64

Lee Yeon-hee to star opposite Jo In-sung

Lee Yeon-hee (Paradise Ranch, East of Eden) will be making a return to the big screen in Jo In-sung‘s highly anticipated post-army comeback project — the sci-fi fantasy film Fist Fighting from critically acclaimed director Park Kwang-hyun of the hit satire Welcome to Dongmakgol.

Park’s third film is a sci-fi fantasy blockbuster, set in the year 2050. So I’m guessing that most of the 10 billion won budget will be spent on CG. Jo In-sung plays a high school student (Pffft, I know…) with super-strength and a strong sense of justice. His character’s name is Kwon Bup, which is the title of the film, meaning the kind of martial arts involving bare fists. It’s getting so ridiculous with the title-name punning that now I’m confused when a title ISN’T a pun.

One day he meets a mysterious girl named Ray and falls in love with her, and helps her fight to save her village, which has been abandoned. Abandoned from what, I don’t know. I’d normally speculate, but with sci-fi fantasy, it could be anything from a dystopian Big Brother military state to fire-breathing alien insects from outer space. The range of logical scope is just a little wider, ‘s all I’m sayin’.

This will be Lee Yeon-hee’s first film in three years, since 2008’s Soonjung Manhwa (also called Hello Schoolgirl). She’s been playing high school students longer, so I guess her casting makes sense. I just think it’s funny that Jo In-sung’s first big role after going to the army is teen superhero. We send the baby-faced boys to army so that they come back manly men, and we’re sticking him back in high school? It just seems wrong.

Fist Fighting begins shooting in October for a release next year.

Via HanKyung

RELATED POSTS

Tags: ,

64

Required fields are marked *

first!

0
2
reply

Required fields are marked *

sounds interesting, i just hope Lee Yeon-hee won't have her Paradise Ranch hair.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

i really can't stand this girl n her acting sucks...

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

welcome back Jo In Sung..hope to see him in small screen..

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Lee Yeon Hee sure gets her way around them gorgeous men!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

you know, probably in 2050, high schoolers look old.

I really want to see Jo Insung back to the small screen again.

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

or maybe ppl have to study in high schools a decade longer.. both thoughts are scary.:):)

0
2
reply

Required fields are marked *

LOL i agree... the thought of having to stay in high sch for another 10 years? *shudder*

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

LOL! or maybe they get to play until they're like 10 and THEN go to school?

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

he looks like jang geun suk a little :-)

0
2
reply

Required fields are marked *

yes, i can see a bit of resemblance too especially the eyes!:)

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

i guess jang geun suk is a cross between G Dragon and Jo in Sung then? =P

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I love him...but am disappointed that he's going this route. Just glad he's not playing a teen-ager in a 16 ep. drama.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

He's so GOOD at angst-ridden and trouble....it's a shame that after the army he wants to present himself as "cute." (my source for this lengthy quote is a press conference he held.) He's already cute, and there's simply not enough people who can do "dark and troubled" like Jo In Sung.

Hopefully he will finish this movie quickly and move on to a long drama showcasing his amazing skills.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Damn girl! Her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard...Lee Yeon Hee has the best male costars!!! Hopefully they'll will start in high school but graduate to adulthood for most of the film.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

lucky girl! i agree with you. i'd like to see him in a more 'mature' role.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

For a history of macho high-schoolers see: Smallville

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

oh lee yeon hee I got to the second to last episode of paradise ranch and just coudlnt go any further even with my love of Max Changmin, all she did was cry it was a bit of a drag

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Bravo Bravo! Welcome back, Jo In Sung!

^_____________^

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Lee Yeon-hee must have the most amazing luck in the world because she is quite a weak actress and yet keeps getting paired with big names in the business. The camera does love her though, I just wish her acting was as good as she looks on camera.

I agree on the Jo In Sung playing a high schooler criticism and here I was hoping he would pick a project where he actually gets to be manlier than he was in the past because lets face, the boy isn't know for being the manliest of the bunch.

0
2
reply

Required fields are marked *

Most likely because she's under SM Entertainment. Politics, back-room deals, lobbying? Not saying that all of SME's talents got their roles through the above-mentioned, but Yeon-hee's got a suspicious lack of acting talent to deserve the roles she got. Some of their artists really do have talent (Siwon & some others who can act but unfortunately haven't gotten any roles yet), but I could name more idols-turned-actors that only look good on camera and should have just stuck with modeling or "singing" (Yoona? Go Ara? Changmin?)

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I know this is a little below the belt. But she could be married to Seo Taiji. You'd never know. This secret will only be out 14 years later.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I want him in comedy drama, sigh

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Um, but this is post-army......so there should be the requisite shower body-shot, right? Or is that only for dramas?

