Best of Korean 2004 movies

Mokpo, Gangster’s Paradise,2004

aka: Mokponeun Hangguda
Year: 2004
Directed: Kim Ji-hoon
Genre:  Comedy, Action, Crime
Runtime: 01:50
Country: Korea
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English
Cast: Jae-hyeon Jo, In-Pyo Cha, Seon-mi Song, Byung-ho Son
IMDb: Mokponeun Hangguda

Synopsis / Plot

“Mokpo” stars Jay-hyeon Jo as Soo-cheol, a bumbling cop who gets beaten up on a regular basis. But because he’s a lot smarter than all the other cops combined (not a hard thing to be, considering the intelligence of cops in these movies) Soo-cheol’s incompetence is put up with. When prosecutor Im Ja-kyung (Seon-mi Song) arrives in Seoul with a plan to break up the Mokpo gangs, she somehow ends up with Soo-cheol as a volunteer for an undercover assignment.

In Mokpo, Soo-cheol encounters obstacles, mostly because he’s an idiot playing a gangster, and this doesn’t convince anyone, namely head hood Baek Sung-ki (In-Pyo Cha). But as dictated by the script, Soo-cheol eventually manages to worm himself into Sung-ki’s confidence. Soon Soo-cheol is living the high life and risks forgetting that he’s an undercover cop. Meanwhile, cinema aficionado Sung-ki is thinking of retiring, which doesn’t sit well with his underlings…

The Scarlet Letter, 2004

Complex emotional relationships and human nature’s darker sides are explored in this captivating suspense drama about a cop whose lust for love threatens to get in the way of his professional life.

Ki-hoon (Han Suk-yu) is guy that doesn’t mind an erotic adventure. Even though he is married to charming and beautiful Soo-hyun, he engages in a passionate affair with his wife’s friend night club singer Ka-hee (Lee Eun-joo). As if things weren’t complicated enough, he suddenly starts being attracted to murder suspect Kyung-hee whom he earlier believed to be involved in the killing of her husband. Can Ki-hoon finally overcome all the irresistible temptations he encounters in his life ? These and other questions will be revealed in The Scarlet Letter.

Han Suk-kyu one of Korea’s most respected character actors finally finds his way back to your video screen after an extended hiatus from the movie industry for two years. The beloved star appeared in such blockbusters as Shiri , Tell Me Something and Double Agent. He is respected for his role potential that covers all the different genres from comedy to romance to horror and he has been honored with several Korean film prizes including the Best Actor trophy for his performance in The Green Fish that he was awarded both at the Blue Dragon Awards and the Daejong Film Festival in 1997. As Han is known to go through each and every film plot in minute detail, his peers have come up with the phrase that “all the various scripts for Korean films pass through Han Suk-kyu’s hands first”. The previous works of leading actress Lee Eun-joo include such movies as Taegugki , Bunjee Jumping of Their Own and UFO. She received the Best New Actress award for her debut role in Oh! Soojung at the 38th Daejung Film Festival. Director Daniel H. Byun was honored with the Best Short Film award at the San Francisco Film Festival for his 1991 feature Homo Videocus . His year 2000 debut full-length feature film Interview received very good reviews from the critics who were impressed by his experimental technique. Byun prefers taking on unusual themes, which he likes to present in his own unique way. The explicit love making scenes featured in The Scarlet Letter captured the public’s attention as well as Lee Jeun-joo’s song featured in the movie, which can also be found on the film’s original soundtrack album.

Release Date: 2004
Directed:Hyuk Byun
Genre:Mystery / Thriller
Cast:Suk-kyu Han,Eun-ju Lee,Hyeon-a Seong,Ji-won Uhm
Runtime:115 min
Also Known As:Juhong geulshi
Country:South Korea
Language:Korean
Subtitles:2 Sets of Eng Subs (both should work )
IMDb link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427411/

Some (2004)

IMDb review:
It seems that with Martin Scorcese remaking the HK blockbuster Infernal Affairs, we definitely know where the new Hollywood is. Asian directors continue to produce great movies that put the garbage coming out of the states to shame. Some is one such movie. Having gone into it expecting a typical cop drama I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s hard to describe the plot in this movie without spoilers, since the plot kind of unfolds with every twist and turn. We first meet Kang Seong-ju, a young detective on the trail of a gang of loosely organized members who have gotten in way over their heads. It’s not long before he encounters Seo Yu-jin, a charming news reporter who seems to hold the key to the mystery at hand. As Kang attempts to unravel the the clues and track down a mysterious name, Yu-jin is haunted by deja vu. She is sure that the two have met before, and begins to experience visions.

The story was pretty well written. Not too over the top, and the twists were not so confusing as many directors try to do. The thing that really made this movie work was that it took care not to lean too much into one genre that it became stereotypical. IMDb lists it as an Action / Crime / Mystery movie and certainly it contains just the right portions of all those. They even threw in just a touch of Sci -Fi to make it that much more interesting. All together, this is a movie cocktail guaranteed to please.

Release Date: 2004
Director:Yoon-Hyun Chang
Writers:Eun-Jeong Kim
Eun-shil Kim
Genre:Action / Crime / Mystery
Cast: Soo Go, Ji-hyo Song, Dong-kyu Lee, Shin-il Kang
Runtime:118 min
Country:South Korea
Language:Korean
Subtitles: English hardsubbed
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424448/

R-point (2004) (Korean)

Review taken from IMDb.
The motif of this movie is similar to that of “apocalypse now”. Like this classic movies about Vietnam, R point described the horror which the soldiers confronted at the battle field. Although this movie adopted many things from ‘apocalypse now’, it shows another type of the horror- in the oriental meaning- “punitive justice”. no one would return home if he committed bloody thing. What the soldiers felt as original sin is what they committed in Vietnam. And the curse was cast on them as Chinese troop, french troop, and US troop (they were all the invaders to Vietnam) were “punished”.

