I will have to do an epic spoiler rant but I will put it at the end of the post so just don’t read past the spoiler alert if you haven’t watched it already
Another quiet, sad feeling movie, featuring the wonderful Lee ByungHun, I really like Jungdok and just had a feeling it would be something worth giving my attention to. It also stars the lovely Lee MiYeon who I think I recognize from the first whispering corridors – I know I’ve seen her in something before this – but anyway – she was really perfectly cast in her role for this film.
It has done nothing but re-affirm my stead fast view that nothing beats Korean cinema. Unfortunately most of the reason for that will be in my spoiler rant at the end, I can’t explain much of why I adore this film without splurging all the details. So for now, I will outline the basic plot and give you some more pictures of these beautiful people.
EunSu and HoJin are a blissfully married couple with an extremely close relationship. Living with them is HoJin’s younger brother DaeJin, and they are very close with him too. Although DaeJin seems a little carefree and reckless he and his sensible and stable brother live harmoniously together even in HoJin’s married home.
Due to two separate car accidents at the same time, both brothers end up in comas for over a year and only DaeJin is able to eventually wake. But, as they are all shocked to find out, DaeJin is saying he is really somehow HoJin inside DaeJin’s body.
* when he wakes up and walks around the hospital - god! the way he moves his feet and cant straighten his toes out - it was so so so well acted, my legs hurt watching it *
The traumatic nature of this occurrence understandably puts a strain on EunSu and DaeJin’s friend YeJin (played by the beautiful Park SunYoung) who has been in love with DaeJin for years. But most of all it seems to be unbearable for the supposed HoJin to have to act like DaeJin because everyone believes he is just sick.
Cast:
EunSu – Lee MiYeon
DaeJin – Lee ByungHun
HoJin – Lee Eol
YeJin – Park SunYoung
As time goes on HoJin/DaeJin shows EunSu more and more that he really is who he says he is and she begins to trust what she sees in him. But how hard must that be? To succumb to that thought, knowing it could be that she just desperately wants it to be true. There is so much uncertainty and quiet desperation that even loving scenes between the pair just feel heart wrenching and almost pitiful. Her acceptance of him would be a slow and fragile process so he tries to just continue working as he always did.
ByungHun, as always, has such grace and subtly in his portrayal of his characters that it is hard not to feel the uncomfortable signs in Jungdok that something isn’t right. His warm manner when interacting with YeJin is unusual, and all the things he knows about EunSu and how he acts with her are so out of character for DaeJin - the connection is there and the love is most definitely real, so it could be that he really is HoJin.
I love that they start to just take it as it is, DaeJin thinks he’s HoJin but we wont section him or anything, we’ll just go back to living in the house like we were before and he’ll be ok in the end.
What else can I say before I go into mass spoiler mode? Not much, as it is all the things that would spoil it for you that I love about the movie and its perfect ending.
spoilers below movie poster.
Ok, so here we have one massive great big f*ck off spoiler alert. Got it?
*spoilers below*
So normally with western films of this nature, when the girl finds out she has been tricked by the brother pretending to be the husband because he has loved her since before time began and it caused him to go all stalker types of mental, the girl would normally find out in some sugoku shokku way and go nuts crying and screaming etc etc try to run away and he goes all “you can’t leave me I love you” type stuff and they have a big old fight and she stabs him in the leg or whatever and, I dunno, he attacks her and she manages to kill him in the end or the other comatose husband wakes up and saves her or something equally as sh*t as that.
But here, we have a Korean movie. So my hopes are always a little higher to begin with. When she found out and started crying and I thought: “Oh no! Don’t leave him! Please just be ok with it!”
Is that weird of me? I really didn’t want her to be all freaked out – and just deal with it. She is happy now, why f*ck it up? When she went into see him at the exhibition and was all putting on the smile and forcing herself to get over it and deal, I frantically went to the search bar on the movie player and saw there were only a few minutes left – no time for any big ass fight scenes – she’s… she’s… its… its… its gonna end like this? Oh my god, it’s gonna end like this!
I was so f*cking happy. Stuff never happens how I think it should – usually because it isn’t really how people should behave *sulks* but screw that! He wasn’t just stalking her or anything, he genuinely was doing everything he could just to be in her life and be good to her. Right until then end. When he was crying on the rocks, asking his brother to never forgive him… aish, seriously beautiful. I think I am a bit messed up in the head.
But go back to the scene where they get it on, now I usually find something to distract myself with or get up and brush my hair or something until they’ve finished with most scenes like that, cos im – well – y’know …me, but I just sat and stared. There was something unbelievably sad going on there. ByungHun was just killing me by this point, DaeJin was sort of crying, and EunSu was giving in to the hope that he was HoJin, I thought it looked like it was the first time they had ever touched each other – because it f*cking was!!!
Aish, I seriously love how that ended and I chose to believe that they stay together forever and when they are super old at one point something happens that lets the cat out of the bag and she calmly says “I know. I have known since before the baby was born” and he is all tears and whatever and she hugs him, smiles and says a lovely quiet warm ‘Saranghaeyo’ and he realises that she loves him as who he is now not just the memory of the real HoJin – I could go on and on with that fairy story.
So yet again, the stalker thing came out on top. I really worry… Asian movies and dramas are feeding my already twisted idea of what love is… I am not sure watching this sh*t is such a good idea anymore but I am too hooked now to do anything about it.
~
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