Saturday, April 22, 2006

Movie 2006.04.22 - Ahobsal Insaeng (When I Turned Nine)

Another Korean tearjerker from the masters of the genre. This time involving schoolkids. Story (based on a best-selling novel by We Kee-cheul) is about a snooty newcomer from Seoul and her relationship with the other students. Most of the kids disliked Woo-rim's (Lee Se-young) pretentious ways, but their schoolyard leader Baek Yeo-min (Kim Seok) seems to think there's more than meets the eye. He defends and protects her whenever he can, much to the chagrin of his loyal supporters. As expected, there's lots of touchy-feely moments in the movie. You know how kids are when things don't go their way or when they get hurt or felt betrayed - they cry. It all leads up to the movie climax where the sassy outsider confesses in front of the class. That all her lies is a defense mechanism, her way of dealing with the death of her father - by pretending that he never passed away, still in America sending her all the nice presents she shows off in school. Her classmates felt so guilty about their nasty remarks and bullying, and it ended in one huge bawlfest. Woo-rim has decided to go back to Seoul with her mom to resume their normal lives. Yeo-min drops in unexpectedly at her house the night before her departure, declares his love for her, gives her a quick peck on the cheek, and runs off into the night. The next day, Woo-rim is gone for good. She leaves him with a letter, and a pair of sunglasses for his mom, who is blinded in one eye because of a factory accident. She has this to say, "To tell you the truth, I really liked you a lot...But everything I said and did came out the opposite of how I felt...I was thinking about what I wanted to give you as my present...and I found out who is the number one person on your list. It was your mom. At that moment, it didn't bother me that I was your number two." How poignant. If I'm the Mom, that's the kind of daughter-in-law I'd want.

Word of warning though. There's a bit of violence in this movie. Apparently, Korean teachers and mothers think that the only way to discipline a misbehaving child is to knock him hard on the head or whip him with a reed.

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