"First Kiss"-Beautiful Korean romantic movie

First Kiss(1998)-

This is another South Korean movie that I liked a lot. The movie stars Ahn Jae Wook as Kyeong Hyeon and Choi Ji Woo as Yeon Hwa.

Its falls under the genre of romantic comedy/drama. At the begining of the story, we are introduced to this shy plain looking newsreporter who lives in a world of her own. She wears loose baggy mens wear and does not care about make up or any such beauty related things. The movie does not explain much as to why she is, the way she is although we do see a stupid guy dumping her on a dinner date. Her newsroom is filled with a bunch of characters which includes her boss having an affair with his subordinate etc.The boss's story runs in parallel with our main heroine's story.
















One day a photographer comes in to work at the office. He has a smiling personality and his playful happy nature is the complete opposite to the gurl's nature. He gets attracted to her and constantly follows her around clicking pictures while she interviews people for the magazine. At first she is really pissed at his behaviour but his persistence pays off and the ice maiden begins to melt.

However she has never kissed a guy before which makes it very difficult and awkward for her to understand the guy's feelings for her. They soon get separated but destiny gets them back together. The climax is very beautiful as it brings their story to a happy conclusion and I love happy endings in Korean movies.

I was also very impressed by the way the writers wrote the characters of her boss who always tries his best to look out for her despite her moody nature. The hero's best friend is also a cool guy who always helps the hero in all of his computer related problems.

The story sounds a lot like the plot of the Hollywood movie,'Never Been Kissed 1999)' but this movie was released way before that in 1998. The story holds your attention and makes you root for the lovers to get together. The movie has been brilliantly written and directed. There is this beautiful scene in the rain inside a phone booth, which simply takes your breath away. It is a very honest moment when the hero sees the gurl up close without her trademark glasses.















I am just stunned that not many people know about this cute movie which has such a nice plot. It's simple without any over the top gimicks and melodrama. I hope someone makes a TV series out of this because I know for sure it will be pretty sucessful.

Its a wonderful movie and deserves to be watched as many times as you want to feel good about romance and life.

More Korean movies :)

So I have seen more South Korean movies this week. Here are few more of the ones that were really entertaining.
My tutor friend (2003)-This is a comedy thats fun all the way. The story is of a young girl hired to be a tutor to a rich brattish guy. How she struggles to teach him and how they get together is the main plot.

















Again there is lots of comedy and no sadness here so that makes this a good watch. There were some really funny scenes between the father and the son, the brat and the young plain tutor etc. It starred Kwon Sang-Woo and Kim Ha-Neul.




The film's success caused another version of the movie to be released called 'My tutor friend 2'









Temptation of the Wolves/Romance of their own (2004)-

This was a weird movie and you will understand why when you see the movie. The story deals with a very average Korean girl coming to live at her mother's house after her father's death. At her new school not one but two really good looking guys fall for her. One is the head of her school and the other is from the rival school. Now the girl is in a fix and it doesnt help that both have fallen for her for no reason at all. The movie goes at a fast pace and soon the twist is revealed. It frankly makes people a little sick when you realize how twisted the love story is. Kang Dong-won who plays the main love interest suits the role perfectly but the girl is not believable. Apparently the temptation of the wolves title is because wolves are supposed to be loners and all that and one of the characters is just like that-a loner longing for some love.

Windstruck (2004)-
Now this is a movie I really enjoyed. I am not surprised that it was a major success in Korea. It depicts the romance between a lady cop and an innocent guy that she accidentally arrests on their first meeting.















As time progresses the plot shows them having a good life together but before long there is trouble in paradise. The hero dies accidentally and how the girl copes up forms the rest of the story. There were a lot of good things happening in the story as the scenes are very unconventional and make you smile and cry a bit. The ending is quite nice as it almost hints to a prequel of 'My sassy girl'.
















Her boyfriend's role is played by a very endearing guy who suits the role well. Some of the scenes are really touching and worth watching over and over again.I liked the dialogue that the hero tells the girl when she dreams about him after his death.

He says- "When we meet again, tell me all the happiest memories you experienced from this life".

After watching this movie, you will understand why the gurl behaves the way she behaves in the other movie. The director of 'My sassy girl' and 'Windstruck' are the same. Again the name 'Windstruck' is highly unusual but has some connection with the hero always wanting to be like the wind after his death. Highly recommended.
















Daddy long legs-
Many people had recommended this movie as well for being a good one. It begins slowly as we are introduced to this girl who has just moved into the city as radio station writer.

Throughout her life some benefactor has alwys taken care of her-paying her tuition fees, expenses etc. She always misses meeting who this person is and refers to him as 'daddy long legs' because she saw the shadow of his long legs once as he passed by her. Bizarre but true.
At the new workplace she meets a cute librarian and they strike up a friendship that translates into love but has a huge melodramatic twist at the end when she realizes who her benefactor is.














He was cool-
I never expected 'He was cool' to be so much fun. Its really an amazing romantic comedy with a little bit of everything. There is fighting, romance, friendship, disease,death and redemption. The heroine of the movie unfortunately committed suicide in 2007 and its sad cause she acts very cutely in this flick.

The story is of a bad boy kind of protagonist who meets a quirky high school girl by accident. And once they start going around, the fun does not stop. The story moves along well and holds your attention.There are some very good fight scenes in this. Its pure timepass.


















I especially loved the Karaoke scene when the girl is staring starry eyed at her boyfriend who literally cannot hit a single note correctly during his singing. This movie thankfully has a happy ending. Its interesting that both 'He was cool' and 'Temptation of the Wolves' was written by an Internet writer 'Guiyeoni'.

