Korean

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The Man From Nowhere (2010)
Korean action movie
Director: Jeong-beom Lee
Writer: Jeong-beom Lee
Starring: Bin Won, Thanayong Wongtrakul, and Sae-ron Kim

Summary borrowed from IMDB: A quiet pawnshop keeper with a violent past takes on a drug- and organ trafficking ring in hope of saving the child who is his only friend.

aStore: DVD, Blu-Ray, digital


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Okay, so this is one of those great action movies that basically has everything. Movies that give me a similar vibe: The Professional, The Crow (more the TV show than the movie, actually)

The story begins with a pawnshop owner that is kind of nice to a young girl, and in return she keeps coming around. Her mother is a junkie and a thief, and the girl is poor and there’s always people teasing her and thinking she’s trash, so she gets into fights or causes trouble and things. Her feelings for the pawn shop owner have her saying that he’s her father when she gets into trouble in the hopes that he will save her. He does not, just walking off.

There’s a whole tragic backstory about his past, and while he’s dealing with that, the junkie mom gets into trouble when she helps steal from the wrong people. The pawnshop guy shows up in his fancy clothes in time to find out that the girl and her mother have been taken by dangerous criminals — men neck deep in guns, drugs, prostitution, and murder.

And that’s when things blow up into action as the pawnshop guy races to save the girl, or if he can’t do that, at the very least avenger her.

He has a secret past and is one dangerous mofo. This is a straight up action thriller, with a gritty taste and feel. There’s … Read the rest “RE MOVIE: The Man From Nowhere [Korean movie]”

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"A Frozen Flower"

Movie: A Frozen Flower
Genre: mm, Korean, historical
Director: Ha Yu
Writer: Ha Yu (screenplay)
Stars: Jin-mo Ju, Ji-hyo Song, In-seong Jo
Rated: R for graphic violence, sex

IMDB says: A historical drama set in the Koryo dynasty and focused on the relationship between a king and his bodyguard.

HanCinema says: Source http://www.koreanfilm.or.kr  Synopsis:  In the end of Goryeo era politically manipulated by the Yuan Dynasty, the ambitious King of the Goryeo Dynasty organizes Kunryongwe. Hong Lim, the commander of Kunryongwe, captivates the King of Goryeo, and the Queen keeps her eyes on the relationship between Hong Lim and the King with a reluctant view. Meanwhile, the bilateral relation between Goryeo and the Yuan gets worse as Yuan demands to install the cousin of the King in the Crown Prince of Goryeo with ascribing it to no son the King has. The King refuses it resolutely, so the high-ranking officials of Goryeo, who are in submission to Yuan, are discontented with the king. One day, the King gives Hong Lim a covert yet unobjectionable order to sleep with the Queen instead of himself to protect the independence of Goryeo from the Yuan by making a son, the successor to Goryeo throne.

aStore: DVD


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So, okay, I watched this the other day and the only thing I can say is that the cinematography is excellent, as is the camera work in every scene. I fell in love with the characters and I desperately wanted them to have happiness in every regard. But given the nature of what they were doing and the time period when they were doing it in… well, there’s no other way it could have gone, not with the tone the movie was taking.

I honestly wish the King and guard could have loved each other the … Read the rest “RE MOVIE: A Frozen Flower [Korean]”

Through a window darkly gazing
At a sight afraid to see
Breathing deep the salted water
Dreaming dreams, of you and me.