Not that I'm in any way objectifying him. Six-pack abs just enhance the admiration I have for their minds. I swear.

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

"Six-pack abs just enhance the admiration I have for their minds. I swear."

One of the truest things I've ever read =) Bravo!

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

Yes , absolutely yes .

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

not to mention, for their acting. it takes a real actor to bare post-army yumminess body shots, in my honest and humble opinion.

lee yeon hee is meh, but dang nabbit, i made a solemn vow 6 years ago that i would see anything jo in sung was in!!! ......you never forget your first love, you know. :P

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Ooh great! Love Lee Yeon-Hee ;)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

She gets to work with all the cuties :) Hyun Bin Changmin and now him <3

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

love jo in sung, a great actor, but lee yeon hee? wth.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

omo.... what a pair... I was screaming... love both of them separately... yeah I know, JIS as a highschooler... not sure, still JIS all the way. And LYH... dont know something about her inner gentle-calm personality always bait me. Love this girl regardless her weak acting... about her odd hair in paradise ranch, I felt that way at first but somehow I think its antique. I even tried it on me, my first curly hair ever, and I love it. :)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

urrr.. weird.

first, because jo in sung is playing a high school student. o_O'

second, lee yeonhee?! what? is that stiff princess going to fight too?

i don't forsee cool and epic anywhere in there.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

bleh, LYH's acting...i'm surprise she's able to score such big roles.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

IDK.
If he's playing a high-schooler, how are we supposed to view his obligatory shower scene?

This may be teetering on the edge of pervy....

:)

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

thanks GF,

Lee dae hae should have a role to act with JIS in a

matured drama, what a waste for him to act with the

above actress with only one facial expression in all her

dramas that she has acted.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Oh, not Lee Da Hae. You know who should act with him? Song Hye Kyo, because she's prettier than either of them and a better actress too!
And why not Yoon Eun Hye instead? She matches best with everybody!

0
14
reply

Required fields are marked *

Hell, I would just stick him with Ha Ji Won (again). He once commented that she was the kindest actress he's ever worked with (this was a post army episode of Infinity Challenge). Yoo Jae Suk, whose worked with her before, was quick to agree.

Her acting always nice and subtle - no batting eyelashes for a fluttering heart or showcasing emotional distress with a literal grab to the heart. (*City Hunter is excused since he was literally shot near the heart...)

0
13
reply

Required fields are marked *

Goes without saying, really. Ha Ji Won is the Queen of OPW; her chemistry with male leads is without rival (and what I mean is . . . she makes Korean men GO CRAZY.) Even Jang Geun Suk had his best chemistry with Ha Ji Won (Hwang Jini.) She can make a love triangle between a cactus and a ladder compelling.

"He once commented that she was the kindest actress he’s ever worked with (this was a post army episode of Infinity Challenge)."

TRANSLATION: Ha Ji Won's OPW was so powerful that all of a sudden I started wailing with my fist in my mouth. I don't remember What Happened in Bali at all!!

0
12
reply

Required fields are marked *

Don't get me started on Damo! Do I sense a pattern? Male sacrifice in the name of so much Right? I mean it's pretty hard to make faux-incest tolerable (Oh 'Autumn in My Heart' - if not for the killer illness...you would have had some explaining to do.) BUT she managed to make a real relationship with her "brother" be rooted for.

(I think I don't remember What Happened in Bali either...so I will go re-watch it for the 10th time. Mmmmm.)

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

i agree sfm, but this got me started thinking again about Memories of Bali and ya'll really should NOT get me started on Memories of Bali. i literally locked myself in my room after that damn ending and spent the night crying. ffs, what a first foray into the kdrama world... it's a testament to its addictive nature (and traumatizing storyline) that after it and six years on, i went on to become such a kdrama addict! T_T

0
10
reply

Required fields are marked *

It has to be, hands down, the best drama I've ever seen. Nothing comes close. The more I watch the more I feel nothing ever will come close.

It's so smart and well thought; it produces actually thought. I remember pausing it just to make it last a tad longer, re-watching and having a different viewer experience. I literally could rave about this drama for hours.

Additionally, the ending spurred a series of tears and hyperventilation. I was actually clutching myself from the pain.

Such a fantastic and original take on a "love story" that shows a love that is both "pure" in it's obsession and passion as well as "dirty" in it's effects, consequences, and actions. I've never seen such a fantastic piece of work.

Despite it's infamous ending, I would really love to have a love that powerful once (could it even be more then once?) in my life.

0

Are we going to talk about WHIB AGAIN?!? Why, don't mind if I do. :D (people don't realize this, but there's a meme in Dramabeans, where discussions of What Happened in Bali break out . . . JUST BECAUSE)

There's a reason for the high school thing. Some years, when Boys Before Flowers was still searching for a cast, producers asked a poll who should play Douymouji/Jung Pyo. Jo In Sung won that hands down.

