" I'm Sorry; I Tried But I Cannot Do Any Better. I Thought That I Was Stronger Than This."

Literal translation of title: 'That Bizarre Girl'

Part of the "My Sassy Girl Trilogy" by Kwak Jae Yong

This is the first movie of the "My Sassy Girl Trilogy" by director/screenwriter Kwak Jae Young.

The second is the film "Windstruck (2004)".

The third is the Japanese film "Cyborg She (2008)".

They are unrelated except for having a 'sassy girl' theme

Kwak Jae Yong served as screenwriter & director for all three above films.


Windstruck (2004) also stars Jun Ji Hyun, with a guest appearance by Cha Tae Hyun (this film's Gyun Woo).


I usually don't read other people's reviews, but I saw several 'low' scores here, so I thought I would address them; also, I was trying to get away from giving you an overview of the movie, but I have to do it this time in order to explain the young "Girl's" actions!

This movie is not about the "Sassy Girl"! It is about a young man, Gyon Woo, finally finding 'someone' to him to care enough about that he gets his crap together - and matures into a man!

Gyun Woo (Cha Tae Hyun) says that he was 'raised' by his mother as a girl"; this, I feel, has an effect on his dating girls in high school and now in college, where he is when this movie starts. He is having his picture taken in the second scene, but he really is stalling so that he won't have to go visit his aunt, who has a beautiful girl to introduce him to!

(He will meet her finally, but only at the end of the movie!)

He meets a young girl, (who I realized about the third time I watched this movie that the director gave no name to her, just 'The Girl', played by Jun Ji Hyun) on a subway in a large Korean city. First, he saves her from being hit by the subway and then took care of her as he was mistaken to be her boyfriend after she passes out drunk on the subway.

What most people FORGET, although it is mentioned later in the movie, she is celebrating the 1-year 'Death Day' of her late boyfriend, he dies the same day one year earlier before she meets Gyon Woo on the subway! Her ex-boyfriend who is still inside her and his memory keeps her from trying to date other men.

They also met on the subway as well, the way The Girl and Gyon Woo did.

Most of what happens revolves around this unseen boyfriend of The Girl that you never see, except his hand: The Girl is desperately trying to see her late boyfriend in Gyon Woo; however, she is slowly but surely falling in love with him!

That is why:

* She gets drunk because her late boyfriend is still in her mind and she cannot forget him
* She won't let Gyon Woo order soda when together, because that is what her late boyfriend used to order
* She pushes Gyon Woo into the lake, then jumps in to save him [a scene with the mother of her dead boyfriend (Yang Geum
Suk) and her are shown on the banks of a body of water; many feel her son/The Girl's late boyfriend drowned] The Girl is
actually 'saving' her boyfriend in her mind, warped by his death!
* Gyon Woo gives her his handkerchief to wipe her nose; her dead boyfriend had a handkerchief of the same design
* She wants to be with him, but she cannot shake her dead boyfriend's memory
* She keeps putting off seeing her old boyfriend's mother, who wants to introduce her to a new guy she thinks The Girl might
like
* She keeps telling him, "Wanna Die", when she wants him to do something with her and he gives a wrong answer.
* She beats him up when he does wrong: her late boyfriend would not approve!
* She can only 'let go' of her late boyfriend, after she thinks that Gyon Woo replanted the Wish Tree where they buried the
time capsule near the end: she finally realizes how much they care for each other!
* After 'letting go' The Girl finally throws the necklace the late boyfriend gave to her into a body of water, representing that
she finally released him (again, many think he drowned) and his memory!
* She goes to Europe for a year and a half since she couldn't find Gyon Woo again.
* Gyon Woo's mother actually thinks that she went to Europe to forget her late son, not Gyon Woo!

In case you haven't figured it out yet, The Girl's late boyfriend's mother (played by Yang Geum Suk) is Gyon Woo's aunt, and she tried for SEVERAL YEARS to introduce the two of them to no avail! The aunt has no idea that The Girl has been seeing her nephew, Gyon Woo, over the years since her son died.

On her first 'blind' date after her father told Gyon Woo not to see his daughter again, The Girl calls Gyon Woo; Gyon Woo
then gives this advice to the blind date (played by actor Im Ho) and then leaves...

Don't ask her to be feminine...
Don't let her drink over 3 glasses of soju...she'll beat someone.
At a café, instead of coke or juice, order a coffee...
If she hits you, act like it hurts...if it hurts, act like it doesn't.
Surprise her with a rose on the 100th day anniversary...in class.
Make sure you learn Kendo and Squash,..
Be prepared to go to jail sometimes...
Is she says she'll kill you, don't take it likely...
If her feet hurt, exchange shoes (with her)...
She likes to write (screenplays), encourage her.

Eggs: This movie is loaded with EGGS, fortunately not the kind that turn bad!

The man who The Girl throws up on in the subway in the beginning of the film is the man underneath the tree when The Girl goes to find Gyon Woo.

I love this movie! It was one of the first movies that I saw and became a huge Asian movie fan!

I love the main cast members who I had seen in other movies before this one. I came across Jun Ji Hyun in White Valentine (1999) in an English version and then saw her in Il Mare (2000), both excellent movies!

I saw Cha Tae Hyun in Sad Movie (2005) and the classic, Lover's Concerto (2002) before seeing him here. He also does an excellent job in the sad movie BABO (2008)!

They both gave excellent performances here and their chemistry was amazing!

The support cast also did an excellent job here; with a special kudos to The Girl's father (Han Jin Hee) and the hilarious performance in his scenes, and Gyun Woo's mother (Song Ok Sook), and her hilarious performance as well!

Just between us, there is going to be a remake, and we will find out that Gyun Woo and The Girl were switched at birth; the Girl has the genes of Gyun Woo's mother in her! (Just kidding!)

The music and cinematography were excellent and deserving of this movie being rated as high as it is!

After this movie came out, EVERY Korean girl wanted to be "The Girl', according to my friends in Korea. It has been copied in several countries but this one is still the best!

