Jin Han Mei Xiang (In Traditional Chinese) (Gu Zhen Fu Ren Sheng Ji Shi)

Christmas in August

 "A present for all" 2008-06-27
By IK (Bainbridge Island, WA USA)
This is a quiet, deeply moving film about a photographer slowly dying and has the fortune to meet a parking enforcer (Shim Eun Ha) when she has some film to process. Han Suk Kyu is a master at subtle emotions and Shim Eun Ha is so engaging that this film can be watched over and over. The scene near the end when Han places his hand on the window of a cafe trying to touch Shim outside across the street is hauntingly poignant.

Shim is an early gift for Han just before he's cut down in his youth. A great film executed masterly.

Woman Who Became A Flower

Righteous Ties

The Gingko Bed

 "Great Ghost Movie" 2002-12-18
By SereneNight (California, USA)
This is the tale of two yuppies, one (Su-Hyun) is an artist, who sidelines as a college professor. His girlfriend (Sun-Young)is a doctor, who works at the hectic City hospital.

When Su-Hyun purchases a massive Gingko bed for his art studio, he begins to hallucinate about seeing the Ghost of an ancient princess (Mi-Dan). Mi-Dan and her would-be suitor General Hwang, haunt the bed, due to an ancient curse. Mi-Dan has returned because Su-Hyun is the reincarnation of her ancient lover. Hwang has returned to protect Mi-Dan, and try and kill Su-Hyun.

I really liked Gingko bed. While the plot held nothing particularly new (Su-Hyun- and Mi-dan were stereotypically 'good' with no particular negative characteristics, and General Hwang was the evil obsessed anti-hero type), I liked it anyway. There were a couple scenes which remained unclear and seemed superfluous, for instance: the opening scene with Hwang attacking and killing the rapist, (this is supposed to be a bad guy? Seems pretty GOOD to me), The scene where Sun-Yuong leaves Su-Hyun's birthday cake on top of the car, and then this isn't even MENTIONED at his birthday party.... This makes me wonder whether some significant scenes might've been left on the cutting room floor.

Overall, though, despite these peccadillos, this was a great movie, well worth the time and money investment!

Friends

Open City Poster Movie 11x17 Ye-jin Son Myeong-min Kim Gi-seok Do Dae-han Ji

Ying Han jin rong cai jing ci dian =: English-Chinese dictionary of economics & finance (Mandarin Chinese Edition)

Personal Name Gift - "JIN-HAN" Set of 4 Mini-Mousepad Coasters (blue design)

Green Fish

 "Everybody else has." 2005-07-04
By Daitokuji31 (Black Glass)


During his train ride back home after his term in the army has ended, Makdong decides to get some fresh air by hanging his head out of one of the train's open entrances. As he does this he notices a lovely woman doing the same. As the woman glances at him, her red scarf comes loose and lands on Makdong's face. Wanting to return the scarf, Makdong discovers that the woman is being harassed by three hoodlums. His interceding allows the woman to get away, but Makdong receives a beating for his efforts. It seems at first Makdong is going to let this slide, but when the three men get off the train, the young former soldier follows and cracks one of the three on back of the head with an award he received from the army.

Makdong eventually returns to his widowed mother's home where she resides with his physically disabled older brother. Before his father died, the family home had been well kept. However, the following years had been unkind, so the house fell into disrepair. Makdong soon learns that his mother does housekeeping work to keep herself afloat. Makdong dislikes this and tells his mother to cease working as a housekeeper. He goes on to say that he will earn lots of money to take care of her. These are big words for someone without a job.

Makdong's two other older brothers are not in much better shape. One sells eggs for a living and the other is a cuckolded police officer. Things seem to be going nowhere for our hero until he encounters Miae, the woman from the train, in a nightclub. It turns out that Miae is the, unwilling, girlfriend of Bae Taegon a high ranking member of the Korean mafia. Bae is impressed by Makdong's willingness to fight and later in the film, after Makdong clubs one of Bae's men on the head with a wooden post, the former soldier becomes a member of Bae's "family."

_Green Fish_ is an interesting film. It has its moments of family tenderness and heartbreak and is also peppered throughout with gang violence. One of the most interesting relationships within the film is the one shared between Miae and Bae. Although Bae continuously tells Miae that he loves her, it seems that she is little more than a tool for him to use, meaning that she sleeps with whomever Bae tells her to. In one of the saddest parts of the film, Miae asks Makdong If he wants to sleep with her. She says it is okay if he wants to; everyone else has slept with her.