Failan (2001)

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

I have seen this film twice. I'm not sure why I didn't get around to writing a review the first time, but I will say I sobbed copiously toward the end, yet again, as was the case the first time. It's a fair assessment in saying Min-sik Choi first caught western viewer's attention in the movie Old Boy. His performance in Old Boy was mind blowing, but what was even more surprising to me was that Failan was made before Old Boy, and his performance is this film was even better than the film which has brought him notoriety in the west. Those of us who watch a lot of films can appreciate, and know, an artist who takes his or her craft seriously. Western actors like Daniel Day Lewis or Juliette Binoche are among a few in Hollywood who possess this drive for excellence which permeates their work on screen. These are the two names which randomly come to mind, so it's pure coincidence they happen to be foreign born. One will notice, such actors do not accept roles for the sake of box office rewards. Min-sik Choi is such an artist – a quintessential character actor. You can tell by his presence this man is not in the game for the money. He just enjoys the art of honing his craft. I'm not an actor, but have watched enough films to know when a part is difficult or easy to play. Min-sik Choi's character " Kang Jae" in this film is complex, to say the least. He is a man in a business to which he does not belong, but which he cannot seem to extract himself, since it's the only means of living he knows. The problem is his moral disposition which simply won't let him be the evil person he is supposed to be in the small-time-gangster world he reluctantly inhabits. Kang Jae is full of inner turmoil, and Min-sik Choi is able to express this on screen over and over, and sometimes even without words. The role is physical as well as deeply emotional and Min-sik Choi's ability to vacillate from one emotional end of the spectrum to another, with minimal dialogue/monologue, is borderline uncanny. This man sucks the viewer into each scene, so you feel you are right there with him. You can almost touch him on the shoulder, hence the illusion is complete.His co-lead is played by Cecilia Cheung. Though she also gave an incredible performance, I don't feel she deserves as much kudos as Min-sik Choi, since her screen presence in the film wasn't as ubiquitous as Min-sik Choi's. Her character also is one dimensional, so it wasn't a particularly a hard role to play. In fact, I would call her role more of a support than a co-lead. Nevertheless, all in all, she deserves praise for her performance, as is the case with one other supporting character: Hyeong-jin Kong (watch out for this guy in the future!!) Toshiro Mifune is a non-western name movies watchers have become familiar with because of the performances he delivered in the many of the classic, and now iconic, Japanese films of the 60's and 70's. The same applies to Korean films actors of today. If you are a film buff, then memorize the name Min-sik Choi and let it roll off your tongue like any other western name, because this man is a colossal force to be reckoned with.

Though i really like drama/romance movies from all over the world like my sassy girl, this one is definitely one of the most boring movies I ever saw in my whole life... The acting was quite good, but the script/scenario/directing was amazingly bad, it's like they meant to make this movie so boring. For me the action continuum of this movie was a flat line, no ups, no dawns just a STRAIGHT STRAIGHT line. The scenario is so unrealistic, let me give you an idea: the "bad guy" who is a crook marry the "good and sensitive girl" just for the money. The "good girl" marry him to get visa and work legally in the country. They never meet, never speak to each other, but they somehow crazily get in love with each other! wow, amazing! and after 115min of watching I was wondering where is the romance? where is the action, what happened ? haw did they fall in love? what is going on??? and nothing... I believe this movie is just an "Incredibly boring movie " i recommend you to see this movie only if you are already in bead, and want to trow away 115 minutes of your life, I was just amazingly disappointed of this movie. In my opinion it is not worth renting, watching, occupying space in your mind... this is just my friendly and sincere opinion.

A contrived plot and larger than life characters threatens to turn Song Hae-sung's gritty Failan into a Korean version of Love Story but the film is redeemed by its sincerity, the gorgeous cinematography of Kim Yeong Cheol, and towering performances by Choi Min-sik, the abducted businessman in Oldboy, and angelic-looking Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung. Adapted from a novel by Jiro Asada, Failan (Cheung) is a young Chinese immigrant who, after losing both of her parents, comes to Korea only to discover that her one remaining relative has emigrated to Canada. She ends up at an employment agency seeking work but is told that she cannot remain in Korea with just a travel visa. The film then shifts to Inchon where Kang-jae (Choi), a low-level and thoroughly unlikable gangster, has just been released from prison for selling pornographic video tapes to minors.Pushed around by his boss Yong-sik ((Son Beyond-ho) and disrespected by fellow gang members, Kang-jae's life is a mess reflected in his slovenly attire and in the unkempt room he shares with fellow porn dealer Kyung-su (Kong Hyeong-jin). He is tough as nails on the outside but when an old lady gets the better of him in a confrontation over protection money, a softer interior is revealed. He dreams of buying a fishing boat and returning to his hometown but does not have the means to do this. When his boss murders a rival gang member, however, he offers Kang-jae the chance to get the fishing boat by taking the rap for him and going to jail for ten years. Not having much to lose, he reluctantly agrees but his life takes a sudden turn when he hears some sad news.The film then moves back to one year ago. In order to remain in Korea, Failan agrees to a paper marriage to Kang-jae who jumps at the chance to make some extra money, even though the two have never met. She is sent to work as a prostitute but is rejected when she begins to cough up blood, an issue that comes up later in the film. Finding herself working as a laundress for an older lady in a lovely rural setting close to the sea, all she has is a picture of her husband smiling but buys two toothbrushes in the hope that he will come to visit her. Appreciative of just being able to stay in the country, she writes to Kang-jae telling him how kind he is and how much she loves him.We learn that Failan had come to Inchon but only was able to catch a glimpse of her husband in his video shop moments before he was arrested. As Kang-jae reads Failan's letters, a shift takes place in how he begins to see himself. Discovering the fact that someone loves him and believes in his kindness, his identification with the young girl and her struggle is the catalyst for him to rethink his life and discover almost a nobility of character in the process. Choi Min-sik is one of the world's most talented actors and, in Failan, he fully captures the character of the repulsive gangster who begins to discover his humanity and sensitivity. The ending is both sad and hauntingly beautiful as we dream about all the "what-ifs".

I am a Chinese viewer of this movie so that Cecillia Cheung was very familiar to me. Actually I watched the movie because I was a fans of her. However, after watching the film, I was not only moved by her beauty of purity, but much more by the magnificent story and eye-and-heart-catching performances by Cheung, as well as that of actor Choi Ming-Shik.I've been aside while my girlfriend watched the movie but I did not actually got to understand what the film was talking about. And the moment I did, I just could not help feeling so heart-broken that tears went down my cheeks. It was not an exaggeration of emotion that forced the tears, but the feeling thrived deep in my mind found its way out through my tears. I was not only moved to feel sorry, but also warm, since it is a love that has never been seen elsewhere, so faint between the two, yet strong enough to sustain the two's lives, and change their tracks of them.After the movie, I've got some rational ideas to share with my friends here. We see the two, Failan and Kang-Chai. They are the most trivial parts of our world, one girl with no relatives or skills to depend on to survive in a strange foreign country, and a 2nd class rogue who is even thought less of by his "colleagues" in the gang. They did not even know each other before or well after their marriage, yet at their most difficult times, and ends of lives, it was this love, derived from imagination that told them to hang on, and to realize their only proof of existence on this planet. We seek for love in our real lives, yet never has been such a love seen. I guess, after all, we are to see and realize ourselves in every period of love, and in the permanent pursue of love, not our partners. And it is this self-realization that is the uttermost meaning of human lives. However, I am not criticizing this pursue as selfish conducts, rather, this is the most profound form of humanity.And it is for this meaning depicted so vividly and thought-worthy, I rate this movie a full 10.