Second Movie at Cine Core Movie Theatre
This post is the second in a series of posts about movies that I paid to watch at the Cine Core Movie Theatre, which is located in the Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga neighborhood of Seoul, South Korea between February 2002 to July 2006. The first movie that I watched at the Cine Core Movie Theatre was the official South Korean release of Mamoru Oshii’s animated masterpiece Ghost in the Shell (1995). You can read that post right here.
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| Movies that I saw at the Cine Core Movie Theatre in Seoul, South Korea |
With that out of the way, the second movie I saw at the Cine Core Movie Theatre in Seoul, South Korea, was film director Kwak Jae-Yong's Windstruck (also known in Korean as Yeochinso or 여친소 in Hangeul) (2004). Curiously, the complete title of the film in the Korean language is 내 여자친구를 소개합니다, which translates to Let Me Introduce You to My Girlfriend. According to Darcy Pacquet’s Koreanfilm.org webpage, the film was released in South Korea on June 3, 2004. With that in mind, I saw Windstruck on its opening weekend.
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| Movie Poster for Windstruck (aka Yeochinso) (2004) |
Some Background
When I became interested in watching South Korean movies as early as March 2002, one of the first movies that I remember seeing on DVD was the romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (엽기적인 그녀) (2001), starring actors Jeon Ji-Hyun (aka “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” as I quickly came to call her) and Cha Tae-Hyun. Based on (or inspired by) a series of blog posts by South Korean blogger Kim Ho-Sik, the film My Sassy Girl is about an under-achieving college student’s unpredictable, unconventional, and often hilarious relationship with a college-age woman (played by Jeon Ji-Hyun) who is not like your typical college age women in South Korea. I became familiar with the film while randomly reading the movie reviews at the Koreanfilm.org webpage. At that time, My Sassy Girl had become the highest grossing romantic-comedy in South Korean film history. Interestingly, the film had been released just one year prior to my arrival in South Korea from Fort Hood, TX. Yes, I know that I had nothing to do with the film's box office success, but it is interesting now that I think about it.
Here is the trailer for My Sassy Girl (2001) that I saw on the Koreanfilm.org website. In the film, Jeon Ji-Hyun's character, The Girl, wants to become a screenwriter for movies. To deal with the grief of her previous boyfriend's death, The Girl writes a series of film treatments. Film treatments are typically a 2–3-page summary of a film script's plot that are presented to film studios for production consideration. My Sassy Girl turns a couple of the film treatments into imaginary movies that feature The Girl as the heroine and Gyeong-Woo (Cha Tae-Hyun) as either the villain or the person that needs to be rescued. The short movies are hilarious. One short movie is a parody/tribute to Akira Kurosawa samurai movies, such as The Seven Samurai. Another short movie is titled "Demolition Terminator" and features Jeon Ji-Hyun as a futuristic heroine that has to travel through time to rescue her kidnapped boyfriend. Obviously, this short film is a mash up of Sylvester Stallone's Demolition Man (1993) and Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Terminator (1984) science fiction movies. The scene where Jeon Ji-Hyun and Cha Tae-Hyun wear their high school uniforms and present their IDs before entering a night club is an iconic scene in South Korean cinema. The word was that several night clubs in Seoul had nights where attendees wore their high school uniforms due to the scene in My Sassy Girl.
Impressed with the trailer that I watched on the Koreanfilm.org website, I promptly went down to my favorite CD/DVD store at the ET Land Electronics Shopping Mall in the Yongsan Electronics Market area of Seoul one weekend and searched the voluminous stacks for the film on DVD. After a brief search, I found the director’s cut of My Sassy Girl on DVD. (I bought a second DVD as well, but I cannot remember the title.) Fortunately, the DVD contained English subtitles. Well, the movie itself had English subtitles; the behind-the-scenes features on the second DVD were all in Korean. After buying the two DVDs, I wandered around the Yongsan Electronics Market, looking at whatever caught my interest. The Yongsan Electronics Market was the kind of place that you could easily get lost in on a rainy or snowy Saturday afternoon. At the time, 2002-2003, the Yongsan Train Station area had not yet been re-modeled. When the KTX train, South Korea's answer to Japan's high-speed Shinkansen train, entered service, the Yongsan Train Station building got re-modeled into a high-tech train station and shopping center. Some would say that the project was progress and that the Yongsan Train Station area needed to be gentrified; others would say that it removed the quirky charm of that part of Seoul.
