh, my word.  I mentioned before that I saw this drama four years ago.  I was in a different frame of mind and not quite used to what to expect from a Taiwanese drama.  Thus I did not see all of the flaws I am about to point out in annoying detail.  This series is, on the whole, decently written.  The dialogue isn't ridiculous or recycled or at all stupid (like it could be; OH DEAR it could be SO much worse).  The situation, while a bit spontaneous in the light of the circumstances of the first episode, is somewhat believable and I gotta give it credit for that.

I do have some serious bones to pick with this series, however.  Firstly, about the whole long-lost-granddaughter thing.  I know it must have been difficult to come up with a reason for Xiao Mai to have been lost in the first place that wouldn't be so ridiculous as to be laughable, but really, people.  Try a LITTLE harder.  The scenario is that she was kidnapped when she was three years old by the "mortal enemies" of the Huang Fu family and abandoned on the side of the road to be found by the person that delivered her to the Mai family.  Okay, I can buy that...I suppose.  I'm just asking for a little more creativity on the writers' part.

Okay, so maybe that was a little nitpicky, but my next point is DEFINITELY not.  In the first few episodes we are led to believe that Xiao Mai is romantically interested in Cai, if only a little bit.  Yah, I don't think so.  That vibe is totally not there.  My personal opinion is that this is because the two actors, while good in and of themselves, have little to absolutely no chemistry together.  I'm not faulting either of them.  I'm just pointing out something that I'm pretty sure could have been avoided, but given the circumstances is difficult to get around.  It really takes away from the "love triangle" element that could've been there if only the two of them had had more chemistry together (or any at all for that matter).

Lastly, I have to point out something about the flow of the story.  This is kind of more of a general observation than anything else, but it really annoyed me through the course of watching this series again.  There are some MAJOR plot points that feel really contrived and the flow of the events is just kinda...sticky.  I don't know if that's the writers' fault or the editors' fault or whatever, but whoever is to blame for that, it really bugged me for most of the show.

All right, enough of my ranting.  There's not much to say as far as warning people.  There is a TINY bit of innuendo in some parts, but it's mostly played for laughs or played up so much as to be ridiculous.  There are some parts that are obviously meant for adults in terms of complicated business stuffs or grumpy grandpas doing things to make life difficult for young people (again, spoilers).  There's nothing really noteworthy, in other words.

On the upside, the message of this drama is mostly focused on being who you are regardless of your situation and living your life the way YOU want to.  A lot of it is focusing on a couple of the characters getting out from under Emp and making their own way in life.  There is a little bit of a focus on family and who qualifies as family, but that's mostly in the early episodes.

On the whole, I have to say that after watching this through a second time with a different point-of-view and a bit more perspective, I still like this drama.  It's not great, but it's not bad either.  I'd have to recommend this to people that like big businessy type stuff and romantic melodramas (it's a soap opera, basically, but without most of the ridiculous crying and bad acting).  I also really like this drama's view of the whole "I wish I could wake up one day and suddenly be rich" sort of thinking that a lot of people seem to have.  This drama shows that, no, it wouldn't be that great because you'd be taken out of your old life (family, neighborhood, etc) and thrust into a new one that might not be so great as you imagine.  Anywho, if none of that appeals to you, watch it for Wu Chun and George Hu.  That's a good reason to like a drama, isn't it?

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.

Meitantei no Okite (Conditions of a Great Detective) (2009)

Tenkaichi Daigoro is a great detective - or so he thinks.  He spends most of his time going around solving cases with the help of police captain Ogawara Banzo and rookie female cop Fujii Mana.  In this series of episodic cases, we get to know the characters very well as we see how they interact with one another and the other players in this very strange, very interesting world.


Oh, boy, am I totally looking forward to this.  I love this show.  But before I start gushing as I will later on, let's see the cast.

• Matsuda Shota as Tenkaichi Daigoro
• Kashii Yu as Fujii Mana
• Kimura Yuichi as Ogawara Banzo
• Chisun as Moriyama Mizuki
• Irie Jingi as Uematsu Keita

So without further ado, let's dive right in.  The acting in this show was pretty good.  Not stellar in some roles, but really good nonetheless.  First up is Matsuda Shota as Tenkaichi Daigoro, the main "great detective".  I'd only heard of Shota in passing before I watched this show, so I didn't know anything about his acting and such.  After watching this, though, I have to say, as a whiny, clingy, comedic detective Shota was wonderful.  He does a really good job of being that right mixture of annoying, whiny, and just a little bit manly (just a little tiny bit, but it is there).  Despite everything else, he does play the character as a well-rounded doofy guy that just happens to be an "amateur" detective.

