Iron Dae-oh / <강철대오: 구 국의 철가방> 2012

Directed by: Yook Sang-Hyo / 육상효
Release date: October 2012

Kang Dae-oh has a crush on a college coed, Ye-rin, but as he is a Chinese restaurant delivery guy, she never notices him. Thinking he has discovered a birthday party she will attend, he goes and ends up in a student protest occupying the American Cultural Center in downtown Seoul (a real event from 1985). First fearful he will be unmasked as a fraud, instead he is mistaken for a legendary student leader. As the occupation continues, he wins his lady’s love and in the end sacrifices himself to keep her respect.

A very intriguing re-visioning of an ugly incident in the student democracy movement and in American-Korean relations from the 1980s, and a comedy no less, with a touch of whimsy.

My take: 5 stars!

 Just another day in the life of a Chinese-restaurant

delivery guy in the 1980s: Kang Dae-oh (Kim In-kwon)

 makes a delivery right through the front lines

while students and riot police battle it out.

Shim’s Family / <좋지 아니한가> 2007

Directed by: Jeong Yoon-cheol / 정윤철
Release date: March 2007

The Shims – mom, dad, sister, brother, and one aunt – are not a normal family, in fact, they are all pretty quirky. The film follows each of them through a number of misadventures. The brother’s attempt at suicide, the sister being punish for asking questions in class, the frustrated-writer aunt’s break-up with her boyfriend, the mother’s romantic liaison with a much younger man, the father’s contretemps with a high-school student in a hotel room which ends up broadcast live over the internet—these are just the beginnings of their misadventures. This seems like a family about to self-destruct but the final straw—the family mutt’s pursuit of a neighbor’s pure-bred poodle—will unleash chaos and bring the family together.

A very quirky film but totally engaging from beginning to end. The director has a deft touch with comedy and the cinematography is sometimes spectacular, sometimes, well, quirky, but always extremely well done. In its own fun way, the movie had a powerful message: life can send us lemons, if folks close to each other can come together and help each other, they can enjoy the lemonade. The happy ending in this film was hard won, not in any way saccharine sweet.

My take: 5 stars!

On a scorchingly hot evening, family members

(Hwang Bo-ra, Yoo Ah-in, Kim Hye-soo) relax down by the

creek with their dog, just before chaos breaks loose.