Ae-ja / <애자> 2009

Directed by: Jeong Gi-hoon / 정기훈
Release date: September 2009

Ae-ja has always been a 청개구리 (green frog, ask a Korean) and she is in constant conflict with authority, including her high school teachers and her mother. Part of her rebelliousness may be because of her mother’s favoritism for Ae-ja’s brother, who has a slight disability. Ten years go by and Ae-ja is now a struggling writer living in Seoul and is as contrary as ever. When she comes home to Busan, she disrupts everything, including her brother’s love life and wedding. When her mother collapses and ends up in the hospital, Ai-ja and her mom are thrown together again and must now re-define their relationship, but it is not a smooth road as her mother shows her chung-kae-gu-ri side as well.

Ae-ja and her mother make amusing characters to watch, especially Ae-ja who constantly shoots herself in the foot but just can’t stop being the head-strong individualist that she is. The hospital scenes got a little repetitive. My take: C

Matchmaker, friend Hyeon-jin, and Ae-ja’s mother peruse

photos of potential candidates for groom for Ae-ja, while Ae-ja sulks

(uncredited, Sa Hyeon-jin, Kim Yeong-ae, and Choi Kang-hee).

Fortune Salon / <청담보살> 2009

Directed by: Kim Jin-yeong / 김진영
Release date: November 2009

Tae-rang has a high-paying job, a plush house, and an expensive car, and she is intelligent and beautiful to boot, but so far she has been unlucky in love. She is the daughter of a shaman and a shaman herself and fate has set for her to marry a certain man, someone who she has not met yet—all she knows is his birthdate. When she finally finds him, Seung-won proves to be ill-mannered and unattractive, and trying to follow her fate does not prove to be easy.

Another film about a guy who is a creep (or creepy, as in Hello Ghost) but, by the end of the film, has the girl fall for him. A depressing film, with little successful humor.

My take: DD

The exquisite Tae-rang (Park Ye-jin) and the

scruffy Seung-won (Im Chang-jeong) go on a date.

Just Friends? <친구 사이?> 2009

Directed by: Jim-Jho Kwang-soo / 김조광수
Release date: December 2009

Seok-i (Lee Je-hoon) goes to meet his lover, Min-soo (Yeon Woo-jin), at the military camp in the country where Min-soo is completing his army service. This reunion for the gay lovers turns suddenly awkward when Min-soo’s mother (Lee Seon-joo) arrives to visit him, too.

An interesting short, nicely paced, well-acted, and engaging. The film poses some intriguing questions about the problems that can ensue when gays come out of the closet. The song and dance numbers were a lot of fun, too. My take: CCC

Strangers on a bus (Lee Je-hoon and Lee Chae-eun) show each
other the gifts they are taking to their “lovers” both of whom will
turn out to be men doing their army service at the same camp.

Postman To Heaven / <천국의 우편배달부> 2009

Directed by: Lee Hyeong-min / 이형민
Release date: November 2009

There is a mail box in the middle of a field. Jo Ha-na (Han Hyo-joo / 한효주) goes to mail a letter to her dead boyfriend and meets the “postman” (Hero / 영웅재중), a guy who says he delivers these letters to folks who are dead and in heaven. She doesn’t believe him and they go to a café for coffee. She still doesn’t believe him and …

Beyond that, I don't know. We quit watching the film right here, all in agreement that it was a totally uninteresting film with flat acting. My take: DD

Wish / <바람> 2009

Directed by: Lee Seong-han / 이성한
Release date: September 2009

High school in Busan in the 1990s, apparently a pretty rough time and place. As the third son after a high-achieving older brother and sister, Jjang-goo is the black sheep of the family as he only gets into a technical high school. We follow him through his coming-of-age journey through these high school years. Will he flourish? Will he get bullied? Will he make a success out of his life?

An unusual aspect of the film was being able to overhear the internal dialog that goes on in Jjang-goo's head. He is an average guy who just wants to make a go of life and basically a nice person who is not understood by his cold-fish family members. The film had some very creative camera work as well and the music, a traditional music score that you more often see in a history film, was well done. The word is that this film really resonates with Korean guys who lived through this time and place. My take: CCC

I watched a unsubtitled version of this film and thought: “If this film hasn’t been subtitled yet, I would LOVE to take on this project!

Green in the wood: high school campus roads and students.

Introspective Jjang-goo (Jeong Woo / 정우) follows a different drummer.

Take Off <국가대표> 2009

Directed by: Kim Yong-hwa / 김용화
Release date: July 2009

It’s 1996 and the small Korean town of Muju hopes to host the Winter Olympics only to be turned down as there are no Korean teams in any of the official winter sports. A group of misfits are assembled to form a ski jump team—and they are a totally unlikable bunch. But they will prevail and go on to do Korea honor.

A jingoistic vehicle, this film. The film follows the typical underdog-makes-good line, which I was hoping to enjoy as I did Bend It Like Beckham or Bang the Drum Slowly or Like a Virgin <천하장사 마돈나>. For my tastes, Take Off's characters were so utterly unappealing that I really didn’t care what happened to them and I got tired of watching the film.
My take: DD

Bob, a Korean-American adoptee who will reluctantly become the team captain, is some sort of misfit, though the film never makes it clear why … maybe just being an adoptee makes one a misfit? The portrayal of the American ski jump team as a bunch of anti-Korean hoodlums and the repeated rulings against the Korean team by the International Olympic Committee would warm the heart of any anti-American, anti-foreign zealot. The film, in places, is also blatantly misogynist and racist.

Choi (Kim Dong-wuk /  김동욱) , the drug addict (and soon to be

Olympic athlete), sends his fellow workers away so he can

molest an unconscious female nightclub patron. Ha? Ho? Hee?

Bob (Ha Jeong-woo / 하정우), the Korean-American adoptee,

is embarrassed, and all the participants on the tv-show panel horrified,

when a photo of his sister with her husband and child are flashed on the

screen. Worst ultra-nationalist nightmare: a Korean female with

a black husband and a mixed-race child.

Actresses / <여배우들> 2009

Directed by: Lee Jae-yong / 이재용
Release date: December 2009

Six top Korean actresses (playing themselves!) assemble for a fashion photo shoot on Christmas Eve (the rest of the cast are photography studio staff, also playing themselves). What happens when six potential prima donnas are thrown together? The actresses preen, get snarky some, then let their hair down.

An interesting concept for a film: How much is scripted? How much is the actresses being themselves? The film comes together, well-paced but playfully. My take: CCC

When the fashion shoot stalls, the actresses treat

themselves to an impromptu Christmas Eve party.