Happily Ever After

  The night everything changed, December 12, 1979. This day remains to all Koreans as an unbelievable historical event. After the 10.26 incident when President Park Chung-Hee was assassinated, a time so called "Seoul's spring" comes, citizens celebrating the end of 18 years of dictatorship. However, on December 12, Chun Doo-Hwan overthrows the government by a coup along with his military faction and secret organization 'Hanahoe(하나회)', finally becoming the president of Korea. He then starts a cruel monocracy, resulting in many uprisings from citizens followed by the government's violent oppression and massacres of innocent citizens that are still remembered to this day.    12.12: The Day deals with the hidden truth of the day Chun Doo-Hwan stages a coup. Chun's irrational and insane acts are depicted realistically throughout the entire movie. Very few soldiers are righteous and loyal to the country, since most soldiers succumb to power. Every audience alre...

  Although  Believer 1  had been a huge success, I didn't enjoy the movie much. Believer 1 didn't have much of a story to it, and all that was left in my mind afterwards were violently shocking scenes of murder which were overly realistic due to superb actors. Not to mention some vague cinematic bravado, apparently to induce a lingering feeling; which surprisingly actually worked, creating many fans for the movie. However since I considered those blank spaces as merely a puzzling bluff, it was a relief that its midquel  Believer 2 cleared up those parts to finally complete the story properly.   Most characters were the same as Believer 1 , acted by the same actors. Meanwhile, Big Knife was a newly added character. The movie is about Detective Cho investigating Professor Lee, who is a notorious drug gang leader but with hidden identity. Cho keeps looking for Lee and during his search comes across Big Knife, who seems like the only one who knows Lee's ...

  Based on a true story, The Boys is about three boys being wrongfully accused of theft and murder. The boys go to jail wrongfully because of corrupt policemen and prosecutors trying to cover up their mistake of catching the wrong culprit. A righteous policeman Hwang courageously attempts to stand up against his organization to publicize the truth, but his voice is ignored and he is branded as a traitor. As of this, 16 years pass and the movie shows old Hwang making up his mind once more to solve what he had left messed up 16 years ago; the incident that had bothered him during the past 16 years.   The Boys was a well-made movie overall. I even saw two women crying their eyes out in the theater. But the thing that bothered me a bit was lead actor Seol Kyung-Gu's familiar acting. Yes, he is a great actor who has won lots of awards and shown amazing acting. However, the slight problem was that I had seen his films a lot recently. So that made me quite used to his particular st...

  These days, bright and energetic K-movies are said to attract the audiences' attention. Perhaps it's due to recent ugly events regarding crime in society. The audience require movies that can refresh their mood. Due to this current trend, some brilliant masterpieces haven't been getting as much attention as they deserve, while some bright but not-so-brilliant movies have been successful. So many times I felt disappointed and betrayed after watching those numerically "successful" movies.    But Brave Citizen , another bright and energetic movie, was totally awesome. There was this good feeling about it even before watching the movie and to my relief, my hunch was right. Not only did it give off a hopeful vibe, it properly functioned it's role as a movie; creating a thrilling world where our real-life problems can be solved at once. Brave Citizen  killed two birds with one stone; it was both comical and meaningful.   School bullying has been a hot issue these ...

    Actress Jun Jong-Seo is well renowned for her distinctive charismatic and crazy acting. Her concentration about her characters is at another level and is awesome and trendy every time. In Ballerina , she once again impressively shows off her worth. It is her second time working with director Lee Chung-Hyeon after The Call . The two are famous for being actual lovers and have been creating synergy with their great couple chemistry.   Ok-ju is a skillful bodyguard who has a ballerina for a friend. One day, the ballerina friend commits suicide after being sexually harassed brutally by Choi. Before dying, she leaves a message for Ok-ju, asking her to revenge for her.    The movie was very stylish overall. Famous rapper Gray worked as the music director for this film, completing the stylish vibe overall. And Ballerina 's cast were especially perfect. Jun Jong-Seo was impressive as usual. Actor Kim Ji-Hun's handsome and sexy charisma fit the character Choi perfect...

   Hopeless had been invited to the 76th Cannes Film Festival for Un Certain Regard . This itself was quite a news, since the film was relatively a low-budget. It was also an issue that star actor Song Joong-Ki had appeared in this film with no guarantee, captivated by the scenario. Watching Hopeless , I could definitely see why he chose this; to me, it was Song Joong-Ki's best character so far. Thanks to Song Joong-Ki, the character Chi-geon turned out to be more charming and handsome than he could ever be.   This movie was the best noir movie I had seen that had been made during the past ten years. Noir movies had been made from time to time, but they were below by expectations. Ever since the action noir The Man from Nowhere , none were to my taste. But Hopeless  finally exceeded my expectations. Produced by Sanai Pictures, the most renowned producing company for noir films, delicate perfection ran throughout the entire plot.    The plot focuses on two...