JohnnyRobinson
Springfield, MO
This review may contain spoilers
"Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
First, it was very hard watching Cha Tae Hyun play the 'special' young man in this movie.
Even though I have to give him credit for being able to play various roles in other dramas and movies, it was still hard to watch him play the role here. I would have been able to watch it easier had it been a newcomer actor who I had not seen act before!
However, I finally was able to get over the fact that it was hard watching him play such a role, it was a great movie!
Seung Ryong (Tae Hyun) had an accident at night while asleep inhaling carbon monoxide for a period of time when he was young; the same incident killed his father, who was also asleep in the same house where the incident occurred. After that, he was picked on by the students in his school (the same school where his little sister later attended) and he was also accused of things which were not his fault. Fortunately his mother believed him but he was still removed from school.
Later, his dying mother told him that he needed to care for his little sister for the rest of his life; which he did although his sister never appreciated it until it was too late! He prepared breakfast for her every morning, but remembered that his mother told him not to not bother her until she got up herself. Ji In (spelled Jee-in in the Eng sub movie, played by actress Park Ha Sun) never ate the breakfast he made her, but later regretted the way she treated him.
His 'simple' mind could not learn how to make anything except toasted egg sandwiches, something that any 6- to 7-year-old is capable of making at home when they begin to learn how to cook for themselves. Working out of a small street vendor's booth near the school where his little sister attends, he faithfully sold sandwiches for $1 apiece every morning to the students and staff and other customers (including JI-ho's father/local doctor, actor Song Jae Ho), and watched for his little sister to arrive for classes every day.
Afternoons saw him again at his toasted sandwich shop; selling his one and only sandwich and again looking for his little sister to leave school and head for their home by herself. The money he made went to pay for her school supplies, her school clothes, her other expenses, utilities...and all he had was one change of clothes and a bunch of shoes, which he always lost one out of every pair!
Seung Ryong liked a little girl by the name of Ji Ho (adult character played by Ha Ji Won) but since he was accused of a crime which destroyed her piano, she told him to " 'get lost' and never see me again." Even though he waited all his life for her to return, he remembered and still tried to keep away from her afterward, until he told her what she had said a decade ago and she removed the request.
Ji ho received inspiration from Seung Ryong when she froze in front of a school recital when she was a kid; suffering from stage fright, and stage fright again struck her at a European concert a decade later. Ji-ho left the stress of her European recitals and returns home for support from her father, and it seems also, the love and support that Seung Ryong had given her in her early days of her playing piano. Ji-ho had forgotten that he wasn't always 'special' before the home accident, and re-establishes her friendship with him after her aunt reminds her of how he became the way he was.
Unfortunately, Seung Ryong's best friend, Sang Su (spelled Sang-Soo on the Eng sub movie, actor Park Hee Soon) ] runs a low-cost 'booze and women' establishment in the vicinity, where women are forced to "work" to pay off debts to a mob boss. Sang Su/Sang Soo was actually the young kid who caused the fire that Seung Ryong was accused of in school! They were best friends however after Sang Soo finished school.
A girl that Sang Su likes is working there by the name of Hee Yeong (Park Gri Na). Hee Yeong is tired of working at this 'job' and threatens to quit, only to be told that the boss has photos of her! After a beating of the boss by Sang Su, the boss sends goons to teach him a lesson; and as Hee Yeong comes back to warn him to leave Sang Su alone, he tells his goons to "follow her" and she would lead them to Sang Su. Unfortunately he also tells them that they will know Sang Su by the 'bandages on his hands'...
Unfortunately, Seung Ryong has fallen asleep in his business waiting for his little sister to come by his shop after school a day earlier; she had taken another route home and he falls asleep at his griddle and drops his hand on the hot griddle accidentally, burning it enough for the hand to have to be bandaged (by Ji ho). The next day, with his hand bandaged, Hee Yeong stops to talk to Seung Ryong before going to find Sang Su, not knowing the boss's goons are following her, and looking for a man with his hand bandaged.