The director said that he wanted to make this movie as antiwar movie. I think that he oscillated between “horror movie” and “antiwar movie”. The plot is monotonous and solders’ mental state and personal history were so much omitted that it hard to understand without further information. However, I think that his attempt is relatively successful. I thought much about the deployment of Korean troop to Iraq, after I saw this movie.

Directed: Su-chang Kong (Tell Me Something)
Genre: Action / Horror / War
Cast: Woo-seong Kam, Byung-ho Son, Tae-kyung Oh, Won-sang Park, Seon-gyun Lee, Jin-ho Song
Runtime: 107 minutes
Country: Korea
Language: Korean / English
Subtitles: English srt. files.
IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0417072/

The Big Swindle,2004

Korean mystery action movies have so far failed to impress local audiences. “The Big Swindle,” which is about five swindlers and their bank robbery, is new and different in many ways from its predecessors. First of all, the storyline proceeds fast and smooth. Those in the movie are attractive: Baik Yunsik, the alien of “Save the Green Planet,” and actress Yeom Jeonga are among them, not to mention of Park Sinyang. Last but not the least, the movie is concluded in a Korean way, though it apparently uses Hollywood movies as its textbook.

Like other well-made robbery movies such as “The Sting” and “Oceans Eleven,” neither much blood nor violence is seen. Five swindlers manage to snatch five billion won from the Bank of Korea. On their very moment of success, however, somebody rats to the police. One is arrested, the other is shot dead and the remaining others flee but the whereabouts of the money remains at large. Now, the director wants to play the game with the audience over what the trick is and who the real winner would be. By about two-thirds of the movie, it becomes quite obvious who will smile in the long run. So, the virtue of the movie doesn’t lie in the swindler’s or director’s trick. Rather it’s in the director-written script. The jargons are very vivid and the way of the actors’ behavior is so plausible enough to make the audience willing to get cheated. “Operate” means in the movie “swindle.” “Swindle” is described as “turning the dish.” Foreign audiences may not be able to savor all the verbal feasts, but hopefully will get a taste of the world of professional swindlers.

The main story is based on a real bank robbery in a regional city in Korea. All the other swindler cases are also based on real ones. In an interview, the director said that his major interest was not casting light on excellent tricks but on third-rate human beings. “Life itself is interesting in that everybody is third rate any way,” Choi said. “Third Rate” means in Korea social underdogs. An interesting tidbit is that when the movie was released in April 2004, the Bank of Korea beefed up its security for fear of copycat robberies. The popularity of Paik Yoonsik is hitting the upper limits (another Korean expression for huge popularity). The 57-year-old charismatic actor has recently provided another news story by appearing in the rookie singer Mr. Kim’s music video as a guitarist.

Cast: Park Sin Yang, Yeom Jung A
Directed: Choe Dong Hun
Genre: Action / Crime
Year Released: 2004
Also Known As: BeomJoeUi JaeGuSeong
Runtime: 116 min
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0402842/

Torrent Download

The Big Swindle [English Hardsubbed]
The.Big.Swindle.2004.DVDRip.DivX.AC3-CiMG

WindStruck : Nae yeojachingureul sogae habnida

Some critics have retorted that Windstruck is just another sappy version of My Sassy Girl. This is true, to a certain extent. However, you could say that Kwak’s style of directing has been recombined to give a new bittersweet formula. It seems that Kwak has drawn from his experience in directing comedies such as My Sassy Girl and melodramas such as The Classic, and decided to try both formulas in the same project. The result you get is: Windstruck!

If you are looking for a good comedy to watch, Windstruck might not exactly be the one to provide you with the most laughter. Switching between sappy and hilarious moments, this movie brings you on a roller coaster ride of outbursts of different emotions. The role played by Jeon Ji-hyun is a happy-go-lucky police officer, whose sole reason of joining the police is because that was her dead sister’s ambition in life. Jang Hyuk plays a high school teacher who had lead an ordinary life until the day he met Jeon’s character. Instead of a sedentary life as a teacher, he finds himself entwined in her day-to-day policing activities such as chasing after criminals.

In an interesting opening, the movie has Jeon, standing at the top of a building, attempting to commit suicide, with Jang Hyuk as the background narrator. It then moves on to a flashback and switches to a narrative mode to tell the story of the preceding events which eventually lead to the opening scene. Throughout the narration, we witness the encounters of our two protagonists and how they eventually end up together. There were a couple of hilarious moments and scenes which tickle the audience’s funny bone.

However as the story slowly proceeds, it feels that it is being too far-fetched to accommodate so many ideas. One might feel that the plotline is ridiculous at many times, and might start wondering at some point if the film is a fantasy, ghost story, romance or an ultra-dramatic melodrama. Occupying an array of so many genres, Windstruck could be said to be one of a kind.

Cast: Jeon Ji-Hyeon, Jang Hyeok(b), Kim Su-Ro
Directed: Gwak Jae-Yong
Genre: Comedy / Crime / Drama / Romance
Year Released: 2004
Also Known As: I Got You Babe (South Korea) (working title)
Runtime: 123 min
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English HardSubbed
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409072/

Torrent Download
Windstruck
Windstruck (2004)
Windstruck.2004.NTSC.DVDR.RoSub-3ve
windstruck 720p