The moral of the story? Getting plastic surgery is great! But really, it’s a great romantic-comedy. I put it up there with My Sassy Girl. The story is pretty simple; it’s about an overweight girl who wishes she was thinner in order to get the guy she wants. Finally, she decides to get plastic surgery after which she lives a totally different life posing as a different girl while trying to get the man she loved and hiding her previous identity.
There’s a lot to the plot, but there’s enough comedy to even it out. I haven’t found anyone that doesn’t like this movie so if you haven’t seen it, get it.
Music video from the movie: 김아중 (Kim Ah-Joong) – Ave Maria
Is the video broken? Please comment so I can find a new copy. Thanks!
Culture Notes
Lots of Koreans cough up around $2000-4000 in order to get “double eyelid” surgery. Americans don’t have a concept of double- or single-eyelids (which is what most Koreans have). Some of my friends have done that surgery. Personally, I don’t see a big difference and wouldn’t care if someone got it or not.
Here is what the general Korean eye looks before and after the surgery:
클래식 is by far my favorite Korean romance movie. It combines the traditional dramatic forbidden love story with a modern tale of love and happiness finally found. If you like tear jerkers, this one’s for you. The flowing dialog, beautiful cinematography and music, and deep character development all contribute to potentially the best film out of Korea.
Sometimes I think I’m a hopeless romantic…
Music Video
Cultural Notes
1. Arranged marriages were and are still fairly common in Korea, though they are a little different than what Americans think they are. Instead of the parents finalizing the decision, usually the parents continually choose new suitors while the daughters/sons can choose from the people their parents put them with.
2. More poop humor, you have to love it. I think I kind fine some in every movie. Along with seeing guys look through poop to find some beetles and later collecting bags of their OWN poop, you get to see the infamous 똥침 (literally translated as poop-needle). I have only received this once thankfully. Korean kids love to walk behind people, put their hands together making a ‘needle’ with their two index fingers, and punch you in the butt as hard as you can. I’m not looking forward to this at all.
3. Korea is a very patriarchal and age-respective society. Not to say America doesn’t have some of the same traits, but it is much more engrained in the Korean culture. There’s a special character in Korean that means dedication to your elders (효) which most Koreans believe is much more important than personal thought / freedom. Thus you see more families living with their parents, less departure from parental beliefs, etc. I won’t say what happened, but you see a very sad turn in the plot due to this particular trait.
Language Notes
A girl asks a guy to say these tongue twisters before he runs away (go here for more):
간장공장 공장장은 장 공장장이고 된장공장 공장장은 강 공장장이다.
“The manager of the soy sauce factory is Manager Jang and the manager of the soy paste factory is Manager Gang.”
원스 어폰 어 타임 is an adventure story set in the Japan-occupied Korea. There’s a diamond which the Japanese army is trying to take out of Korea while the Korean Independence Army struggles to keep it in their country, preserving the precious part of Korean history.
I really enjoyed the movie; it shows the dedication of the Koreans to keep their culture alive. It has some great humor thrown in between the many action sequences. The ending is awesome; the main bad guy gets some ironic justice. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone wanting to see an adventure flick along the lines of Indiana Jones.
Trailer
Culture Notes
1. Japan treated Koreans pretty bad (all countries are guilty of this though, even Korea). Japan tried to eradicate the Korean history, language and culture. You can see this theme throughout the movie (one sign says ‘Koreans and dogs not allowed’, multiple times people talk about Koreans who work for Japan being lower than the Japanese, etc.). Because of that, you do see some hostility towards Japan from Koreans that has passed on to the younger generation. In the end of the movie, the same sign from the beginning says ‘Japanese and dogs not allowed’. Once they actually meet each other the prejudice goes away fairly fast.
2. Yes, like 20% of Koreans have the last name, 이. So how can they tell who is close to their family? In addition to their last name, they usually know the town which their family originated from. That way they can tell who is really part of their family and who is not. If two people meet who have the same last name they will often ask what city their name is from.
I believe it is very insightful to study a language and culture through the film industry. Unlike books, you can see people in action dealing with situations which show the peculiarities with each culture.
Although, if you believe everything you see in k-dramas you would probably believe that every person is currently dating the wrong person and will eventually run into a 3- or 4-person love triangle which will end up with the perfect couples together in the end (and along the way someone will probably die or be injured very badly).
I’ve watched so much Korean TV, I’ll try to do some reviews for stuff I’ve seen in the past. By no mean will these be comprehensive, I just want to post a few thoughts for all of the movies, dramas and music I have watched or listened to.
My first Kmovie I ever watched
I loved 엽기적인 그녀! I am a romantic-comedy lover and this is definitely a classic. Yes, it’s a little long but you will appreciate it in the end when everything comes together. The chemistry between the actors is very well developed. The main girl breaks the traditional girls-are-weak image and is outlandishly blunt and open. She writes horrendously horrible stories, constantly hits and makes jabs at the main guy. He of course is thrown into the relationship and just rides along as he begins to realize he likes her even though she’s a little crazy. Like most Korean love stories, in the end fate is what really decides if you should be with that other special person.
Music Video
Culture Notes
1. There are some great scenes that really seem to show how parents are to their children, especially about education and punishing children. A lot of Korean parents use a round-stick (which has a special name, but I forgot what they call it) that is basically the American version of the belt.
2. Drinking is very integral in the Korean social culture so you get to see that, I love how Koreans drink 소주 and then make the throat sound (hard to describe, you have to see this in the Movie). A few of my friends do the same thing so I have gotten into the habit of doing it.
3. Gang culture is very big at least in the Korean film industry. You get to see some fun jabs at it.
4. The issue about what level of language to use between people of different ages is brought up. I spoke nothing but 존댓말 (used to show respect) for two years so it’s still a little hard to switch to 반말 (spoken between friends) sometimes. I usually forget to switch 나 for 저.
Just a side note, I saw the American-remake and I was a little disappointed. Stick with the original.
