Close To You Sarangni

Country: Korea
Genre: Romance
Release Year: 2005
Type: Movie

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Close To You Sarangni Review
A thirty year old schoolteacher named Joh In-Young falls in love with her newly transferred seventeen year old student named Lee Suk. The main reason for this unusual love is that Lee Suk looks exactly like her first love and he also has the same name. However, one day a girl from Lee Suk's past comes back into his life. The strangest part is that her name is also Joh In-Young. To make things even more complicated, the Lee Suk from the older Joh In-Young's past comes back as well.

This is the most confusing movie I have ever seen and I still don't really understand the film. Maybe because I don't understand Korean, but this film is so open to interpretation that it might just drive someone crazy. Truthfully, I'm not even sure how to review this movie because I will probably give some false information.

From my understanding, it seems like there are different incarnations of the same two people. The two main characters are Joh In-Young as a thirty-year old and Lee Suk as a seventeen year old. In the old Joh In-Young's past there is a Lee Suk that was her first love. In the young Lee Suk's past, there is a Joh In-Young that was his first love. However, the younger Joh In-Young is actually an incarnation of the thirty-year old Joh In-Young except they are still two different people, just like the older Lee Suk is different from his seventeen year old incarnation.

Wow, that last paragraph probably doesn't make too much sense, but that's all I can say to help you understand this film a little bit more. Again, the plotline is so convoluted and open to interpretation that I'm not really sure what to make of it. Another reasoning of the film could just be that these people just happen to have the same names and the same history and the same features. Unfortunately, the film doesn't make anything clear and you will probably be shaking your head in confusion by the time the end of the film comes.

The ending also doesn't really clear up anything. The film has a cliffhanger ending that makes you wonder what the hell is up with the storyline. Nothing is resolved and the audience is basically left hanging in shock. This movie is definitely lacking in the storyline department, and the only concrete part of the plot, the relationship between a thirty-year-old woman and a seventeen-year-old boy, is somewhat immoral and uninteresting as well.

Even worse, the two main characters don't look that great either. Joh In-Young looks pretty, but talent-wise there are so many better Korean actresses out there. Her performance is quite lacking, as she doesn't create a character that is easily related to. Partly to blame is the director's fault of making the plot extremely perplexing. The actor who plays the seventeen-year-old Lee Suk is also quite tasteless as he shows almost no facial expressions at all during the film, and even the secondary characters mention that he is too quiet.

Overall, this film is decent, but just too confusing. It should have answered more questions as to what was going on in the film. Unfortunately, the ending is also quite dissapointing as not much happens. There are plenty of better films out there.

Written by Frost

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