Antique

  No, the post is not about me. Not about my ancient taste in men either (OK, it changed rapidly lately, ekhem). I'm not sure if there is any Korean movie I watched so many times. Maybe there is, but... not that important now. I didn't read the manga, and I tried to watch Japanese drama, but ended up hating it throughout the first episodes so I dropped. This movie, on the other hand, is perfect.

Title: 서양골동양과자점 앤티크

109min 

Release date in South Korea : 2008/11/13

Genre: comedy, drama

Antique is like a breath of a fresh air in the cinema. It is directed by Min Gyudong in such manner that every minute is a gem. The plot is somewhat simple: a young man Kim Jinhyeok (played by, stop my heart, Ju Jihun) wants to open a cake shop and hires a well-known patissier Min Seonwu. Their journey through life just begins. With time we get more characters entangled in each other's lives. We get to know a quirky ex-boxer, Yang Kibeom (played by oh so cute Yu Ah-in), and the dimwit bodyguard Nam Suyeong, who apart from his looks has nothing to be proud of.

Cake shop. What's interesting in a movie about cakes? I was hovering over this movie for almost two months before I finally sat down and watched it long time ago. From that time on, Yu Ah-in is on my watchlist, and Ju Jihun got a solid post in my heart. I was so biased, truthfully the plot didn't appeal to me at all.

But finally I gave it a shot and I'm so glad I did (the same with SKKS, thanks to Yu Ah-in in it^^).

Ju Jihun

Time for a statement. 

Ju Jihun

주지훈

Born on May 16, 1982.

Currently in the military.

One of my first true Korean crushes from before. Yes, because neither JJY nor KNG, nor ACH were my "crushes". They are gods. Period.

First thing I saw with Ju Jihun was The Devil. No, not Goong. After that, I watched Goong right away in 2 days, getting blood eyes like the evil Ha In Soo (from SKKS, but I was blinking at least, ekhem). And after that Antique came. This movie deserves special post and so will be. Jihun is this one person I have deep in my heart because of few reasons.

When I was watching him in Goong, I was: "Damn, this doll has the most beautiful smile in the Universe!", but in the same time I thought he was completely restrained, blocked and awkward. Some scenes were just perfect and some looked like if he played in some school play. After some research I got to know it was his first drama where he was a lead. OK, his first drama, don't count the previous one. In The Devil he was much better, more versatile, although the character he played was even colder than Prince Shin. More complicated, to just add. Mawang was blue, cold blue and I remember clearly this freezing gaze he appeared with. After this time, after watching many dramas, I still find The Devil (Mawang) as one of the bests.

Goong was totally different. It was teen, it was cheezy, bustling with youthfulness of Yun Eunhye crushed by the coldness of the lonely Prince. If we were to analyse Goong closely, it's not all that sweet drama at all.