#ddongpari

[xeniabrando]

[frgmtx]

Ddong-pa-ri / Breathless (2008)

[puchun]

[uncatlike]

- Don’t live like that. - So how should I live?

똥파리 / Breathless (2009)

[resiist]

this scene was so sad

[rekognitionoisuled]

Breathless, directed by Ik-Joon Yang

[randomfilms]

A while ago, I favorited (has this become a proper word yet?) Rogert Ebert's tweet that praised this lesser known Korean movie from 2009. However, as these things usually go with favorites, bookmarks and liked posts, I completely forgot about it approximately ten seconds after clicking that little star symbol. And what a dumbass I was for doing so.

Because Breathless is probably going straight into my top 10 Korean movies, and rightly so. It's somewhat different and more realistic compared to other newer releases. Now, don't get me wrong, it's still two hours of soul-torture, but this time it's done in a raw way, stripped of all the potentially cheesy, over-the-top sappy or perverted moments to deliberately provoke emotional reactions (although it does not lack in the violence department.) Much of this is thanks to the acting, that was so brilliant, I don't even know where to begin. The two leads were immense, Yang Ik-joon as an anti-hero with serious anger management issues, who incredibly matures throughout the movie or Kim Kot-bi, playing a tough-looking, yet emotionally suppressed high school girl. Seriously an astonishing film, on so many levels - the story line, the character development, Korean culture as a whole and the importance of parents/family in it - I wholeheartedly recommend it. 

[sweatypauls]