Selfish bitch and a scandal...
"Darling, I don't know how to tell you this... but there's a Chinese family in our bathroom."
--- Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon Levitt),
500 Days of Summer
Other than the line above, there's nothing more I enjoyed about the movie 500 Days of Summer. I don't think the story talked about destiny. I believe it was about how selfish Summer was. How could she lead on someone and just let go so easily? She knew he was investing more than he was admitting. Couldn't she tell when they first talked in the videoke bar that he was the kind of lad who views love as LOVE and that he values relationship? Stupid girl!
Honestly, there's nothing more I can say about the movie. I can't write a proper review. Nothing much was stored in my mind. It was dragging and it lacks sensibility. The story teller said it right from the start. I don't know why I didn't believe him. He said that the movie is a story of boy meets girl but not a love story. Hearing that I should've hit the stop button and instead hunted for a good anime movie.
Hay! Chiaki said it was good so I took his word for it. Now, I say he's just a fool for Zooey Deschanel. I must also say that her sister Emily (Dr. Temperance Brennan, Bones) is far better looking and a much better actress than her. Ahahaha! I think I am just thrashing Chiaki's girl. :D
Moving on, I've been wanting to watch Untold Scandal for years. Ever since I knew that it starred Bae YongJoon. However, I kept on stalling. I don't know why. Maybe one shallow reason is that I don't want to believe that Joonah had starred in such a film. Well, I am not against nudity or sexual acts in movies especially when it is quite needed in the stories being told. However, I heard that this one showed too explicit sexual acts and that Joonah was criticized for doing such a role. I don't want to prove those critics correct.
But then one night I got so bored and decided to download it and have a look at this very controversial movie. Hmm... I proved them wrong!
First and foremost, the sex scenes and nudity in Untold Scandal is nothing compared to the movie Frozen Flower. The critics may have been the clergies that's why they thought this movie is obscene. And Joonah's critics may have been the anti-fans. This movie had shown me a side of Bae YongJoon that I have never seen before. He was sinfully beautiful and dark. So immersed acting as Cho Won, the era's known playboy. Joonah played him so well that I hated the character yet still love the actor who played him.
It was the first time I saw Bae YongJoon with mustache and beard. He looked different. His eyes were sharp and his smile was nowhere near kind or innocent. I didn't see the overly refined man of today. Instead I saw the scheming and worldly Cho Won. So my second reason for proving them wrong is that in this film Bae YongJoon had displayed how great an actor he really is. He had set no boundaries for his craft. Bravo, Joonah!
Moreover, this is the movie where I saw him naked. Not totally, of course. He only showed his chest, his legs and his back. But never that. :P I'm disappointed.
On the other hand, the story was being told, like a fairy tale story with dark and deceitful twists. Archives were opened about the untold scandal of an era in the olden times when everybody was too conservative but inwardly they're as lustful as the deviants of today. The king was getting a new concubine much to the queen's rage. However, since it was the tradition and the elders' decision, the queen obeyed but schemed with her worldly cousin for a revenge.
Cho Won was a widower but a known playboy. He was the queen's cousin and they enjoyed playing games of lust and flesh. The queen asked him to bed the coming concubine, making sure that he gets her pregnant before the king returns from his trip abroad. However, he didn't want to. He eyes another woman. The chaste catholic widow whose husband died before they were physically united. She kept her virginity and stayed faithful to her dead husband until Cho Won sought her.
The queen challenged Cho Won that should the latter fail to bed the virgin widow he would have to follow the queen's orders no matter what. Should he succeed then Cho Won would covet the ultimate price, sex with the queen, his cousin. PERVERTS! But that's the story, how royal life of the olden times were being lived.
To make the long story short, Cho Won succeeded. However, he didn't expect that he'd fall in love with the girl. Huh! How typical. The playboy gets tamed by the ultimate innocent.
The queen felt betrayed. She set up a rumor that ended to her cousin's death and to her untimely exile. Her scheme backfired revealing how worldly and deceitful she truly was.
The virgin-oh-so-not-virgin-anymore widow committed suicide. She couldn't face the fact that the two loves of her life had move on to the other world. Well, that's how I see it. Sorry!
Anyway... I couldn't say anything deep about this film as well. But you must know that I liked this one more than 500 Days of Summer. Not only for the eye candy-ness of Bae YongJoon but because... Oh shocks! I don't know what to add. I think I liked this movie because of Joonah, no more no less. Hahaha! Pathetic! Well, at least this one isn't dragging. It's entertaining. You may form questions in your head about morality of the royal families and rulers. Do they really live like that? I wonder. How about you?
Between the two, I suggest you watch Untold Scandal. It's not a five star movie for me, just a two point five. Sorry.