Pictures - My Love

Here are some photos of the cast for the movie My Love during its press release in Korea. Despite the unflattering comment made by The Korea Herald about Kam Woo Seong being no where as good looking as Hugh Grant, I still find the chap's rustic charms endearing.

(Images from chosun.com)

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• Movie: My Love

Movie: My Love

(Source: The Korea Times)

Kam Woo Seong (Alone in Love and The King and I) will kick off this Christmas season with a 'Christmasy' new movie - My Love. With a rather similar storyline and premise, comparisons have been made between this movie and the 2003 UK hit movie Love Actually.

Looking at the pictures (My Love - above, Love Actually - below), I cannot help but notice the My Love is trying, not very subtly, to mimic the success formula of Love Actually. The red-and-white theme is especially telling.

The Korea Herald article - 'My Love' nowhere near 'Love Actually' had this to say about the movie:

"My Love" attempts to mimic the famous romantic comedy formula set by "Love Actually" (2003), and the effort itself deserves some attention because the Christmas holiday season is just around the corner, and young Korean couples are keen to watch sweet, feel-good films with the snow falling.

"My Love" has some common grounds with "Love Actually." Obviously, as the title suggests, its target audiences as well as screening time are already set at around the year-end. Both films present multiple couples. But that's the end of the tenuous similarities, and everything else in "My Love" is dramatically inferior to those featured in "Love Actually."

You can read the full article here The Korea Herald. It's not a direct link as all the links in the website, just like all roads lead to Rome, leads to The Korea Herald main address. :)

For me, I am willing to risk it since I enjoyed Kam Woo Seong's impeccable performance in Alone in Love. Should My Love disappoints, I can always dust off my dvd collection and pop in Love Actually.

The King and I

Today we saw The King and the Clown on DVD. The movie was apparently the top grossing film of 2005 in Korea. Described as taboo-breaking and revolutionary, it chronicles the lives of 2 talented clowns who perform bawdy street plays and end up performing for the tyrannical King Yonsan of Korea's Chosun dynasty.

[Source: Filmbrain]

Although this is generally quite an interesting film, I won't describe it as groundbreaking. It reminds me too much of Farewell My Concubine. One of the clowns is aggressive and masculine (Kam Woo Seong), the other effeminate and demure (Lee Joon Ki). The two share a close, extraordinary bond - the exact nature of which was only alluded to, never fully clarified, in the film. The despotic King Yonsan (Jeong Jin Yeong) is basically portrayed as a basketcase with a troubled childhood and a big appetite for adult entertainment.

I liked it much less than I expected to, given all the rave reviews I'd heard about. But it's still an eye-opener into the traditional folk culture of ancient Korea and, well, the sad lives of the lower classes of society in those days.

I wonder what is it with this King Yonsan. A lot of movies/dramas seem to be about him. Was he a pivotal character in Korean history? If I'm not wrong, the overthrowing of this king also provided the background to Daejanggum's story. If there's anyone out there who knows their Korean history, please enlighten me.

A new SBS 50-episoder coming up, "King and I" (also known as "King and Me"), is also set in the same era. But the focus is on a loyal eunuch (to be played by Oh Man Seok of Vineyard Man fame!) who served a series of kings, among them the infamous King Yonsan. As a matter of fact, this eunuch character also played quite a key role in The King and The Clown. I'm sure the political intrigues of the new SBS drama is something to look out for.

Oh yes, and Lady Han of Daejanggum is going to be in it too. :)

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