Memories of Bali is Boys Before Flowers . . . on a coke binge. It's a Cinderella story where Cinderella is treated like Alice in Wonderland. It's the Chaebol drama that wears its decadent intentions, less like Gossip Girl, and more like a Bret Eaton Ellis novel.

Jo In Sung is reckless and shameless in Bali. Coward, fool, masculine ethos is annihilated with every utterly pathetic gesture. And yet. The ferocity of Jo In Sung's Oedipal tantrums belies this uncomfortably compelling sense that Jo In Sung doesn't want to merely make love to Ha Ji Won, he wants to be inside her womb, as if she could give him a soul that he realizes he never had. His love is childish AND vampyric, anguished and all-consuming. It is the primal and emotional magma all the Noona Killer "feel good" stuff would rather you not look.

Jo In Sung's performance is a gamble. He went too far in this show, overstepped emotional boundaries with Ha Ji Won that a less "there" (manipulative?) actress would say "STOP!" Why does he do this? Because he gambles that you would still say yes. And you do. You hate yourself. You still give in. He brings out maternal instincts into the romantic forefront that disgust you, yet compels you to to draw in. Noona can't say no.

Oh yeah, So Ji Sup is good in this too. ;) Many people don't realize this, but Jo In Sung was originally meant to play So Ji Sup's role. Bali was going to use a much older actor to play Jae-min, but that fell through, and in a way What Happened in Bali became something else.

0

Oh I forgot. Without Bali, we wouldn't have Andy's "fist-in-mouth ARRGGHHHHHH!!!!" gesture.

Here's the Love Letter episode with Ha Ji Won and Shinhwa. Skip to 6:50 for Andy and his AARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3c83z_loveletter-season-1-part-1-ha-jiwon_people

0

Belleza, I had no idea Fight-Club-esque bouts of WHIB exaltation broke out in said forum...I feel ashamed. I love everything you wrote, naturally. Let me take my joy in small bites - and reply to every little point.

Firstly, I thought there was a poll and Chun Jung Myung won? I suppose I am misinformed! Then again if I was ever faced with a poll of any sort, and Jo In Sung's name was on it, you'd never hear a 'nay' from these fingertips.

Secondly, can I say how much I love this:

"Jo In Sung doesn't merely want to make love to Ha Ji Won, he wants to be inside her womb," truer words, truer word.

His character is so flawed. Unanimously a bit dull in the head (his conversations with his brother? Poor little pea-pod...) I could go on...but I am speaking with someone who knows all that, so I'll skip the obligatory descriptor. The point: he's raw flesh and blood, so dirty and so imperfect, and so much, much, greater then any level of ridiculous that dares to include the words "Prince" and "First Love" in their titles.

It's obsession. It's absolute pure obsession. And our language doesn't quite fit with what we need to use to describe him because what we are asked to see as 'love' is not the degradation of humanity but it's upliftment (see degradation as empowerment: 'Atlas Shrugged' mutually desired "rape") It's dirty. That level of need. Yet it never becomes less then 4 dimensional because he still experiences the need for money and some-kind of family system. For a bit.

And I love his love. I love all the steps he goes through. The initial intrigue, the desire of the body, the need to possess it for himself, and the jealousy that elevates that "need" to dangerous levels.

He clearly realizes he can't just take her body. It's not enough nor will it ever be - a bit like the Grecian hell where you see the grapes and water, and they are just a fingertip away from your malnurished form. I firmly believe, he could probably live his life never leaving the conjugal bed, never leaving her..., forcing her to repeat "I love you"s, and his mind would still have doubts and need "more" from her.

Can I tell you how much I love the mutual uncommunication? And not that ridiculous, "Ah, they missed each other because they we're constructing a toll booth - see, it's fate." I love that at that beginning they act differently (and on both their parts, regret that natural personality shift) and communication is presented in such a real fashion. As they continue their relations you start to see both those social, hegemonic, walls crack - his infamous "I want to have you....I want to give you pleasure, I want to make you smile, etc." and then his confession that he seems to do all the opposites - and all in the position of holding her hands, bowing his head, and being literally crippled with emotions. Naturally there's also the crying phone scene, communication at one of it's most simplistic (a phone - what else is it for) but so uncommunicative. An actual modern day, human made, barrier to everything that could have given them a bit more time if actually serving it's purpose - getting across one's intent or elevating one's understanding.

