I'm Sorry, I Love You (2004)

Its been awhile since I watched this drama. So I just write down what I remember. But then again, most of the time you only remember the important stuff. ^_^ I really liked the story because it isnt your usual love story and you cant really predict what's gonna happen next. (It surely isnt a comedy.)

Something special about this drama is certainly the scenery they used for some scences. Just Beautiful. (Next to other awards this drama got Best Picture Award). Some thing else that is special about this drama is the ending (which I loved). I am sure you cried while watching a movie before, not because you're actually sad but because it was so emotional. And when the movie ended so did your tears. Here, I cried because I was actually sad. That's how attached you get to the characters.



But dont let that keep you from watching it. It has a great male lead. good story that keeps you interested.

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Truly touching. It makes you angry and concerned, too. You will ride in a rollercoaster of emotions.

"Sorry, I Love You" is an early masterpiece of proven KDrama art, which once again juggles the injustices of ordinary people with sensitive finesse in an emotionally draining manner - against the background of a South Korean sensitively reinterpreted Romeo & Juliet love story.

Humiliation, exploitation, devaluation are the everyday life of the socially weak, while the celebrated, influential contemporaries seem to know no shame in their arrogance and haughtiness.

So Ji-sub hauntingly embodies subtly controlled, concentrated, suppressed anger. In the character of the protagonist, hate and compassion, love and indifference are combined in a fatal mixture. He becomes an incalculable time bomb that could be activated at any time.

Of all the early Makjang-infused KDramas, "Sorry, I Love You" is one of my favourites. Even if 'love' is bold in the title, the story doesnt´t romanticize it in a striking and cliché-like manner, yet the KDrama tells the story understated elegantly, but no less touchingly and also sincerely (...and of course dramatically tangled in a complex way.)

There is brother rivalry, revenge, swapped babies, secrets, complicated feelings, accidents, illnesses - the whole program prepared in a new mixture. The KDrama expresses in a concentrated, mostly subtly restrained (and thus even more vehemently impactful) emotional force how arbitrary, mendacious and unfounded it is that some people believe, they are 'justifiably' above others and thus have the given right to make decisions about them.

The KDrama uses a rarely found dramaturgical move to give the emotional force of the collision of two worlds even more power: the protagonist was put up for adoption abroad as a child. So he not only grew up with the feeling of not being wanted, but also with other western socialized (Australian) values. Subservience and humility are not among his strengths. He tends not to respect people in authority, or at least the authority has to prove itself as such first. He often acts disconcertingly strange. In South Korea, however, manners and respect for the elderly and higher ups are everything. Since he's Korean, people hardly pardon his naughtiness (as they would an obvious foreigner).

A touching story that makes you angry and also concerned. You will ride in the rollercoaster of emotions - while one emotional looping has not yet been completed, you are already on the way to the next.



-------------SIDE NOTE: ---overseas adoption of South Korean children---
...is a sad story that began after the end of the Korean War. Since then, around 200.000 children have been adopted, primarily from families in the USA, but also from Canada, Australia and Europe. First they were war orphans, then children from poor families, but then also children from illegitimate or divorced backgrounds. In the 1970s and 80s it became a profitable business. On the one hand, the government imposed veritable quotas on the adoption agencies. On the other hand, demand from western countries was high. Corruption flourished in places - the children were given away to the highest bidder. A halt to adoption in the face of international criticism was followed by renewed liberalization of legislation - as a result of the (lack of) adoption policy of the past decades social system was not prepared for the number of 'orphans' (actually: abandoned children).

Most of those ´orphan´ children have now grown up. There are quite a few, who organize themeselves and advocate for change. They want others to spare the trouble of growing up in a country, in a culture in which they are seen as strangers and bullied for being different and confronted with racial prejudice. In many cases they remain strangers and outcasts, as their country of origin cannot be/become a home for them either. The 'hatred of the homeland' is probably rather high among foreign adopters. In 2004, when the KDrama was released, the mood in South Korea was sensitized to the concerns of foreign adoptions and so a critically discussed topic was filled with 'life' by this KDrama. In 2006, an adoption day was introduced in South Korea and finally, since 2007, the numbers have shifted: there are now more domestic than foreign adoptions in South Korea...