Many who gave this movie a bad rating did not take the time to see WHY The Girl acted the way she did!

The New Sassy Girl (2016) was attempted, but it only starred Cha Tae Hyun but not Jun Ji Hyun: need to say, it flopped!

Be the way, the UFO is from timepoint 1:15:57 to 1:16:02; blink and you will miss it!

RE-WATCH VALUE: All the time!

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"Never Shall I Speak Of Things I Have Seen Or Heard Inside The Inner Chambers"

Alternative title: Lady Shōgun and her Men

This story revolves loosely around the Ejima-Ikushima affair of 1714, the most significant scandal in the history of Ooku, the shogun's harem, during the Edo period of the history of Japan...but with a twist!

In a 'reverse' timeline history, the Japanese Edo period is ran by powerful women instead of men.

In 1716 a contagious - for men, that is - disease hits Japan changing the ratio of men to women to 1:4 .

Women become the dominant part of society and men dress up like geishas to attract women.

With the drastic reduction of men, the gender roles have become reversed in Japan. Woman become the dominant members of society and males are sought out for the ability to produce children.

A young, handsome member of a poor family, Unoshin Mizuno (Ninomiya Kazunari) is at the age he must make major decisions about his future; he has several things going for him, but his social status presents him from taking advantage of them:

He is skilled in kendo, has a beautiful girlfriend and is 'giving' to those around him who have less.

But his girlfriend Onobu (Horikita Maki), even though they love each other, is beyond his social status and he is not interested in the marriage offers he is given through his family. He also is worried about his younger sisters marriage dowry.

He decides to join the Ooku, kept men (think of royal 'male concubines') who are at the service of the Lady Shōgun of the clan; even though the present one is only seven (7) years old at present. This decision is heartbreaking news to Onobu who longs for him and no other.

Inside the Ooku, Mizuno writes Onobu that even though the men are all handsome, their hearts are 'all dark'; this is shown through a kendo match between him and Tsuroka (Okura Tadayoshi), who loses his prominence in the ooku by being bested by Mizuno.

However, the unplanned and sudden death of the child shogun brings to the position a more mature, no-nonsense and powerful woman shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune (Shibasaki Ko) who is seen by the Ooku members as a chance for rapid promotion and fulfillment of his personal power ambitions!

Matsushima (Tamaki Hiroshi) the senior 'man' in the Ooku, elevates Mizuno above others, but not necessarily for his own good!

However, the powerful but non-traditional new Shogun has her own ideas about what should be done and how, and several plot twists leave most with a satisfactory outcome!

Some do not consider this ' Sci-Fi' for this movie: however, SciFi has to do aas much with mutant diseases as well as futuristic scenarios as anything else: why can't this be considered SciFi i that it introduces a zombie-like disease and change Japanese history? That is what this movie does!

I also love the depth to which this story for this movie is written! I also like the very colorful artistic cinematography, music and the depth of the 'detail' used to bring this scifi/historical movie to fruition!

Care was taken to make each and every passing season and scene just as colorful and brilliant as the last one shot for this movie!

And even more, the acting was superb! The main and support cast worked together as if they actually lived in such an environment with superb support from the theatrical, lighting and other unmentioned departments.

This movie was also very emotional at times witht eh cast pulling off the emotion emphatically and on cue. Personally, I think that the characters are very well developed because they are complex, deceptive and quite multi-dimensional in their basic human drives.

They make sense within the constraints in which they are cast withing the Ooku. We get the full spectrum of emotions within this movie; varied scenery and ambiance in all the right places, multiple stories occurring at the same time but not overpowering the main story at the same time; realistic characters, with a realistic society portrait of the period, and so on.

Certainly, this movie has strong characters, but like the inner chambers of any Shogun's castle, they are puppets vowing for more power. Along with intense & emotional moments, it concludes with a mind blowing twist by the female Shogun that I personally didn't see coming!

The set and costume designers should take a hell of a lot of pride in what they did with this movie!

You actually believe that you are in the Japanese "Forbidden City" and being a welcomed voyeur into the intricate machinery of its operation.

Overall, it's an entertaining movie with an understandable story and believable characters that no Asian movie lover should miss!

My only problem with this movie is that the director, after making sure that the movie was built on a firm and lasting cinematogrpahy, music and such, tended to rush the scenes and story a bit.

Had he pulled a " Kurosawa Akira" and spent a little more time on developing the characters and back story, we might just be looking about another epic movie from Japan!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A ten episode drama, 大奥〜誕生［有功・家光篇］ aired on TBS between October 12, 2012 and December 14, 2012, starring Masato Sakai and Mikako Tabe is also available for viewers.

Ōoku: The Inner Chambers is set in an alternate Edo period of Japan, where a strange disease that only affects men has caused a massive reduction of the male population, changing the Japanese social structure as women have to fill traditionally male roles. Eighty years after the initial outbreak, with four women for every one man, Japan has become completely matriarchal with women holding important political positions and men being their consorts. The most powerful woman — the shōgun of the Tokugawa shogunate — keeps a harem of handsome yet unproductive men known as the Ōoku inside Edo Castle.

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Double meaning in Chinese; (色, sè) can be "Colour", while "caution" (戒, jiè) can be "Ring"

In my opinion, this is a better movie than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Ang Lee's blockbuster which he directed seven years before this one.

From Wikipedia;
The title of the work, Lust, Caution, has a double meaning in Chinese. The character for "lust" (色, sè) can be read as "colour", while "caution" (戒, jiè) can be read as "ring", therefore the title can also read as "coloured ring", an object that plays a pivotal role in the story. The two alternate readings of the title are interwoven into a cautionary tale of lust and love through the symbolic use of the ring.

This would be a better description for any preview:
"During World War II, a secret agent Wong Chia Chi, must seduce then assassinate an official, Mr. Yee, who works for the Japanese puppet government in Shanghai. Her mission becomes clouded when she finds herself falling in love with the man she is assigned to kill."