And I say "time" loosely because no matter how I think the ending is the only ending plausible and possible. The love is dirty, obsessed, never enough, this doesn't compare to getting mad at "your" lady for conversing with a passing ice-cream salesmen. And thank god because this is so much better. He can't ever BE close enough, his whole life is her....and if your whole life IS somebody, and you're not that person...you're going to have one really shit life. And that's it. That's it in a nut. When she ends, he ends. And because he can't ever be fully immersed in "his" (read: her) life....it's not going to last long, the 'life' that is.

But still.....if I had to pick from all the love stories I've ever hear I wouldn't blink twice. I would like to have something of this caliber. Because I do feel it's so much more beautiful, lovely, dirty, and humiliating, then anything I've read or seen. And in the end it's Right. Why tote "love" as being "everything there is to life" and "he/she completes me", when one can't face what their asking for. You can't have something so "big and omniscient" as you desire and not go mad. And I love it. I love that drama. I could participate in these "fight-club" bouts till my nail chips (....maybe) and be happy.

0

Damn I wrote too much! Belleza...I'm sorry. I got enethusiastic with that womb bit. Too much coffee? Ah yes! I saw that clip! Let the infamous scenes live on and on! (SO CUTE)

0

"And our language doesn’t quite fit with what we need to use to describe him because what we are asked to see as ‘love’ is not the degradation of humanity but it’s upliftment (see degradation as empowerment: ‘Atlas Shrugged’ mutually desired “rape”) It’s dirty. That level of need. "

jones, bellezza, i hear ya'll-- not to exalt or suggest that jo in sung's character's actions in WHIB were anything less than a dance between petty and abusive... but GOD if that character wasn't compelling! the really twisty part for me wasn't all the damn dirt, greyness, murkiness of it all, but that fact that somewhere in there, i really believed that the love was present. and at first, being younger than i am now, i couldn't reconcile how such a dirty, abusive kind of relationship could be said to contain any such love, and i didn't know why i believed such a small, misguided man could be giving her love. but i guess.. even if it wasn't the kind of love you dream about, he gave her all he KNEW of love, and in that way, gave her all of HIM, essentially. and she falls for the earnestness and fullness of his offering, even though all it was was broken, sad, possessive and incomplete.
because the earnestness is charming, the fullness is enticing. it makes for moments when we're led astray into thinking... this is all we need: good intentions.

but as bellezza said--- "The ferocity of Jo In Sung’s Oedipal tantrums belies this uncomfortably compelling sense that Jo In Sung doesn’t want to merely make love to Ha Ji Won, he wants to be inside her womb, as if she could give him a soul that he realizes he never had. His love is childish AND vampyric, anguished and all-consuming."

and when you realize this, and you figure that through a fight like that, he had a girl in love with him as well, teaching him what love should be and could be instead of this sick twisted vampiric way he goes about it, and the WANT IT, they want it to work out so much. the love IS there, and it had no chance at all of survival.... that makes you so invested in that dark moment he takes all of their lives. like jones said, i can see no alternate ending for this, but the kid in you.. the romantic inside you, the noona, the mother (everything jo in sung wanted you to be for his character).... that was who was screaming, "NOOOO! NOOOOOOOOO!" when that 3rd bullet was fired.

--------------------
could i segue that i really miss these grittier takes on life that past dramas actually had the nerve to show? noona-killer stuff that would literally KILL, and that noonas all over the world now don't even know exist. maybe this was why i was pro-bed scene in that infamous secret garden ep 13 debacle, because I HATED HATED HATED the thought of any man dragging a girl into bed and forcing himself on her (even for just cuddles) BUUUUUUUUUT we were supposed to hate it!!!! not exalt it! it was meant to be so freaking wrong! joo won bwas just behaving CONSISTENTLY as his character, and as a character dimension, and as a thematic point (of how children love in childish ways, and we see the female character learning to love him in spite of it as a woman, and because of it as a mother and noona) we'd seen it before. in such a coked-up way... that i couldn't believe that people forgot THAT THIS WAS A MOVEMENT IN THE STORY, inasmuch as it was a moral point.

aaaaanywaaaay. told ya'll not to get me started on WHIB. :P I LOVED LETTING THIS ALL OUT! THANK YOU!

0

Over at D-addicts, some of us were having a nice discussion about What Happened in Bali.

http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_16088_90.htm

Now onto this one . . .

"I had no idea Fight-Club-esque bouts of WHIB exaltation broke out in said forum…I feel ashamed."

Conversations between me, Ockoala, and Mookie would veer randomly into WHiB discussions (and one of the few shows we all equivocally agree on.) Sure, it would make sense when talking about Noona Killers/Love, but just about any K-drama related topic could become a WHiB discussion. And WHiB discussions always end up like THIS too. :D

I think it's largely about rationalizing something none of us want to personally explore. We all felt dirty watching Bali. Yet, we felt liberated too.