The Classic-My favourite Korean romantic movie!

The Classic a south Korean romantic movie has become my favourite romance movie of all time.














The movie has everything in it. A little bit of comedy, huge dose of melodrama and fine acting by all the actors. The Classic is the story told in flashback of a daughter who is reading her mother's love letters to her former lover. That story is told in parallel to the present story of the daughter who is in love in a very similar situation like her mother.

How fate plays its part in making love find its way is beautifully told through the movie. The ending of the movie is phenomenal and completes the circle of love ;) Incidentally the daughter and the mother's role are played by the same actress. She has also done an outstanding job in another wonderfully romantic movie, 'A moment to remember'.
















The movie was released in 2003 and looks a lot like 'The Notebook'. However it is very different apart from a few similarities.
















I was blown away by the beautiful romantic scenes many of which are quite emotional. The director has indeed done a good job and I am just curious as to why Bollywood has not tried to remake this movie. If they do someday they should make Ranbir Kapoor play the former lover,KOnkana Sen/Priyanka Chopra to play the heroine and the present day lover could be played by Harman Baweja. All I hope for is that the Indian director does not change the script at all as it is a very good script that should be kept as it is.

Watch this movie, The classic as its one of the best romances I have seen in a long long time.I want to applaud the director director Kwak Jae-yong for creating such a good must watch romance. The actors in this movie were Son Yeh-jin and Cho Seung-woo.

Other honorable mentions of really cute romantic movies I have seen so far-













A moment to remember-Again its a very good story with a sad end. I am quite fed up of Korean actresses dying in every single movie. But apparently this is what becomes a hit in Korea so there is nothing that can be done. That said, this movie depicts a touching romance between a forgetful girl and a aspiring architect and makes you long for a love they share.

The girl suffers from Alzeihmers disease and its heartbreaking to watch her lose her memories at such a young age. It makes you realize how precious our memories are and how dreadful it would be to lose them. The movie starred Jung Woo-sung and Son Ye-jin in the lead roles.

The last dialogue of the film 'saranghe' spoken by the husband to his ill wife, which means 'I Love you' in Korean is the best ending to the movie.
















My little bride - This is a super cute romance between a school girl and a much older guy who she gets married to. The couple have to keep their marriage a secret but have loads of fun and trouble along the way. Again a very light, comic romance that will have you smiling throughout the movie. It has Moon Geun Young, Kim Rae Won in the lead roles. My little bride is one movie that I could watch again and again. I wish korean directors would make more such happy movies like 'My little Bride'.The young actress Moon has done a good job in this movie too.



























Innocent steps-This is a sweet movie of two dancers who are brought together by circumstances beyond their control. To win the dance competition they have to put on the charade of being married and as love stories go, they fall in love slowly while preparing for the competition. The movie had Moon Geun-young
Park Geon-hyeong in the lead roles.













200 pounds of beauty- This is a hilarious movie that depicts the struggles of an overweight woman who is a backup singer in love with her boss. She undergoes a plastic surgery and has a complete makeover after which she literally has everyone going nuts about her. with her beauty she has to pay a price of losing her individuality and how she copes up is the rest of the story. This film had some super hilarious scenes one which should not be missed as they are so funny.

Here is the trailer of 'The Classic'..

Must watch South Korean movies

South Korean romantic movies are something that I have recently discovered. These movies are quite entertaining and are a welcome change from our regular Hollywood and Bollywood movies. The titles however are quite funny and sometimes make little sense with the movie plot.

Some of the recent movies that I have enjoyed are--
Almost Love
A Millionaire's first love
My Sassy girl
100 days with Mr Arrogant
The Perfect Couple

Out of these movies, I liked 'A Millionaire's first Love' the best.

'Almost Love' is about the friendship of two good childhood friends who later realize that they have more than friendship going on between them. The last half hour of the movie is extremely sad and melodramatic but has some of the best scenes of the movie.


'A Millionaire's first love' is about a rich arrogant man who is forced by a clause in his grandfather's will to finish his graduation in a rural village. There he meets a girl with a terminal disease and how they spent the rest of their lives together forms the second half of the plot. The second half is very good as compared to the first half. It is just a little unconvincing how they fll in love so quickly but the romance in the latter half makes up for it.


'My Sassy girl' or 'My Bizarre girl' is a strange story. I didnt quite understand why this movie was so popular in Korea. Its about this sort of over the top girl who constantly keeps beating her guy. He is the narrator of the story and explains how he met her and how they began their relationship. Again the last half hour of the movie is very touching and it has a very good dialogue by the main character when he explains to the girl how she should behave towards her future husband. It was remade in an American version and a Hindi movie, 'Ugly aur pagli' starring Mallika Sherawat and Ranvir Sheorey. The movie has one of the best endings I have seen so far and I really liked the part destiny plays in the story.

'100 days with Mr Arrogant' is just a teenage romantic comedy but is not as believable or enterataining as the rest of the movies I have seen so far. Its about a rich guy who fools a girl into being his personal attendent for 100 days.



The 'Perfect Couple' movie title is very misleading as this is not a romance movie at all. Its an action movie with two cops and a journalist who has an accident with one of the cops. The director though has done a good job as the story moves fast and is refreshing to see something new. The heroine's voice though is extremely screeching and irriating and can put you off. The hero who plays the main cop is quite handsome and suits the role well.

Will update this list as I watch more movies.