andjel

Over the River

A day before watching this movie, I read a book about our last king, who was sent into exile after World War I. One of the reasons was that he refused to sign a contract with the Masons. He sacrificed his position of power to stand up for what he believed was right. Naturally, watching this film about a king in exile, I found many parallels and deeply appreciated its themes. The king here is a young boy sent to live in a house on the other side of the river, separated from his people. The movie uses the river as a powerful symbol, but I won’t spoil it here because it is connected with the finale of the movie.

The film also promotes themes of overcoming selfish intentions, loyalty, friendship, community, breaking the boundaries of class — all of which I found meaningful and well-executed.

Unfortunately, the movie didn’t really move me emotionally. For me, it felt too uneven, constantly shifting between comedy and drama. It also relied heavily on cinematic tropes (for example, rain suddenly starting and stopping at the perfect dramatic moment for visual impact). Many scenes felt overly staged, which prevented me from fully immersing myself. Aside from the king’s warden (Yoo Hae-jin) and the king himself, the other characters were mostly caricatures in the background. Strangely, the moment that had the strongest emotional impact on me was the historical records shown at the end of the movie.

Although I respect and like this film, I can’t help but feel it could have been much better.

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Back To Darkness

This is a collection of four short, depressing films, as the title itself suggests: There Is No Salvation! However, even though they are short films, they feel quite long because there is almost no dialogue, and the scenes often remain static, requiring the viewer to fill them with their own interpretation.

All the stories presented here are ambiguous, and it is never entirely clear what is really going on. In the first part of each segment, the challenge is to figure out what the story is about, and even the endings do not provide definitive answers, leaving plenty of room for reflection and personal interpretation. Since there is very little dialogue, the film relies heavily on visual impression and the depiction of action, though this could have been executed better. Still, I appreciate that the film does not lead the viewer by the hand, but instead allows them to reach their own conclusions. There are also several striking and unsettling scenes by which these films will likely be remembered.

Of the four films, the first one ended up being my favorite, although the last one also leaves a strong impression. What they all have in common is that they depict unusual, perhaps even symbolic situations in which people search for some kind of salvation—and whether they find it is revealed by the title of the entire omnibus.

The final story includes English subtitles, but despite having only about ten spoken lines, there is still a gramatical slip in one of them, where the main character says: “Hlep me!” If only people in desperate situations would remember to cry out to God.

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Our Neighbours

The reason I watched this film is that it is a new release. I didn’t know anything about it, and I was surprised by the simplicity with which it was made. It contains only eight scenes, each set in a different location: in a parking lot, on a road, in an apartment, in front of a building, in a park, on a mountain, in a dead-end street, and in a café. These are all places where city dwellers meet.

What is interesting is that each scene lasts a little under ten minutes and consists of a single shot in which the camera does not change, although it sometimes moves slightly so that it doesn’t feel completely static. In each shot, there are two people engaged in some kind of argument. So across the eight scenes there are sixteen characters in total. All the actors were unknown to me, but I can say they performed their scenes very well, since it is not easy to film a ten-minute scene in one take.

The scenes are both realistic and absurd at the same time. They portray situations that constantly happen around us in cities, yet they express a certain unnaturalness caused by the urban conditions of life. This is not a standard film, but it offers an interesting portrayal of city life that many of us can relate to.

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The Portrait of a Director

According to koreanfilm.or.kr data, only 597 people have seen this movie, which makes me one of the few who have seen it. This is, of course, an indie film, and it certainly isn’t for a general audience, but it has its own beauty and attractiveness.

At the center of the movie is a film director who meets and talks with people in preparation for his new project. The conversations resemble those in Hong Sang-soo’s films, where characters simply converse naturally, with meaning that often remains unspoken. I liked the short moments of instrumental music between the shots and the beautiful natural scenery, but I couldn’t really grasp the theme of the movie through the acting. Maybe the film simply portrays the life of a movie director.

There is also the symbolism of the title: *Utopia*, or even better, in the original Korean: 몽유도원, an old traditional Chinese and Korean utopian concept of finding a hidden paradise. In this movie, the characters share their dreams and visions, mixing reality and fantasy, and pointing to art as something that helps us go beyond basic existence.

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Sound Recording

The movie starts with loud city noise and a quiet human humming. This is an effective start to a simple film that searches for the voice of a lost young actress. The whole movie has a melancholic tone, despite the youthfulness of the girl. Also, as much as I think I understood the dialogue, I don’t think the film explicitly explains what happened; instead, it leaves things open to debate and interpretation. The actors are appealing and I liked them, but their portrayal felt somewhat limited. I wanted them to engage a little more.

So, this is not a mainstream movie for the general public, but rather an independent film for movie lovers and lost souls who happen to stumble upon it. The movie did succeed in making me hum, which I hadn’t done in a long time, so that’s something.