This is one of those movies where you would pee in your pants rather than take your eyes off the movie and go to the bathroom!

Year 1938: Hong Kong - college student Wong Chia Chi (Tang Wei aka Rebecca Tang) joins with a young man, Kuang Yu Min (Leehom Wang) and his college thespian group to put on patriotic plays to unite the local people against the invading Japanese military. However, Yu Min then rallies the students to attempt to assassinate a local Chinese man, Mr. Yee (Tony Leung) who works for the Japanese under the local puppet government. Chia Chi assumes the identity of Mrs. Mak, with another student assuming the role of Mr Mak, an import-export businessman and her husband.

Their plans fail as Mr. and Mrs. Yee leave for another city abruptly; however, they were able to kill another Chinese subordinate of Mr. Yee who did not accompany him abroad.

The acting troupe scatters to different places after the assassination.

Year 1942 - Shanghai - Chia Chi moves in to a house left by her father, but is forced to sell it and live on a government subsidy with her aunt; she is allowed to study with some of money from her house being sold. She runs into Yu Min, who has trained as a Chinese spy. he wants her to assume the identity of Mrs. Mak again and again try to set up Mr. Wu up to be killed again, who now sniffs out and kills Chinese operatives for the Japanese in Singapore,

The movie is so complete in everything seeming to be in the right place. The detail that they went to in order to film this movie is almost unbelievable! Everything from costumes, vehicles and such were painstakingly reproduced in order to make this film!

The cinematography is excellent, the music is the only thing that was not perfect to me; the single-stringed instruments which were common then drive me up the wall to a certain extent..Sorry!

The main cast perfectly portray falling in love over time, and seem to develop intimacy with each other, much to the detriment of the female lead, and her college friends! Rebecca Tang, even though it was her first movie, is breath-taking in the period costume, mesmerizing in the sex scenes and absolutely convincing in her transition from a student bent on revenge and assassination to a woman deeply and completely in love with the man who would order her and her colleague's death.

In my first viewing of this movie, I realized what was happening and I was wondering is the Kuomintang (KMT) was going to pull her off the assignment or not before something 'bad' happened to her.

Tony Leung, who I had never seen in a movie before, was great as a cold, calculating head of a Japanese secret service department set up to find and kill Chinese espionage unit members. Little did I know that this was probably his first time playing this type character, as I found out later.

I also cannot hardly wait, when I watch this movie, for the first-time 'love' scene between the two main characters, which he initiates!

He played the character well; however, he did show some emotion in the last scene in which he had already sealed the fate of the group.

Personally, had I been him, I would have sent "Mrs. Mak" and her fellow female colleague to the war front as "comfort women" instead of wasting them as they were!

The support cast as well played their roles well, playing their individual well, and adding to the ability of the main cast in telling the main story throughout the movie. I usually give a kudo or two to an outstanding support cast member here and to how they especially contributed to the film, but everything was so 'concentrated' on the two main male/female characters that no one really stood out.

Interestingly, Yu Min and Chia Chi gaze at each other, in what seems to be a loving glance, just before their end. I personally think that Yu Min could have contributed more to the Chinese war effort by volunteering as a soldier, rather than attempting to trick and kill a more experienced adversary such as Mr. Wu; he was outclassed at every turn by the senior spy master!

Had Yu Min been man enough to join the Chinese army rather than to convince his college friends take on someone who is superior to them in the game they played, he would not have caused so many deaths!

As with The Classic (2003), The Bow (2005) and Seven Samurai (1954), I notice something new in this movie every time I see it, which means it is a movie which you shouldn't see just once!

This is a half to three-quarters box of Kleenex movie, but only in the last third of the movie.

RE-WATCH VALUE: YES!

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"The Two Poles Reversed-Acted Against Fate-Chaos of Demons & Disasters-Heaven Will Punish The Wu"

I don't see how such a 'jem' of a movie could be ignored by all teh reviewers for so long!

The story is really good, cast are all great, music and cinematography were excellent and the fact that these stories were based upon an ancient Chinese official who was true, virtuous and loyal to his E,press Dowanger is amazing!

(I know that this actual story never happened, but i love the fact that an actual Chinese official who lived inspired the "Dee" series of stories: ('Dee' so American version of Chinese "Di")

Filling thisa end with garbage until I cam get bnack to it!

Disclaimer:
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URL list from Thursday, Mar. 17 2022

133x Risk of Myocarditis After mRNA Based COVID Vaccines in Children (CDC Study)

This study published in JAMA in January demonstrates increased risk of myocarditis in young men after the second dose of mRNA based vaccines. CDC uses this study to present this risk as well. Let's review this study.

If you like this content and want more, I am doing a special lifetime membership offer. Click here:
https://www.drbeen.com/yt-special/

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"A Rainbow Is The Door To Heaven. When People Die They Go To Heaven Through That Door"

"When I Saw You For The First Time, You Already Stole My Heart"

"Have You Ever Seen A...Ghost Before? Of Course, Every Day. What? In The Mirror. Actually, I'm A Ghost."

"You Gave Me A Firefly And Carried Me. But This Is All I Can Give You In Return."

"I'll Close My Eyes And Run So You Can Guide Me, Okay? I'm Really Closing Them. Okay?"

"Look Outside The Window, If The Branches Swing Gently In The Wind, Then The One You Love Is Loving You, Too."

"Open Your Ears. If You Hear Your Heartbeat, Then The Person You Love Is Loving You, Too."

"Close Your Eyes. If There Is A Smile On Your Lips, Then The Person You Love Is Loving You, Too."

"I'm Crying Right Now; Can't You See My Tears? Why Did You Hide You Couldn't See?""

(Joo Hee's necklace finally made it back to her daughter, Yoon Ji Hye!)

I have had a few of you like the Long and detailed synopses on some of these movies, but this one will not be one of them! This movie was too long to do it that way.

