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Spring Day
Cast:
Go Eun Ho : Jee Jin Hee
Go Eun Sup : Jo In Sung
Suh Jung Eun : Go Hyun Jung
Go Hyung Jin : Jang Yong
Oh Hye Rin :Lee Hwi Hyang
Synopsis
This drama centred on the staple ingredient of Korean series: the quintessential love triangle set against the background of a modern but thoroughly dysfunctional family. The patriarch Dr.Go, is the Head of a major hospital, a strict authoritarian man whose apparent mission in life is to make his two sons, Eun-Ho and Eun-Sup, doctors whether they like it or not. Eun-Ho, his son from his first marriage, is already a qualified doctor whereas his son from his second marriage, Eun-Sup, is a musician at heart and loathed to be a doctor. Actually, he had an aversion to blood due to some traumatic incident earlier in his life (he apparently witnessed his mother's suicide attempt). The circumstances of the break-up of his first marriage were not very clear, especially when you are watching a poorly translated version of this drama. He apparently forbade Eun Ho to see his mother after the separation. Eun Ho eventually managed to find his way to an old teacher of his father in an island clinic who has information regarding the whereabouts of his mother. Even though told not to by Dr. Go, the old teacher eventually capitulated and told Eun Ho where to find his mother. In the island clinic, Eun Ho met the old teacher's granddaughter, Jung-Eun, who stopped talking from the age of ten, when abandoned by her mother. Through a series of incidences, some may call it therapy, they fell in love with each other and Eun Ho eventually managed to make Jung-Eun talk, by which time he was already on the boat to locate his mother. He promised to come back for her.
Eun Ho had a joyous and somewhat bittersweet reunion with his mother. He planned to take his mother back to the island and marry Jung Eun but first, he has to clear it with his father. On the way to the bus station, in a heavy snow storm, they met with a terrible accident resulting in her death and Eun Ho to lose his memory (another K-drama staple). Upon learning this, Jung Eun rushed to Seoul to look after Eun Ho, only to be devastated by the discovery that he does not even remember her. Jung Eun stayed in Eun Sup's apartment whilst the latter moved into hospital quarters. In the long process of recovery Eun Sup was thrown together a lot with Jung Eun and fell deeply in love with her. Thrown against these dynamics is Eun Sup's mother, a highly neurotic and insecure former nightclub girl whose explosive and mercurial temperaments provide the twists and turns common in this kind of drama. Thrown in are third parties, the spurned and the unrequited love to the two main male characters, whose connivance added spice to the already tangled relationships.
Apart from the love triangle, the sub message of this drama is unresolved sibling rivalry stemming largely due to poor parenting from parents who themselves are dysfunctional. There are issues of abandonment galore; it seems that almost every character in this story experienced intentional or unintentional physical and/or emotional abandonment. Eun Ho was particularly traumatized by the separation from his mother, enjoying an extremely short reunion only to lose her again.
Review
After watching Jee Jin Hee in his stellar performance in the period drama "Dae Jang Geum" as the chivalrous and gallant hero, he looked rather insipid here without the beard and the moustache. In "Dae Jang Geum", he looked distinguished, almost regal and a whole lot taller! His performance here is uneven; he was already in childish mode even before he lost his memory. Nevertheless he managed to portray a caring and sensitive Eun Ho and I am sure, with all the tribulations that he went through, audiences were rooting for him to have a happy ending. Eun Ho's sartorial style leaves very much to be desired though and he needs a new hair stylist.
Jo In Sung as Eun Sup, reprised his role from "Memories of Bali" as the emotionally underdeveloped, dandified jerk. Jo In Sung should be careful about accepting such roles; otherwise he will be permanently type-casted into those characters. Maybe the character of Eun Sup demands a certain over acting, but there are many occasions, it went OTT (over the top), which renders his character completely childish rather than interesting. Ironically, as in "Memories of Bali" he got the girl (sort of) and in "Spring Days", he enjoyed the happy ending.
Another role reprisal (hence typecasting) is Lee Hwee Hiang as the neurotic, almost psychotic mother to Eun Sup. Her character is reminiscent of her character in "Stairway to Heaven". Ms Lee has the added fortune (or some might say misfortune) of having the requisite look that goes with the character. There is plenty of overacting as well here. In "Spring Days" her character is positively scary. She is the ultimate mother/step-mother/wife from hell.
As for Go Hyun Jung, this is the first time I am watching her in a drama and hence unable to make a comparative evaluation. Her performance too, I feel is uneven but that is more due to the tooing and frooing of the plot, which gets a little repetitive, again a staple of Korean dramas.
K-dramas in general should really try to reformulate their anchor, away from love triangles, wicked step-mothers and amnesiac or cancer-ridden central characters. Is it not possible to anchor the dramas into social issues with the love triangles just as incidental? In this drama, issues of parental abandonment, broken families, siblings' ambivalence, should be explored more fully rather than concentrating on the manic obsession of Eun Sup to Jung Eun. The focus should steer way from the manically obsessive central characters that are unable to handle unrequited love with dignity and moral probity.
Conclusion
This drama is mildly entertaining. I am sure more than some will find the ending less than satisfactory. K-dramas have a habit of having a sad or a weak ending. After jumping through hoops, so to speak, the fact that Eun Ho did not get the girl seems unfair. What does the ending underscore? That the heart is a fickle hunter? That the good guys always finish last? That females fall for needy characters?
As a side note, K-dramas are serialized on television in South East Asian countries, most of which are dubbed in Chinese or subtitled in Chinese and another local language. Otherwise, the K-dramas are sold in VCD sets (the DVDs are far too expensive for the local markets). Either way, the subtitles in the local language are so appallingly poor that much of the beautiful dialogues are either lost in translation or *****ized beyond recognition. To ensure enduring popularity of the K-dramas in countries outside Korea, the producers should be concerned about these issues and should have some form of quality control agreement with their local distributors, to maintain integrity of the script.
Rating: *** (scale of 5)
credits to windancer from spcnet |
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Post time 6-11-2005 11:54 PM
.... scene ES & JE kat panggung tak tayang langsung
ff: sapa tau eun ho ada belakon satu movie baru tajuk dia 'rehearsel love'. Takeshi Kaneshiro pun ada pelakon dalam cite tu. heroin dia x perasan lak sapa. cite dia cam kisah perang2 gitu. nampak gazet dia kt tv singapore akan kuar cinema sana 8 Dec ni.
