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Thursday, November 25, 2004
I still feel a little blithe after watching "My Little Bride" (Eorin shinbu) starring Kim Rae-won and Moon Geun-young.
This movie is so good, for me at least, that I actually clapped at the end -- by myself, in my room, with the lights off and the volume on its maximum best (yes, never mind if I was just reading the subtitles on the bottom of the screen -- I still wanted to hear the dialogue).
The plot, in a nutshell, goes something like this: Years ago, two best friends, while serving in the military together, made a promise to have their future offsprings marry each other. However, they both had sons. Thus, the promise could not be fulfilled. Enter Bo-eun (Moon Geun-young) and Sang-min (Kim Rae-won) -- their grandchildren. These two were forced to marry each other to fulfill the promise made by their grandfathers and to honor Boeun's grandfather's supposedly last wish before he succumbs to death. Now what's wrong with that, right? Their marriage is arranged -- this "arranged-marriage" plot has been so formulaic in many other movies before that it hardly rates as a big deal anymore. However, it is a big deal, since Bo-eun is still just a 15-year-old high school student while Sang-min is already a twentysomething college senior. If anyone from Bo-eun's high school finds out about the marriage, she'll be ostracized and gossiped against. Add this to the fact that, Bo-eun is crazy over another boy (one nearer her age bracket), Sang-min is a playboy and, according to Bo-eun, a first-class pervert and Bo-eun's grandfather is only feigning his illness.
So, how do these two handle the situation?
Not that great, actually -- at first. We see Sang-min being stood up by Bo-eun in their honeymoon. Sang-min and Bo-eun fighting a lot. Sang-min sleeping on the couch. Bo-eun flirting with the star player from her school's baseball team. Sang-min peeing on the kitchen sink because Bo-eun wouldn't let him pee in the bathroom while she was brushing her teeth. Sang-min watching porn movies, in frustration, perhaps, because he couldn't, you know, get some lovin' -- well, basically, we are treated to a lot of scenes were the two acted more as bickering siblings than as husband and wife.
But, and this is my favorite part, along with all the fighting and the food-throwing, we are also treated to a lot of scenes where Bo-eun and Sang-min show a genuine fondness for each other – they, after all, grew up together, sharing the same extended family (since the death of Sang-min’s grandfather, it was Bo-eun’s grandfather who acted as patriarch for both households, raising Sang-min as his own grandson) -- although, it is Sang-min's romantic feelings for Bo-eun (which we later learn, have been there since childhood) that were elucidated earlier in the movie.
Ah, what can I say? Simply writing about the plot of this movie here won’t do justice to the fascination I felt while watching this truly gem of a romantic comedy – it is genuinely funny and heartfelt. Of course, it's not to say that this movie was great all throughout, there were some scenes that could have been done better or not at all, particularly those in the theme park/field trip scene (this is analogous to me saying that the "run-away-soldier/hostage-taker" episode in "My Sassy Girl", another wacky Korean romantic movie, shouldn't have been included at all) but, in its entirety, I think this is one of only a few movies which I would deem as thoroughly enjoyable and which I think a sequel should be made if only to eavesdrop more on Bo-eun and Sang-min's life together.
And, the scenes where Sang-min spoke in front of Bo-eun’s high school’s student body when the truth about their marriage was finally revealed and the way he reacted when Bo-eun told him the things he needed to hear – nice, really nice.
This movie goes way up there in my list of this generation's best romantic comedies -- along with "My Big Fat Greek Wedding", "My Sassy Girl", "Love Actually" and "When Harry Met Sally" (well, this movie's not actually from my generation, since I was just 5 years old when it was first shown, and I think, at that time, I was more concerned with not running into every glass door I would come across with than watching Harry utter the words "when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible").
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
I have just finished watching Il Mare on DVD, a Korean romantic drama about two people separated from each other by time (the guy's still living in 1998 while the girl's already in 2000) and connected with each other, only through a magic mailbox -- yes, you read it right, a magic mailbox!