First, I am disappointed how some 'critics' compared this movie to director Kwak Jae Yong's movies before, My Sassy Girl (2001), and after this one, Windstruck (2004}. This movie is a drama/love story with some humorous parts in it; while the other two are comical movies with drama in them. There should be no comparison, except for quality...

This movie was made, in my opinion, to be a masterpiece that stands the passage of time.

My Sassy Girl (2001) and Windstruck (2004) are part of a "My Sassy Girl Trilogy" by director and screenwriter Kwak Jae Yong. "My Sassy Girl" is the first in the series and "Windstruck" the second, with the 2008 Japanese film "Cyborg She" being the last one. These three are not about a traditional girl, as this one is, and the comedy is given more emphasis in the other two than here.

This is a traditional movie with traditional characters and traditional values being embraced.

I have no idea why he did "The Classic" between the the first two of the "Sassy Girl" series, but they are only connected by their Screenwriter/ Director Kwak Jae Yon did "Daisy" as screenwriter and "3 Colors Love Story" as director (both 2006) between the 2nd and 3rd of the "Sassy Girl" series.

This I believe will be a classic movie in the future, when all is said and done.

In my opinion, comparisons of this movie should be between his "Daisy" and /or "3 Colors Love Story" and this movie.

The main cast here are excellent! There is a great acting from both the main female and three main male cast (I include Yoon Tae Soo (Lee Ki Woo) since he appeared in more of the movie than Oh Sang Min (Jo In Sung) did.

Joo Hee / Yoon Ji Hye (Son Ye Jin) was excellent in her roles as mother and also her daughter and exhibited a wide range of emotions as both the young daughter of an important official and again as Ji Hye, her daughter.

The two men pursuing the mother, Oh Joon Ha (Jo Seung Woo) and Yoon Tae Su/Soo (Lee Ki Woo) performed with the abilities of older, more experienced actors and played their parts, both as best friends and of rivals for the same girl, brilliantly. All three of these cast members effectively portrayed individuals in love, and as both friend and also rivals wishing the other suitor of wasn't so attached to the female. whose love they are fighting for.

Also, Oh Sang Min (Jo In Sung) performed his role effectively as well! And his acting after being told of his father and his lost love was excellent, as if he was a carbon copy of his movie father, Oh Joon Ha!

The support cast also performed as if they were the characters that they were playing, and supported the main cast appropriately.

I loves the way that the adolescent cast members felt 'inadequate' in writing their own love letters and involved their best friends in this task, and the difference between the two parts here in the movie as well.

I loved the cinematography, plus the placing of the music at what seems just the right moments to both support the story and also bring the audience to an emotional apogee! I would also love to live in the area of the river/reservoir; it is so beautiful!

The scenes in the school are also very convincing, and even the house the mother, then daughter, lived in make such a statement toward the ambiance in this movie. The director and his assistant(s) did a spectacular job on this movie!

I have said in other reviews of other movies that I wished that the director has spent another 10 to 20, to however many minutes, on developing the main characters more; this movie seemed to be perfect in this respect as to length. Time was taking to develop the four main characters to the point where the audience 'felt' for all of them, even as the audience knew that someone would ultimately lose in their quest for their love being fulfilled in these triangles!

I think Kwak Jae Yong took a lesson out of director Akira Kurosawa's movie "Seven Samurai (1954) in his total development of his main characters, taking his time telling the story of Joo Hee / Yoon Ji Hye/Oh Joon Ha/Oh Sang Min and Yoon Tae Soo. That is most of the reason I believe that in the future , this movie will be thought of as a true movie classic and not just in name)!

WARNING: This is at least a two-box-of-Kleenex movie, so don't start the movie without at least one box on hand, and someone heading for the local store to obtain another box of Kleenex before you reach the halfway point, or simply buy two boxes of Kleenex beforehand

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely!

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"For a Killer, Women Are More Dangerous Than Guns"

First of all, there are three versions of "Daisy" on the Internet, each one with a varying length of run time; one version left out an important fact that would cause someone watching that version to know what really happened...this ""armchair" director should be shot and buried without a way of adding other movies to the Internet!

Go with the longest version, or stick with one of the movie sites where they only upload the original version of the movie.

"Daisy" was not only a romance, but also a macabre psychological thriller that makes you want to keep your eyes glued to the screen as you watch it...about 40% romance and the rest thriller!

I love the "flashback" method of filling in details when the are needed for a segment of a movie; and I also loved the way that the narrative jumped from Hye-young (Jun Ji-hyun) to Park Yi (Jung Woo-sung) to Jeong Woo (Lee Sung-jae ) as the story unfolded, plus with the excellent music incorporated (including classical, one of my favorites!), it and the psychological aspects made this so mesmerizing as the movie progressed.

The main cast are superb together: Hye-young , a 24 year old virgin, who doesn't know, through no experience, much about dating; Park Yi , who is a professional assassin who takes up flower growing and learning about art and flowers from following Hye-young, who he stumbles upon and starts following as if she is a hobby for him (he is not "stalking" per se, but knows to keep his distance from anyone who may be used to get to him as an assassin); and Jeong Woo, who starts out using Hye-young due to her position doing drawings on the main plaza at first, but then falls in love with her.

To correct the review of another reviewer here, Jeong Woo is investigating drug smuggling, not Park Yi! The drug smugglers are operating near where Hye-young makes money drawing people's portraits on her time off.

I wound up watching "Daisy" because I was given a recommendation to watch My Sassy Girl (2001), and if a movie I watch is good, I will watch as many of an actor's or actresses' movies as I can find with English subtitles. I had only seen two of Jun Ji-hyun's movies before this one, which were both comedies.

However, the young lady proved her ability to do drama as well; doing an excellent job as Hye-young; extra kudos for her facial expressions and body language after her becoming mute here. She actually was able to portray the "confusion" of a young girl who had not dated yet in this movie, and was being 'pursued' by the other main cast members. Also the confusion she faced, and appropriately portrayed. I also give her extra kudos for the 'gun' scene, using body gestures, her face and body to convey loathing of Park Yi , yet at the same time showing her inability to do anything, since she was slow but surely falling in love with him as well (in the movie) .

