Gyeolhoneun michinjishida (2002)

Director:

Ha Yu

Writer:

Ha Yu (writer)

Release Date:

26 April 2002 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Woo-seong Kam	...	Jun-young
Jeong-hwa Eom	...	Yeon-hee
Won-sang Park
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
So-Jeong Kang
Steven Lawson	...	Billy the Boxer
Jeong-eun Lim
Hyeon-kyeong Ryu
Seo-jeong Yun
Ye-Ri Yun

Also Known As:

Marriage Is a Crazy Thing (International: English title)

Runtime:

Japan:105 min | South Korea:103 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Singapore:NC-16 (cut) | Singapore:R(A) | Hong Kong:III

Company:

Sidus Pictures

A rather interestingly told story about trust and the decisions we make

Marriage Is a Crazy Thing is poet-become-director Yu Ha's second feature, starring Corean pop star Uhm Jung Hwa, now a veteran in the pop scene.

Yu, who also wrote the screenplay, crafts a story about a man, Junyoung, and a woman, Yeonhee, who meet on a blind date and begin a love affair, which only becomes complicated when she gets married. While I think many that watch this film will see a film about a woman who gets to "have her cake and eat it too", in terms of marrying for money and having a lover on the side (see the Eagles song, "Lying Eyes"), the protagonist is actually the man and I read it as a story about a guy who's both too stupid and cynical to understand this woman that he's become attached to.

The film features many cute moments, including times where the two pose as newlyweds or a married couple, which only seems to spike the irony in my mind that the main character doesn't seem to get. And so it appears to be a sort of tragedy and I read it as such. The photography is modern, clean and with a few touches of flourish in an otherwise classical style. The acting is believable and the story is interesting, but not quite engrossing. There are also a few lovemaking scenes with explicit dialog and a very mildly kinky twist.

I think I was most impressed with how neat the entire package is, from a well drafted story, to developed characters, all the visual and audio elements well put together and a rather interesting message that, I feel, is subtle enough that not everyone might get it. As such, I have to say that this was surprisingly enjoyable to watch and left me with a few things to think about as well, as I reach the upper years of my 20s, getting ready to step into the 30s that the principles live in. Recommendable (to mature audiences, of course). 8/10.