The Charm of Korean Movies

[Mac_the_Nice]

Okay, some Korean movies. But I don't  like watering down my enthusiasm like that for mere sake of being more rigorously rational--what a bore!  But if Joe Friday were to come along and insist that we stick to the facts here and nothing but, well then here they are: every single Korean movie we've watched just of late, we've simply adored. The charming thought tends to strike you, that Koreans are a bunch of amazingly sentimental slobs who just love movies featuring adorable little children and young couples romantically in love.

 

You get these themes in movie after movie after movie. Moviegoer demand in this case must be greatly moving the character of the supply--there are so many others of the same sort of sentimental genre on NetFlix. I won't mind if someone takes me to task over the word 'sentimental': it probably is a poor choice seeing that it can seem to contradict the sense of genuine sentiment that is not just mushy. And these movies are not, on the whole, "mushy".

 

Just to give an idea, in case you have NetFlix streaming, here's one we watched tonight, called Sad Movie. Maybe you'll think, by the end of this rather long picture, that the director finally went far too far over the top in his attempt to pump your tear ducts for all he can possibly get. I will agree. But then like me, perhaps you'll forgive him, maybe simply because it's like, you know, he means well, and so okay, "It's the thought that counts".  He gave it the old Yale Boola Boola Boo-Hoo-Hoo try, for that last  and final jerk at a tear, but . . .

 

It's still really a fun, fun, fun movie. And cute as hell. And charming as all get out, like I say. :-)

[TopBilled]

I used the Contact TCM button yesterday and suggested they do a Friday Night Spotlight about Korea, using Korean War films and some modern Korean cinema. They aired Richard Conte's TARGET ZERO the other day, and I realized there are so many great films about Korea, it would be interesting if TCM could maybe group some of them together for a special series. I hope they consider the idea.

[hamradio]

[jaspeter4eva]

I love the Korean action movies but not the romantic ones

[SansFin]

I must wonder how you would feel of Japanese movies which do not have large foreign audience because they are considered sappy/sentimental.

 

I recommend in particular: Gen to fudômyô-ô (1961).

[Mac_the_Nice]

I must wonder how you would feel of Japanese movies which do not have large foreign audience because they are considered sappy/sentimental.

 

I recommend in particular: Gen to fudômyô-ô (1961).

Thank You, SansFin. As for the "sappy/sentimental" in Japanese film: I don't think you could say that of this one which nonetheless could not be more deeply touching, not because of any sentiment developed in dialogue or situation but in terms of the story content, the import of it, and that itself.

 

https://www.netflix.com/WiMovie/70019011?trkid=200250783

[Mac_the_Nice]

I used the Contact TCM button yesterday and suggested they do a Friday Night Spotlight about Korea, using Korean War films and some modern Korean cinema. They aired Richard Conte's TARGET ZERO the other day, and I realized there are so many great films about Korea, it would be interesting if TCM could maybe group some of them together for a special series. I hope they consider the idea.

Good Show, auld chap.

[laffite]

I saw Il Mare just a couple of weeks ago, having picked it up at a local branch library. Not my cuppa, but I see what you mean. It's all the things described in the OP, "as charming as all get out..."  A young couple fall in love but they haven't met yet. He is living in 1997 and she is living in 1999 when the story begins. They exchange letters via a sort of magic mail box. How's that for a set up! (What I've said here is established very early in the movie, so no spoiler there). I'll say no more but if you're into this sort of thing, this will be a good bet.

==

[TopBilled]

Good Show, auld chap.

Thanks.

 

I lived in South Korea for a year and a half when I was in my mid-twenties. One of the highlights of my time there was attending an international film festival in Seoul, where some of the best Korean directors (at the time) premiered some of their movies.

 

I always thought the most interesting Korean films dealt with the aftermath of the war and the on-going presence of the U.S. military. And films about Korean-Japanese relations, even in comedies, were usually quite insightful.