This was the first movie seeing the other two main cast, Jung Woo-sung and Lee Sung-jae. Both did excellent job here, but I cannot compare either with other movies, since I had not seen them act before. If they do as well in other movies as they did in this one, you would be smart to try their other movies as well!

Both did a fantastic job at being interested in Hye-young while playing their role of assassin and Interpol cop, respectfully.

I questioned Jeong Woo not exactly admitting that he was not the daisy provider, but I guess I would have also 'not told the truth' if I was falling in love with Hye-young myself (you guys know what I mean!).

The support cast also did excellent jobs in this movie, playing thier roles and supporting the main story between the three main cast. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe President Cho (director and actor David Chiang) played the head of the assassin group; the script, especially in his roles, shows that he knew more about Park Yi's life and flaws than Park Yi, did and he played the cool, unemotional assassin head perfectly!

The cinematography was outstanding...I checked out websites on Amsterdam and its surrounding area; this movie does an excellent job of portraying that beauty as well! The internal shots were outstanding as well...

This could have eaily been a "10" movie all-round, but as with many Korean movies I deducted 0.5 off my review for the fact it portrayed what would have actually happened had this been 'real-life"; I love this about Korean movies, but detest it as well!

As I have said before, Shakespeare left America and moved to SE Asia a few decades ago!

CAU TION: have at least a full box of tissue handy if you watch it, especially by yourself!

I rate this just beloe Wedding Dress (2010) More Than Blue (2009), The Millionaire's First Love (2006) and the much-underrated Mural (2011).

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely, with Kleenex!

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A perfect movie to be made into a paranormal series!

The first half of this special, I laughed my head off, saying to myself, "The cast and crew had to have fun making this movie!"

However, my laughter quit and tears started; and memories of More Than Blue ( 2009) flashed before my eyes during the second half of this movie!

The main cast were so good together, and you know from scene 1 that Goo Cheon Dong (Lee Joon) is head-over-heels in love with Cha Moo Rim (Jo Soo Hyang), but she not only dumps him but belittles him as well!

I kept asking myself, "What in the Hadeas did he do to hurt her to make her say that?"

I finally found out: Not only did Moo Rim love Cheon Dong at the beginning of the movie, but never quit loving him!

Watch this movie (available in its entirety free online) if you want to know more!

With that, I will not say anything else about the plot of the movie; however, I suggest at least one box of tissue if you do wish to watch this great movie!

The main cast actually performed as if there was love between them but you would think that they had been married for years.
The humor in their interaction was so good that I was in tears before the middle of the movie.

However, the second half also brought tears, but in a way that I never imagined!

Moo Rim until the end kept the memory of her love for Cheon Dong, and you cannot help but cry as you see her slowly lose her battle against the enemy that caused her to reject his advancements in the first place!

The support cast were also excellent but almost non-existent, but they built the story that revolved around the two main cast members perfectly as additional plot support was needed.

The music was low-keyed but just enough for when and where it was needed; cinematography and locations also were excellent, with just enough variety to meet the plot's moving from location to location and night to day scenes.

I also give Cha Young Hoon and his editors extra kudos for the use of Black &White versus color in the scene where the ghost was being sought out for the last time!

A young skillful director, with enough backing, could turn this special into a series for two main casts as good as
Lee Joon andJo Soo Hyang plus a few good support cast; on the same level as Ghost Whisperer (2005 - 2010).

The last acting kudo goes to Boo Ddeul (Lee Yong Nyeo) who was able to see Moo Rim the entire time, due to her previous profession! She helped Cheon Dong when he needed it the most!

I hope more people take the time to see the 'magic' that is portrayed by this movie!

RE_WATCH: Of course!

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"Those are shoes. And that, That's Called A Fool" An Overlooked Masterpiece, by Anyone's Standards

An Overlooked Masterpiece, by Anyone's Standards

Even though it is one of the saddest movies I have ever watched, I originally watched, it is so hard not to watch again and again and again...

You are rooting so hard for this couple to get together that you forget it is just a film!

And after the dicscovery is made, you feel so sad for the young beautiful librarian and all the pain and sadness she went through for nothing...

All the cast, makin and support, made this short movie very real and you forget time for awhile!

The music is almost perfect, the cinematography is great and the library helper is so funny and supportive of the main plot!

NOTE: while her support librarian Niti Chaichitathorn, (Pompam) has gone on to star on multiple movies our lovely anti-heroine has only starred in a handful of movies since this one (the list for her is incomplete here, by the way!)

RE-WATCH: Definitely!

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Good, but 'Cry Me a Sad River (2018)' better!

What the other reviewers should have said is not that it is s movie about bullying; but more about a Western educational system that pits students against student, and the resulting bullying is the result of such a system!

This was a very good movie for students who find themselves alienated by other students who will do anything to make it in our cut-throat educational system. Unfortunately. MONEY has made most educational systems in this world all the same, throughout the 'civilized' world!

The story is about a new transferring male student, Lee Hae Joon (Kwak Dong Yeon) being bullied in his new school by the top test scorer Jo Eun Seo (Lee Yeol Eum) in order for her to KEEP her number 1 position; however, he realizes that she is actually lonely and isolated due to something that is not revealed until later in the movie.

However, after the movie runs for awhile, we see WHY Eun Seo is so worried about being the top scorer, and it isn't her wanting this outcome! I believe that her untied shoe string is her crying out about being the top scorer in her class; this is professed by her as well later in the movie, I believe, in what she says during her last scene with her (movie) parents.

Her untied shoe lace is a sign that her life is not perfect; something is indeed lacking! Her mind is sharp, but her soul is empty!

His befriending of her made her quit working on her scheme, but she doesn't realize, until it is too late, that the number 2 student in her class, who she thought was her supposed friend Jung Na Yeon (Lee Han Na), continued the harassment of Lee Hae Joon, without Jo Eun Seo's knowledge!

