My First Korean Movie (without subtitles, that is)

Thus ends the week of middle school exams. Next week I will be back to my normal schedule with my 7pm classes. No more long evenings for me. Oh well. It was a good week, though.

And tonight, Kendra and I went on an adventure! Yay! She'd heard some people from work talking about this movie that's out and so we decided to go see it. The movie is called "Ahjussi" (ah-joo-shee) which is a title that kind of means "Mister," but with more cultural connotations. I'm not sure how to explain it. You would generally call an older man "ahjussi." Anyways, the English title is "The Man From Nowhere." I didn't know anything about it before seeing it except that Kendra described it as a thriller.

I could only find one trailer on youtube with English subtitles for you. I think it makes it look less intense than it really was, but check it out:



This one is in Korean, but watching it, you can get a better feel for the movie as a whole.



But, back to the movie. It was quite an experience. First, on the way over, we passed this food cart. We pass it all the time and it always smells so good. Sweet and cinnamon, so I finally decided to get some. They were these bread... things. Rather like a pita pocket but very thin and crunchy. They were just a bit sweet with a hint of cinnamon. Totally awesome. I plan on getting some more of these. ;)



Then we went to the theater that's on the other side of the mall. It was quite the experience getting tickets. I'm sure the lady was wondering why the heck we were going to see a movie in KOREAN if we couldn't even buy tickets with our language skills. However, we did manage to get us some tickets as well as snacks.

The snacks were the usual things you see in a theater with other more Korean snacks as well (dried squid, anyone?). We got a set with two sodas, nachos, and popcorn. Then he asked us what popcorn flavor. Flavor? Oh dear... Not being able to tell the flavors from the signs and pictures, we just asked for "normal" popcorn. Turns out "normal" popcorn means "caramel" popcorn. Oh well. It was still delicious. And pretty cheap for theater food.



NACHOS



The movie itself was amazing. I was really surprised at how much I liked it even though I could understand all of "thank you," "what," "who," and... well, I don't actually know what it means but it is a swear word on the same level as the F-bomb.

It was such a great movie. Kind of a cross between "Man on Fire," and "Taken." It's one of those movies where you see the main guy's reaction when they tell him, "We got the little girl and she might get hurt" and you just KNOW there's going to be some major ass-kicking (pardon my French).

It was also super gory. I spent a good portion of one fight with my eyes closed just listening to the knife sounds, bones breaking, and bad guys screaming.

You don't mess with this guy.

Remember Liam Neeson in "Taken?" Well, make him a guy with a dark past, give him a gun, a hatchet, maybe a nail gun, and then make him a guerilla warfare NINJA and you have Won Bin's character. Oh, and the awesome six pack and chiseled jaw didn't hurt either. ;)

Plus, he was just an amazing actor.

I almost cried at the end and I didn't even understand anything they were saying. I'd say that's a sign of an overall FANTASTIC movie.

Stay tuned! Barring rain, injury, or other distractions, we plan on hitting Itaewon (or something else) tomorrow. This *hopefully* means pictures and stories. Yay! :)