Earlier that very day, Ji In/Jee-in is taken to the hospital by Seung Ryong, after the kids are talking at his toast booth and casually remark that his sister was bent over in pain at school that morning; he runs to the school and carries her to the hospital. He tells a teacher trying to stop him that he is her older brother, in a way that showed his inability to communicate effectively.
Running without thinking about anything but getting his little sister to the doctor, he loses the pair of new shoes that Ji ho had just purchased for him; Ji ho waits in the visitor's lobby with him, letting him lay his head on her shoulder and sleep.
In the hospital, Ji In/Jee-in's doctor (and Ji ho's father) tells Ji in that she should be proud of her big brother and that all the money he makes from his toasted egg sandwiches goes to pay her bills and keep the utilities up; he points out that her big brother has NOTHING of his own except one pair of clothes. The doctor is a regular at Seung Ryong toasted egg sandwich booth, supporting him since he knows where Seung Ryong's heart is, a 'special' man with a 6-year-old brain who doesn't want or need handouts.
Ji ho buys Seung Ryong a new pair of shoes, warning him not to lose this new pair (again). As always, Seung Ryong smiles on receiving them.
Going home after the fateful meeting with Hee Yeong, Seung Ryong gathers things from his and his little sister's house which he thinks she will need in the hospital; on the way to the hospital the goons, thinking he is Sang Su/Sang Soo, beat him to within inches of his life. He barely makes it in front of Ji ho's family residence before collapsing.
Earlier he had asked Ji Ho to play her piano for the stars to appear; to show themselves while his little sister was being operated on.. When people die like his father and mother, Seung Ryong was told, they become stars! He doesn't understand that the stars are always there, but were being hidden by clouds that evening!
With Seung Ryong's insistence, Ji ho finally finds the nerve to play again, and as Ji ho begins playing again after a long hiatus, Seung Ryong is shown bleeding to death in front of her house, listening to her play and looking at a photo of his parents and his little sister in his hands, and trying to recover the shoe he just lost a few feet behind him, the last pair that Ji ho had just bought him!
The music was basic but very supportive to the plot when used; the cinematography, the locations, the ambiance, everything seemed perfect in this movie! All...except the ending, that is!
The main cast seemed interested in each other but as I said before, it was so hard watching the main male lead in his portrayal of a 'special needs' person here. Ha Ji Won had taken piano lessons as a child, and another professional actor/piano player brushed her up for the scenes where she needed to look like a professional pianist; her treatment of Tae Hyun's character grew throughout the movie as well: she played her part here well as in the other movies I had seen her in after this one: Ditto (2000), Sex is Zero ( 2002), 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant (2004), Sex Is Zero 2 (2007), His Last Present (2008), and Sector 7 (2011).
She, JI-ho, recovered her ability to play in front of crowds and she is seen in the last scene after a magnificent piano performance with a symphony in what I believe was Europe, recovering from her stage fright, and I believe remembering
Seung Ryong afterward in the process!
The support cast played their roles magnificently, supporting the main characters and the main plot.
However, in my opinion, Park Ha Sun as Ji In/Jee in stole the entire movie in her last scenes!
After the doctor told her how her older brother took care of her, she treated him nicer when he came back to visit her again, not realizing that this would be her one and only chance to make up for years of treating him poorly!
After her big brother's wrongful death, Ji in reads all the notes that their mother had made to tell Seung Ryong how to take care of her, his little sister, because 'he' is all that she (his/her mother) had to offer her daughter: make her food every day for breakfast; don't wake her up, don't bother her though; etc.
However, the scene that stole the movie from Ha Ji Won was her trip to the Recorder of Deaths office; I am not going to tell you about it, but I would have moved her last scene to after Ha Ji Won's last scene myself.
After seeing it, let me know what you think!
This is a two boxes of Kleenex movie...
If you are in the doghouse with your girlfriend/wife, watch this movie with her and she will forgive you for whatever you did to make her mad at you to begin with!
RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely!
Cha Tae Hyun movies I have seen already are My Sassy Girl (2001), Lover's Concerto (2002), Windstruck (2004), Sad Movie (2005), and My New Sassy Girl (2016).
