Kick the Moon - Amazing Korean comedy, gangster movie

If anyone recommends you to watch-'Kick the Moon'(2001),you wont get any hint of what the movie is all about from the name of the movie. That's one place where Korean films suffer and its in the movie titles. Literally all of their movies have titles that are direct translations of Korean words. It hardly makes any sense for the rest of us. But I digress, Kick the Moon is one really funny gangster story and should not be missed. I for one was really entertained by the fast paced plot and the unique storyline.














The story goes something like this-
A nerdy guy and the school bully come face to face at a high school fun social event. The nerdy guy gets booed offstage while the school bully wows the crowd and then goes onto fight a much hyped inter school gang war. After 19 years, drastic differences have occurred in both their lives. The nerdy guy has turned into a cold blooded gangster(who does mask a kind heart) while the school bully has become gasp-a teacher. They are shocked at the way life has turned out and unexpectedly they fall in love with the same woman.















To win over the lady, the two protagonists start their own covert operations. Now the rough and tough teacher has to try his best to avoid getting into his fights while the one time nerd turned gangster has to learn to be gentle in his behaviour. This is far from easy and this sets the stage for gang wars, past memories and loads of comedy.

There is another side track of a group of youngsters taught by the teacher who want to become gangsters themselves. They are really cute and run into all kinds of problems trying to achieve their twisted goals. The teacher guy identifies with their growing pains but has to provide tough love to rein them in from going to the dark side.

Kick the moon is what I would call a complete movie experience.The stars of this hit Korean film were Cha Seung-won,Lee Jong-su and Kim Yeong-jun. There is comedy, love, drama, fighting, sacrifices and emotional stuff too. The fight scenes in this involve so many people from opposing gangs that I have always wondered how the hell do you figure whom to hit when you are in the middle of such a confusing fight.















While watching the story, you can see how the director has excelled in putting all the relevant scenes and almost every scene has a humorous touch to it. The best part is that the movie teaches us some good lessons on morals and doing the right thing in life, without being too preachy about it. I thought that the actors did a fine job and made a lot of the scenes very naturally comic.
















At the core of it though, this is a movie about friendships. It also shows us how a one off incident can change the course of the lives of the people who are impacted by it. You cant stop smiling when you realize how life and people having certain characteristics in their youth turn out to be so different from what you expect. Watch Kick the moon and enjoy a fun fest at the movies.

'Virgin Snow'- Offbeat,sweet Korean romance

There are some movies that dont figure in anybodys list of must watch Korean movies. 'Virgin snow'(2007) is one of those which seems to have got lost in spite of being a very good movie. The thing is this is not one of your typical films but watching this is like sitting for a couple of hours in a coffee shop and reminiscing about your long lost love.





















The plot is something like this-
Min(Lee Jun Ki) is a young 24 year old South korean guy who follows his father to Japan to live with him for a year. The father is a visiting professor in a Japanese university. Min takes this opportunity to see and experience life in Japan. One day he runs across Nanae(Aoi Miyazaki) and falls in love with her.

Coincidentally they find themselves at the same university and he courts her in a very cute manner. Since he is from Korea and she is from Japan, their conversation is greatly limited by the language problems but that does not dampen their enthusiasm to know one another better. He starts learning Japanese and she tries to understand Korean terms.















However Nanae has some bad family problems which cause her a lot of grief. One day Min learns of his grandmother's ill health and has to travel back to Korea. When he returns, Nanae has disappeared without a trace. Why she does that and how Min tries to figure his life out is the rest of the story.
















I was very happy that the ending is a happy one cause Korean movies are so inclined towards sad endings.The virgin snow makes its impact in the ending and justifies the name of the film. I don't know why but the first snow has a lot of romantic associations with it in Korea.
















Min's role is played by Lee Jun Ki who is apparently quite famous in Korea and I thought he played the part really well. He does a good job showing the lovers anguish and pain of separation.The Japanese girl takes a bit of time to get used to but she is also easy on the eyes.

One thing you get from the story is that lack of direct communication at the right time can seriously screw up relationships. But most lovers have this problem expecting their partner to magically understand everything so :)

There is a nice incident where the couple takes a boat ride when the girl tells Min that couples who take a boat ride on that lake eventually break up. Min retorts that there is a 'Doldam' bridge in Korea where the same break up belief holds true. But he tells her that there is also a concept that if a couple goes on a date in the first snowfall, they will be happy forever. So he suggests that they should go on a walk on the Doldam bridge in the first snowfall and that will cancel out the bad luck and solve their problem. It was one of those simple but beautiful romantic conversations that people have on dates.















Japan and South Korea are neighbours and have some kind of fascination with each other's cultures which is apparent from their movies. This film did very very good business in Japan according to wikipedia. Another thing that I appreciated is that the story shows us Japanese culture and things. I think the Japanese words for thank you is 'Arigato' and bye is 'Sayonara'. It is cute to see the two central characters struggle and encourage each other to learn basic words. Love even overcomes language barriers.















I liked the movie and found it to be quite entertaining. It is a tad slow no doubt but thats the best part of the story that without any drastic melodrama or plot devices, it still holds your interest. Watch 'Virgin snow' when you have some time and bask in a world where love can conquer despite misunderstandings and place and culture differences.