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| My personal copy of My Sassy Girl (2001) on DVD |
Eventually, I made my way back to my apartment in the Hannam-dong neighborhood area in Yongsan Ward area of Seoul via the subway to Hangangjin Subway Station. In fact, my apartment building was literally a hop, a skip, and a jump away from Seoul Hannam Elementary School, which was directly across the street from a family housing complex for USFK (United States Forces Korea) members (Sorry, I cannot remember the name of the complex. I never went there for anything.). Since Yongsan Garrison is no longer used by USFK, that family housing complex is now known as Nine One Hannam, an upscale condominium complex. From what I understand, the Hannam-dong neighborhood is now a trendy place to live in Seoul for South Korean celebrities. When I worked at Yongsan Garrison, it was widely understood that the real estate developers were just waiting for USFK to close all of its facilities in Seoul and relocate down south to the Pyeongtaek area, so Yongsan Garrison and the Itaewon area could be gentrified. When I lived in Hannam-dong, from approximately March 2003 to April 2004, it was kind of a forgotten area of both Yongsan Ward and the City of Seoul. I actually liked living in the area. It was a fun place to walk around and explore as there weren't any USFK members in the area. However, English wasn't as widely spoken and understood in Hannam-dong as it was right up the hill in Itaewon. As much as I liked the Hannam-dong area, parking for my apartment building was atrocious. It was all first-come, first-serve parking. I don't miss that.
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| Map of Hannam-dong and key locations |
After buying a couple of rolls of kimbap (aka "cucumber rolls"), a rectangular Styrofoam bowl of spicy kimchi ramen (Sorry, I don’t remember the name of the brand.), one or two Orion Choco Pies, and a couple bottles of Hite beer from a street vendor near my apartment in Hannam-dong, I took the DVDs back to my apartment. After adding hot water to my Styrofoam bowl of spicy ramen and opening a bottle of Hite beer, I inserted the DVD for My Sassy Girl into my recently purchased region-free DVD player by Sharp Electronics that I had bought from eBay, not really knowing what to expect. The film turned out to be brilliant. Quite brilliant, in fact. It was amazing to watch Jeon Ji-Hyun act circles around her co-star Cha Tae-Hyun. She completely DOMINATED every single frame of film that she was in. “The Girl”, as Jeon Ji-Hyun’s character is referred to in “My Sassy Girl” (her character’s name is never mentioned), is no submissive pushover with a high-pitched "cute" voice that always defers to her boyfriend. “The Girl” is aggressive and pushy, cruel and bossy, hard-drinking and domineering. As it turned out, she was also extremely vulnerable. Emotionally, she is all over the map. “The Girl” is the exact opposite of what proper Korean women are supposed to be. It’s an EPIC performance from Jeon Ji-Hyun. It really was a once-in-a-generation performance. Thinking about it now, my best guess is that My Sassy Girl was probably envisioned as a vehicle for actor Cha Tae-Hyun, who was something of an established star in South Korea at the time, whereas Jeon Ji Hyun was still a relatively new face on South Korea's entertainment scene. For cynical American viewers who can nitpick every single movie, the film may be a little too simple and cliched. I approached the film with an open mind and was rewarded with a film that I have re-watched numerous times.