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This drama is an extremely emotional one, so those looking for a lighthearted romance should avoid it. I would definitely file this drama under tragedy, so keep a box of tissues close. By the end of the first episode, I knew this drama would not hold back.

The story involves longing, betrayal, revenge, secrets, family ties, and ill-fated love. The cast does a good job of balancing really heavy scenes with funny, and sweeter scenes.

Im Su Jung was so good as naive Eun Chae, that she made some of the more over the top moments completely believable. The same can be said for the rest of the cast, including Lee Hye Young's character who I loved to hate, and showed unexpected depth.

My absolute favorite was So Ji Sub. He really played his character brilliantly. He did so much more than just cry, yell, and laugh on cue. As Moo Hyuk, he showed so many complicated emotions, and I could never predict how Moo Hyuk would react. During moments in the drama that started to feel a little repetitive, he always pulled me back in. The fact that he is visually appealing didn't hurt either.

The plot does have the privileged vs the poor, and love triangles/squares, which is expected in most dramas, without following the same path. Every time I felt the story becoming predictable, a new revelation would catch me by surprise. I also could not predict how it would all end, which was refreshing.

Some of the down sides to this drama, to me, was the laughably bad english (so distracting), Yoon's terrible singing (also distracting, since he was supposed to be a pop idol), and showing way too many flashbacks. Later episodes seemed to rely on flashbacks to fill up the time. Some scenes were repeated so often that I no longer needed subtitles to understand them. Still, I never felt like dropping this drama after becoming so invested in the characters, and what would happen to them.

I think the positives heavily outweigh the negatives. So Ji Sub alone would make me recommend it. The soundtrack was good, and included some random songs like Billy Joel's "The Stranger" (which was a perfect fit). I don't know if I can stand emotionally to rewatch the entire drama, but It's so good that I might.

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Even though many may disagree with me...
Sorry I love you is the equivalence to masterpiece for me...masterpiece is not about perfection...it's about how the drama affects me...
even though I've only watched this drama 8 years ago ( and that I've never re-watched it) I remember every scene in it...every feeling it gave to me...every tear I shed for Cha Mu Hyuk's pain...no drama ever have affected me that much... it taught me more about family than any family drama...and more about love than any romantic one...it taught me about life, pain and happiness...it opened me to emotions I would've never felt & to thoughts I would've never thought...for the 1st time I saw death beautiful & suicide OK...for the 1st time I knew what love actually mean...it's not that complex...it's what makes you happy...useless sacrifices are not needed...living the time you have left together is what really matters...being by each others side even in death.
I Love that drama...not because of how good it was written or the brilliant acting or the nice direction...I love it because it made me see things in myself I would've never seen...and I know for sure...If that 11 years old young me didn't accidentally watch that drama at that time...I would've never been the same person I am today :)

*** For the music I love the OST...Snow-Flowers is one of the best Korean songs I've ever heard.
*** one day I'll re-watch it and I know it'll affect me the same way or maybe even more :)

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A child without parents has no other choice but to become an adult. By doing so he misses a vital process of gradually releasing his childhood, locking it inside. A parent after losing his child can't help but to fill an empty space to keep his sanity.

How hard it is to forgive the one who lost you and filled your place with somebody else? How insecure one feels knowing that he fills somebody elses place receiving love ment for somebody else?

How grateful you can be to the one filling your empty space easing the pain of a person that lost you?

I saw this drama firstly not as a love story between a man and a woman. But a story about child's love for his parent.

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Wow. When I decided to watch this drama, I didn't think it would be very good. Boy was I wrong. I never cry for dramas or movies any more, but at the end of this the tears were flowing! I never expected how it ended, though I guess I should have seen it coming. I loved the story line, and the change in the characters as the story progressed was significant. The last episode wrapped it all up nicely, though not in the way I prefer since I like "happily-ever-after" stories. Even so, the ending fit perfectly, and even now, thinking about it I feel sad :( . Watch this drama if you want to watch something you'll never forget. It will stay with you for a long time to come. It's sad, but you probably knew that already. Totally worth it. Amazing.

