Thursday, January 21, 2010

Review on Korean Drama: I’m Sorry, I Love You or Misa (Mianghada, Saranghada) (2005)


Title: I’m Sorry, I Love You or Misa (Mianghada, Saranghada) (2005)
Genre:  drama, romance
Duration:  16 episodes
Cast:
So Ji Sup as Choo Mo Hyuk
Lim So Jeong as Song Eun Chae
Jung Kyung Ho as Choi Yoon
Lee Hye Young as Oh Deul Lee
Yoon Soo Kyung as Jun Hye Jin
Park Gun Tae as Kim Galchi
“We will meet again in the next life.  And when I see you again, I will hold you tight and not let you go.”

Synopsis:  How do you comfort the love of your life, knowing you only have a short time left? This will be one of the longer ones because making it shorter would give injustice to the drama. 
Choo Mo Hyuk (So Ji Sup) was an orphan who was adopted and brought to Australia.Unfortunate circumstances led him to flee from his adoptive parents and forced him to learn the ways of the street to survive. Wandering on the streets and dealing with all kinds of difficulties, he never harboured ill feelings for his parents believing they abandoned him due to poverty and so swore to go back to Korea and give his mother a wonderful life.  Before he could do so though, his girlfriend decided to marry a rich mafia confessing though that she loves him but being practical, she needed the money.  Beset by frustration, he attends the wedding and was shot in the head in shielding his ex-girlfriend from the assassin.  The doctor was not able to remove all the bullets since the last one’s position is too delicate that could bring him instant death.  He only has a few months to live.  The girlfriend beset with guilt gives him a lot of money and persuades him to return to Korea to die.

Song Eunchae (Lim So Jeong) is a naive, simple-minded coordinator for the popular singer Choi Yoon (Jung Kyung Ho) who she’s secretly loved for the last 20 years of her life.  Everything she does is for him so even when he asks her to help him with his love life, she does his bidding regardless of how much pain it brought her.  Her every waking moment is filled with thoughts of him and in her eyes, she can only see him.  She is at his beck and is prepared to make any sacrifice to ensure his happiness.

Yoon takes her devotion for granted though, believing she would always stay by his side and support him like his security blanket.  Because she is there to support him, he can do anything and pursue his great love who is known to be a player Min Joo.  Though he sometimes come across as a self-absorbed brat, it is apparent though that Yoon loves his mother very much and is devoted to her.  In the latter part, it was also because of this devotion between mother and son that pains Mo Hyuk deeply and fuels his desire for revenge.
They were in Australia filming a commercial thus; Yoon can’t be more excited to have the opportunity to actively pursue Min Joo.  Thinking she should give them more time together, Eunchae planned to come back to Korea ahead of them but in the process, she was conned and all her things were stolen including her passport.  Wandering on the street, Mo Hyuk found her sobbing in one corner and initially thought of taking advantage of her by selling her as a prostitute.  Eunchae not realizing this was just too happy to find another Korean and went with him.  He got her drunk because she believed that he would not take advantage of her.  After getting the money, Mo Hyuk was beset with his conscience and decided to go back and save her thus a chase follows and one of my favourite moments when he realized they were holding each other’s hand tightly which he awkwardly removes his hand.  They sleep on the street and in the morning, he returns all her things including her money which allowed her to get the ticket for her flight back to Korea.  Yoon and Min Joo has already become a couple by then.

Mi Hyuk arrives in Korea fully expecting to find a poverty-stricken mother of his waiting for salvation.  Instead, he found that his mother is a famous actress who also has a son who’s popular who she can’t seem to love more.  This fills him with anger and fury specially after discovering that he actually has a twin sister who became deranged due to a car accident when she was five years old.  Taking care of her is her son who seems to be very smart and caring who seems a lot older for his age.

Mo Hyuk schemes to get the best revenge especially since he only has a few months to live.  He starts his plan by befriending Choi Yoon and becomes his manager.  In his way to revenge, Eunchae seemed to unconsciously disturb his thoughts enough to even entertain the notion of giving up the revenge.  Against his will, he started to slowly and hopelessly fall in love with her that before his mind can even comprehend, his body is already moving out to help her in all circumstances disregarding his disposition.  She however only has eyes for Choi Yoon and treats Mo Hyuk no more than a nuisance. 
Would he ever feel the gratification of his plans coming true or would he give it all up for love?  Would he die never knowing the truth behind his birth and abandonment?   

Review: How can u not love him when he loves you with a burning passion? When he loves you with utmost devotion?

There are only a couple of actors who are able to portray a wide range of emotions without even trying to do so.  So Ji Sup is definitely one of those elite actors who are able to reflect grief and misery in their eyes, and cry beautifully.  He was so intense in his character you forget that it’s just a drama and he sucks you right into the story.  His character is so scary, so pitiful, wrought with raw emotions, beset with conflicting emotions for his mother, and how he abandons himself to the one he loves.  He definitely is an exceptional actor, a one-of-a-kind.  After raving about what I love about him, I can tell you what I hate about him.  His hair when it’s growing long and fuzzy it becomes too distracting.  But his eyes have the intense, haunted gaze that I quickly and completely forget about his hair and lose myself in them.

I love that the development of the love story of Mo Hyuk and Eunchae was very subtle that it gave me a chance to fall in love with the characters first and to cheer them on.  The character of Choi Yoon although childish was never mean.  He has the cute and adorable character that one can’t help but like him too.
If there was anything I didn’t like about this drama would have been the mother.  I felt there were moments between her and Yoon that it felt unreal, no chemistry and just showing off.  I was kind of hoping for some warmth since her character is the kind that would have given her life for her son, I was hoping for some more.  I do admit though that when she shed tears after feeding Mo Hyuk without understanding the reason why she is crying, she also moved me to tears. 
My favourite scene is when they were at the bar and right before he kissed her, a tear glistened and was silently shed.  It was so poignant, so moving and so heartfelt.  That moment, I think I can watch it over and over and can never get tired of it.  Also, when they were in the subway and Eunchae was telling him I love you over and over again till she has no strength left, I felt she has never looked more beautiful and sadder. There were also a lot of moments in the drama that there were no need for words.  So many moments when Mo Hyuk and Eunchae sat beside each other and never spoke a word yet able to say so much.

I also would like to commend the little boy portraying Galchi because he brought me to tears when they were in the kimbap store and  Mo Hyuk was telling his sister he’ll buy the store, Galchi started weeping telling him they didn’t need the store so if he can just not die.
I’m a little confused with the ending though because I think Eunchae also died but was it because of a broken heart or was it suicide?
The biggest suspense for me was not the conflict between the two lovers but the question whether he would tell his mother about his birth thus giving her the pain he believes she deserves for abandoning her two children.  Until the last episode, it kept me guessing.
Anyhow, I definitely found this drama beautiful, poignant and moving.  I give this 9.5 stars out of 10 just and definitely one that will become classic.

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