It's ludicrous, I know, but it's one of those time-travel thingamajigs in the tradition of Somewhere in Time (Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour) mixed with the we've-never-met-but-we-have-this-awesome-chemistry found in Sleepless in Seattle (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan) and, of course, the penpals/chatmates-falling-in love plot found in The Shop Around the Corner (Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullavan) and You've Got Mail (Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan).
Anyway, while this movie is mushy, impossibly feasible and, sometimes, too caught up in creating a pensive aura (that, at some parts, it has already become a bit 'dragging', of course, during the scenes where it's Lee Jung-jae's face that's being meticulously framed and angled, then, without a doubt, I renounce my earlier stand) -- it does provide relatively decent 'quotable' moments, among which, my favorites are:
1. There are three things a person can't hide...coughing, poverty and love. The harder one tries to hide them, the more they rise to the surface
2. We're tormented because love goes on...not because it goes away
3. Are you ready to trust me?
All in all, it was a good movie.
The camera work was enjoyable, I liked the subtle interjections of metaphors in the angling of scenes, the extensive landscaping of the sea shores, the calm and the very deliberate perusal of the waves of the ocean -- and the acting was good, really good.
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
I received yet another forwarded text message, containing these words.
Follow your dreams.
Now, if I were to take that literally, it would mean that I should be a monster/cult slayer by now – not only that, but I should also be able to rescue my brother (or some other guy, I’m not really sure, the vision wasn’t clear) from pre-andropausal impotence due to castration (some initiation policy imposed by the cult, I’m not really sure) and recite Sandara Park’s ‘In or Out’ song by heart with matching dance moves that looked like I just got hit by the dance-like-you’re-in-rigor-mortis craze.
Yes, in case you were wondering, that’s what I dreamed about last night.
We are living in a strange world, I tell you.
Thursday, November 11, 2004
I cried yesterday.
My friend and I were on the topmost floor of the science building, we were sitting on one of those lounge chairs that occupied the balcony there, allowing the wind to caress our faces and the smell from the freshly baked donuts and hamburgers in the canteen nearby to waft thorugh our nostrils -- then, I cried.
Our topic of discussion was our families, and the problems that plague us.
I have to say, though, that among all my friends no one knows my family's problem as much as she does -- I've never opened up with anyone least of all shed tears in front of anyone.
But, yesterday, I just couldn't help myself, the tears just kept falling, of course I tried to suppress them, because some part of me loathe the very feel of them -- they are a symbol of my weakness, of my inability for action, my tears make me the person I am today, and I do not like that.
I was brought up a Catholic, so I believe in prayers.
But, sometimes, I wish I could just send God a text message. And, then within a few seconds He'll reply back. Of course, they say you can always pray -- prayers are after all free, unlike text messages which cost you a peso per message, but when I pray, I'm the only one who's talking, God doesn't reply back -- I just want Him to reply back, to talk to me at least, tell me what I should do, where I should go, whom I should talk to.
I am not asking for much, I'm just asking for my family to be happy, for my mother to be happy.
******
Two nights ago, while driving on a dark alley, my brother got hit by a drunk driver -- after reading the text message my mother sent me, I paused for a moment, then got on my bed, turned off the lights, muted the tv so that the only lights that engulfed my room were the ones emanating from the tv, and fell asleep.
It was a conscious decision. I did not want another heartache. I did not want another problem. I love my brother so much, but at that moment, I just decided not to care.
Thankfully, when reality decided to harass me again in the morning, it gave me good news, I learned that the only injury my brother got were sore muscles and shaken-up nerves.
However, no matter my gratitude, I have learned to recognize the fact that reality is a deceitful companion -- because it stays the same, it changes, yes, but just so it could add more burden to the present.
I wish I could expound more, but I cannot -- this is also one of the reasons why I refuse to tell the people around me what my problems are -- because what good will that do? Will the problem go away? Will my every word allow for the pain to subside? Will my confession allow for salvation to seep in? For happiness to come forth?
I guess not.