99 days with the Superstar

僕とスターの９９日aka 99 days with the Super is a Japanese drama starring a cast of both South Koreans and Japanese actors. Kim Tae Hee plays a Korean actress who goes to Japan to star in a drama but she gets close to her Japanese bodyguard Kohei (Hidetoshi Nishijima). The show also features TaecYeon in a supportive role.

Overall, the drama is perfect if you would want to see a multicultural drama. I would suggest this drama if you are used to the comedy in Japanese dramas. Or you may feel frustrated with it and end the drama before it even started. Sadly, this drama is only 10 episodes long. It does seem rushed in the end and a bit predictable.Can't say much about it but I do encourage you to watch it. The show is available on Crunchyroll.

Kim Tae-Hee previously starred in My Princess and Yong-Pal.She is also married to Rain, who was the star of Ninja Assassin.

Hidetoshi Nishijima is mainly a film actor with credits like Loft, The Wind Rises, and Shindo. 

Can't get a girl in a drama aka TaecYeon starred in Marriage Blue and in a few dramas like Dream High. He is a member of the Kpop group 2PM, so I'm sure he is busy enough with that as he has only a few acting credits. 

Impression of The Master of Revenge aka Master - God of Noodles

I will call this an impression because I didn't watch all the episodes but I did watch the first few and the end. It starts off kind of good but then it spirals into predictability. The ending was terrible and happened so fast. I suggest you skip this drama and watching Oh Hae-Young or Beautiful Mind. 

The show stars Chun Jung-Myung as a young man out for revenge against a man who stole everything from him. He is brought up in an orphanage and has 3 great friends all who have different paths in life. Due to a tragic even the four friends split up but eventually make it back to each other. It's a tough road for the four of them and not everyone makes it out alive. 

Despite the terrible ending, I do like this cast. 

Cho Jae-hyun does a wonderful job as the main villain. I've seen him in a few films and I have been impressed with his talent. He does a lot of Kim Ki-duk films, so some people might not recognize him. I've actually never seen him play a sane character before, that would be interesting to see. 

Dramas:

Piano

New Heart

Syndrome

Punch

Take Care of My Dad

Assembly

The beautiful Jeong Yu-mi who I have loved watching since Assorted Gems. She

stars as the love interest of Chun Jung-Myung's character and is a prosecutor. 

Dramas:

King Sejong the Great

Painter of the Wind

Assorted Gems

Dong Yi

A Thousand Days' Promise

Rooftop Prince

Wonderful Mama

Maids

Six Flying Dragons

Lee Sang-yeob as Park Tae-ha who is one of the four friends who is very selfless. He is the kind of film you would want around you.

Dramas:

King Sejong the Great

Midas

Miss Ripley

The Innocent Man

House of Bluebird

Signal

First impressions of Beautiful Mind

A Beautiful Mind is a 16 episode Korean drama currently on-air. It stars Jang Hyuk as a neurosurgeon with no sympathy and Park So-Dam as a naive cop who is all about doing the right thing. It is my first time seeing Park So-Dam so far I'm not too impressed but I'm very impressed with Jang Hyuk. 

I've seen Jang Hyuk in Searching for an Elephant, Five Senses of Eros, Maybe, The Client, The Flu, and Innocent Thing. So he's not new to me but his performance in this is far better than anything else I've seen from him. His character is so dark but at the same time vulnerable. It's a very difficult character to play so I have to tip my hat to him. Only 7 episodes have been aired but this is my favorite drama of 2016 so far. I often don't wait for the subs to be fully translated into English, I have to thank Viki. 

Lee Young Oh (Jang Hyuk) is a neurosurgeon who his father calls a monster as he lacks emotion and has been taught how to analyze body language in order to understand emotions.  Eventually, Lee Young Oh is left alone in this world after he is betrayed rather harshly. In comes Gye Jin Sung (Park So Dam) a traffic cop who is a bit naive that Lee Young Oh seems to like to play with. When he has no one left will Gye Jin Sung rush into his life in order to save him and make him "human"?

Jang Hyuk

Films:

Please Teach Me English

Windstruck

Five Senses of Eros

Maybe

Searching For Elephant

The Client

The Flu

Innocent Thing

Empire of Lust

Park So-dam

Films:

Steel Cold Winter

One on One

The Silenced

Veteran

The Throne

The priests

The Host

The host is about a man who must rescue his daughter from a strange beast created by the American government who dumped toxic waste in the Han river. 

For the Emperor

A baseball player gets banned after he gets mixed up in a scandal. After a few encounters with loan sharks, he is recruited into the company. He becomes close to the boss of the company after the man takes him under his wing. But will that relationship last after the former player falls in love?

The family torn by pain and sex: Moebius

Another feature film from the "underground" Korean director Kim Ki-duk. This is one of the most f*cked up movies I have ever seen. So if you have never seen one of his movies then be prepared for anything. Kim Ki-duk's films are unpredictable at times and balance on the thin borderline of insanity and downright mad. 

This is the journey a very very dysfunctional family driven to the brink thanks to the fathers cheating and the mother having a psychotic break down. Sadly it is the son that receives the worst punishment due to his father and mother's problems. 

Show me the Sex: Green Chair

"When an ordinary housewife is convicted for seducing a minor, reckless love leads to obsession and creeping doubt." - IMDb

It starts kind of slow but you will understand why as the movie goes on. This film has a lot of sex scenes so you have been warned. 

