Calla

[dre]

this is a kind of unique movie in a way that its simple story became complicated which most viewers wouldn't expect of the outcome. hope you all watch this one! starring song seung hun...

reply comments pls ty.

[siCKako]

okay lng...pro medyo expected ko na ganun mangyayari...cguro kasi nasanay na ata ako sa mga korean films na lging may twist..:p

[boonorbane]

I watched this last year on star mandarin…medyo naguluhan nga ako…

[siCKako]

san ka naguluhan? ung girl pla na nagpapadala sa knya ng calla nde yun isa...kundi yung friend nun... - ito spoiler!

[popie]

what can you say about this movie...which stars SSH
please post your reviews or comments here..

[8autumnkid]

hello popie... :)

di ko pa napapanood 'tong movie na 'to so i guess rely din lng me sa comment ng iba... thanks for starting the thread. ;)

[ahshilover]

i've watched this movie a long time ago... story wise, it's pretty weird... not your usual love story... but what would make you want to watch this is the direction, ang galing ng director! super! the way that he interlinked the events and all, bilib talaga ako! it's a pretty hard to understand movie, but bearable naman... just go for how good the movie was made nalang... ;)

[popie]

i've watched this movie a long time ago... story wise, it's pretty weird... not your usual love story... but what would make you want to watch this is the direction, ang galing ng director! super! the way that he interlinked the events and all, bilib talaga ako! it's a pretty hard to understand movie, but bearable naman... just go for how good the movie was made nalang... ;)

ah, ok..thank you...hope i could watch this...

[Ariyoung]

Calla - Starring Kim Hee Sun & Song Seung Hun (Koreanfilm.org)



Sun-woo (Song Seung-hun (http://www.koreanfilm.org/actors2.html#songsh) - Ice Rain, He Was Cool) works in an office that may or may not have something to do with animation. (We know he's an illustrator and the knick-knacks thrown up around the cubes within the office are all animation-oriented, but we never witness Sun-woo actually do any work so I'm just guessing here.) For some time, he's arrived in the morning to find a single calla lily on his desk. A few moments after arriving, he will receive a call where the only noise on the other end is recorded music. He begins to hope these gifts are sent to him from Ji-hee (Kim Hee-sun (http://www.koreanfilm.org/actors2.html#kimhs) - Bichunmoo, Wanee and Junah), a woman who works at a flower shop across the way from his work. Initially we follow Sun-woo as his shy, coy self stalks the woman he believes is sending him stalks. With his work sending him to Singapore to do whatever it is he does, he finds the confidence to call her from a pay phone. (One of the interesting sociological aspects of this film is Sun-woo's prominent use of pay phones, causing a dissonant effect for those of http://www.koreanfilm.org/calla1.jpg us who have become so used to seeing cell-phones as such necessary attachments to Korean characters in more recent films.) He tells her he loves her even though they've never actually talked outside of a customer/salesperson dyad. However, as unrealistic as this may seem, the woman on the other end of the phone says she loves him too. They promise to meet at a hotel lounge when he returns. Upon his return, he arrives at the hotel to discover a hostage situation, the one presented to us in ghostly slow-mo at the beginning of the film. Sun-woo arrives to witness Ji-hee's death at the hands of a drug dealer, Chung Mi-wook (Choi Cheol-ho - The Quiet Family), who supposedly got high on his own supply. Three years later, still mourning this loss of that which he never had, Sun-woo returns to the lounge to ritualize a goodbye. However, he still cannot let go of her, and while traveling in the elevator downwards, he wishes he could return to the time of the event in order to prevent Jin-hee's death. His wish is the elevator's command because when he reaches the ground floor, he is returned to the year 1995.

To tell you more would ruin the twists and turns that Calla takes. (But for those who need to know about all the stars that flicker in this film, Kim Hyun-joo (Shinsuki Blues) plays a character named Su-jin as well.) What results is an interesting take on time travel, that, although I haven't seen enough films or read enough books to know if this is a unique take, veers from a primary assumption about such crossings. Although primarily Sun-woo's story, another person's story enters as well, and it would have been interesting if the basic premise of the story- be careful what you wish for; it might keep you from seeing what you really want - would have cut both ways with both characters, but instead it is only Sun-woo who has something to learn. It is only Sun-woo who has to change. This film shares something with Pisces (Kim Hyung-tae, 2000), another film that plays off the obligatory stalking inherent in too many romantic tales, although they have differing takes on the appropriateness of such tactics.

But that's just me wanting this film to be something other than what it is. What it ends up being is a fairly engaging film with unfortunately too many moments which limit the level of poignancy that director Song Hae-sung accomplished in Failan. Plot problems arise such as why Sun-woo would not have the gun he stole taken away from him when he was hospitalized. One would think the emergency room attendants would find his possession of such outlawed weapons worthy of concern. But he still has this gun at the ready to wield later when needed. There are more problems than just plot points. The exaggerated scowl of drug dealer Chung when Sun-woo confronts him later in the film is so over-done as to appear almost campy, which is surely not the effect director Song intended. And the need to repeat so much through internal flashbacks to scenes prior, although understandable in that Song intends to give the flipside of the story, ends up tying loose ends at the expense of having the film stay with me long after viewing it. Rather than having the film meander in my mind, re-reading previous scenes with the new information of later scenes, Song leaves nothing to chance, telling me what to think, causing the film to finish rather than float with me in the future. He could have hinted more and completely diagrammed less. This film had potential that failed to deliver. But that's ok considering how well the one telling of two tales fell into place with Song's next attempt, Failan. (Adam Hartzell (http://www.koreanfilm.org/info.html#atom))