"Firstly, I thought there was a poll and Chun Jung Myung won? "

When they did the Netizen poll, it came out Jo In Sung, Kang Dong Won, Lee Dong Gun, Jang Hyuk, and Binnie, in that order. Im Joo Hwan and Choi Si Won were most popular picks for Ji Hoo.

"The point: he’s raw flesh and blood, so dirty and so imperfect, and so much, much, greater then any level of ridiculous that dares to include the words “Prince” and “First Love” in their titles."

Agreed. His character is ENTIRELY substantiated by his extreme need for Ha Ji Won's character. K-drama's enabling "Chaebol Prince" privilege is brutally subverted to only expose Jae-min's his personal limitations. It is as if Jae-min says "if you don't like me because I'm rich and hot. aww crap, I'm worthless, aren't I?" and it goes downhill from there for him.

Sigh. Poor boy. He just wasn't equipped to have human emotions. He just started functioning. :D

I'll continue onto other points tomorrow . . . might as well make this The WHiB Thread Evar :D

0

Oooh...Belleza...a place everyone just talks about WHiB? All the time. I think I'll stop by if I have time (read: Yayayay!)

Maria, I love all the points you bring up. I completely think you're spot on with all the negative, anti-hero, traits being boldly (and confidently) thrown at the viewer along with this progression into pure need. I love how the show presents you with this bundle of sins and Garden-of-Eden-Reject qualities and then basically says, "This is love."

Unlike all the princes and ridiculous Chaebol cliches who begin perfect and seem to have some negative traits written in just to KEEP them human Jung Jae Min starts out with faults, collects more, and falls into this "divine" love (that people preach as some sort of redemption from life) and proceeds to sink in faults. It's like a mini-anthem to our humanity.

Why seek to escape from what we are when what he is presenting is actually the opposite - to use a metaphor - the only way to "be" is not to try to get back to Eden while hiding these natural imperfections, but rather, walk so far away that Eden and it's preachings of "ignorace is bliss" and "purity" no longer apply. And as I said, dare someone say his love is not, in it's own way, pure. A dirty pure. A human pure.

There's this one amazing scene a bit later in the drama (before marriage, post obsession, pre-sex) where he's talking with his fiance over coffee, staring out the window, after his future mother-in-law has confronted him about "keeping" a girl.

Fiance - Do you know how many people you've hurt? (Smiles) Did you think we wouldn't know if you hid her somewhere? (Smiles) And what about her life? (pause) Do you love her or something?

And that moment right there is the first time in her five minute dialogue that he actually looks at her - and a small "I pity you" smile flashes across his lips. As if that question itself is so ridiculous that it's laughable. And at the end I think that's one thing the drama never leaves you doubting - that it IS love, and if you actually pose such a ridiculous question that's the answer you deserve for your own choice at ignorant bliss and expectancy of what "love" should be.

0

Belleza!

I love this bit!

Agreed. His character is ENTIRELY substantiated by his extreme need for Ha Ji Won’s character. K-drama’s enabling “Chaebol Prince” privilege is brutally subverted to only expose Jae-min’s his personal limitations. It is as if Jae-min says “if you don’t like me because I’m rich and hot. aww crap, I’m worthless, aren’t I?” and it goes downhill from there for him.

- You

They did such a fantastic job of making him original "cliche". I mean they REALLY did a great job. He's the classic Chaebol whose (one among many) faults is throwing money at our heroine. Multiple times.

I never realized but that seems to be THE consistent act in a swift monetary climb. First it's a couple hundred to sleep with him in Bali, then it's a carte-blanche at the hostess bar with a "how much do you charge for a night?" Followed by the loan of 30,000 with the thought that she WILL offer, at least, to sleep with him in return for the funding. We then have him throwing her million won notes at the gallery, apartment and clothes, the gold card, and then the post-sex 100,000 dollars.

You'd think somewhere he would change tactics but he's physically incapable of realizing there's more ways to "have" something then by throwing money at it. He's so into the hegemony he can't see outside it. And it drives him a bit mad.

(Do you notice how while you know they own a "mall" and money is constantly traded around, the actual company he is the future owner of doesn't actually have a set description. It's extremely vague. And it doesn't matter. It's MONEY and these documents floating around and these presentations don't MEAN anything except "here is money" and "he owns it" Because to his character it couldn't matter less (and thank god because: "to me either") what they were the company of - and in the end the drama isn't focusing on "Ah! Tourism!" or "Look, they make dramas!" but focusing on "Money.")