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| Random Yongsan Electronics Market Photo (Source: Unknown) |
Due to the success of My Sassy Girl, actress Jeon Ji-Hyun became South Korea’s most popular actress seemingly overnight. She went from being a promising young actress with a handful of TV and film credits (the TV drama Happy Together (1999), the pleasant time travel romance Il Mare (2000)) on her CV while attending college at Seoul's Dongguk University to being the most popular South Korean celebrity on TV, in print, and, most importantly, on the internet. I remember how she appeared in numerous TV commercials for Korean internet portal Naver, Giordano Jeans, and Olympus Cameras on all of the major TV stations in Seoul (KBS1, KBS2, MBC, and SBS). When I got to Seoul, her face was literally everywhere: COEX Mall, Yongsan Electronics Market, Myeongdong (one of my favorite areas in Seoul to just hang out), Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga, Daehangno (another favorite area in Seoul), Lotte World. About the only the place in Seoul that an advertisement featuring Jeon Ji-Hyun wasn't visible was in Itaewon, which was the domain of American and other international celebrities. It wasn't until I watched My Sassy Girl that I knew who she was and why there were pictures of her everywhere in Seoul. The film’s director, Kwak Jae-Young, went from being a director with a series of box office flops to being a much in-demand director who could film any script that he wanted due to the success of My Sassy Girl. Even the series of blog posts that inspired the plot of My Sassy Girl was published into book form and became a huge bestseller in South Korea. Additionally, My Sassy Girl was given moderately successful theatrical runs in nearby Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. My Sassy Girl was even remade by Hollywood and featured Canadian actress Elisha Cuthbert in the leading role. [Note: No, I haven't seen the Hollywood remake of My Sassy Girl. I probably never will.] My Sassy Girl was also made into a Chinese TV drama.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun in an advertisement for Olympus Cameras (circa 2004) |
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun in an advertisement for Giordano Jeans (circa 2004) |
Unfortunately for Jeon Ji-Hyun, her next film, the moody horror film The Uninvited, was a critical and box office disappointment. In the words of a KATUSA friend at the time, The Uninvited was "a horror film that wasn’t scary". I remember seeing movie posters for The Uninvited displayed throughout Seoul during the film’s brief theatrical run. At the time, Japanese horror (aka J-horror) films, such as Ringu (1998) and Juon: The Grudge (2001), had been released in South Korea to immense box office popularity. My guess is that The Uninvited may have been a South Korean attempt to cash in on J-horror's popularity. Despite the critical and box office disappointment of The Uninvited, Jeon Ji-Hyun was more popular than ever. She was ubiquitous in South Korean media. Her popularity with her large fan base remained unchanged.
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| Jeon Ji Hyun in another advertisement for Olympus Cameras (circa 2004). |
.jpg "Movie Poster for \"The Uninvited\" (2003)") |
| Movie Poster for The Uninvited (2003) |
Meanwhile, due to the runaway success of My Sassy Girl, film director Kwak Jae-Yong’s career had been re-born. He was able to repeat the box office success of My Sassy Girl with his follow-up film The Classic (2003), a tear-jerking decades-spanning melodrama about South Korea in the late 1960s and the present day. Interestingly, the film contains a key sub-plot about South Korea's involvement in the Vietnam War. The Classic featured then up-and-coming actress Son Ye-Jin. Despite getting mixed reviews from South Korean film critics, The Classic proved to be immensely popular with South Korean audiences. The theme song to The Classic, the retro 1960s throwback “You to Me, Me to You” by South Korean rock group Scenery on a Bicycle, was literally EVERYWHERE!!! For several months, it seemed like I couldn't go anywhere in Seoul without hearing the song being played on South Korean radio stations or seeing the music video played on M-Net, South Korea's answer to MTV. However, as Darcy Pacquet himself points out, The Classic utilized many plot and stylistic elements from My Sassy Girl. I actually own The Classic on DVD. I think that I bought the DVD at, you guessed it, ET Land Electronics Shopping Mall at the Yongsan Electronics Market. To be honest, I don’t think that I have watched the film all the way through to the end. Perhaps I should get around to watching it. It has a reputation of being a real tearjerker. It's the film that made actress Son Ye-Jin into a major film and TV star in South Korea. Since the movie featured a lot of famous classical music pieces, such as the ever-popular "Canon in D" by Johann Pachelbel, I just might have the soundtrack album for The Classic in a box somewhere in storage. On an ironic note, melodramatic South Korean films like The Classic were ruthlessly parodied in My Sassy Girl.
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| DVD Cover for Kwak Jae Young's The Classic 2003 |
Some More Background
As I dove headfirst into viewing more and more South Korean films over the next couple of years, I would ask KATUSAs at work for movie recommendations. In addition, I would consult Darcy Pacquet’s Koreanfilm.org website for recommendations as well. I bought South Korean DVDs at various locations throughout Seoul. I bought DVDs at the CD/DVD store at the Yongsan Electronics Market. I bought DVDs at the Bandi and Luni Bookstores located at the Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga (Tapgol Park) Subway Station and at the COEX Mall in the Gangnam area of Seoul (Yet another favorite hangout.). I bought South Korean DVDs at the Kyobo Bookstores in the Gangnam and in Gwanghwamun areas of Seoul. I remember buying a couple of DVDs at the shopping center at the Seoul Bus Terminal as I waited for a South Korean Army officer friend to arrive. It was like I had discovered a brand-new world, and I was the only one to discover it.