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School of Violence

Uh. These high schoolers sure are violent. I never read the comic book, and I was intrigued and invested in the story for the first half of the season. But when everything switched, the show felt off-balance. There were no more good guys left — just pure madness.

Maybe the production overexaggerated, but every time they fight, it feels like the students literally want to kill each other. And then, miraculously, everyone recovers quickly with only a bruise or two.

And Si-eun, our main hero... He seems intelligent in the first episodes, but his reasoning becomes more and more sinister as the story develops. Some may argue that he didn’t do anything wrong, but I’d say he did many wrong things. Unfortunately, by the end, I stopped caring about him. In fact, I lost interest in watching Season 2.

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Horror App

I am not a real horror fan, but I am still interested in watching horror stories from time to time. In this movie, the horror comes through a phone app that reveals or invokes bloodthirsty ghosts. The movie has six standalone segments tied together thematically, as they all relate to the ghosts and the scary app, which mostly serves as a warning that we are about to see a ghost.

To me, the stories are too short — each could easily be an intro to a fuller feature-length story. The connection between them feels too vague, and the end product is just an omnibus of six very short and not particularly original horror stories. At least they give us some mystery to think about, because they don’t explain plainly why and how the ghosts appear and do what they do.

1. Unlocking (잠금해제) – This is the prologue. Some students test the app and things don’t go according to plan. It got me excited for the movie, but it has no real substance.

2. Night Shift (새벽출근) – I was still quite interested in the story here, but the end result was too common to be memorable.

3. Bus to Goseong (고성행) – This one was strange. Nothing happens until it suddenly does, and I liked that.

4. The Collector (콜렉터) – The premise is interesting: repairing phones and secretly copying their files for your own purposes. But what if the phone “remembered” a ghost?

5. Oneself (자신) – This was weird and gory. I didn’t get it at all. The male actor was very good, though.

6. Ghost Gate (귀문방) – A bland story but quite atmospheric. The appearance of the ghosts made for a strong finale for the entire movie.

Verdict: The movie had my interest at first, but as one famous reviewer would say, I will forget it in T-minus one day. Yeah… already have.

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Korean Women

We had this book for our Korean Book Club, but I decided to watch the movie instead. Now I think the book would have been more interesting because, in the book, the writer explains the emotions of the characters, while in the movie we have to pick up on the emotions ourselves during long silent scenes.

This is a movie about women—women of different generations and views on life—giving us a chance to reflect on how Korean women lived 60 years ago, 30 years ago, and today, each period represented by one of the main characters. Thinking about that, it appears that each of them represents a type of outcast from a traditional society where having a big healthy family is the norm.

The movie mostly focuses on a mother, and we often just watch her as she apparently stoically bears all the issues. Everything else in the movie is seen through her eyes. Another main character is an elderly woman without a family, totally dependent on care in a nursing home. And also, not to forget, there is a daughter who mostly stays in the background. The movie is called "Concerning My Daughter", but it is 105 minutes long, and the daughter has no more than 10 minutes of screen time.

So, it’s not really about the daughter—it is about human connection. We are all afraid of being left alone and helpless. The movie shows that certain human connections are stronger than blood relationships. I strongly agree with that, but still, real marriages and children are the foundation of our society and the exceptions should only enforce the norm.

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Everyone has his own Love story

I really like what KBS Drama Special did this time with the "Love: Track" series—a compilation of ten 30-minute stories about love that inspire and encourage viewers to dare to open their hearts once again, not only to the stories presented but also to the love in their own lives. All the stories are quick, interesting, and original. They all talk about love, using different elements and showing how love connects all aspects of one's life. Their purpose is to show that Love is what matters most, and theologically, indeed, Love is the driving force of life, of creation, of all experiences, and of our salvation, so I hope this series helps everyone believe in Love.

I posted a short review of each episode individually, so here I will simply rank them by how much I liked each episode.
Best ones: 1. Onion Soup after Hours / 4. My Father's Funeral
Still great: 3. Love Hotel / 8. Minji Minji Minji
Very good: 2. When We Were Wired / 10. A Soundtrack Like No Other
Liked but has some flaws: 7. More than Stars / 9. Love's Grace Period
Just good: 4. Finding Us / 6. Kimchi

PS: Stay until the end because the last episode finishes with an end-credit epilogue that connects all the stories into a beautiful homage to Love.

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Contemporary Fairy-tale

Straightforward yet magical. This last segment of the "Love: Track" series contemplates the creation of love between two people who don't even know each other, but whom Love decides to bring together. It is always a bit magical when love appears, and in this drama it happens subtly but strongly, starting with a book, a song, an email… almost as if destiny had something to do with it.

