My Tutor Friend (Dong-gab-nae-gi Kwa-oi-ha-gi, 동갑내기 과외하기-2003)

Starring:
Ha-Neul Kim - Su-wan
Sang-woo Kwone - Ji-hoon
Il-seob Baek - Ji-hoon's Father
Ji-woo Kim - Ho-kyeong
Yu Kong - Jong-soo
Dong-won Seo
Hyo-jun Park
Hye-ok Kim
Jeong-woo
Ja-ok Kim

Su-wan is a sophomore in college, and she works part-time as a tutor to cover her tuition since her father lost his job and started a small chicken eatery. Tutoring is a tough job, especially since basket cases are more curious about what's underneath her skirt (The mirror is the most commonly employed device in satisfying this curiosity.) than what's in the books. Again for the zillionth time, she couldn't hack it. It's been only 7 days since she started teaching her new student, and already she's been sacked. "No tutoring, no tuition," declares her mother to make sure she understands she has no choice. So Su-wan is back on the market, and meets her next challenge -- the impossible, the unconquerable and the unreformable Ji-hoon.

He's the eldest son of a wealthy upstart. At school, he's a well-known fighter and the king of troublemakers. And what's more, he's repeating his senior year for the third time. Ji-hoon, who boasts such an impressive school record, becomes a very unwilling student of Su-wan, who's the same age but in college. She is flabbergasted by his careless manners and speech, and his incessant smoking during the lesson. Extremely tempted to quit, Su-wan is determined not to lose this job since she doesn't want to disappoint her Mom. Yes, she'll bring him down on his knees and under her control, so as it may seem as she tries to convince herself, but Ji-hoon tramples on her courage with his bluntness:

"Hey babe, just sit over there for two hours and then leave. I'll make sure you get paid." "Oh, sure, why not."

That's how their lessons began. And from then on, things started happening one after another.



God, I really love this movie. This is my second time watching it. LOL! The first time I watched this, I had no clue who Kwon Sang Woo or Kim Ha Neul was. Watching this again, as I've become more familiar with names and faces, surprises me. Kwon Sang Woo, I will never get tired of looking at. He can play comedy, drama, action in the blink of an eye. He does them so well.

I guess I really needed to watch this because I'm feeling so down. My husband is in the US Army and has left for the "sandbox" (Iraq) again for the 3rd time. Ugh. Today, I'll be watching lots of romantic comedies to get me in a better mood. No sad, tragic romances...that would just make me suicidal. That means no Koizora for a long, long, long, long, long time.

So back to a better note...sorry there.

I think this was my very first Korean movie. I can't think of any that would pre-date this one. Anyway, this is one of my favorites and one of many that I have downloaded via internet!

For those of us, who are military dependents (U.S. or any other nation)................HUGS!

Kwon Sang Woo


Gong Yoo