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| Bandi & Luni's Bookstore at COEX Mall (Source: Internet) |
At the time, I was still assigned to HHD 94th Military Police Battalion at Yongsan Garrison, right in the center of Seoul. In U.S. Army alphabet soup, HHD stands for Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment. A detachment is smaller than a company. In other words, I was working at the headquarters for the 94th Military Police Battalion in South Korea. 94th MP BN was subordinate to 8th MP Brigade, which was headquartered at Yongsan Garrison at the top of what was referred to as MP Hill. At that time, the 94th MP BN had units assigned to Area 1 (Camp Page in Chuncheon), Area 2 (Yongsan Garrison in Seoul), and Area 3 (Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek). At Camp Humphreys, 94th MP BN had both an MP company and ran the USFK prison. I got to tour the prison once. It wasn’t a fun place. However, the food was good.
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| 94th MP Battalion Unit Crest |
For USFK, Area 1 was located along or near the DMZ, north of Seoul. Area 2 was primarily in and around the Seoul metropolitan area. Area 3 consisted of Osan Air Base and Camp Humphreys, south of Seoul near Pyeongtaek. Lastly, Area 4 consisted of the Taegu and Pusan metropolitan areas southeast of Seoul. The large U.S. Army post in Area 4 at the time was Camp Walker in Taegu. At the time I was in South Korea, you got extra pay ("danger pay") depending on what area your unit was assigned to. For example, the Second Infantry Division was based in the Area 1 area of operations north of Seoul. Since they were stationed near the DMZ, soldiers assigned to the Second Infantry Division received extra money added to their paycheck due to the possible threat posed by North Korea. The further away from the DMZ you were, the less extra money you received. Thus, if you were stationed down in Camp Walker in Taegu in Area 4, you still got extra pay, but it wasn't as much as what soldiers in Area 1 received.
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| Map of Areas of Operation for USFK |
While assigned to HHD 94th MP BN, I had two main garrison duties while working in the Intelligence office, known as S-2. My first garrison duty was to submit completed security clearance paperwork for U.S. Army personnel assigned HHD 94th MP BN. According to Army regulations, MPs required to have an active Secret clearance in order to work. As a result, I was quite busy with submitting security clearance paperwork. A big headache was getting personnel to renew their security clearance. It was like herding cats. My second garrison duty was in-processing Army personnel that had just arrived in South Korea and had been assigned to the 94th MP BN. In addition, I was also busy out-processing personnel who were either transferring out of the 94th MP BN to another unit within theatre or who were leaving South Korea altogether. If I wasn't doing those two tasks, I was at either the motor pool trying to make heads or tails of performing maintenance on the office Humvee or I was trying to straighten out the mess in the map room. There were other tasks, of course. As far as doing intelligence analysis work for the 94th MP BN goes, it was a low priority. The irony was that the commander of 8th MP Brigade at the time, Colonel Peter Champagne, co-wrote the Army field manual on incorporating intelligence analysis into military police operations. I actually had a copy of that particular field manual. It was an interesting read. Sadly, none of the cool stuff mentioned in Army field manual about "intelligence analysis for military police operations" was ever implemented by 8th MP BDE. They did talk a good game, however.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun in Windstruck (2004). |
One day, sometime during May 2004, I was bored out of my mind at work. Two KATUSA (Korean Augmentee to the United States Army) friends, CPL Sung, who worked in the Logistics and Supply office, known as S-4, and SGT Hee-Sung Choi, who worked in the MP Operations office, known as S-3. Since we worked in adjoining offices, I became really good friends with SGT Hee-Sung Choi. He was one of the first KATUSAs that I met when I arrived at HHD 94th MP BN. Hee-Sung was originally from Pusan, the second largest city in South Korea. However, before he became a KATUSA, he had attended Seogang University (literally "West River" in Korean) in Seoul. It turned out that Seogang University wasn't too far away from Yongsan Garrison. Anyway, SGT Sung and SGT Choi both knew about how I was buying and watching South Korean movies on DVD. They also knew about my affinity for actress Jeon Ji-Hyun. Together they informed me that Jeon Ji Hyun had just completed making a new movie and that it was being released in early June 2004. They said that the movie would be titled 여친소 (Yeochinso). I later found out that the film had an English language title: Windstruck.