Even though I have to give him credit for being able to play various roles in other dramas and movies, it was still hard to watch him play the role here. I would have been able to watch it easier had it been a newcomer actor who I had not seen act before!
However, I finally was able to get over the fact that it was hard watching him play such a role, it was a great movie!
Seung Ryong (Tae Hyun) had an accident at night while asleep inhaling carbon monoxide for a period of time when he was young; the same incident killed his father, who was also asleep in the same house where the incident occurred. After that, he was picked on by the students in his school (the same school where his little sister later attended) and he was also accused of things which were not his fault. Fortunately his mother believed him but he was still removed from school.
Later, his dying mother told him that he needed to care for his little sister for the rest of his life; which he did although his sister never appreciated it until it was too late! He prepared breakfast for her every morning, but remembered that his mother told him not to not bother her until she got up herself. Ji In (spelled Jee-in in the Eng sub movie, played by actress Park Ha Sun) never ate the breakfast he made her, but later regretted the way she treated him.
His 'simple' mind could not learn how to make anything except toasted egg sandwiches, something that any 6- to 7-year-old is capable of making at home when they begin to learn how to cook for themselves. Working out of a small street vendor's booth near the school where his little sister attends, he faithfully sold sandwiches for $1 apiece every morning to the students and staff and other customers (including JI-ho's father/local doctor, actor Song Jae Ho), and watched for his little sister to arrive for classes every day.
Afternoons saw him again at his toasted sandwich shop; selling his one and only sandwich and again looking for his little sister to leave school and head for their home by herself. The money he made went to pay for her school supplies, her school clothes, her other expenses, utilities...and all he had was one change of clothes and a bunch of shoes, which he always lost one out of every pair!
Seung Ryong liked a little girl by the name of Ji Ho (adult character played by Ha Ji Won) but since he was accused of a crime which destroyed her piano, she told him to " 'get lost' and never see me again." Even though he waited all his life for her to return, he remembered and still tried to keep away from her afterward, until he told her what she had said a decade ago and she removed the request.
Ji ho received inspiration from Seung Ryong when she froze in front of a school recital when she was a kid; suffering from stage fright, and stage fright again struck her at a European concert a decade later. Ji-ho left the stress of her European recitals and returns home for support from her father, and it seems also, the love and support that Seung Ryong had given her in her early days of her playing piano. Ji-ho had forgotten that he wasn't always 'special' before the home accident, and re-establishes her friendship with him after her aunt reminds her of how he became the way he was.
Unfortunately, Seung Ryong's best friend, Sang Su (spelled Sang-Soo on the Eng sub movie, actor Park Hee Soon) ] runs a low-cost 'booze and women' establishment in the vicinity, where women are forced to "work" to pay off debts to a mob boss. Sang Su/Sang Soo was actually the young kid who caused the fire that Seung Ryong was accused of in school! They were best friends however after Sang Soo finished school.
A girl that Sang Su likes is working there by the name of Hee Yeong (Park Gri Na). Hee Yeong is tired of working at this 'job' and threatens to quit, only to be told that the boss has photos of her! After a beating of the boss by Sang Su, the boss sends goons to teach him a lesson; and as Hee Yeong comes back to warn him to leave Sang Su alone, he tells his goons to "follow her" and she would lead them to Sang Su. Unfortunately he also tells them that they will know Sang Su by the 'bandages on his hands'...
Unfortunately, Seung Ryong has fallen asleep in his business waiting for his little sister to come by his shop after school a day earlier; she had taken another route home and he falls asleep at his griddle and drops his hand on the hot griddle accidentally, burning it enough for the hand to have to be bandaged (by Ji ho). The next day, with his hand bandaged, Hee Yeong stops to talk to Seung Ryong before going to find Sang Su, not knowing the boss's goons are following her, and looking for a man with his hand bandaged.
Earlier that very day, Ji In/Jee-in is taken to the hospital by Seung Ryong, after the kids are talking at his toast booth and casually remark that his sister was bent over in pain at school that morning; he runs to the school and carries her to the hospital. He tells a teacher trying to stop him that he is her older brother, in a way that showed his inability to communicate effectively.
