Oct
6
2007
For Eternal Hearts
Posted by luna6
Movie : For Eternal Hearts
Release Date : August 09, 2007
Country : South Korea
Director : Gyu-deok Hwang
Starring : Kyeong-ho Jeong, Min-sun Kim, Su-yeon Cha
Runtime : 103 min
Editor Rating : 5.5
(12 Votes, User Rating: 8.25)
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“For Eternal Hearts” is an unusual Korean film, in that it dabbles with two of the more popular genres of Korean films, romance and horror, while also playing with our concept of time, the afterlife, and dream vs reality. The film clearly stands out from the crowded pack, but its uniqueness becomes more of its downfall by the second half of the film.
While the film toys with our perceptions of what has transpired in the first half, the development of the storyline suffers because of this. The filmmakers also place a few questionable gaffs in logic to make their story work ( example – why did the library custodian find the newspaper placed on the desk but not notice the lit match?). Yet, the film wasn’t a total disappointment, just not as entertaining as it should have been. An interesting story did seem to be developing prior to all those surprise twists.
Su-Young is a young German literature major in college. He becomes interested in a classmate, only known as “Pippi”, because of her spunk and carefree ways. The relationship doesn’t last long as Pippi ends her life at a student demonstration.
While getting over the death of Pippi, Su-Young picks up a tutoring job. He’s hired to tutor a girl by the name of Su-Ji in mathematics. Her mannerisms are peculiar and she doesn’t seem to take much interest in his math lessons. Su-Young even comes close to quitting the job but something draws him back. They soon fall for each other, but discover several surprises that changes their perceptions on life.
The film also featured a solid, if unspectacular, cast. Kyeong-ho Jeong (My Lovely Week / Gangster High) as the main character Su-Young, gives a performance that’s affable but hardly memorable. He gave off an aura of niceness that most parents would approve of, but there just wasn’t much fire in his performance. It was nice to see Min-Sun Kim (Memento Mori / Raging Life) break out of the sweet innocent roles she more commonly plays, but her character “Pippi” quickly becomes less of a factor after taking an unexpected dive. Jin-yeong Jeong, the king from “the King and Clown”, also appears in a supporting role as the adult Su-Young. On an unrelated note why didn’t his students or for that matter Su-Young turn on the lights?
“For Eternal Hearts” is an interesting film that was built around a handful of surprise twists unveiled in the second of the film. At times it did feel like the filmmakers lost sight of the characters in pursuit of delivering those gee-whiz surprises. Gimmicky? A bit. Entertaining? A bit. Sucks? Not quite.
buy For Eternal Hearts from YesAsia
Cast :
Kyeong-ho Jeong - (student) Su-Young
Min-sun Kim - Pippi
Su-yun Cha - Su-JiJin-yeong Jeong - (professor) Su-Young
C Kim - Su-Ji’s brother
Teresa Choi
Su-na Lee
Hang-Seon Jang
Song-hwan Song
If you like this movie you may enjoy : Il Mare, Memento Mori
2007 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews |
Comments
5 Comments so far
Hi Luna, maybe there is another reason why they didnt turn on the lights but I dont know what it is or culd be..
Hey Rico,
Hmm…good point. Even if they were or were not there, they were still cognizant of each other and their temporary surrounding (regardless of where they were in reality), so I’m still surprised they sat in the dark in that way?
spoiler alert
You say why didnt the students turn on the lights but how could they do that when they were not really there at the time ? I thought they were in the accident at that time and not really in the class…
edd :
sharp eyes, thanks for pointing that out! you were right - it was actually si-hu kim (lee young-ae’s lover in sflv) that was in a bloody aria. fixed and thank you for pointing that out. Cheers…
was Kyeong-ho Jeong in A Bloody Aria? It may have been another guy (Lee Young-ae’s young lover in SFLV.)
Jeong’s in Time Between Dog & Wolf series, and as Bong Taegyu’s sidekick in When Romance Meets Destiny.