(Read the full review at my review blog, Re(mAAArk)able Reviews! [Link in my profile!])
Song Joong Ki was always a masterful actor, as anyone who has seen anything he's been in can certainly attest. He's got a beautiful face, for one, and a talent for saying little and yet expressing a lot. This works in his favor in playing the wordless Chul-soo. I can't imagine what it was like to play him in the early stages, when he was ravenously stuffing food in his mouth and constantly running around like a crazy person, but Joong Ki embraces the role and plays it just monstrous enough without going overboard. I was extremely impressed with him, and for once not just because he's beautiful. (He's beautiful. Ladies who might be hesitant to watch a werewolf film--he's beautiful. Do it.)
Park Bo-young who plays Suni and Suni's granddaughter (we get a frame narrative of Suni when she's older, but I don't want to say any more than that) is similarly talented, although of course she gets far more lines. The way she embraces training Chul-soo like a puppy is so entertaining, especially when at first she's just pissed her mother has taken the homeless boy in. And at the climax of the film she delivers an incredible performance that is definitely what started the waterworks. I am convinced all the way through by every emotion Bo-young expresses.
The film is also beautifully shot. Since most of the story takes place in the past, there is a kind of soft glow and sepia-toned coloring to the whole film that is just beautiful. Everything feels so nostalgic and warm, despite the obviously dark subject matter. (He is a werewolf, after all.) The countryside landscapes are filmed in such a way as they could be anywhere, not necessarily the Korean countryside, which gives this film a universal feel that I'm not used to with most Korean movies. It just feels like it could be anyone's family story, and I really enjoyed that.
Like I said, there are tears, and I'll never be able to hear "kajima" ("don't go" in Korean) ever again without sobbing like an infant. But I won't spoil any of that for you, because this film is well worth watching, again and again and again, even with all the heartbreak. The performances are flawless, the cinematography dazzles, and the story itself will wiggle its way into your heart and never let go. Definitely an A+.
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