Kashii Yu is next playing Fujii Mana.  This is the character that we as an audience enter the show through.  She's the one that asks all the questions the audience is probably asking from beginning to end.  In this role, I will mention that the acting was mostly good, but there were a few places where she could've done better.  It's hardly noticeable until you hit the episodes where she is more of the focus of the action rather than Tenkaichi and the others.  Once she gets more of a main role, the acting, while it is good, it's not the best I've ever seen.  She's good as a supporting character, just not in the spotlight.

Now a character I absolutely loved in the show.  Ogawara Banzo, played by Kimura Yuichi.  This police captain is not like any you've ever seen.  He's just as doofy as Tenkaichi.  As far as the acting goes, Yuichi did a really good job at portraying emotion as well as being silly and lighthearted.  There are a couple of moments in which the story does get serious, and Yuichi can definitely take you there.  There's a fair amount of emotional back story to Ogawara as well, and that's definitely portrayed well.  Looking back on this series, I can say Ogawara Banzo is probably my favorite character (besides Tenkaichi).

Now our major supporting characters.  I only really mention these two characters because they have some of the best jokes in the show.  They don't do much and they're really only there to be plot devices most of the time, but that's okay as far as I'm concerned.  First is Moriyama Mizuki played Chisun.  This character is a female police officer that mostly serves as the mouthpiece for explaining the setup for the various mysteries.  She brings in suspects sometimes and does a few other things, but overall she doesn't do much.  The acting from this actress is good given what she was told to work with.  But the second character has a bit more of an emotional foundation.  Uematsu Keita played by Irie Jingi is a worker at a local cafe as well as a good friend of Tenkaichi's.  Keita actually does do some things in the show, like being the one that Tenkaichi talks things over with when he's stuck on a case and being the one that checks into things when Tenkaichi has a hunch about something.  But despite the obvious use of this character as a plot device, Keita does actually have a bit of an emotional foundation.  The acting from Jingi on this character definitely reflects that.  Though you don't see much of this character, you do sort of get attached to him, and that can only be a reflection of the quality of the acting.

Now comes my favorite part of this review.  The writing.  This show is so unique in many ways, but mostly it is unique in how the story is handled.  This series is a definite parody of typical whodunnit mystery shows with every stereotype and cliched twist thrown in.  Every type of mystery is addressed in this show.  But aside from that, this show does something in the story that I've never seen before.  In this series there is a room which the characters cannot enter unless they understand their role in the story.  In essence this allows them to step outside the story and see "what has to happen for the plot to move forward".  And of course this whole idea is totally played from the standpoint of hilarity.  It's really quite funny since there are remarks sprinkled throughout the show that stem along the lines of "I can't do that.  If I do that the plot can't move forward" and so on.  Most of these remarks come from the captain by the way (you can start to see why I like him so much).

Something else along those same lines is the treatment of the fourth wall in this show.  I know all of what I just explained kind of deals with this already, but I have to call this out.  Whoever wrote this or had the idea for this is an absolute genius.  Throughout the show with the addition of the room and everything, it's almost like the writer(s) of the show said, "The fourth wall?  Pshh, what's that?"

Of course, there's really nothing to warn anybody about.  The only thing I have to point out is that none of this show is meant to be taken seriously.  NONE OF IT.  Even in the dramatic moments (which are few and FAR between) just when the show seems to be getting serious, it pulls you right back out of that mood and throws in some more comedic goofiness.

As far as a message of any sort, there really isn't one.  It's basically a straight up parody of mystery shows.  Of course, if I HAD to parse a message out of this show, I'd have to say it would be a focus on friendship and what your friends mean to you.  I think this is a very subtle theme in this show and I think if you want to get something out of it, that's what you're going to take home.

So final thoughts.  While this isn't a drama I'd watch again anytime soon, I will say I did thoroughly enjoy it.  The humor is goofy, the characters are silly and lovable, and the cases are fascinating (most of the time).  Sometimes the mystery really isn't the point of the episode, but I still like to try and figure it out before Tenkaichi announces who did it at the end of the episode.  All in all, a really fun watch.  I'd recommend it to any hardcore fans of mystery shows and fans of silly nonsensical humor everywhere.

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.