(The same way that the second seat of mathematics at his university was the one who turned Galileo Galilei into the Inquisition, and he moved up to the head seat at the university then!)

Lee Hae Joon was the culprit that hurt Lee Hae Joon and allowed Jo Eun Seo to regain the top score; but Hae Joon didn't stop there...she started further harassment so that Eun Seo too, would become discouraged...allowing others to "move up" again!

I liked this movie, but I wished they had made a drama out of it and developed the main and support characters more thoroughly.

The music and atmosphere, cinematography and all made you feel that you were actually in a Korean classroom; the main characters were realistic in their portrayal of students and the main leads were excellent in their individuals roles and on-camera magnetism....I especially love what Hae Joon did when he finally found Eun Seo in the end (I was worried whether he would find her or not!).

Personally, I liked Cry Me a Sad River (2018) better than this movie. Nothing personal, but Cry Me a Sad River placed more of a emotional feeling and pulled at your heart strings more.

The support characters (especially Jung Jae Eun and Kim Gyu Chul, whose acting showed the real problem at hand) gave excellent performances supporting the main cast members and mkaing the movie seem more real.

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely!

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Part 3 of Director Ang Lee trilogy on "Father Knows Best"

Director Lee’s trilogy ("Father Knows Best") in bringing together family members to create tension and tender comedic moments shine in this trio of PUSHING HANDS (1991), THE WEDDING BANQUET (1993). and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994).

I personally liked this more than the other two movies in Ang Lee's trilogy listed above! There are several more"twists" in this movie, which makes me like it better than the other two movies as well!

I also have to say that this movie made me SO HUNGRY watching it! In hindsight, I wonder if the director tried to use 'food' in this movie as a substitute for 'sex', since only one of the daughters was partaking of bedroom time as far as the audience is concerned at first.

Mr. Chu (Lung Sihung, the main lead for all three of Ang Lee's trilogy) is in this movie a widower who raises his three daughters all by himself, with a little assistance from the faithful food tester in the same restaurant he used to work, Old Wen (the late Wang Jui https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0910954/ , also see photo page for this movie on MDL).

Although he thinks that his daughters enjoy their Sunday dinner he religiously prepares for them, his daughters all dread this Sunday ritual/feast that Mr. Chu labors on every Sunday; partially from his taste buds going bad and the rest from his inability to talk/communicate with them. I personally know some fathers who have problems talking to their daughters, as they (like Mr. Chu) spends long hours working to care for them. The loss of his wife is definitely a strain on Mr. Chu's relationship with his daughters here.

I personally see Mr Chu missing his wife to the point of his daughters 'reminding' him of her; that would explain his being a father at a distance. I feel that he wants the best for them, but cannot always communicate this; hence, he does the only thing that he knows how to - cook for them!

His oldest daughter became a science teacher and his youngest daughter is just starting a first job at a Taipei fast-food place and his middle daughter works for an airline.

I am not going to cover anymore of the details of the movie, but talk about the interactions of the family members. There are several "twists" in this movie but I am only going to hit the major ones.

One of the first twists in this movie is the youngest daughter Jia-Ning (Yu-wen Wang https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0911096/) and her best friend's boyfriend; I saw this coming and see the absence of an actual mother figure in the Chu family as possibly causing this! her only male role model is loving but distant to her and her sisters.

She has a standoff-ish relationship with her immediate family as talked about above; her sisters could have helped her navigate this situation she finds herself in better had there been better communication in the family, especially since her future was drastically changed by what happened to her.

Mr Chu's oldest daughter Jia-Jen (Kuei-Mei Yang) is a rather interesting member of the family. After supposedly being spurned by a college sweetheart, she neither dates men or has much to do with the rest of her family, yet she plans to take care of her father after the other girls leave home. I personally see this happening after her mother dies, and this untimely death also alienates her from her sisters as well.

As in other typical Ang Lee movie, one of the several "twists" in this movie involves the oldest daughter meeting a love interest and changing her future plans tremendously!

Mr. Chu's business associate Old Wen taught Chu's middle daughter Jia-Chien (Chien-Lien Wu) how to cook while waiting for her father to finish his shift at the restaurant where he worked, but Mr Chu refuses to let his daughter cook for the family, forcing his daughter to choose a career the airline industry instead.

I see Mr Chu's reluctance to allow his daughters to cook for the family both as a way of still being a parent to them, but I also see it as a unwillingness to let them 'go', spread their wings, sort of. I don't think he is doing this out of spite; I believe that with his wife still alive, he would have allowed them more leeway in their personal lives.

I know most young girls take over occasional meals with their families; this gives them experience receiving criticism from people who can criticize their culinary skills in a loving way before they leave their home.

I think maybe her looking so much like her mother may have something to do with Mr. Chu's reluctance to his middle daughter taking on the role of the family chef. In my opinion, this is cause for some of the consternation between the two of them.

She also finds out about the truth of her oldest sister's reason for not dating for several years, but this 'discovery' is never brought up again in this movie ; sadly, this is one of the dangling items left unanswered by Ang Lee in this movie!

The middle daughter has a sudden, nasty change in her plans of being the first one to move out; personally I think that Mr Chu is more than happy with what happens to her plans.

In one of the last "twists" in this movie, Mr. Chu, after befriending the grand-daughter of a older woman he knows (who own mother recently returns from the States) and the grandmother of the little girl; he surprises all his daughters and their new families with a major announcement at one of his Sunday dinners; which affects the plans of his middle daughter tremendously, who by now has decided to forgo her ambitions in the airline industry and remain to take care of her father for the rest of his life at her parental home!

Finally at the last scene of the movie, Mr. Chu and his middle daughter discover a miracle of sorts that lets everyone know that
entire family will live happily ever after! I can see the psycho-somatic implications of this by Ang Lee; he must have researched this very well before using it!