I love what you said about the Noona-complex. I really do. Because he is a little boy. One with alcohol and power and who fears almost literal spanking. I mean...that's why he's reluctant for so many things at the beginning. Yes he will lose power, family, friends, lifestyle, and money, but he get's far beyond those those with his need for "her" But when it comes to changing his mind it's beatings. He get's beaten and that always puts him back to submission. So Ji Sub's character even scoffs at Jung Jae Min's "You don't know what I had to go through! [to get this far with her]"

Reply: "So they beat you a bit. So what?"

He's a child with the slobber on the work documents and the constant "baby" title from his mother; but on a more serious aspect, he's afraid of physical pain which is in tune with his love and experiences for Her making him into a "man" He's both progressing and stunted which leads to the rather insightful relationship where he comes so close to having her "physical" self so many times (that immediate need) but is completely aware that it means nothing at all if he can't have her not-physical-self (which can be "beaten" literally - like his IS). He needs to have her everything. And it's so beautiful that he realizes it's not even a "temporary solution" to have her body. He really does need that much more - and he won't settle for having them separate (well, until close to the end, that is.)

Thank you guys so much for having this conversation with me! It's so nice to talk with people who love it so much! I get really happy when I see your postings!

0

Ah, I just realized something. If we do take this "his beatings/physical violence done to him, are one of the most significant parts of his character and decision making process" then him killing SJS and her is a very nice example of the extreme version.

"I must punish them for their wrongs" - and what he knows of punishment is his families beatings - therefore physically killing someone (and then accidently taking that violence to the next person) is a fantastic consistency in his character.

*Sigh* I love how much "sense" this drama makes. It welcomes you to think more

0

I'm so delighted about JIS' comeback I no longer care what character he's supposed to be playing. Not a big fan of LYH but she has such sweet face. I can tell these two will have chemistry on-screen.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

But i want him in a drama T__T

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

yay! another lee yeon hee project on the way...for some reason i love her movies more than her dramas...can`t wait!

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

I like them both! This is interesting! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

high schooler? imma hold judgment for this, just coz as you said, the sci-fi aspect of it could let them get away with it in a ... logical? believable?.. way. i mean i love Jo Insung, but was Jang Geun Seok busy or something?!

i WILL watch this, though. jo in sung was my first love, before bae soo bin, before gong yoo, before chun jung myung, before lee min hot--- i'd watch him walk around dirt, in a SACK, to be honest. i dunno--- blame memories of bali.

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

Him walking around in (just) a sack sounds might appealing.

I actually wished Jo In Sung went the more Kim Rae Won, Kim Jae Won route where immediately after their military service they went on to do a lengthy drama.

Unfortunately it seems that, if they just chose the leading lady, this will take quite some time to actually hit the cinema...and then what? Two hours tops? Of a high school romance?

I don't blame him for choosing that route, but I don't blame myself for wanting (and expecting) a bit more.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

@Jones,

"I love how the show presents you with this bundle of sins and Garden-of-Eden-Reject qualities and then basically says, “This is love.”"

That's exactly it, and what the bed dialogue between Soo Jung and In-wook reflects. They return to Paradise at the end of the story, but realize they finally arrived in Hell (In-wook in particular.) You can never really go back to Eden (i.e. Bali), and the very last photo of the four in Bali reflects that. Welcome to Hotel California . . .

(Though it's worth noting . . . in this teleplay, sex exists in this Eden. )

It's also a smart bit of K-drama metacommentary. In big budget chaebol melodramas (i.e. "Lovers" trilogy), the would-be lovers meet at an exotic or fantastical location before returning to their home base. These dramas end up with them returning to that (or similar) location -- MiSa was constructed in that way. WHiB subverts that with the shocking ending and the dialogue between Soo Jung and In-wook.

"Unlike all the princes and ridiculous Chaebol cliches who begin perfect and seem to have some negative traits written in just to KEEP them human "

More or less, Korean Chaebol dramas (particularly the rom-coms) operate on substantiation of desire. Arrogant prince wants girl bad; girl reciprocates; the story is built like an obstacle course to qualify the male hero's desire. In melodrama, the arrogant prince may be "domesticated" in order to complete the illusion of man becoming a better person for the sake of love. Suffer into love.

What Happened in Bali plays along with this (and essentially abides by this), but it's relentless foreplay. And in stringing the audience along, they are also forcing us to pay attention and comment on the substantiation process itself. This is where the rationalization comes along; oh, Soo Jung grew up poor; oh, Jae Min was a trapped animal; In-wook loves her more. The casting is key here. Had they went with the original casting choices, Bali's black comedy and its relentless machinations would have been plain and probably distancing. But, the Noona element subsidizes Jae Min's respectability deficit.

To put it another way, I can imagine Lee Seo Jin acting as Jae-min -- he has similar proclivity to play up obsessive emotions. However, even if the characters were written the same way and did the same stuff, my reaction would be a fundamentally different, because the Lee Seo Jin-Ha Ji Won dynamic can never have the "Noona Love" element. Noona Love FORGIVES so much more. (Think how differently Samsoon plays were Binnie older than Kim Sun Ah.)