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| Windstruck DVD Cover for South Korea |
Furthermore, SGT Sung said that he had read an article in one of the Korean newspapers (The Korea Times, Chosun Ilbo, Donga Ilbo, The Korean Herald, Yonhap News Agency, etc.) that Yeochinso would be shown with English subtitles exclusively for one week at selected movie theaters around Seoul. It just so happened that the Cine Core Movie Theatre had been one of the movie theaters selected to show Windstruck with English subtitles. Right then and there, it was decided that we would go see the movie. I don't remember who came up with the idea. SGT Choi said that he would call his girlfriend after work and have her buy the tickets for the film's opening weekend.
The news that Jeon Ji-Hyun had made a new movie took me by surprise. After work, I went back to my apartment and searched for Yeochinso/Windstruck on the internet. Despite having a short blurb about Jeon Ji-Hyun's new movie, the Koreanfilm.org website didn't have a link to the trailer for Yeochinso. In the early 2000s, there was a monthly movie magazine in South Korea called Film 2.0. It was a beautiful, glossy magazine to look at while at the bookstore. As it happened, many of the trailers linked at the Koreanfilm.org website were actually links from the website for Film 2.0. The website for Film 2.0 was entirely in Korean. Then I made a discovery. When I put my cursor on text that contained a hyperlink, I noticed that the English language text for the hyperlink appeared in the bottom left corner of my computer monitor. I made a breakthrough. Before I knew it, I discovered how to get to the section of the Film 2.0 website that contained all of the trailers for new and upcoming films. Plus, it was really cool to have access to trailers for older Korean movies that I had wanted to see. Right away, I found the trailer for Yeochinso. Somewhat ominously, it was difficult to what to make of the trailer for Yeochinso.
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| 63 Building on Yeouido Island in Seoul, South Korea (Source: www.koreatour.com) |
On the Way to the Cine Core Movie Theatre
After a couple of days, Hee-Sung notified me at work (or was it at morning PT [Physical Training]?) that his girlfriend (Note: Her last name was Kim. Unfortunately, I cannot remember her first name. She was really nice.) had bought five tickets for the 8:30 PM (?) showing on Sunday, June 6, 2004, at the Cine Core Movie Theatre in Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga. At the time in South Korea, you could go online and buy movie tickets from a particular movie theatre. I'm guessing that is what Hee-Sung's girlfriend did. Then again, she may have had to physically go to the box office at the Cine Core Movie Theatre to buy the tickets. For a special event, such as Windstruck being shown with English subtitles, I could definitely see that happening.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun wrestles her co-star (Jang Hyuk) to the ground. |
Why would Windstruck be shown with English subtitles at the Cine Core Movie Theatre? That is a good question. I am sure that there had to be a reason. The only reason that I can come up with is that when the Cine Core Movie Theatre showed Taegukgi (2004) with English subtitles earlier in the year, there was a large demand for tickets. [Note: I watched Taegukgi at the Cine Core Movie Theatre in February 2004. It will be the subject of a future post here on my blog.] Hee-Sung told me that his girlfriend knew of a restaurant near the Cine Core Movie Theatre where we all could have dinner prior to the movie.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun acting badass in Windstruck (2004). |
When thinking about Sunday, June 6, 2004, my memory is a bit murky about that day. I don’t remember where I met SGT Choi and SGT Sung and their girlfriends. We could have met at Itaewon Subway Station prior to going to the Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga area of Seoul or if I met them at Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga. At the time, I was living in an apartment located in the Itaewon-I (2)-Dong neighborhood, right between Yongsan Garrison and Itaewon. It is quite possible that we met outside the Hamilton Hotel, a local landmark that happens to be right next to Itaewon Subway Station. I think that we took a taxi to Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga from the Hamilton Hotel. Taking a taxi would have been faster than taking the subway. It’s also equally probable that I met SGT Choi and SGT Sung outside Jongno-Sam (3)-Ga (Tapgol Park) Subway Station at a pre-arranged meeting time. Furthermore, I don’t remember which restaurant we went to for dinner. I don’t remember if we ate kalbi, samgyupsal, or shabu-shabu. In that part of Seoul, you are really spoiled for dining choices. After eating dinner and drinking A LOT of soju and beer, we left the restaurant and walked over to the Cine Core Movie Theatre.
