My Boss, My Hero: Mafia School

Clearly writer-director Yun Je-gyun's My Boss, My Hero is a comedy, but what sub-genre does it fit into best? Jopok comedy? Sure, that'll work since its lead character Do-shik (Jeong Jun-ho) is an up-and-coming gangster who appears to have taken a leadership class from that slap-happiest of stooges Moe. Teen comedy? That'll work too since the action takes place primarily at a private high school where Do-shik has returned -- somewhat preposterously given that he's now in his late 20s -- to get his diploma. Romantic comedy? Why not, since there's not just one but two kooky love stories: one involving fellow mobster Sang-do (Jeong Woong-in) who starts courting the school's hot English teacher (Song Seon-mi) at T.G.I. Friday's; the other a strangely platonic romance between Do-shik and class-smartie-cum-karaoke-hooker Yun-ju (Oh Seung-eun). Fish out of water comedy? It's got some of that. Sex comedy? That too. Slapstick comedy? Generational divide comedy? Gross-out comedy? Comedy of manners? Yes times four. There are few sub-genres that My Boss, My Hero doesn't incorporate into its plot. I guess, road movie and mockumentary are covered in one of the two sequels.

Funny thing about My Boss, My Hero, however, is that the best part isn't the comedy. It's the martial arts. The movie has two really enjoyable fight scenes, one involving Do-shik taking on a rival teen gang all by himself; the other, which starts similarly with Do-shik against many, eventually ends up a more balanced battle as Do-shik is joined by his fellow gang members and the entire student body to take on the thugs hired by the corrupt corporation that is making a mockery of their education. Both fights are well choreographed, and the second one features added tension created by a handheld camera guided, at times, by a cheerful flasher who periodically shows up in the story to expose himself. I can't say I laughed continuously throughout My Boss, My Hero. Indeed some of the incidental violence in which teachers hit students is truly shocking in its realness. But the climactic fight, which builds to a tag team brawl in the rain, is so exhilarating that you really do crave two sequels. I'm hoping at least one of them gives increased screen time to Jeong Un-take who plays an idiotic second banana name Head who's like a big, dumb puppy. I'd also like to see more of the skinny actor playing the queeny student who straightens his hair with his flip-phone in the girls room. He's a hoot.

The Anarchists: The Nicest Terrorists You'll Ever Meet

On the eve of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, it's more than a little weird to watch Yu Yong-sik's The Anarchists (a.k.a. Anakiseuteu Anarchists) because this historical bromance about Korean terrorists who assassinate Japanese oppressors in 1920s Shanghai is so little about politics and violence and so much about brotherhood and youthful aimlessness. With a screenplay by none less than Park Chan-wook, The Anarchists isn't shy about slaughter. Men are stabbed, shot repeatedly, slit in the throat... Even women get tortured. But most of the time, this movie's all about male bonding, how young revolutionary Sang-gul (Kim In-kwon), once rescued from the gallows, comes to love and respect his mentors in the revolution. They're a likable bunch: a nihilistic opium addict named Seregay (Jang Dong-gun), a hotheaded prankster named Dol-suk (Lee Beom-su), a bespectacled didact named Myung-Gon (Kim Sang-jung) and a wannabe radical named Geun (Jeong Jun-ho) who never really seems to have his heart in the cause even as he's willing to sacrifice his life to it. Though the characters never break into a chorus of "Friendship / Friendship / Just a perfect blendship," you do get the feeling that they're humming it when the camera pans away.

Platonic loyalty is hardly unique to Park's canon. Think of the absurdly devoted women in Lady Vengeance or the extreme devotion among the soldiers in J.S.A.: Joint Security Area. But the camaraderie shared by characters written by Park but directed by others always feels more palsy-walsy than sealed in blood. In both Yu's The Anarchists and Lee Mu-yeong's The Humanist, the extremism that defines unconditional love is tempered, leaving something more like chumminess in its place. Admittedly, few directors can match Park's ability to glamorize violence without losing its grotesqueness. De Palma and Scorsese immediately come to mind. And Yu, admittedly has one scene that comes close: A slow-mo bit in which Seregay gets a bullet hole in the head then falls backwards, his descent captured at various camera angles heightening the surreality of the cigarette still smoking between his now-dead lips. But that's an isolated moment. Most bloody encounters in The Anarchists are a little too tamely respectful of the audience to actually achieve something that would earn the audience's wildly undying respect.

Another Public Enemy: Revenge of the Nerds Who Work for the Law

Justice prevails! What a square sentiment. And what a satisfying one to see played out in a cops-and-robbers movie. In Kang Woo-suk's Another Public Enemy, you're never quite sure if that's going to happen though, whether Public Prosecutor Kang (Sol Kyung-gu) is going to nail his childhood nemesis Han Sang-woo (Jeong Jun-ho) or whether that sneering sociopath is going to abscond with millions after killing his brother and father then dissolving the family estate. What you do know is that the poor-boy-made-good versus rich-boy-so-bad scenario is hard-to-resist if you secretly suspect all wealthy people -- and especially their children with entitlement issues -- are inherently evil. With two killer gang fights within the first half hour, you might expect this action pic to have more physical conflict than it does but Another Public Enemy is really an homage to its hero -- an upstanding, rule-breaking guy who'll go to any length to catch the criminal. He's got no wife; he's got no life. But what he does have is moral integrity and a support team that will put their lives and reputations on the line for him. It's all work and no play but the cause of justice is not such a bad raison d'etre.