WHiB seduces us and mocks us and seduces us more.

"He’s so into the hegemony he can’t see outside it. And it drives him a bit mad. "

Exactly. He doesn't realize he doesn't a "soul", because he fundamentally sees Soo Jung as an OBJECT to purchase and consume. Does he consider her feelings? Does he try to put himself in her shoes? Not at all. She is his personal brand of heroine (yes, I just threw in in a Twilight quote LOL), and he needs his angry fix. It is only toward the end of the show, when he for the first time really sees her as a human being, does his mad passion turns into genuine love. And yet. It is also inherently tragic, because THEN he realizes how truly limited HE is as a human being to love her. Transcending his dialectical materialism toward an self-aware and self-actuated love . . . being a real human being . . . he just can't do it, and boy oh boy does Jo In Sung convey that in devastated, sad clown glory.

"It’s MONEY and these documents floating around and these presentations don’t MEAN anything except “here is money” and “he owns it”"

Yeah, and in fact, that's a consistent problem with chaebol dramas. Drama chaebols never actually work, and their conglomerates rarely show the actual product. (HELLO BOYS BEFORE FLOWERS!!!!0 It is because when we watch chaebol drama, we understand the fantasy is really about the Chaebol Prince lording over his fiefdom. Which is to say, the land is suffused with the honeyed talk of money and the EMOTIONAL DEBT of money. This becomes clear when you consider Soo Jung's swindler uncle, who throughout the story, spins one money making scheme after another. In WHiB world, the swinder uncle is the norm, the drama chorus that ehcoes the setting's conventional wisdom how everything is money and everything can be bought and sold and negotitated and hustled. That he is homeless and has nothing but his words is the punchline and point. In WHiB's world, everybody is hollow and empty (except for In-Wook, who "gets it" and "knew better" but gave in to his genuine love for her. .)

"Yes he will lose power, family, friends, lifestyle, and money, but he get’s far beyond those those with his need for “her” "

The beauty of Jae-min's development is the farther he goes out there, the more he realizes how empty he is. He realizes he can't really survive without his money. Ironically, his fiancee doesn't.

"but on a more serious aspect, he’s afraid of physical pain which is in tune with his love and experiences for Her making him into a “man”"

That gets especially played up to the Noona status. Jae Min can't ever be a "Man" to Soo Jung. He can't protect her. He can't assure her. He can't take care of her. Those are all In-wook (who, again, is a stand-in for "human being with soul and conscience") qualities, which on paper represents the "perfect boyfriend/husband" case as well. Of course, Soo Jung doesn't want that. ;)

"And it’s so beautiful that he realizes it’s not even a “temporary solution” to have her body. He really does need that much more – and he won’t settle for having them separate (well, until close to the end, that is.)"

Indeed. Jae-min relates to others entirely in the idiom of "buy and sell." Extreme need without "meaning", and that is exactly why Jae-min's desire for her cannot be quenched, even if he "had" her.

Phew!! *fans self*

I'll follow up with more later.

0
3
reply

Required fields are marked *

This is a brilliant idea. When we run out of "replies" let's just start a new one! Belleza, you're an ace!

This is brilliant! I love and am really absorbed in everything your saying.

“They return to Paradise at the end of the story, but realize they finally arrived in Hell (In-wook in particular.) You can never really go back to Eden (i.e. Bali)”

So lovely. Ah, this has made me remember the Marxist theory reading In-wook. It's so brilliant because he does love her. And she, in a way, loves him. At the same time she has two selves. She's interested in the books he gives her: she even "ends" one of their early relationships by giving the borrowed book back. A nice little symbol not only for the attempt at separation but that bit of her that could be in love with him: the intellectual and cognitive being that he sees in her and wants to nurture and develop, and the one she hands back to him with the book.

I never actually saw, that is, before you brought it up, the classic scenario of meeting in a distant land to come back to Korea – or “home” or what not. Now that I think of it I’m a bit more thrilled that this drama chose to stray away from that. The Heaven and Hell metaphor you mentioned is brilliant, and for some reason I never took it that far.

“The casting is key here. Had they went with the original casting choices, Bali’s black comedy and its relentless machinations would have been plain and probably distasteful.”

Most definitely. Lee Seo Jin would have been an acceptable stand in…but, I can’t think of anyone else who would have made this drama what it is. The writing is fantastic, mostly for what it resists to write. I liked the directors choices as well – he knew when to not make it flashy. Both of these entities rely on the acting.