Even though this is a great movie, i would have liked to have seen a drama series, where the backgrounds of the different family members could have been more developed so that we could feel more empathy for them! It would have also answered some of the unanswered question that Ang Lee never took care of!

The music was sublime and the cinematography, being a Ang Lee movie, was just perfect for the what was said and done, with the sets of the movie other than Mr. Chu's house, the primary location the entire time, being appropriate and sufficient for making the movie seem real.

All the main and support cast did an excellent job of portraying their individual roles and adding to the realism of this Ang Lee movie!

Special kudos to Madame Liang (Gui Ya Lei) who added a special comical relief where placed by Ang Lee; I especially loved her reaction to Mr. Chu's special announcement at the last meal attended by all of the daughters and their families in the movie!

This and the other movies in this trilogy are available online for free; and each movie may be viewed as an individual movie without watching the entire three-movie set.

The three-volumes set is also available to watch together in one location if you look hard enough online.

This is a full box of Kleenex movie: half for your tears at the sad parts and the other half to stuff in your mouth during the other scenes, like during the last meal announcement with all the family present; you may disturb your neighbors if you don't by laughing too loud!

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely, especially if you are an optimist on life!

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Part 2 of Director Ang Lee trilogy on "Father Knows Best"

Director Lee’s trilogy ("Father Knows Best") in bringing together family members to create tension and tender comedic moments shine in this trio of PUSHING HANDS (1991), THE WEDDING BANQUET (1993). and Eat Drink Man Woman (1994).


I knew that this movie was going to be at least 'good' movie when i saw the part where Wai Tung Gao (Winston Chao) and Simon (Mitchell Lichtenstein https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0509033/ ), his gay lover made up the "requirements " for his future wife that was sent to Tung Gao's mother Mrs. Gao (Gui Ya Lei) and I knew it was going to be a"great" movie when his mother comes back in the next scene finding a female that met the two lovers' "outrageous" requirements of a potential wife!

As i said in the review of "Pushing Hands" review, Ang Lee has a tendency of throwing you a "twist" near his movie's end when you think you have the movie figured out already. However, this movie has TWO "twists" in it, but I am not telling you what they are!

Trust me, both of the remaining part of this trilogy (including this one) are no exception as far as plot twists!

The main characters are great at making you believe that they are actually living the life of their characters in this movie; and the support cast is also very good and believable, including Mrs. Gao and her husband Mr. Gao (Lung Sihung from "Pushing Hands"). I especially like Mr. Gao's playing 'dumb' in this movie; believe me, he isn't!

The parents actually find out what is actually taking place; as most parents usually do!

The rest of the support cast are also believable in their roles, lending their support for making the main cast seem more legitimate.

The music is not overbearing and helps set the mood at various places in the movie. The cinematography is also very good in this movie.

I like the two male leads in their attempt to fool Tung Gao's parents, and I just LOVE the parents actually showing that they were not born yesterday!

Wei Wei (Kao Chin Su-mei /Chin Su-mei/May Chin/Ciwas) put on a great performance as the love-struck renter and bride of Tung Gao; too bad she retired from acting and became a politician. She is part of the "twists" of Ang Lee's direction in this movie as well!

This movie may be watched as a separate movie or as a part of Ang Lee's trilogy; either way, it is a great movie that should make Ang Lee proud for decades to come!

It is available for free online.

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely!

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Verbal "Slapstick" Movie, especially for guys!

The MAIN problem with this movie is which 'version' of it you watch ONLINE:

The uploaded film under "Who Slept With Her" online is the only full movie that is available unless you find it somewhere besides YouTube.

The version under the name "Hot For Teacher" is lacking the last 10 minutes, and the explanation of the two teachers who slept" together is omitted (the same way that the film "Lover's Concerto (2002)" on YouTube was cut by 10 minutes by the uploader, changing the ending!).

The other movie, also called by an alternate name of this movie, is about another entirely different teacher in a co-ed high school, not a all-boy Catholic high school! Since I have control over the uploading by others, I cannot change this.

Also, the edited version and the copycat name movie do not develop the side stories at all: for example, Wolf's "problem" is not even mentioned (being edited out) in the abridged movie.

It is nothing more than a 'verbal slapstick" movie to be watched for fun; with every conceivable innuendo about women that you can find...nothing more, nothing less!

To my knowledge, there is no law that says that a movie has to prove a point, or make a social statement or even make a person thing; try the 1963 American movie "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". Its director, Stanley Kramer, known for his heavy 'social problems' dramas, took a sabbatical and made one of the funniest movies in American history, with no redeeming social statements.

I loved the way that the female lead Eom Ji Young (Kim Sa Rang), known for her acting ability in several movies and dramas, endorsed this happy-go-lucky mentality and created a great movie that any guy, or girl, can get lost in! She doesn't let anyone phase her or make her mad; she simply smiles and beats everyone at their own game! She seems to know that she is HOT, but let's the students - and faculty and staff - let their imaginations run wild and continually flatter her with praise and proposals.

The music, especially the dance music, is great and her and the students' dancing is fabulous in their school presentation. The main male leads do an excellent job pretending to be high school students as well.

The support cast was all excellent, but Sirasoni (Lee Hyuk Jae) is who really made the entire movie so funny! A professional comedian, which few websites give him credit for being, took every incident between the teacher Eom Ji Young and the other students wrong and made the movie so funny!

He should have been listed as a main cast member, for without him misinterpreting everything, there would have been few laughs from the antics of the other love-lorn students and male faculty members.

This movie was not supposed to be 'developed' anymore than it was turned out to be. Just click on the movie, sit back with a cool drink and popcorn and laugh yourself silly!

RE-WATCH when you want to laugh out loud anytime!

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Tongue-in-Cheek Police Comedy/Parody!

This is a movie not to betaken seriously, as the cast themselves make 'references' in the dialogue that this movie is NOT to be taken seriously!

The police woman Yang Yang (Zou Yang) does everything conceivable that a cop would NEVER do; especially with a narcissistic police boss, Mr. Huang (Naisen Hou, not listed on MDL as an actor), and a high school teacher, Wu Xie (Wen Zhou) who is not the innocent high school teacher he seems to be!

