Hello ghost 헬로우 고스트 [movie]

laughing and crying at the same time seems to be the tool by which
korean cinema wants to destroy me.

Cast:

Suicidal SangMan – Cha TaeHyun

Nurse Jung YunSoo – Kang HyeWon

Perverted ghost – Lee MoonSu

Smoking ghost – Ko ChangSeok

Crying ghost – Jang YeongNam

Kid ghost – Cheon BoKeun

Cha TaeHyun (엽기적인 그녀my sassy girl) plays SangMan, a guy who grew up without a family. We first meet him trying to kill his lonely self, after several attempts he does die for a brief period but is saved and brought back down to earth with the obscure side effect of now being able to see ghosts. As you do.

SangMan doesn’t get sectioned (somehow) but is merely joined by these four ghosts who can inhabit his body, to return home to his lonely flat to be all p*ssed off that he cant just die.

At first it appears it will be a standard fix-the-ghostie’s-last-requests type stuff but as it evolves there is more to the story.

This is a difficult one because all I want to do is tell you about the ending – but I wont say a thing. No spoilers. But I will explain how I laughed out loud for much of this movie, Cha TaeHyun’s acting was brilliant and he really had me in stitches when he was possessed by the others, actually – his reactions after possession sessions were even funnier – you would expect normal people to be embarrassed to come to their senses and see what happened when they weren’t in possession of their own body – but seen as he just wants to die – he doesn’t care. He is just tired. It is a whole other world of adorable. I love the exhausted sounds he makes.

SangMan falls in love with a nurse as he is on his fix-the-ghostie’s-last-request missions and through his various bouts of spectral possession he makes a bit of a d*ck of himself. Over and over again. But like I say, he doesn’t seem to care all that much which I think is nice because it didn’t make me cringe as much as if he had been mortified by his ridiculous behaviour.

So anyway, my point was going to be that I laughed through this whole film up until the last 10 minutes, at that point I burst into tears. What a great film it grew into. I mean, it was great throughout but there comes a point where we learn the context behind everything that we had just witnessed and, well quite frankly I didn’t expect it and I fell to pieces.

Don’t go into it thinking there will be some massive revelation at the end, it isn’t the sixth sense or anything, it is just a beautiful way to end a film and ties up a load of loose ends that I didn’t think would get tied. It became clear that things said earlier in the movie were far more relevant that they appeared and I literally just sobbed.  

What a sweet film.

I felt bizarre to be crying with such a smile at the same time. I really wasn’t expecting this film to be as good as it was. As I watched it I thought it was funny and light hearted but it had substance to it that continued to grow rapidly from a few specific points.

I really liked the smoking ghost driving down to the ocean and swimming with SangMan, and also the point where he gets arrested and is talking about his family in the police station. Actually the whole thing of him in the police station is brilliant from start to finish; his split personality bit, then his quiet musings on his childhood, then lovely YunSoo and the bus ride – oh it really just is so good.

This is one of those films made to make you look back over it afterwards and notice all the things you couldn’t have thought of as that important on your first viewing. The first time you watch it will be the most important one, allow yourself time to really do it properly. It will be worth it. It isn’t epic or challenging or momentous it’s just that you don’t want to spoil it by not giving it your attention. It is like a quiet voice that could be potentially drowned out by the wind, if you don’t watch it properly you might miss the point of it all.

I’m really glad I saw this movie. I have just read that Chris Columbus has the rights to the US remake and will likely start production for it in the next couple of years. I can only say that I hope they keep it as light and colourful as this beautiful film and they get some damn good script writers on it and involve some intelligent actors so it doesn’t turn into a full on piece of epic fail cheese pie with cheese on top and extra cheese on the side. American movies have made me lactose intolerant.

Still, regardless of what happens to its offshoots, this movie is another brick in the wall of my constantly reaffirmed absolute unwavering adoration for Korean cinema.

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