Treat yourself what this, unfound in live with this movie. It's not the kind of movie I life but it got me in tears at the end
6.8Plot summary
Tae-il is a low-level thug who goes around the streets of his neighborhood in Gunsan, collecting debts for a loan shark and harassing shop owners for the protection money owed to the small gang he works for. He is 42 years old, lives with his barber brother Young-il and Young-il's family, and has never been in love. Tae-il does well at his job and doesn't seem to harbor many scruples about it, but then he meets Ho-jung, a bank clerk who is taking care of her debt-ridden, terminally ill father. During their first encounter, Tae-il forces her to sign a contract that requires her to sell her organs if she can't pay back her father's debt on time. After their not-so-pleasant first meeting, however, Tae-il finds himself thinking about Ho-jung constantly and his conscience begins to get the better of him. He writes a new contract and offers it to her: He will exempt her from the debt if she goes on date with him. The more dates she goes on, the less debt she will have to pay off. Ho-jung rejects his offer at first, but knowing that she is unable to make the payments at any cost, she reluctantly agrees. As they start to go on awkward "dates," an unlikely romance blossoms between the two. Following his prolonged courtship, Tae-il tries to leave the gang life behind him, but the break isn't clean. Unfortunately he is soon diagnosed with cancer and his relationship with Ho-jung is suddenly thrown into jeopardy
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
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Jeong-min Hwang as Han Tae-il
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Classic Korean Formula
After seeing Jeong-min Hwang in the electrifying role in "New World," some people may be disappointed to see him act in this classic Korean love story which is proudly formulaic. The story has been done a million times before, and the script presents a series of rather predictable events along with often-used cliché's and emotional buttons.
Yet, once one gets past the cinematic mechanics, Hwang's magnetic acting pulls things together into an endearing, touching movie that belongs on a must-watch list for those who study Korean culture and its multitude of nuances. This is no eternal cinema, but like trickling light rain, the viewer is likely to find him/herself soaked with humanity by the end of movie.
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Wasn't really effective despite the realistic take on it
I wanted to check this movie out because I thought it would have a similar vibe going like "My Dear Desperado". Which is a movie that I surprisingly ended up liking. This one was just disheartening and got sadder as the movie progressed. Mainly because I felt sorry for the female lead. The build up of the attraction between the thug and the female lead is pretty weak. It did have my attention when it came to the low life thug with somewhat of a conscience trying to win the heart of a girl that is in dept. But after that it just became a boring movie to sit through. With people bickering and fighting over money, the typical bleak Korean movie nonsense that doesn't really go anywhere. Sure it's to add to the impact of the ending, but everything just seemed so predictable. I just didn't find almost any of the characters to be likable. Watching this movie was like watching a more realistic version of one of those Korean drama about the bad boy falling for a good girl. Except for a movie that is 2 hours long, the male lead didn't stand out much and wasn't all that likable. I don't need to like the characters in a movie for the movie to be good. But the ending didn't that lasting effect. Mainly because the build up didn't have that exhilarating and quirky fun elements that could have boosted this movie. That would have made me care more about the leads and the situation. I wanted to really wanted to like this movie because of the premise but ended up not really liking it. I did have certain amount of sympathy and empathy towards the fictional character though.
5.8/10