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| Subway Route to Cine Core Movie Theatre |
Seeing Windstruck (여친소)
Once we got to the Cine Core Movie Theatre, there was a huge crowd outside. At the time, movie theaters in Seoul were always popular places for people to go to on a Sunday night. At the time, the summer monsoon season in Seoul had begun. I remember the humidity being really thick. You could almost cut it with a knife. Once we got through the crowd of people, it was a relief to get inside the movie theater. As I mentioned in my previous post about the Cine Core Movie Theatre, the movie theater was housed in a building that was several floors high. Each floor contained a movie auditorium. I don’t remember which movie auditorium we went to see Windstruck. I do remember that when we got to the movie auditorium, it was PACKED. I don’t remember if we ever found the seats that SGT Choi’s girlfriend had reserved for us or if we just took what seats were available. Regardless, once everyone found a seat, sat down, and the lights went out, we were expecting to see a cinematic masterpiece on par with My Sassy Girl. Expectations for the film were sky high. That was the hope at least.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun and Jang Hyuk are Windstruck (2004). |
My Review of Windstruck (여친소)
I should mention that on the Friday before seeing Windstruck, my friend SGT Sung earnestly informed me at work that early reviews of the film by South Korean film critics were mixed. He said that some critics liked the film, while other critics considered the film to be a disappointment. I tried to put aside what SGT Sung said about the early reviews of Windstruck as we entered the Cine Core Movie Theatre.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun brings Jang Hyuk lunch in Windstruck (2004). |
When the lights came on at the end of the movie, I remember that I struggled to digest what I had just seen. Stylistically, Windstruck was ALL OVER the cinematic map. Like My Sassy Girl, Windstruck wanted to blend as many genres as possible. Unlike My Sassy Girl, the same approach just doesn't work for Windstruck. As the preview suggested, the film began in a somber tone with Jeon Ji Hyun contemplating suicide at the top of the 63 Building. The film then became a romantic comedy. The film then transitioned into an action movie. About halfway through its runtime, Windstruck then became a tearjerking South Korean melodrama with a plot twist that came out of thin air. In the final act, the film then suddenly strays into Ghost (1990) territory. Yes, the same Hollywood blockbuster that featured Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. Then, at the very end of the film, there was a nonsensical cameo by an actor that seemed to suggest that Windstruck was somehow connected to My Sassy Girl. More about that cameo later.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun and Jang Hyuk get caught in the rain in Windstruck (2004). |
So, what was Windstruck about? Let's see if I can quickly summarize the plot of the film.
As I remember the film, Windstruck appeared to be structured as a long flashback for Jeon Ji-Hyun's character, who is contemplating suicide. Jeon Ji-Hyun plays a young woman named Yeo Kyung-Jin, who has recently graduated from the police academy for the Seoul Metropolitan Police Department (SMPD). We discover that she decided to join SMPD because her dead sister, with whom she was really close to, wanted to become a police officer. To honor her sister's memory, Yeo Kyung-Jin decides to become a police officer herself. On a day off from work, Kyung-Jin mistakenly identifies Ko Myung-Woo (Jang Hyuk) as a purse snatcher that has been working in her neighborhood. Kyung-Jin attempts to perform a citizen's arrest on Myung-Woo while walking to a nearby store in her tracksuit. Eventually, Kyung-Jin comes to realize that Myung-Woo is not the neighborhood purse snatcher. Instead, it turns out that Myung-Woo is a modest and somewhat hapless teacher at an all-girls' high school in Seoul. Kyung-Jin and Myung-Woo then start dating each other. As the movie progresses, Myung-Woo keeps getting caught (pun intended) up in Kyung-Jin's work as a police officer. Just as things seem to be progressing for the couple, Myung-Woo inexplicably dies from a heart attack at the age of 24 or 25 years old. Kyung-Jin's life then goes into a tailspin as she becomes inconsolable. She comes to believe that Myung-Woo is still alive as she believes that she sees traces of his existence while driving around Seoul in her patrol car, such as misidentifying a passer-by on the street. One day, while talking on the phone to her mother, a mini cyclone enters Kyung-Jin's apartment through her apartment's windows. The mini cyclone kicks up all kinds of loose papers, books, magazines, shoes, dead plant leaves, etc. It turns out that the mini cyclone is Myung-Woo's spirit who has returned to visit Kyung-Jin one last time. The purpose of the visit is to give Kyung-Jin closure that she needs to move on with her life and her career. Sometime later, Kyung-Jin then meets a man on the Seoul subway. The man turns out to be Gyeong-Woo (Cha Tae-Hyun) from My Sassy Girl.
