Eungyo (2012)

So much average

Sadly Over-hyped

A Major Disappointment

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

" Roethke referred to getting old as wearing the leaden weight of what I did not do. Just as your youth is not a prize for your efforts, my agedness is not a penalty for my faults."This film explores poetry in a way people understand poetry, some feel it , the way they see things becomes poetry. Age is not a punishment for something one did , they shouldn't carry the weight of inadequacy when feeling same things they did when they were young. Human connection shouldn't have expiration date . I like how this film shows human nature what one doesn't understand one wants to destroy and it saddens me , jealousy is nothing but destruction.Youth that lacks experience and modesty that is acquired with age.I like how this film by carefully selected visuals portrays feelings that you couldn't put into words , it has beautiful aesthetics. The whole film is masterpiece. Honesly i feel like any words i could try to select pale in comparison to this film i feel like you need to see it to know what i meant :}

The lines are drawn from the start. Seo Ji Woo character is weak from the get-go. His loyalties, perhaps could appear strong to some on the surface, are questionable from his very first reaction to Eungyo. Kim Go Eun (actress paying Eungyo) is very different from her appearance in the Goblin mini-series. While she tries to thread the story of tragic love, Eungyo is carefree, careless and not much of a deep thinker, unlike a similar high-school-aged character of the Goblin's bride. Eungyo disappoints. She knows Seo Ji Woo is shallow, jealous and self- centred. She is clearly repulsed by him and believing he is incapable if inspiration. And yet she takes his plagiarism at face value. It is difficult to imagine physical love between a 17 and a 70-year old. And this movie is not a fairy tale. But Eungyo going with Seo Ji Woo (who is still 13 years older than her) is boring and un-moving.Even at the end, when Eungyo finally "gets it", it is too little too late and good for no one. At the end the movie is about the tragedy of loneliness for all, the Professor, Seo Ji Woo and Eungyo. An all three seem to deal with it in a similar, somewhat dishonourable way.It is rare for a Korean movie not to jerk a tear in me. The closest this one comes to it is in the last five minutes where Eungyo realises what really happened. But there is no twist, there is nothing that makes your heart jump - something Korean cinematography usually achieves very well. Usually, the concept of Korean tragedy leaves you strangely inspired. Eungyo leaves you disappointed.

The man who desires after that girl is Lee Jeok-yo(Park Hae-il with lots of make-up). He is a poet who has been revered by many people as one of the giant figures of South Korean literature, and the people even consider building the memorial museum for his achievement. He does not like being treated like an artifact, so, except accepting invitations from time to time, he lives alone in a cozy country house somewhere outside Seoul.Although he is surrounded by many books in his library, his career as a poet looks like having been terminated for a long time. He has been assisted by one of his pupils, Seo Ji-woo(Kim Moo-yeol). Ji-woo becomes famous because of his first novel which is not only critically acclaimed but also commercially successful. As his mentor, Jeok-yo should be proud of his pupil's success, but he does not seem to be pleased a lot when he receives the book. None the less, Ji-woo keeps coming to his mentor's house, and he works for his mentor as an unofficial housekeeper and secretary; he cooks the meal, and he takes care of the daily appointments for Jeok-yoo.On one day, their daily life becomes a little different when they find a young high school girl waiting for them when they arrive at Jeok-yoo's house. Her name is Eun-gyo(Kim Go-eun), and she says she just comes to the house to get a part-time job. Jeok-you reluctantly hires her, but, while watching Eun-gyo's innocent beauty, Jeok-yo begins to feel something stirring in his heart. At one rainy night, she comes to his house due to her personal reason, and he lets her into his house. Though nothing much happens on that night, he sees that he really wants Eun-gyo – but he also knows that he is a guy too old for the relationship with the girl idolized by him.As several local critics pointed out, I have to admit that it was awkward to see Park Hae-il as the aging character after watching his virile physical performance in South Korean action film "War of the Arrows"(2011) in last year. He is currently 35, so it is rather hard to accept him as a man around 70 in spite of the make-up on his face and upper body. In fact, he looks more natural when he plays the younger version of his character in the wistful fantasy sequence imagined by his character.But, despite this undeniable awkwardness, Park Hae-il gives an adequate performance as a man who pathetically remains young at heart. Some old men do not learn much even after they become quite old, and Jeok-yoo is one of those silly examples. Maintaining its serious attitude, the movie approaches to the hilarity of Hong Sang-soo's films sometimes, and there is a funny scene where Jeok-yoo almost risks his life just because he wants to look good and nice to Eun-gyo.If he were not an artist, he would look merely silly. Struggling with the carnal yearning created many good works in the history of literature, and the same thing can be said about Jeok-yoo's circumstance. Maybe his body remains old and wrinkled, but, what do you know, his aesthetical creativity in his heart is rejuvenated at full mode, so his desire is sublimated into his new work which is probably as good as that famous Nabokov's novel.With his new work, the situation gets more complicated due to the reason you should discover for yourself while watching the movie. While all these things happen, Ji-woo is not particularly happy about what is happening between his mentor and a girl. Though the movie is not successful in handling this triangle relationship between its main characters(I heard the book, written by Park Bum-sin, did a better job), we come to understand the true nature of the relationship between Jeok- yo and Ji-woo, who are bound to each other by the jealousy and admiration not in the way you expect.Between her co-actors, Kim Go-eun gives the best performance in the film as the character who is a lot more than the object of the desire. While radiating unadulterated charm around the screen, Kim Go-eum makes us believe her obliviousness to her effects on the other characters, and then she is convincingly transforms her character into a more active player in the story. She and Park Hae-il have a wordless scene when her character starts to sense the feelings inside the man she endearingly calls 'grandpa', and this eventually gives little poignancy to the bittersweet feeling of the last scene.

What to say about this movie?First let me say that there are not enough reviews for Korean cinema in my opinion.I an a HUGE fan of Asian cinema,and I wish everyone could see just how good it is!The main aspect I noticed in this movie was "Humanity"in all it's beauty.And this is Korean Cinema in it's finest!The fragility of youth,age,and love is portrayed so artfully is what makes this movie so strong!There were scenes that were so real,even in dreaminess that they took my breath away.The main character"Eungyo"was beautiful without even knowing it.When the movie ended,after a while of silence,and wiping my tears I felt this movie deserved a review,and that I had to honour the creation of it.It's a movie I will never forget,and I was deeply touched.