Korean Drama Movie: “Commitment” (2013)

My exposure to Asian films has been gradual. Mainly because ... how can one watch what one does not have access to watch? Growing up in America, were it not for Bruce Lee, I am not sure I would have ever started watching real Chinese movies. Because I don't know if Chinese movies would have ever come to America. Before Bruce Lee, I watched movies about Charlie Chan but the guy who played Charlie Chan was not Chinese. I was in my twenties when I started watching Shogun theatre which exposed me to Japanese cinema.  But times have changed and the ways and means of making entertainment available to the masses has opened doors wide. Now there is streaming and the world is put right in front of you on the television screen.

Even though I started off watching mostly Chinese films and some Japanese, thanks to Netflix I was introduced to Korean films; mainly Korean drama.

• “Commitment” (2013) was the first Korean film I watched.  It is a spy thriller and it is intense!

STORY:  The young man's father was a Korean secret agent. But the government betrayed him and branded him as a traitor. The agent's kids, the young man and his sister were thrown in jail. The wicked corrupt government officials tell the son, if you want erase the shame of your father and save your little sister, you have to work for us. So they train him and he is so good at his job that he becomes the best secret agent on the planet!! But of course, he's driven to be the best because he wants so much to save his sister. The wicked government officials figured that once his mission was completed they were going to screw him over the same way they did his father and kill him. Did I say that he became the best secret agent on the planet? It turns out, he wasn't so easy to kill and he was going to make sure that he saved his sister. That movie was HOT!

• The young man who starred as the secret agent was Choi Seung-hyun, who was a member of a popular Korean boy band even before he started acting.
• The young girl who played his sister was Kim Yoo-jung. She has been acting since she was very little. I like to call her the Korean Shirley Temple.

If you have never watched a Korean film, I recommend you watch “Commitment” (2013).

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(Images found on Wikipedia)

 

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Awesome Korean Drama Based on True Love Story: Dong Yi (2010)

HA! That stands for hooked again!! My new addiction is watching Korean historical drama TV series. There are way too many of them for me to keep up. They are so exciting and interesting, even though the basic plot in most of the series is pretty much the same.

What's the basic plot, you ask?

Eh! Some palace intrigue on the inside, rivalry among the nobles and scholars on the outside, honorable slaves, and commoners who prove time again that being poor and uneducated does not equal stupid! ... and of course, the love triangle.  No Korean drama is complete without the love triangle. △

For each series, the script writers take this plot, create different and intricate twists and turns, and develop characters that make the viewers immediately choose sides and start rooting for them! I like this lady or this man! But that person has got to go! When the ruthless evil characters finally go down, you're pumping your fist in the air and going Yeah! A flood of relief washes over you and then you have to remind yourself that it's just a TV show. :)

 

Image credit: Official poster found at viki.com

While seeking and finding more and more historical series to satisfy my K-drama addiction, found “Dong Yi” (2010). This television program is directed by Lee Byung Hoon, who also directed "Jewel in the Palace" (2003).

Reviews indicate that Hoon's 2003 series was extremely successful, so it went on my watch list. But because the 2010 series includes in its cast an admirable child actress, Kim Yoo Jung, who also starred in “Tamra the Island” (2009) and “The Moon Embracing the Sun” (2012) ~ her cute little face drew me in. The series is based on the life of a real historical person: Royal Noble Consort Suk of the Haeju Choi clan.

{Side Note – According to recent reports in South Korean entertainment news publications, Ms. Jung's latest project, “Moonlight Drawn By Clouds” aired its first episode during the 4th week of this month, August 2016. It is being well received.  Series at viki.com.}

Back on point. The child character played by little Ms. Jung, is a “commoner”, i.e. not born into a noble family, who grows up into a beautiful and intelligent, caring and compassionate young woman, played by Han Hyo Joo. The character's name is … what else? Dong Yi!

She went from the child who had everything taken away from her to the woman who had the world laid at her feet. According to all the fortune tellers, “her light” was going to shine brightly in the land of Joseon.

Nothing annoys me more than reviews with spoilers, so extra precaution is taken to constrain myself and not to reveal too much. Here are my impressions so far.

Good start! Series starts off with a very peaceful idyllic scene of a man fishing and enjoying a quiet leisure moment. The silence is immediately shattered when the man is brutally murdered. But before he breathes his last breath, guess who finds him? A young child named Dong Yi!

Good fortune? I'll say! This lady was born under the Lisa Bonet lucky star. She got two hot guys wrapped around her finger! If you know who Lisa Bonet is and you watch this show, then you'll understand my meaning. :)

60 episodes and I've only reached the halfway mark. What's the hook the writers used to keep you interested all the way to the very end? A butterfly! Don't know about everybody else, but I love butterflies!

Dong Yi ~ Official Trailer

* * Related or Similar Articles:

Did Dong Yi and King Sukjong really have a long romance?

The Best Korean Historical Drama

Do You Heart Butterflies? | Webnuggetz.com

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Watch Asian Dramas ~ Free Online Streaming

FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (1998) - Criterion Collection (Reblog)

This post, in fact, this entire blog is too wonderful to not reblog and call attention to. I love Asian cinema and this classic Taiwanese drama film has been aptly described by the blog publisher with these words: 

"Composed in a languorous procession of entrancing long takes, Flowers of Shanghai evokes a vanished world of decadence and cruelty, an insular universe where much of the dramatic action remains tantalizingly offscreen—even as its emotional fallout registers with quiet devastation."

Continue reading and you won't be disappointed. FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI (1998) - Criterion Collection | The Entertainment Factor

Keep up with The Entertainment Factor blog ~ See Recent Posts

Favorite Asian Actors: Chow Yun-Fat

I can't remember the first movie I saw starring Chow Yun-Fat but I have been a huge fan for a really long time. He is a notable Hong Kong celebrity … I mean … Super Star! While his portrayal as the king of Siam (now Thailand) in “Anna and the King” (1999) was a very touching love story, I am more a fan of his kick-butt action films like “Hard Boiled” (1992) and “Replacement Killers” (1998). 

His acting career has not been without controversy.

For example, several years ago (2014), he was banned from making films in mainland China because he took roles in “films like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Bulletproof Monk, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ...”

Read more: Why Chinese Legend Chow-Yun Fat Is Banned From Making Movies In China - CINEMABLEND

That was a reason that was given. However, some believed that his real crime is being pro-democracy.

What do the Chinese government expect? He was born in Hong Kong when it was not a part of China and under the British; and he has enjoyed democracy and freedom all of his life. His name used to be Donald Chow.

The last three Chow Yun-Fat movies that I watched were: “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2006); “Curse of the Golden Flower” (2006); and “Cold War 2” (2016).

Even though I am a fan, I have not kept up with his filmography because the last report that I heard about him was that he was in poor health.

Get details: Chow Yun-fat takes a break to focus on health, Entertainment News – The Straits Times (Report dated July 18, 2016)

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Interesting Related Links ~ 2020 Articles About Chow Yun-Fat:

Global Star Profiles : Chow Yun Fat | Golden Globes

What makes Hong Kong’s Chow Yun-fat ‘the coolest actor in the world’? At 65, the Pirates of the Caribbean star is still up for action – and romance | South China Morning Post

The 10 Best Chow Yun Fat Movies – Taste of Cinema – Movie Reviews and Classic Movie Lists

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Are you a fan of Chow Yun-Fat?

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