Classic (2003)

A Korean movie actually in the RT database! holy crap!
[img]http://www.asiandb.com/data/photo/org/3389.jpg[/img]

[url="http://www.asiandb.com/browse/movie_detail.pfm?code=5389&mode=review&num=866"]The classic[/url] is a 2 hour and 20 minute marathon of a romantic melodrama, which has two, count 'em TWO bizarre love triangle plot lines going on. One set in 60s Korea and the other in modern day Korea. The thread that ties them together is the mother/daughter combination of Chu-Hui and Chi-hye, both played by the same actress [url="http://www.asiandb.com/browse/search.pfm?mode=people&query=Son%20Ye-Jin"]Son Ye-Jin[/url].

[img]http://www.asiandb.com/data/photo/org/3947.jpg[/img]
The real stand out is the male lead in the past timeline, played by [url="http://www.asiandb.com/browse/search.pfm?mode=people&query=Jo%20Seung-Wu"]Jo Seung-Wu[/url]. The movie switches back and forth between the two plot lines, connected by the daughter reading the mother's love letters/ journal between her own contemporary love triangle stuff...

The name could almost be 'The Cliche', since its way full of them... you name it... love, jealousy, arranged marriage, attempted suicide, getting drafted, awkward confrontation scenes... this movie seems to particularly specialize in '[url="http://www.asiandb.com/browse/movie_detail.pfm?code=5389&mode=stuff&stuff=3942"]getting wet in heavy downpours[/url]' scenes... ([url="http://www.asiandb.com/browse/movie_detail.pfm?code=5389&mode=stuff&stuff=3736"]for whatever reason[/url])

Whereas the acting and storyline are really gripping in the past, the present one is much less so, so the cliches are for the most part a lot harder to swallow, and the poor characterization and/or acting make you wonder if they couldn't have cut it out all together. (but [url="http://www.asiandb.com/browse/search.pfm?mode=people&query=Jo%20In-Seong"]Jo In-Seoung[/url] from '[url="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/vine/journal_comments.php?entryid=14400&journalid=81599"]Nan Nan Bei Nuu[/url]' is still pretty decent in a few scenes)

This movie was made by the same director as 'My Sassy Girl'... i don't think it was as huge a hit, but it has enough of the right elements and enough good acting to make it worth watching. Actually wait, now that i think about it... not to be sexist, but I'm guessing the romantic cliche stuff, as much as it seems to me to run you over like a freight train... would probably resonate really well with most female viewers... it turns the screws pretty good at the end especially.