Not merely is the obsession quite clear. The breakdowns are shown as ugly and painful. Theirs no subtly to his man-child…but there is. I mean, to pick on Jae Min in particular (after he imagines In Wook and Soo Jung sleeping together), he can run over in a panic to an absent home of Soo Jung and reach straight for the handle (no knocking) and then pound with his fist screaming…calm down (after being told to by a neighbor) place his head on the door, and with his fingers do the same knocking motion on the door – a pointless act since they don’t make a sound.

It’s stuff like that that I adore. And I adore that they don’t do a huge zoom-in to focus on his fingers or what not – it’s just there, and if you notice it, you notice. Much like the drama itself, subtlety lies in the layer beneath the presented offering.

“Sad clown glory”

Ohmgee, did you not clasp your heart and start shaking like someone from a drama with a season’s name in it when you saw his smiling face, tears streaming, hate for himself written all over it, going mad. Ah…perfection. On a less lust filled note: how pathetic it is to be an oxymoron, a comedic fool whose falling to depression and insanity. Throwing money at things that don't take it.

“Indeed. Jae-min relates to others entirely in the idiom of “buy and sell.” Extreme need without “meaning”, and that is exactly why Jae-min’s desire for her cannot be quenched, even if he “had” her.”

Right. He’s completely immersed in this system. It’s ironic that his father tells him that “you can only trust your family in this world” because it’s quite clear that this family cannot do that. The irony is, as he is saying those lines his first son is finishing his money laundering scheme and his second son is not even listening to the business talk, filling his head with how he can present this: “I don’t need anything. I don’t need anything at all! I need nothing…just give me that girl.”

It’s lovely because not only does he want her to that level of “sacrifice” (he’s about to get beaten – which I argue is more significant a punishment, to his personal hegemony, then what ever other punishment was (or rather “was not”) inflicted to him in his childhood.)

The duality to this is while he realizes he wants to make this “sacrifice” – whatever he thinks that means – it also shows how much in the “buy sell” system he is in. If YOU don’t have the ability of “buy” this requires…ask mum and dad. Surely that is what his childhood solution consisted of.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Belleza and Maria as well,

Since we both have a passion for this drama would you mind giving me two or three other favorites of yours? After watching something of such high calliber (such as this, and Damo) it's extremely hard to actually watch anything else without feeling stifled and critique-ready.

Any Melodrama that meets this? Any drama that meets this level of good?

0
1
reply

Required fields are marked *

I'll follow up with more Bali feedback. My melodrama pitch . . .

1) I'm Sorry I Love You

Jae Min's my 2nd all time favorite male character; Moo Hyuk's my first. I feel this is the only Korean drama I've ever seen to truly what falling deeply, deeply in love privately feels like. It's all in the eyes (the joy when he looks at her made me cry), and its effect is an ambient respite from the world's unfeeling regard.

That said, MiSa is not a love story and it's not even that romantic. It's a family tragedy, and more specifically, a retelling of Cain and Abel. Must Moo Hyuk be his brother's keeper?

2) Thank You

This was Jang Hyuk's comeback/redemption show, and the first sign that his acting chops had caught up to his movie star charisma. Thank You is both a family medical drama and a story about transition. The surreal "Blue Island" is essentially purgatory, and literally people wander through their sorrow there.

3) Alone in Love

Best written show ever. Best female performance ever. My pitch for the show's genius: The main female character (much like the drama's original novelist, who later committed suicide) has untreated depression. It's never said, but it permeates everything about the character and thus the show.

4) Star In My Heart

Bali's writer Kim Ki Ho is credited for creating the "Cinderella Chaebol Drama" genre, with Star In My Heart . . and in a way has tried to live down that ever since. However, if you watch the original Cinderella Story with 2011 eyes, you'll notice that it's much grittier and edgier (and, yes, sexier) than its chaebol descendants. Kim Ki Ho loved looking at the power dynamics behind family, class, and "organizational man", and that is where Star in My Heart leverages its poor Cinderella heroine. The story arc covering Jeon Do Yeon's support character is its own storyline about exploitation and sexism and moral compromise involved with the music industry, and it's a tipoff for Kim Ki Ho would do later on with Bali and Super Rookie.

0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Wow !! Love this pairing... Perfect pairing i think. I love both LYH and JIS.

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Lee yeon hee I love you ~~ do your best & beat who said you are suck !!!! Cz you are not <3

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥I love them both..Gosh, can't wait..I think LYH
acting is getting better n better^^Definitely a must-watch!! ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *

Finally ... he back ,,,, I miss you Jo in Sung!!!!!!

I hope we can see your movies soon :))).... Start from 2009 until now I only watching your drama " Memories of Bali " .... I can't stop watching this movie , ,,, I really love it and I really miss you Jo in Sung ...

0
0
reply

Required fields are marked *