My Brother (Uri hyeong /우리형 -2004)

Starring:
Ha-kyun Shin ... Sung-hyun
Bin Won ... Jong-hyun
Hae-suk Kim ... Mother
Bo-young Lee ... Mi-ryeong
Jeong-tae Kim
Tae-wook Kim
Jin-ung Jo

The story is narrated by the younger brother of a cleft-lipped boy, who is the runt of the family and thus gets all the attention from his doting mother. The boys’ father left them because of his son’s disfigurement, and shortly after that, the mother discovered she was pregnant (with the narrator).

The father leaves little behind - except an old camera. The show begins and ends with that camera. As the boys grow up, there is rivalry for a girl, and the older son’s heart is broken as his brother plagiarises his love poetry for her, and ends up going out with her instead. Still, the older son shows love and patience to his brother, despite getting constantly abused by him. Eventually they start to get along. But there is one thing the narrator is unable to do - call his disfigured sibling ‘his brother’. His whole life has been filled with jealousy towards his older brother, and resentment towards his mother for the unequal treatment.

While the older son goes on to medical school, the narrator falls out with society, his mother, and even his brother, becoming a debt-collector. Ultimately a string of unfortunate misdeeds which he commits, comes back to haunt him, and it is finally then that he can call his cleft-lipped sibling ‘his brother’.

I'm going to start off with my review before I add the "scenery". I'm still crying my heart out. This was the most beautiful movie about siblings I've ever seen. I'd heard it was tear-jerker but I didn't realize how much so.....until now.

This movie is a definite box of Kleenex type of movie. Be prepared to weep to your hearts content.

Won Bin and Shin Ha Kyun were exceptional in their portrayal of Jung-hyun and Sung-hyun. This movie compels me to get out my stationary and write my brother and sister and tell them how much they mean to me before it's too late. Reminiscent of my life with my siblings and to others as well, this movie will throw in curve balls and make you realize how much family really means in the long run. We've all been jealous of a sibling before and probably have fought over those feelings as well. But as we get older, we either part our separate ways or bond closer together as we never did before. This movie tells that tale.

Geez, all I can do at this moment is control the over flow of tears and snot running out my nose. This movie is a must watch by all accounts and don't say I didn't warn you about the Kleenex!!

Won Bin

Guns & Talks (Killerdeului suda~2001)

Starring:
Shin Hyun-Joon~Sang-yeon
Shin Ha-Gyoon~Jung-woo
Jeong Jae-Young~Jae-young
Won Bin~Ha-yeon

"Guns & Talks" revolves around four young professional killers. Sang-yeon (Shin Hyun-joon of "The Siren") is the leader, Jung-woo (Shin Ha-gyoon of "Joint Security Area") is the demolitions expert, Jae-young (Jeong Jae-young of "Ghost Taxi") is the resident sniper, while Sang-yeon's younger brother Ha-yeon (Won Bin) eagerly awaits the day when he is allowed to carry a gun. The foursome work out of their shared house, and their claim to fame is following the wishes of their clients down to the very last detail-if the client only wants someone's left hand blown off, they will do it, no questions asked.

Despite their cold-blooded work, they are actually quite harmless and congenial when they are not being assassins. In addition, for all things not work-related, they are pretty dense (one telltale scene has the quartet misinterpreting the English warning "I will never miss you" as "I am never Miss Yu"). This, of course, in addition to contributing to their charm, leads to some absurd situations. They find themselves harassed by a high-school girl who knows their true identity and insists that they kill someone who broke her heart-- Ha-yeon eventually falls for her. Jae-young is given the distasteful task of killing a pregnant woman, though he finds himself incapable of going through with it when he begins falling in love with his intended target. Meanwhile, Sang-yeon accepts a risky job from a pretty television anchorwoman (Ko Eun-mi) whom they all worship. And if things weren't complicated enough, a public prosecutor named Cho (Jeong Jin-young of "Ring Virus") is hot on their trail for the assassination of a witness.


How do I put this? Let me count the ways. This movie was bad-ass. Sugoi! Awesome. One of the top films I've seen so far. Definitely a top three. Sheesh, I highly recommend this to everyone. It's not gory. Just enough comedy, humanism, drama to keep anyone interested. Hell, if that don't get you....Won Bin is in it. Damn! I love, love, loved this movie.

Won Bin


Shin Ha-gyun

Friends (2002) フレンズ / 프렌즈

Okay, this is not the comedy from the US. This is by far NOT a comedy. A love story. *sniff, sniff*



Starring:
Won Bin as Kim Ji Hoon
Fukada Kyoko as Asai Tomoko
Lee Dong Gun as Park Kyung Joo
Han Hye Jin as Park Hye Jin

Left alone on a trip to Hong Kong, Tomoko (Fukada Kyoko) finds herself the victim of a purse-snatching. The police arrest the man she points out, but it turns out to be the wrong person: a young Korean man named Ji Hoon (Won Bin). Despite his anger and humiliation, he takes her out to dinner since she has lost all her money, and in return, she agrees to model for his amateur film. What follows is a magical and romantic two days. Upon returning to their respective countries, Tomoko must return to her nine-to-five job and Ji Hoon must resume studying to join the family business rather than pursuing his dream of becoming a film director. But soon the two begin to email each other and rekindle their relationship despite the distance and obstacles between them. Marking the very first time in television history that a drama has been co-produced between Japan and South Korea, the story shows us that love has no borders......

"......love has no border." *sniff, sniff* I read the premise of this drama and just knew it was going to be good. It didn't let me down one bit. Be sure to have a box of tissues had at the end. 'Nuff said. Oh it was sooooo sweet. Won Bin just nailed my heart to the wall. He was just soooo...ugh...gosh darn adorable. His soulfull eyes, his mushy heart, his kind face. He was like a bar of chocolate on a hot Texas day (which is pretty much everyday, of course.) He was just so sweet and soft but melted all over your hands into a gooey mess. You couldn't eat him up fast enough. LOL! Fukada Kyoka was the perfect opposite to Won Bin's character. This kind of sorta reminds you of Virgin Snow. Almost the same idea but different. Damn you gotta love those Korean/Japanese combos!

Won Bin

Ummmm.....I think I'm in love! He definitely got better lookin' as he got older.

Lee Dong Gun

I'm not the biggest fan of his. (I know I'll get hate mail for sayin' that..ugh) I can't help it. He's a good actor. No doubt, but he's just not my "cuppa tea".