Review of Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) by Ferry Andoni A — 28 May 2009

Im torn by not giving this 4.5 stars, but I may leave that to a second viewing.

The first half is deliciously packed with humor and really a quite magical sense of film-making. A movie that could have been so similar to JSA and yet it's so different. The small sections of action are good, the staging and cinematography is superb, the characterization is brilliant, I definitely didnt feel like it was an 130 minute movie, unlike "Brotherhood of War: Taegukgi" which dragged for me.

Anything I said about Hye-jeong Kang's terrible performance in "Invisible Waves" I completely take back, she is a truly magical presence here. Ha-kyun Shin is a great lead as always, a fine cast all round from soldiers and villagers. The less said about the English speakers the better.

From a seemingly first time director, its quite superb. And I am just about sick of this common thought of "Predictable Korean Movies". I have never understood this statement. OK maybe there are some stereotypical characters that appear in numerous Korean Movies, but in terms of storyline and more importantly, Story Structure, I find them completely refreshing from predictable Hollywood cinema.