|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
A Millionaire's First Love
Because millionaire love is special 
Studio: Boram Entertainment Inc. Format: Movie Released: 2/09/2006 Written by: Face 
After sitting through this awful movie, I can safely conclude that I officially hate Tae-gyun Kim, and everyone involved with this production, as well. In fact, I hate their families, too. Watching this movie is like being chained to brick wall while an army of pizza-faced teenagers rape you with their burgeoning penises. Who likes being raped? I know I don't. But leave it to one of the least original filmmakers in Korea to succeed in creating a movie that is about as enjoyable as prison.
There is nothing redeeming about this movie, and with a premise as absurd as this one's, I'm not exactly surprised. Basically the story is about a high school senior named, Jae-gyung (played by superstar Hyeon Bin). As you have probably already guessed, he is in fact a millionaire; he also is a karate expert, womanizer and all around bastard child. His only goal in life is to inherit a large sum of cash from his grandfather. Yes, it appears as if his life will be handed to him on a silver platter. That is, of course, until he finds out that his dead grandfather's will requires that he first graduate high school before the inheritance can be his. Infuriated, he is forced to storm off to rural Korea to attend the last portion of his senior year. There he meets a predictably antagonizing girl who he eventually falls in love with, named Eun-hwan (played by first-time actress Lee Yeon-hee). And while the story probably sounds laughable, the character development is even less compelling. Essentially, Tae-gyun Kim takes the classic setup of rich-bitch-meets-overly-nice-sickly-girl and makes it even more redundant than I thought it was capable of being. He's obnoxious. She's self-righteous. He's rich. She's poor. He's mean. She's nice. They might as well just rename this An Even More Unpleasant Walk to Remember: In Korean with Millionaires. Above all, my primary complaint with this movie is how it repeatedly falls flat on its face. There is nothing even remotely convincing about the relationship that develops between Jae-gyung and Eun-hwan because in the end it's everything you expected it to be when you first saw the trailer. It's like an exercise in standardization (read: Wayans Brothers).  Hyeon Bin is among what seems to be an endless supply of youthful casanovas from Korea. He was the star of the popular T.V. drama, My Lovely Samsoon, and will undoubtedly become a superstar in the Korean film industry. But that doesn't change the fact that he is the most irritating on-screen presence I've seen since Tak Sakaguchi (of Shinobi fame). While watching this movie, everytime his pretty-boy mug popped on the screen, I felt an overwhelming urge to vomit. What many Korean critics consider "irresistable charm," I call repugnant pretense. He's like a more annoying version of Hugh Grant; basically, picture Grant as an asshole trying to be charming, and that's vaguely what Hyeon Bin comes off as.
Why is it that these horrible teenage movies repeatedly come off as box-office hits? It drives me nuts. When this film was released in Korea earlier this year, it reportedly drew over 400,000 viewers in theaters from across the nation (JoongAng Daily News). It's my personal opinion that repetition is more profitable than creativity, and I think this is the perfect example of that universal truth. Hell, maybe it's just me, but I find these recycled teenage fantasies to be the least appealing cinematic garbage since Takashi Miike tried his hand at period dramas, with Sabu. In the end, this movie is even less clever than its title. 1/2 (Extremely Horrible) Posted: Tuesday, November 7, 2006
|
||||||||||