Running without thinking about anything but getting his little sister to the doctor, he loses the pair of new shoes that Ji ho had just purchased for him; Ji ho waits in the visitor's lobby with him, letting him lay his head on her shoulder and sleep.
In the hospital, Ji In/Jee-in's doctor (and Ji ho's father) tells Ji in that she should be proud of her big brother and that all the money he makes from his toasted egg sandwiches goes to pay her bills and keep the utilities up; he points out that her big brother has NOTHING of his own except one pair of clothes. The doctor is a regular at Seung Ryong toasted egg sandwich booth, supporting him since he knows where Seung Ryong's heart is, a 'special' man with a 6-year-old brain who doesn't want or need handouts.
Ji ho buys Seung Ryong a new pair of shoes, warning him not to lose this new pair (again). As always, Seung Ryong smiles on receiving them.
Going home after the fateful meeting with Hee Yeong, Seung Ryong gathers things from his and his little sister's house which he thinks she will need in the hospital; on the way to the hospital the goons, thinking he is Sang Su/Sang Soo, beat him to within inches of his life. He barely makes it in front of Ji ho's family residence before collapsing.
Earlier he had asked Ji Ho to play her piano for the stars to appear; to show themselves while his little sister was being operated on.. When people die like his father and mother, Seung Ryong was told, they become stars! He doesn't understand that the stars are always there, but were being hidden by clouds that evening!
With Seung Ryong's insistence, Ji ho finally finds the nerve to play again, and as Ji ho begins playing again after a long hiatus, Seung Ryong is shown bleeding to death in front of her house, listening to her play and looking at a photo of his parents and his little sister in his hands, and trying to recover the shoe he just lost a few feet behind him, the last pair that Ji ho had just bought him!
The music was basic but very supportive to the plot when used; the cinematography, the locations, the ambiance, everything seemed perfect in this movie! All...except the ending, that is!
The main cast seemed interested in each other but as I said before, it was so hard watching the main male lead in his portrayal of a 'special needs' person here. Ha Ji Won had taken piano lessons as a child, and another professional actor/piano player brushed her up for the scenes where she needed to look like a professional pianist; her treatment of Tae Hyun's character grew throughout the movie as well: she played her part here well as in the other movies I had seen her in after this one: Ditto (2000), Sex is Zero ( 2002), 100 Days with Mr. Arrogant (2004), Sex Is Zero 2 (2007), His Last Present (2008), and Sector 7 (2011).
She, JI-ho, recovered her ability to play in front of crowds and she is seen in the last scene after a magnificent piano performance with a symphony in what I believe was Europe, recovering from her stage fright, and I believe remembering
Seung Ryong afterward in the process!
The support cast played their roles magnificently, supporting the main characters and the main plot.
However, in my opinion, Park Ha Sun as Ji In/Jee in stole the entire movie in her last scenes!
After the doctor told her how her older brother took care of her, she treated him nicer when he came back to visit her again, not realizing that this would be her one and only chance to make up for years of treating him poorly!
After her big brother's wrongful death, Ji in reads all the notes that their mother had made to tell Seung Ryong how to take care of her, his little sister, because 'he' is all that she (his/her mother) had to offer her daughter: make her food every day for breakfast; don't wake her up, don't bother her though; etc.
However, the scene that stole the movie from Ha Ji Won was her trip to the Recorder of Deaths office; I am not going to tell you about it, but I would have moved her last scene to after Ha Ji Won's last scene myself.
After seeing it, let me know what you think!
This is a two boxes of Kleenex movie...
If you are in the doghouse with your girlfriend/wife, watch this movie with her and she will forgive you for whatever you did to make her mad at you to begin with!
RE-WATCH VALUE: Definitely!
Cha Tae Hyun movies I have seen already are My Sassy Girl (2001), Lover's Concerto (2002), Windstruck (2004), Sad Movie (2005), and My New Sassy Girl (2016).
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