The movie follows Yang Yang as she protects Wu Zie and looks for the missing girls, breaking every protocol written into a police manual while doing it!

I like the fast-paced action in the different segments, the shootout which reminded me of Leslie Nielson in the (American) Naked Gun movies, the music, the cinematography which also contributed to the comedy and the support cast, which made both main leads look good in the film.

All you have to do to 'change' a female's age in a movie is to redo her hair, slight makeup adjustment and her clothes; again, this is a tongue-in-cheek movie, as Heirs From Another Star (2014) is.

As the other reviewer wrote, she had seen another movie 'like this on'.....I see about 3-4 former police movies being parodied here, both Asian and America.

This movie was simply meant to bring laughter and a hour and 20 minutes of happiness to its viewers!

Don't take this movie seriously.....and watch it whenever you need a good laugh...

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A Jewel of a movie that should stand the test of TIME!

I saw this movie shortly after starting to watch Asian movies; unfortunately, even though the other movies I watched [after my introduction with My Little Bride (2004)] were quality films worth watching, they all ended tragically and I was about to quit watching ANY Asian movies at this point!

Fortunately, I came across this little jewel of a film, and it restored my faith in Shakespeare having moved from the West to the East after WW II.

I loved the music, especially since I didn't pay that much attention to music at the time; I find out later that it was a combination of Japanese and Korean music incorporated in the film!

The cinematography was excellent, with scenes from many parks, shrines and such incorporated into the movie (places where a young man would naturally take his lovely girl on a date) to the extent of making the entire movie pleasing to the eyes between the close-up action, which those scenes were good as well.

Kim Min (Lee Joon Gi) leaves his grandmother in Korea and joins his pottery-teaching father (Jo Sun Mook) in Kyoto, where he continues his mandatory elementary education. His father teaches pottery but Kim Min wants nothing to do with handling 'poop' as he calls the clay, or learning Japanese and spends his time bicycling around town.

However, a stop at a temple causes him to change his mind about wanting to learning Japanese, as he sees a lovely girl Sasaki Nanae (Miyazaki Aoi) at a temple, in temple dress.

His attitude toward clay and pottery also changes as he finds out that this lovely girl spends time in pottery shops, admiring the work of potters. He quickly asks his father to teach him how to make porcelain out of the 'poop'. His still young, rash personality and lack of patience at this point with the clay leads to his slow learning of pottery-making but he finally starts to learn self-discipline and finally makes Nanae a small piece of porcelain, with a promise for a larger one to follow.

(It is a MIRACLE how females can cause boys to 'grow up' in life and change their attitude about things!)

The film also had some funny moments such as when Min's father senses that he had a crush on a Japanese girl and buys him a Japanese language book; actually, in most scenes with his movie father, they seemed to get along quite well in their relationship.

Also funny was the beginning relationship between Min and a bicycle-riding monk (Matsuo Satoru), whose later help aided Min in finding his lost girl.

The main cast did an excellent job overcoming the language barrier, teaching each other the words for common objects and were able to convince me that they were actually a couple in love throughout the movie, and the main reason I almost quit watching it due to the fact I thought it was going to turn out to be another sad Asian ending.

The support cast also did a great job, from a Korean girl in his class to a adversary turned friend (Shioya Shun); all of them helped support the story around the two main leads, making it seem more real.

My main dislike of the movie was Nanae's mother and her problem; but again, something had to happen to cause the couple's separation.

Another dislike was that the relationship was rushed some; a mere 15 to 20 minutes more would have made the movie better, in my opinion...but it still was a good movie!

The difference between a good movie and a GREAT movie is a director/cast/editor being able to make an audience member 'forget' that they are watching a movie, and by the time I came to Nanae leaving Min I had actually forgotten that this was just a movie!

I started believing "They are not going to get together again", as they kept missing each other by minutes; however, Min's grandmother saved the day by returning what she thought was a present for her, given to Min by Nanae the last time he saw her.

You can watch the movie, available for free online, if you want any more details.

Also, if you guys are in the 'doghouse' for forgetting your girlfriend's birthday, wife's anniversary, etc., watch this with her and show her that you are worth keeping around still; she will likely keep you for it!

RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely!

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MATURE Psychologial triller with a couple of great plot twists!

I saw this a few years after it came out, and BOY, was it a good movie!

It starts out with Hyeon Ah (Jeon Cho Bin) plying her 'trade' and being exploited/harassed/assaulted by her 'employers'...

Out of the blue, while being 'harassed' by her 'employer', a quiet man , Jeong Ho (Heo Dong Won), appears and quickly 'ends' the conversation between Hyeon Ah and her 'employer'; followed by a taxi ride, her being drugged, and waking up in chains.

Heo Dong Won gave an excellent performance as an unwanted 'benefactor' to Hyeon Ah, since she initially protested his help and Jeon Cho Bin did an excellent performance, in and out of bed, and made the plot twists fabulous!

Both mail and female leads did a fantastic job on this movie. The support cast, Ji Jeong-woo, also did an outstanding job on this movie; especially in his last two scenes on the film! I would also like to mention the support couple who allowed us a glimpse into Jeong Ho's head (Their names are not mentioned at any film site I tried - Sorry!).

Nothing personal, but actress Bo ri isn't really needed in this movie, but she did put on a few fantastic bedroom scenes throughout the last part of the movie; her only real significance to the movie is her discussion with Ji Jeong-woo near the end.

The music at first is psychedelic, which help set up Jeong Ho's mentality and his actions throughout the first part of the film: it turns more 'normal" as the relationship turns normal as well. That, with excellent editing from the director and editor, makes great cimatography overall.

Not to give everything away, but major twists in this film, especially at the end, make this movie more than worth putting up with some sex scenes and topless women scattered throughout!

RE-WATCH VALUE, especially is you like psychological thrillers

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