This is a gentle story with kind people and positive, almost fairy-tale-like emotions. In some scenes it was a little exaggerated, for example when a guy plays basketball (in street wear, nonetheless) and they need one more minute of the game, but he leaves everything because he received a text message… strange. Also, I don't get why they chose to sing in English if they speak Korean. I am sure the songs would be better if done in the Korean language. But all in all, it is a nice end to the series, and after the ending there is a special epilogue with all the stories from the series joined together for another lovely look at the mystery and beauty of Love.

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Decision to Divorce

Melancholic and real. All the stories in the "Love: Track" series are just 30 minutes long, and they usually finish sooner than expected. Watching this story was the first time in the series that it didn’t finish in the blink of an eye. There isn’t much plot, but the director uses the time not for action but to let us take in the emotions of the main characters. There are many moments of silence and slow-paced scenes that intensify the melancholic atmosphere of two people who have decided that they don’t love each other anymore and plan to divorce, yet still live together.

But can you really just decide not to love someone? Love must be free, and in the end it is also a decision. If it is only a feeling, then it won’t last long. So this drama felt quite serious and real for many couples going through a marriage crisis. It is encouraging in advising people to show their feelings, even if it means crying it all out and admitting defeat. Still, I must say I hoped for a slightly different ending.

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1/5 Love

Simple and quick. I didn’t even finish the pizza I ordered to eat while watching. I gave the pizza and the delivery 5 stars. Today we are really putting stars on everything, so I’ll also put 8.5 out of 10 stars on this cute drama. In it, we have a romantic relationship based on 1 out of 5 stars. How could someone enjoy a 1-star pizza or a 1-star movie, and how could one develop a relationship with a 1-star person? But the point is that it is not always about stars. That is what the title suggests: there is more than stars, and the two main characters, provoked by a 1-star rating, begin their romance. Simple as that.

This is not a comedy, but the light, relaxed tone will put a smile on your face while you watch it. The actors are quite good and match each other well, even though the stars on their profiles suggest otherwise. My only complaint is that it ended too quickly, but the point about the relativity of star ratings is well presented.

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Moms burdens

Love: Track series continues to bring emotional and diverse stories about love. Kimchi is used as a metaphor for tradition, and the drama begins when that tradition is broken. As a person of tradition myself, I usually wouldn't like this kind of story, but here it is done well, with respect and understanding.

The main character is the mother, and she carries the weight of many issues, both her own and her son's. She is played by Kim Sun-young, who is certainly one of the best supporting actresses in Korean cinema. She is always a breath of fresh air, and here she takes on the main role, delivering a strong performance as a troubled mom, portraying both seriousness and fragility. I think I liked this drama mostly because of her, as she successfully conveys the emotions of so many mothers around the world.

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Ghost in the Army

Well-made army movie with a delicate topic (and a disclaimer that it does not reference any real event or characters). There is no actual war or combat operations in this film. It is a story about soldiers on duty who are confronted by the ghost of a past sin that haunts their actions a year later. I was surprised by the story, which at first appears to be a standard exploration of an army cover-up, but it goes deeper, even touching on theological and moral issues. It does so by portraying the friendship between the soldiers and their superiors in contrast to Jesus and His apostles at the Last Supper, and also with His cross dominating one particular scene.

The movie was a little too long and had somewhat confusing transitions between past and present events, with several repeated flashbacks. Nevertheless, it remained thrilling and intriguing. There are no literal ghosts, but there is a ghost-like perspective hovering above the soldiers during their “fatal” mission, which makes a lot of sense and is a detail I appreciated very much. The actors were solid and made the dramatic moments convincing for me. I must say, i didn't expect much but this movie left an impact.

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The Heart remembers

The title of the movie (Even If This Love Disappears from the World Tonight) was intriguing enough for me to pick it randomly without knowing anything about the plot. The story has an unusual premise, but the execution is somewhat clumsy and the progression very simple. The pacing felt a bit off; the big moments didn’t happen naturally but were either forced or occurred off-screen. I also didn’t like the childish acting, which might be funny to a younger audience, but to me it felt unrealistic.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the movie for its main story, its message, and the emotions it evokes. As stated in the synopsis, this is truly a pure and touching love story that seems impossible yet still becomes real. I really appreciate Korean cinema for giving us clean and simple romances that inspire rather than provoke.

The movie teaches us that memories might fade, but they are not lost. Everything we experience stays somewhere deep inside the heart. It may appear hidden, but it is still there. That is a theological truth: even the things we have forgotten or lost remain for all eternity. Nothing good disappears in vain.

My compliments also go to the production team, who made an effort to ensure every scene looks beautiful. So despite having some issues with the story’s progression, I am thankful to have been blessed with this warm and noble love story.

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