Keulraesik (2003)

A college student finds a diary detailing a long-ago love triangle involving her mother, her future father, and his best friend.

Director:

Jae-young Kwak

Writer:

Jae-young Kwak

Stars:

Ye-jin Son, In-sung Jo, Seung-woo Cho

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ye-jin Son	...	Ji-hae / Ju-hie
In-sung Jo	...	Sang-min (as In-seong Jo)
Seung-woo Cho	...	Jun-ho
Ki-woo Lee	...	Tae-su
Sang-in Lee	...	Su-kyeong
Ye-jin Lim	...	Shopkeeper
Hyeon-tae Yang	...	Seok-woo
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hyun-Jung Go	...	(as Hyun-jung Go)
Byeong-ok Kim
Seo Lee
Yeong-hie Seo

Storyline

Shy Ji-hae's friend is having problems expressing her feelings to the boy she loves, so she asks Ji-hae to write e-mails to him in her name. As the boy falls in love with her letters, Ji-hae discovers the story of her mother's romance which is remarkably similar to her own circumstances.

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Taglines:

By chance, by coincidence...but inevitable.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Site [South Korea]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

30 January 2003 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Kurashikku

Company Credits

Production Co:

CJ Entertainment,Egg Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

A well-executed melodrama in itself

The story involves a girl, whose best friend is dating a guy that she secretly likes. She one day finds a diary and letters from the past that belonged to her mother. The story then shifts to the past where the mother is a young woman who falls in love with a guy, but she herself is arranged to be married with the guy's friend. There's a parallel between the past and present and the story shifts back and forth between two romances. I found this movie to be a well-executed Korean melodrama. The cinematography is quite beautiful. However, it is rather cliche in some parts (as some aspects of the director's previous work feels a bit repeated here), yet as a movie itself, it is a well-filmed, nicely delivered piece of work. It is kind of unfortunate, however, given the popularity and the expectations given to the movie due to the director's more accomplished, previous work, "My Sassy Girl," this reviewer couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed. If I hadn't seen the previous work and saw this movie for the first time, I might've given higher praise. As it is, however, the movie almost accomplishes in being a truly great movie (as opposed to good, which it is). Occasional inventiveness in composition and atmosphere and timing is excellent. The movie does tend to be a bit predictable (particularly if you know what kind of themes the director has presented in his previous work) and admittedly I saw the ending coming sooner than I probably should have (althogh it didn't really distract me from enjoying it either). One can't help whenever one sees a rainy scene or when a certain Pachebel music comes out, one is reminded of a scene directly from "My Sassy Girl" (As "My Sassy Girl" actually pokes fun at melodramas) Without some of those distractions, it may have resonated a lot more strongly as an original piece of work. In terms of characters, they are certainly memorable, and the romantic elements (while, not as multidimensional or as deep as the director's previously mentioned work) are convincing. There are some historical backdrops to go along the romance that gives the film a somewhat a denser, almost epic, if not nostalgic, feel, yet doesn't really go in the way of an epic (which itself might not have been a bad direction to go). Some of the attention to detail are also pretty well done. Overall, though, I enjoyed the film as a romantic melodrama, while being a bit hampered by tough expectations and some cliches, the characters and the romance certainly leaves a nice impression.