Brillliant Legacy/Shining Inheritance (찬란한 유산 / Chanranhan Yusan-2009)

Starring:
Han Hyo Joo as Go Eun Sung
Lee Seung Ki as Sun Woo Hwan
Bae Soo Bin as Park Jun Se
Moon Chae Won as Yoo Seung Mi
Extended Cast
Kim Mi Sook as Baek Sung Hee
Min Young Won as Lee Hye Ri (Eun Sung's friend)
Yun Joon Suk as Go Eun Woo
Jung Suk Won as Jin Young Suk (Hwan's friend)
Han Ye Won as Sun Woo Jung
Ban Hyo Jung as Jang Sook Ja
Yoo Ji In as Oh Young Ran (Hwan & Jung's mother)
Kim Jae Seung as Lee Hyung Jin
Son Yeo Eun as Jung In Young
Choi Jung Woo as Park Tae Soo
Lee Seung Hyung as Pyo Sung Chul
Jun In Taek as Go Pyung Joong (Eun Sung's father)
Baek Seung Hyun as Manager Lee Joon Young
Park Sang Hyun as Han Soo Jae

Go Eun Sung's life is similar to Cinderella's. After her father died, her step-mother, Baek Sung Hee, took away all of her assets and her younger brother, Eun Woo, suddenly disappears without a trace. Despite this, Eun Sung preservers and works really hard to fulfill her dreams. When the CEO of a food company, Jang Sook Ja, suffers amnesia and can't remember who she is Eun Sung takes her in. However, Eun Sung does not know that she is the grandmother of Sun Woo Hwan, the man who she switched bags with at the airport. How will their constant bickering lead them to realize that they care more about each other than they let on?

Where to start? There was good and there was bad...but not so bad. Bad, I guess, was the fact that SBS decided to string us along for another 4 episodes and make us all go bald going crazy waiting for a conclusion. The extra episodes were added when SBS realized that Lee Seung Ki is one hell of a money maker. LOL!

The good was surprising. I started watching this when it was halfway through. I think everyone was on episode 11 or 12 when I got bored one day and decided "what the hell." Don't get me wrong. Lee Seung Ki is a cutie patootie but not so much as to make me go epileptic ga-ga. Okay, I'll admit I watch 1N2D's like anyone who knows how good that variety/reality show is. *Going off topic....Mianhe* This was a long story of a girl who pretty much gets the worst kind of Cinderella treatment ever. Worst kind being that her autistic brother was tricked by the EVIL stepmother (who by-the-way was the most perfect at this role) and taken away and "lost."

Typical is most Korean dramas....bad boy treats good girl (thought to be bad girl) rotten and then realizes his mistake. Good girl falls for bad boy (who isn't really bad at all but mistaken). Yes, kissing scene included. At least there seemed to be some pucker other than sewed lips pressed together. But it wasn't the best. (The best so far is Ariel Lin and Joe Cheng in ISWAK) It was at least slightly different.

I know Han Hyo Joo is a much sought after actress but really.....she bores the heck out of me. Every romance I have seen her in has been....typically....unemotional. If you are going to hug....then squeeze. If you are going to kiss....then atleast pucker (it's not like you have to stick your tongue down the guys throat). Other than Kim Sun Ah, is it a cultural thing, that the female leads act all unemotional when it comes to love and affection on TV. In the movies, it's totally different....definitely different. That is why you never really here me talk nice about the female TV leads (exception Kim Sun Ah). I want a romance to bang a gong in my heart.

Okay, on to someone who was surprisingly realistic. YUN JOON SUK was the amazingly sweet, endearing, autistic brother. Damn, I really would have thought he was the real thing if I didn't know any better. This kid RULED! I want to see a WHOLE lot more of him. I really do.

Lee Seung Ki

I love, love, love this pic.

Marathon ( 말아톤-2004)

Starring:
Seung-woo Cho ... Cho-won
Mi-suk Kim ... Cho-won's mum
Gi-yeong Lee ... Jung-wook
Seong-hyeon Baek ... Yun Jung-won
Nae-sang Ahn ... Cho-won's dad
Mi-suk Park
Nae-sang Ahn

Marathon tells the story of the relationship between a young autistic man named Cho-Won (portrayed by Cho Seung-Woo) and his doting mother, Kyong-Sook (TV actress Kim Mi-Sook). Although Cho-Won may be twenty years old, he has only a childlike understanding of the world. He likes chocolate cookies, loves zebras, and can memorize casual conversations and TV shows. He also tends to dance in public and pass gas at the most inopportune times. While these things may seem charming or at least humorous, this behavior can get him into a lot of trouble due to his inability to understand how the rest of the world operates. Thus, his mother controls many aspects of his life in the name of "protection," a characteristic that will have further relevance to the plot as the film progresses. As a youth, Cho-Won tended to engage in self-destructive behaviors, but with the help of the special school he attends and his mother's insistence that he participate in various physical activities, his condition quickly improved. Believing that he enjoys running, Kyong-Sook enters Cho-Won into a variety of races, and soon decides that her son should compete in a marathon, hoping he'll achieve something every amateur runner dreams of: completing the race in less than three hours. But are these high ambitions for her son's benefit or her own? Does Cho-Won truly enjoy running or has he been "trained" to agree with his mother's demands?



OMG! I hit the JACKPOT! This movie was GRADE A-kobe beef! Cho Seung Woo was SPECTACULAR! Move over Dustin Hoffman....he outclassed you by 100 miles. The role was challenging having to play an autistic adult, who we learn later as the movie progresses, loves to run. I, being a runner myself, can fully understand the joy of accomplishing the goal of a marathon (even though I've never done one myself). The feel of adrenaline pumping through your body, the rush of achieving a goal, your heart racing as reality becomes a dream and vice versa, the pain and comfort of tired legs and sore feet. Yeah, I know the feeling well. Cho Seung Woo, in every form and fashion that an actor can, has established that he IS an A-class actor.

I happened upon this movie after having just watched him in Love Phobia. I think he is the best Korean film actor so far..........God bless him!

Cho Seung Woo