IRIS (Drama - 2009)

#  Director: Yun-ho Yang, Kyu-tae Kim
# Network: KBS2
# Episodes: 20
# Release Date: October 14, 2009
# Runtime:
# Language: Korean
# Country: South Korea

Cast :
Lee Byung-Hun as Hyeon-jun Kim   
Kim Tae-Hee as    Seung-hee Choi
Jeong Jun-Ho as Sa-woo Jin   
Kim Seung-Woo as Cheol-yeong Park   
So-yeon Kim as Seon-hwa Kim
T.O.P as Vick

                       

Hyeon-jun bisa dibilang merupakan seorang calon tentara atau polisi. Ia tinggal di asrama dan sekamar dengan Sa-woo. Mereka pun menjadi sahabat baik. Sering latihan bersama, bermain bersama, bahkan dihukum berdua.

Ketika di kampus, Hyeon-jun jatuh cinta pada seorang mahasiswi jurusan hukum yg sangat pintar. Gadis itu adalah Seung-hee. Di sisi lain Sa-woo pun menyukai Seung-hee pada pandangan pertama ketika mereka bertemu di sebuah cafe. Hyeon-jun dan Sa-woo tidak tahu kalau mereka berdua jatuh cinta pada gadis yang sama.

Suatu hari tiba-tiba saja Hyeon-jun dan Sa-woo di tawari untuk masuk ke sebuah organisasi bernama NSS. NSS adalah oraganisasi keamanan milik pemerintah Korea Selatan yang biasa menangani kasus yang cukup rumit. Semacam agen rahasia gitu deh. Dan ternyata Seung-hee adalah anggota NSS. Akhirnya Hyeon-jun dan Sa-woo pun setuju untuk bergabung dengan NSS.

Suatu hari Hyeon-jun diberi tugas rahasia dari atasanya dan tugas itu hanya untuknya dan tidak ada seorang pun yang boleh tahu, termasuk anggota NSS lainnya. Tugas itu adalah membunuh Perdana Mentri Korea Utara yang saat itu sedang berasa di Hungaria. Atasannya mengatakan bahwa ini adalah tugas negara yang sangat penting.

Setelah berhasil membunuh Perdana Mentri, Hyeon-jun pun segera pergi. Sempat terjadi kejar-kejaran dengan pihak keamanan Korea Utara dan Hyeon-jun pun sempat tertembak di lengannya. Hyeon-jun meminta dikirimkan bantuan karena kini ia sedang terluka. Tidak lama kemudian Sa-woo pun datang tapi bukan untuk menolongnya melainkan untuk membunuhnya.

Akhirnya Hyeon-jun dinyatakan telah meninggal dunia. Namun sebenarnya ia masih hidup. Karena merasa dikhianati oleh negaranya dan teman baiknya, Hyeon-jun lalu bergabung dengan kelompok teroris dan menyerang NSS.

Menjelang episode akhir akan terungkap tentang masa lalu Hyeon-jun, bagaimana orang tuanya bisa meninggal, kenapa ia yang dipilih untuk bertugas membunuh perdana mentri. Terus akan ada organisasi gelap bernama IRIS yang beberapa anggotanya adalah orang-orang penting dalam pemerintahan dan siapa saja yang menentang IRIS akan mati satu per satu.

Sebenarnya film bergenre action kaya gini sama sekali bukan typeku. Alasan kenapa akhirnya aku nonton nih film bukan karena Kim Tae Hee atau Lee Byung Hun. Satu-satunya alasan adalah karena aku mau liat TOP BigBang main series. Namun aku sedikit kecewa karena peran dia disitu ga susah-susah amat. Sebagai pembunuh profesional berdarah dingin. Dialognya hampir ga ada karena dia emang jarang ngomong, trus ekspresi mukanya cemberut terus. Tapi ga papa, tetep seneng kok liatnya soalnya karakternya dingin banget. TOP emang TOP deh, hehehe...

Entah kenapa pas lagi nonton series yang satu ini, aku selalu ngebandingin sama Black and White nya Vic Chou. Mungkin karena temanya hampir sama tentang kepolisian gitu dan tentang organisasi gelap yang didalamnya ada orang-orang penting dari pemerintah. Tapi kalau disuruh milih sih, aku lebih milih Black and White. Lebih dapet aja fillnya, kerasa tegangnya, penasarannya, misterinya, trus yang paling penting ada tema keluarganya juga, ceritanya juga lebih bagus.

Nilai plusnya dari series ini, aku suka cerita tentang friendshipnya, makanya aku nyeritainnya lebih ke friendshipnya dari pada love storynya. Trus di film ini kita bisa liat teknologi korea yang super canggih menurutku. Terus nilai plus nya lagi adalah ostnya, bagus... penyanyinya kebanyakan kesukaanku kaya Shin Seung Hun, Baek Ji Young, Bigbang, So In Yong. Bagus deh. Nilainya aku kasih 77 deh.

 

  

  

  

Marrying the Mafia: Lessons in How to Be the Bride of Frankenstein

You'd think a jopok comedy that spawned a few sequels would be pretty good. And if it ended up being that year's most highly attended flick in South Korea then it would have to be really funny, too, even if the jokes were all kind of dumb, no? I mean how bad can it be? Which brings us to Jeong Heung-sun's Marrying the Mafia, a head-scratcher that is neither awful nor awesome. It's a stale confection at best, something you might call sweet but never delectable. It wouldn't merit your time at all if it weren't for actress Kim Jung-eum who plays the female lead, a mobster's daughter suddenly headed for an arranged marriage. Like a show-and-tell of extreme performance, Kim's acting is all wrongs that add up to right: As she struggles with both her white collar fiance (Jeong Jun-ho) and her three thug brothers, she overly indicates instead of acts so that perky, sad and annoyed all come across as neurotic, psychotic, and deranged. That she's surrounded by boilerplate interpretations that can be alternately harmless and charmless works to her advantage. With each glare, grin, and goofball glance, she's like the kid in class who's constantly making funny faces. You may find her irritating at first but eventually she will make you laugh.