Having lost all his money at the stock-exchange, plus his home, wife
& almost all of his connections to his (former) life, Jung Chan
finds himself (rather accidently) after a failed suicide attempt
mingling with homeless people, & he has caught the attention of
Hwang Jung-Min, a homosexual who has fallen in love with him - but Jung
Chan doesn't know that yet, & might actually be shocked, being
strictly heterosexual. As the 2 wander the city, they are joined by the
very open & a bit crazy girl Su Rin, who falls in love with Hwang
Jung-Min, a relationship that has to end unhappily of course, when she
finds out he's gay. & when Jung Chan finds out, too, he's expectedly
shocked, still for some reason can't leave him, & they start
wandering the countryside, taking up odd-jobs every now & again
(though former stock-broker Jung Chan finds himself terribly uneasy with
manual labour), even meeting Hwang Jung-Min's former wife &
son,until after a big fight, they split again, since Jung Chan got a job
offer from a former associate anyways. Upon his leaving, Hwang Jung-Min
drugs himself & tries to kill himself in an explosion, almost
succeeding. Jung Chan comes back to him one last time though, finally
givin in to his sexual urges. But this night spent together Hwang
Jung-Min does not survive.
One of the first Korean films to deal with homosexuality, this movie
did stir some controversy in its country of origin, by critics usually
putting subject over form. This is, indeed, a beautifully photographed
& nicely told film about an almost impossible relationship, & it
happens to be both entertaining & downbeat (most of the characters
dop attempt suicide at one point or another, & many of them more
than once), & never falling into the trap of being a message
movie - & that despite the producer's instructions to make a film
for/about the gay community.
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