That's the plot of the film that I remember seeing at the Cine Core Movie Theatre.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun is on the hunt for a criminal in Windstruck (2004). |
Overall, I had a mixed reaction to Windstruck. There were things that the film did quite well, and there were things that the film didn't do so well. Before trying to get into in-depth analysis about what I liked and what I disliked, it's probably a good idea to re-watch Windstruck. I only watched the film once. When Windstruck became available on DVD in South Korea, I never bothered buying it. That might be an indicator of just how DISAPPOINTED I felt as I walked out of the movie theatre. Thus, I definitely need to re-watch Windstruck before commenting on it. In fact, that is what I will do. I will re-watch Windstruck and then post my comments about the film. I am sure that someone uploaded the film on to YouTube, so it shouldn't be too difficult to track down for viewing. Stay tuned for a review in a future post here on my blog.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun confronts an accused criminal in Windstruck (2004). |
Koreanfilm.org's Review of "내 여자친구를 소개합니다" (aka "Windstruck")
Korean film reviewer Kit Lim reviewed Windstruck for Darcy Pacquet's Koreanfilm.org website. Here is what Kit Lim wrote in his or her review:
Another of the year's most highly anticipated movies was Windstruck. The [film's] director is none other than Kwak Jae-Young, who was responsible for the success of the 2001 hit, My Sassy Girl. Also, the main stars -- Jeon Ji-Hyun, one of the most popular actresses in Korea and Asia and up-and-coming actor Jang Hyuk -- contributed to its success.
In fact, some critics have retorted that Windstruck is just another sappy version of My Sassy Girl. This is true, to a certain extent. However, you could say that Kwak's style of directing has been recombined to give a new bittersweet formula. It seems that Kwak has drawn from his experience in directing comedies such as My Sassy Girl and melodramas such as The Classic and decided to try both formulas in the same project. The result you get is: Windstruck!
If you are looking for a good comedy to watch, Windstruck might not exactly be the one to provide you with the most laughter. Switching between sappy and hilarious moments, this movie brings you on a roller coaster ride of outbursts of different emotions. The role played by Jeon Ji-Hyun is a happy-go-lucky police officer, whose sole reason of joining the police is because that was her dead sister's ambition in life. Jang Hyuk plays a high school teacher who had led an ordinary life until the day he met Jeon's character. Instead of a sedentary life as a teacher, he finds himself entwined in her day-to-day policing activities such as chasing after criminals.
In an interesting opening, the movie has Jeon, standing at the top of a building, attempting to commit suicide, with Jang Hyuk as the background narrator. It then moves on to a flashback and switches to a narrative mode to tell the story of the preceding events which eventually lead to the opening scene. Throughout the narration, we witness the encounters of our two protagonists and how they eventually end up together. There were a couple of hilarious moments and scenes which tickle the audience's funny bone.
However, as the story slowly proceeds, it feels that [the film] is being too far-fetched to accommodate so many ideas. One might feel that the plotline is ridiculous at many times and might start wondering at some point if the film is a fantasy, ghost story, romance or an ultra-dramatic melodrama. Occupying an array of so many genres, Windstruck could be said to be one of a kind. Despite that, Kwak has attempted to insert too many of the ideas that he used in My Sassy Girl, especially the last scene, which entirely spoils the movie.
What is interesting is that Kit Lim's criticisms of Windstruck are nearly identical to mine.
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| Jeon Ji-Hyun and Jang Hyuk get warm in Windstruck (2004). |
Nagging criticisms and weak script aside, Jeon Ji-Hyun still manages to give an AMAZING performance in Windstruck. Her performance is the primary reason to watch this movie. She was, and still is, head and shoulders above the competition. This is definitely a case where a talented and photogenic actor or actress can elevate an ordinary script into something special.
