Jan
17
2008
Forever the Moment (Our Finest Hour)
Posted by EunWook 10 Comments
Movie: Forever the Moment / Our Finest Hour
Release Date: January 10, 2008
Country: South Korea
Director: Soonrye Yim
Starring: So-ri Moon, Jung-Eun Kim, Tae-woong Eom
Runtime: 124min.
Editor Rating: 8.5
Users Rating: 8.16 
(32 votes)
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Personally, I have been anxiously awaiting the release of the Korean film “Forever the Moment. It’s a unique film, centered around the sport of handball and based on a true story. Recently, there has been a dearth of unique films made domestically. Saccharine sweet love comedies abound sure, but anything else has been lacking. In the Korean press, there has been frequent talk about the latter half of 2007 being one of the worst seasons for the Korean film industry. From the audience’s standpoint, I think it’s more of a reflection of the quality of films that has been recently produced. “Forever the Moment” isn’t a “me too” type of film and after watching “Forever the Moment” I came away inspired.
In “Forever the Moment,” Mi-sook (So-ri Moon) is an ex professional handball player that is now working in a grocery store. Hae-kyung (Jung-eun Kim) is Mi-sook’s former teammate and currently works as coach for a handball team in Japan. She then returns home to become the replacement coach for Korea’s national team. The Korean national team is in disarray and to help jump start the team she asks her former teammates, including Mi-Sook, to join the team.
Hae-kyung has the team training hard, but the younger players don’t adapt well to her old school style. Eventually, dissension becomes so strong that that ladies become involved in physical confrontations. Because of this, Hae-Kyung is asked to step down as the coach and a new coach, Seung-pil (Tae-woong Eom), takes her place. With encouragement from Mi-sook, Hae-Kyung now swallows her pride and rejoins the team as a player.
Seung-pil used to be a famous handball player but now is adapting to his role as a coach. He implements a more scientific program and European style training that faces more resistance from the players. The team’s ability to compete in the 2004 Olympics becomes more distant with each passing day.
The team was once thought of as one of the elite teams in the world, but are now considered to be one of the worst. Nobody, including the Koreans, expected the team to reach the gold medal game. The team’s resiliency was displayed throughout the entire Olympic tournament and especially during their epic gold medal match against Denmark (actual Denmark handball players are featured in the movie). After regulation and two overtime periods, the game was still a tie. The gold medal was now staked on one final “shout out” (sudden death) match. This game was considered one of the best matches of the 2004 Olympics. And so we have one of the best films of the early 2008 season.
The ladies, all well known actresses here, gave wonderful performances throughout, with Jung-eun Kim and So-ri Moon standing out in particular. Jung-eun Kim has been identified with cute roles in light hearted comedies throughout her career and perhaps this film marks a turning point for her as an actress. Jung-Eun’s performance as a rational, cool-headed athlete was unexpected, but thoroughly believable. Meanwhile,, So-ri Moon is no stranger to dramatic roles (Oasis/Peppermint Candy) and in “Forever the Moment” she just came alive.
“Forever the Moment” isn’t your typical sports film. The movie doesn’t have a Cinderella like ending, but what the film does have is something I would I like to experience again. The movie was riveting and touched me in a sincere way, without resorting to wishy washy techniques. The film also offers plenty of comedic scenes which made me laugh. For me that’s a good movie and I hope to see more films of this quality.
buy Forever the Moment from YesAsia
Cast:
So-Ri Moon – Mi-sook Han
Jung-Eun Kim – Hae-Kyung Kim
Tae-woong Eom – Seung-pilJi-yeong Kim
Eun-ji Jo
Ji-Min
Mido Lee
Jung-woo Ha
If you like this movie you may enjoy: Ping Pong, Like A Virgin
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2008 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews, Movies |
Comments
10 Comments so far
its nice movie.you see them the unity and dertimination to win!i like kim jung eun very much!i like this movie!
how can I do to get this movie? where can I buy?
Benji,
My guess only but I figured he either got beaten up bad by debt collectors or overdosed on medication in a suicide attempt. Since closeups of him at the hospital didn’t show any bruises I assumed he overdosed.
what ever happened to mi-sooks husband. i never got that and i would like to know
Being danish i’d really like to see this. It’s always great to meet south korea in the finals! Anyone remembers the finals of 19(96?)When the game went into overtime too?
I watched the movie yesterday and i really liked it also, many familiar faces and good acting and the music is very good also..
Recommended !!!
Rad reviews! Uhh.. Are you possibly in Korea? ’cause I was wondering where do you watch these films?
the more i read about this movie, the more i want to watch this. i cannot wait for the DVD release. i want to see my favorite actress Kim Jung Eun in this movie with a totally different role.
thanks for this…
Dan:
If your talking about the actual 2004 Olympic match, I couldn’t tell you.
If your talking about the movie, its being released in theaters around new years, so expect it out on DVD sometime in March/April of 2008.
hi i really enjoyed the 2004 womens handball finals.
how do i get a copy of it?