Grape Candy / <청포도 사탕> 2012

Full Title: Grape Candy: A 17-Years-Ago Promise

청포도 사탕: 17년 전의 약속
Directed by: Kim Hee-jung / 김희정
Release date: September 2012

Jin-hee, a bank clerk, lives with her fiancé who works for a publishing company. She is suspicious when a femme fatale novelist shows up in her fiancé’s life, only to discover that So-ra was her friend in high-school. Jin-hee is uneasy about this time in her past, as she has lost all memory of those days. Sora hints at some questions about this shared past, seeming to involved their mutual friend, Yeo-eun. But what happened to Yeo-eun is also something Jin-hee can’t remember. Jin-hee and So-ra set off on an uneasy journey together to negotiate what is hidden in Jin-hee’s memory. Will this destroy Jin-hee … or re-make her?

A visually sumptuous film; the cinematography is breathtaking! The filming technique created a monochromatic feeling of claustrophobia, brooding, and mystery. The story-telling was also flawless. 

My take: 5 stars!

So-ra and Jin-hee on their journey

(Park Ji-yoon and Park Jin-hee).

Everything About My Wife / <내 아내의 모든 것> 2012

Directed by: Min Gyoo-dong, 민규동
Release date: May 2012

Doo-hyeon met, fell for, and married Jeong-in while they are both in Japan and she had sworn to speak only Japanese and was playing at the part of a “submissive Japanese woman”. Once she is back in Korea, she reverts to the annoying, neurotic, self-centered motor-mouth she apparently always was. After seven years of marriage to this bizarre woman, Doo-hyeon wants out. He tries to get a job relocation to the boondocks, but she follows him. He hires a Casanova to seduce his wife so she will have to leave him first but she won’t fall for the guy. Doo-hyeon is ready try anything to get her out of his life. But then when he succeeds …

If you are a really, really big fan of Im Soo-jeong, then that might be a reason to watch this film. Otherwise, don’t bother, it is long and tiresome. The humor is thin on the ground and the plot pretty weak. Just lots and lots of on-screen time of Im running her mouth. The only humor for me was the epilogue while the credits were running.  

My take: 1 star

 Jeong-in (Im Soo-jeong) gets snarky

at a company dinner party.