Welcome to Dongmakgol

The Gist

During the 1950’s Korean war, an American soldier crashes into a friendly little village called Dongmakgol. Two soldiers from the southern army also wander to the village. And then three soldiers from the northern army do the same. In a remotely peaceful and backwards village, the all-time happiness and simplicity comes to some interesting seasoning; how do the villagers react to them? How do these six soldiers react to them?

How did I react to this movie?

This was my first Korean movie ever. Initially I expected to be a Korean blockbuster with the likes of Taegukgi or The Host. If Dongmakgol was just another Korean movie, I can’t wait to watch my second Korean movie after writing this review!

They say that “Korean movies” are the new “Hong Kong movies”. I beg to differ in that opinion. Korean movies (in this case, only Dongmakgol is compared with), are better than HK movies. They have better creativity, higher budget, better actors (better looking too), better preparation, better CGI, better eye-candy, better effort and since we’re there, better everything. HK films perhaps have one thing that Korean movies have yet to get themselves into, martial arts/action choreography.

I find that Korean actors have this natural acting ability. As I watched Chen Kaige’s The Promise, I compared Jae Dong Gun’s acting to his other Asian colleagues. His was by miles better and more natural.

The pacing of the film unfolds comfortably. The premise of the film is not rushed to and yet we get there without much anticipation. The screenplay is unconventional but superb and it is nothing I have seen in the usual Hollywood and HK fares. Taking a dump in the fields while two enemies conversing? Wiping the rainwater off your face with some dirty socks? Those Hollywood fellows might have executed those ideas in a sick manner but it just does not happen here. My favorite scene was where the soldiers from the opposing armies meet for the first time.

What really got me glued to my seat were the gags. There were sufficiently plenty of them and ninety-nine percent of the time, they worked. A crowd favorite would be the slow-motion wild boar capture.

I have a soft spot for pretty looking actresses and this ‘crazy’ girl, Kang Hye-Jung did the job for me. She was many of an actress to the film. Eye candy, humor, relief factor, eye candy, love story, tearjerker, hope bringer and eye candy. There’s this rumor I heard from my Korean movie fan friend that every Korean movie is bound to have a scene that makes you cry. So far the rumor is quite true. (1/1)

I wish I could stop using the term ‘Korean movie’ in this review but I have to. The screen writers took the movie making formula (that those Hollywood fellows usually overuse to the max) and stashed them far, far away. They used something better; it’s called creativity. The premise of the storyline may not be the most original but it offers some decent narration and conclusion.

The American actors hired for this film were not stereotyped as trash actors as they delivered some lines pretty well. Just get any HK film with gwailo actors and you would see their acting quality is next to retard level. As for the Korean actors, I often forget that they were acting due to their naturalism and semi-method technique.

The production quality pretty amazed me. The war planes seemed very authentic and most of the crash scenes were splendid in detail. That proves one thing: the Korean film industry is healthy and very much alive and kicking.

Rating: 8/10
I got refreshed by something fresh.

Notes:

This is Park Kwang-Heong’s directorial debut. I couldn’t believe the previous sentence either. The ‘crazy’ girl Kang Hye-Jung and the ‘older brother’ soldier from the Northern army Im Ha-Ryong won the Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor awards respectively at the 26th Blue Dragon Awards (an annual Korean film awards ceremony).

Last updated: 2009-08-12 01:09:21 by joekhor