"Tears" by X-Japan
At the end of Windstruck, film director Kwak Jae-Yong made an interesting creative decision. In the montage of scenes that ends the film, he uses the song "Tears" by Japanese heavy metal rock group X-Japan on the soundtrack. This may have been the first time that I heard the song. The pairing of the montage of scenes throughout the film with "Tears" by X-Japan was a genius move by Kwak Jae-Yong. The music and the montage accompanied each other so well that it was like being hit over the head with a sledgehammer. As we were leaving the Cine Core Movie Theatre, SGT Sung told me that it was the first time that a song by a major Japanese recording artist had been used in a South Korean film following the removal of the boycott of Japanese popular culture by the South Korean government following the 2002 World Cup, which was hosted by both South Korea and Japan. As a result, the use of the song in Windstruck was a big deal at the time.
Who is X-Japan? Well, X-Japan was a Japanese heavy metal band that was enormously popular in Japan throughout the 1980s and 1990s. As I soon discovered, X-Japan had a large underground following in South Korea. Led by pianist-drummer-composer Yoshiki, X-Japan had a knack for writing cinematic power ballads. Think of "Tears" as being X-Japan's answer to, say, famous power ballads such as "November Rain" by Guns 'n' Roses or "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue. "Tears" is better than either of those songs. In fact, "Tears" is probably one of the most famous and most popular songs recorded by X-Japan.
Here is a video from YouTube that uses the song "Tears" by X-Japan with scenes from Windstruck. Until I re-watch the film, I don't know if this video is actually from the movie or if the video was created by someone else. Whatever the origins of the video, it packs a wallop. The video consists of some of the best (and funniest) scenes from Windstruck.
X-Japan consisted of:
- Yoshiki Hayashi (aka Yoshiki)- drums, piano, keyboards
- Hideto Matsumoto (aka Hide) - lead guitar
- Tomoaki Ishizuka (aka Pata) - rhythm guitar
- Taiji Sawada (aka Taiji)- bass guitar
- Toshimitsu Deyama (aka Toshi) - vocals
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| X-Japan: Pata, Toshi, Hide, Taiji, Yoshiki (Clockwise from upper left) |
Yoshiki composed the music and lyrics for the song "Tears". The song was recorded for X-Japan's album Dahlia (1996).
Box Office Performance
According to box office statistics at Koreanfilm.org, Windstruck was the 8th most popular South Korean film of 2004. When foreign films are included in the box office totals for the year 2004 in South Korea, Windstruck did not even make the top ten. I'm guessing that these aren't exactly the box office results the film studio, CJ Entertainment, was anticipating. Compared to the box office for My Sassy Girl, the box office for Windstruck had to have been a disappointment.
Here are the top ten most popular South Korean films from 2004 based on tickets sold.
| Rank | Korean Film Title | Tickets Sold Nationwide | Tickets Sold in Seoul | Release Date | Weeks in Theatres |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taegukgi | 11,746,135 | 3,509,563 | Feb 5 | 13 |
| 2 | My Little Bride | 3,149,500 | 876,600 | Apr 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Once Upon a Time in High School | 3,115,767 | 1,023,601 | Jan 16 | 6 |
| 4 | Ghost House | 2,890,000 | 751,340 | Sep 17 | 6 |
| 5 | A Moment to Remember | 2,565,078 | 797,593 | Nov 5 | 4 |
| 6 | My Brother | 2,479,585 | 699,725 | Oct 8 | 5 |
| 7 | Fighter in the Wind | 2,346,446 | 634,897 | Aug 12 | 5 |
| 8 | Windstruck | 2,199,359 | 659,380 | Jun 3 | 4 |
| 9 | Romance of Their Own | 2,189,453 | 574,511 | Jul 23 | 4 |
| 10 | The Big Swindle | 2,129,358 | 776,898 | Apr 15 | 7 |
After the Movie
I don't remember what we did after the movie was over. Since the next day was Monday, it is highly probable that we caught the subway back to the Yongsan Garrison area. Since they were KATUSAs, SGT Choi and SGT Sung still had to live on-post in the MP barracks. At the time, HHD 94th MP BN had PT formation at 6:00 AM. Plus, curfew for USFK military personnel on Sunday nights was set at midnight. Thus, we couldn't hang around the Cine Core Movie Theatre area. However, if Monday was a holiday (US or Korean), then USFK extended the Sunday night curfew to 1:00 AM.
Homework Assignment
I need to re-watch Windstruck before I perform an in-depth review of the movie. In addition, I also have some ideas on how I would have suggested to improve the movie. The review of Windstruck and my suggested improvements will be the subject of a future post. Stay tuned.