Kim Mun-hee has just been released from jail after she had an affair with a 19 year old (In Korea 20 is the legal age to have sex). She is the wise one despite the fact she can't control her emotions or body around her 19 year old lover Seo-hyun. The two decide to rent a room, though they mainly stay inside having sex. Mun-hee is still like a teacher as she guides Seo-hyun the various positions and techniques involved in having sex. Her motives appear simple but before her naked form there is a complex person who doesn't truly understand what she should be doing.

While Seo-hyun is very childish despite him trying not to be. He tries to act like a man and prove himself worthy of a relationship with Mun-hee. At the end of the movie he appears to have undergone a quite change of character as he becomes more of a man. He grows up even though I see him as a puppy always attached to Mun-hee. 

If you are not comfortable with images like the one above then you shouldn't watch this film. 

Vegetarian

"A young housewife, finds herself having strange dreams that make her disgusted by meat, leading to trouble with her meat-loving husband and attention from her artist brother in law."- IMDb

A very bizarre drama from director Lim Woo-Seong which was his debut film.

The pace of the film is very slow like a lot of underground Korean films.

The sexy Chae Min-Seo plays the confused Young-Hye; a woman who wants to puke everytime she sees meat. There is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian but young-hye has some kind of problem. She no longer eats meat, she no longer wants sex with her husband and she has lost a lot of weight. With her encounters of her brother in law Min-Ho does she depend a sexual fetish of being covered in paint. The flowers painted on her and her partner causes a sexual reaction in her. Although we never really get to see a mentally sound Young-Hye.

Min-Ho (Chae Min-Seo) is an artist who wants to do erotic art but is failing to find good models. He discovers his sister in law Young-Hye, he paints flowers all over her body. She loves it, she is willing to be filmed and is willing to do anything Min-Ho askes her too while she is painted. To the point she will even have sex on camera with another painted person. Min-Ho develops an obsession with her, he no longer wants his wife but wants her sister. Eventually he paints himself just to have sex with her. You can’t blame him because Young-Hye is very sexy despite all the mental problems she has.

 

Chae Min-Seo is very beautiful and yes she does get nude several times in this film. With her body it was probably easy for her to portray Young-Hye. She was the best part about the film, as she was the only successful part of the film. Well besides Chae Min-Seo’s performance who was alright. As a fellow artist I could relate to him. It was easy to place myself in his shoes thus I had a better time understanding his motives.

If you like art house movies then this is the movie for you.

Chae Min-Seo

Film Credits:

Lost and Found

The Loner

The Wig

Kim Hyung-Sung

Film credits:

Knock

Ode to my Father

"Amid the time of Korean War, a young boy's vow to take care of his family marked the beginning of a lifelong promise spanning 60 years." - IMDb

The cast and crew take us on what appears to be an epic journey that spans 60 years from the point of view of Yoon Duk-Soo (Hwang Jeong-min). From the liberation of Korea from Japan to the modern era, this film features a world that you will enjoy to see. 

The Yoon family pictured above attempts to flee before the North invades their hometown. Somehow the father and youngest daughter are separated from the rest of the family. But not before he made his son to promise to take care of the family as he is the head of the family now until he gets back. 

Yoon Duk-So does just that, he goes to Germany in order to work in the mines in order for him to be able to buy his family their own house. He enters the jungles of Vietnam to pay for his sister's wedding risking being shot or worse and much more. Quite selfless, he lives for his family and for the promise he made for his father. We see the world change through his eyes and at times it is a remarkable change. 

Along for the ride is Yoon's best friend Dal-goo (Oh Dal Su) who is the funny man sometimes the voice of reason. He is seen joining Yoon on his adventures from the time that Yoon arrives at his Aunts' home. At times he has a lot of depth, despite his not caring attitude at times. He shows his serious side when he tries to talk Yoon out of going to Vietnam but ends up joining him because he doesn't seem to have fun without him. 

last but not least we have Young-Ja (Yunjin Kim), the woman of Yoon's dream and eventually wife. We first see her when Yoon is in Germany as she is there for work as a nurse. Eventually she falls for the charms of Duk-So and the two eventually marry after a short goodbye. We see her struggle but we also see her truly love her husband to the very end. 

This film features many historical events meanwhile trying to tell the story of a small group of people. Somehow they make the film work and I believe that lies with the hands of the actors. It was the spirit of Hwang Jeong-min, the comedic aspects of Oh Dal-Su, and the struggle/love of Yunjin Kim that truly make this film a success. But we can't neglect the director, Yoon Je-kyoon, who has experience working with some of Koreans top movie talent. Yoon did a great job at the helm, there was a lot of emotion and things felt like fell into the correct spot. At times there were a few scenes that could have been better but it's hard to see them behind all of the good actors present in the making of this film. 

I will suggest this film to anyone that wants to know more about Korean history and true films of Korean cinema as this ranks on my list of best Korean films ever made. 

3.5/5

Cast 

Hwang Jeong-min

 

Also appeared in:

Bloody Tie

Black House

Eleventh Mom

Private Eye

Five Senses of Eros

Blades of Blood

Dancing Queen

New World

In My End is My Beginning

Fists of Legend

Man in Love

Dramas:

The Accidental Couple

The Peninsula

Oh Dal-su 

Also Appeared In:

Oldboy

Crying Fist

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance 

A Bloody Aria

The Host

The Show Must Go On

Baby and I

A Tale of Legendary Libido

Private Eye

Thirst

Girlfriends

Foxy Festival

Hindsight

R2B: Return to Base

Code Name: Jackal

The Attorney

The Pirates

Slow Video

Yunjin Kim

Also Appeared In:

Heartbeat

TV Shows:

Lost