Shinbu sueob (2004)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

In-mu Heo

Writers:

In-mu Heo (writer)
Eun-kyeong Yun (writer)

Release Date:

5 August 2004 (South Korea)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Cast

Sang-woo Kwone	...	Kim 'Pedro' Gyu-shik
Ji-won Ha	...	Yang Bong-hie
In-kwon Kim	...	Shin Seon-dal
In-mun Kim	...	Father Nam
Seon-hwa Kim	...	Sister Kim
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hye-jin Jeon
Jae-hyeon Jo
Hye-na Kim

Also Known As:

Love So Divine (International: English title)

Runtime:

South Korea:110 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Singapore:PG

Company:

Kihwik Cine

Quotes:

Kim 'Pedro' Gyu-shik: Deo Gratias.

And then a slaphappy K-pop song was played in the church and everyone danced...

Really hard to keep that expectation buzzer turned off when stumbling upon these romantic comedies that subliminally whisper to you that this one could be special, funny and even heartfelt without becoming nauseatingly teary and making you thankful of the invention that is the fast forward button.

I think 2003 and 2004 were particularly great years in Korean cinema, so from time to time I head back and try to find some features that I might have missed and could be worth the while. From the initial looks, the premise seemed somewhat fresh. An opposites attract story of a dedicated seminarian on his way to becoming a priest, encountering a girl doing her best impersonation of Lindsay Lohan stranded in a small village.

Sang-woo Kwone plays Kim Gyushik, who gets sent to a parish with his troublemaker friend, where he stumbles upon Yang Bong-hie, played by the statuesque Ji-won Ha of Sex Is Zero shame-fame. He doesn't necessarily fall for her at first sight since she acts rather rudely and proclaims that she's got a boyfriend. Few drinks later, he gets to carry her to a motel room in a scene either set to play as a homage to MSG or show disregard for imitating, resulting in a successful transition of them suddenly becoming nice to each other the next morning. Instead of strengthening the bond between these characters with a sensible dialogue and situations worthy of being called 'romantic' in a such unorthodox setting, more time is stretched with them tugging at each other with overly self-excruciating and teasing phrases. Acting wise, Kwone did everything he could for his character, while Ji-won Ha was a joy to watch purely for her looks.

In the end, a film which had a nice start with some promise, but decided to hold on tight to the same old formula of comedies gracing the Korean theaters on monthly basis. There will always be a market for it, but it doesn't mean there aren't better films of the same genre to choose from. If I had to recommend something of similar mold with a layer of creativity it would be Someone Special and Rules of Dating. Films that weren't afraid to stray from the dotted line.