South of the Border
Oh wow, this movie so bad. It’s clichéd, kitsch, not really funny, and furthermore it had an idiot protagonist. After seeing “The White Ribbon” (posting to come), this is no film that could potentially measure up to it after all.
Nevertheless, I felt very touched by the story. I think that the character of the female protagonist was played out marvelously and even the male character at least looked very honest. No matter how ridiculous their love story has started out as, they played out this love story in a very believable way, so that the tragedy of their separation felt real. Both of them did the best they could, and they showed very effectively how the both of them kept loving each other throughout the whole film.
Then again, if I were the female protagonist, I wouldn’t just have thrown some rocks. I would have cried out loud and tried to beat the heck out of him. (Oh right, and since a girl is weaker, the whole situation necessarily would result into a ‘he-grabs-her-tightly-and-then-they-kiss” scene.)
In fact, the movie makes me want to listen to sappy music and believe that there is something like two people being ‘meant’ for each other. After all, you have to believe that such a thing exists to feel the sadness of the story. Ultimately the whole story is centered around their tragic love; even less than other ‘immigration tales’, this is mostly a love story and barely deals with politics or the life of refugee in South Korea. Granted, North Korea is depicted very nicely at the beginning of the film, but I think the film would have made a greater impact if it dared to show a little more. Except that it’s explicitly said that we are dealing with Korea here, the film doesn’t feel all that ‘Korean’ to me.
In the end, I have a weakness for long distance relationships (perhaps even more than I am for love triangles), and I feel deeply sad when I feel that there is a love story that ‘should’ be . Apart from that, the film is actually utterly pointless.
By the way, 4.0 (sic, this is another one of my numbered nicknames) told me today that his not-yet-girlfriend likes action movies, and that he doesn’t really know what else she likes. Although I felt immensely sorry for how bad they are at having a nice date, I found myself in a situation where I was completely unable to suggest a film to them. Oh, and “Harold and Maude” is a no go because there is a sex scene in it. Any ideas?