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I just finished re-watching this as I haven't seen it in a long while. I love it just as much as I did when I first watched it if not more so I wanted to write a review, but first I'm going to say if you don't like or want a sad drama, then do not watch this! because honestly this is probably the saddest thing I've seen, but it's done beautifully.
The acting was amazing, some of the best acting I've seen, So Ji Sub was fantastic, he's so good at conveying emotion, you could see exactly was he was feeling in his hauntingly beautiful eyes and I must say I loved he's hair in it,it was so wild and big. Lim Su Jeong was amazing too, her crying scenes were so believable and I really felt like she was really feeling what Eun Chae was. Ji Sub and Su Jeong did such perfect performances together, I believed everything and you really feel so much for Moo Hyuk, he's lived such a sad and hard life, suffering after suffering until he meets Eun Chae and even then, with the happiness they found together comes more suffering. To me this drama is the definition of true love. Everyone else's acting was great too. I did dislike Yoon's character as I thought he was very selfish and had to have his way all the time no matter who got hurt in the process but I guess since I disliked him, then Jung Kyung Ho's acting was a success. I really loved Eun Chae and Moo Hyuk's characters, I loved how genuinely innocent and kind hearted Eun Chae was and I love how Kind hearted Moo Hyuk was, I loved that although he has done a lot of bad things, he's a really good person under it all, I think both their characters is what made this drama so special and beautiful.
The story was brilliant, I personally loved it, it's not your typical revenge drama, there is so much more to it than that, there's no other drama quite like this one.
I even have this on DVD because I know I'll watch this again and again.
The music went right with the scenes so it was nice.
I genuinely cried after watching this, the ending was done beautifully. This drama is a classic, I personally prefer older dramas than newer ones, there's just something about them, they seem more innocent and less commercialised which I like. I'm already looking forward to the day I re-watch this again.
So if you decide to watch this drama which you really should than be prepared to cry especially during the last few episodes. This drama leaves me thinking about stuff I've never thought about it.
It's one of my favourites and I really would recommend it to anyone that wants to see what's it's like to truly love someone, I pray that if there is a god, that he will let me have a love like this in my lifetime.

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As I can see, there are a lot of reviews about this drama so I won't be long. I already knew that I'm going to love it and that was the reason why I've put aside this drama as long as I could. I have watched all dramas with So Ji Sub and this one I deliberately waited to be the last one with him as a main lead. And I wasn't wrong. This is no doubt his best performance (along side with the movie Rough cut), every little thing he has done as a Moo Hyuk was fantastic, not to mention his look in there, perfectly handsome and beautiful. ;-) And those famous sentences :Do you want to eat, or kiss me? Do you want to eat, or live with me? Do you want to eat, or sleep with me? Do you want to eat, or die... with me?!, I have heard in many dramas so even then I knew this is the classic that I have to see. ;-)
The actors were great especially Im Su Jeong and Ji Sub, they really showed us why they're one of the best actors out there. The story itself is already seen but we have to consider that this drama aired 10 years ago and since then many dramas similar to this one have been made but in that time it was pretty much original. Well for me, it still is, even now because of the amazing acting, great romance and true love, importance of being alive and health and mature thoughts all the way. Oh yes, not to mention OST and Snow flower which perfectly fits in every scene.
I tried to stay cold and not cry because I knew how it's going to end but still I have finished with the tears in my eyes. This is a drama that I think people should see, it is a Korean classic and if you're a fan of SJS, that is a plus more to watch. For me it was enjoyable and a great drama to watch although it is sad and bitter but has really sweet family moments and true emotions of loving someone despite everything. And the chemistry is of course great between them, they were very convincing and realistic in all the scenes they had together, love them as a couple.

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