Movie: Old Boy (올드보이)

Movie: Old Boy (올드보이)

 {Old Boy movie poster}

In 1988, businessman Oh Dae-su is kidnapped the night of his young daughter's birthday and placed in solitary confinement in a hotel-like prison. Confined with no human contact or explanation for his kidnapping, Dae-su soon learns through news reports his wife has been murdered, and he is the prime suspect. Dae-su passes the time shadowboxing, planning revenge, and secretly attempting to tunnel out of his cell.

After 15 years of captivation, he is finally freed. Soon after, he falls in love with an attractive lady working at a sushi restaurant. Later in the movie, a wealthy man, Woo-jin, approaches Dae-su and breaks the news that the 15 years of imprisonment prolonged so that Dae-su’s daughter can grow up to become a beautiful lady, whom Dae-su unknowingly falls in love with. What could be the motive behind this seemingly useless act of prolonged imprisonment? Dae-su, in his high school days, spied on Woo-jin and his sister’s incestuous relationship. Without knowing the familial ties, Dae-su inadvertently spread a rumor before moving to Seoul. As a result of the rumor, the sister suffered from false signs of pregnancy and eventually committed suicide. Woo-jin’s revenge was for Dae-su to feel the same pain he previously felt.

{Busan GyeongSang University} 

Busan GyeongSang University is where Dae-su receive help from someone after the first gang fight right after he gets out of the prison hotel. The university is located in Kyungsang namdo, Jinju city. It was built in the late 1940's and it is a public joint university with "pioneering" as the school's motto. Schools in Korea usually have trees that represent each school, for which GyeongSang is Zelkova tree (Elm-like tree). The school's mascot is a lion. 

{Old Boy Sushi House} 

Old Boy Sushi House, located near the Busan University, is the sushi place the two main characters in the movie first meet.

The store becomes crowded with many tourists as well as students who want to treat themselves out to nice dinners.

{Chang Sung Hyang Chinese restaurant}

China Town located in the city of Busan got its name for its vast population of China-origin people from the beginning. It is known to have one of the best chinese restaurants in the area. For this blog, specifically, I would like to introduce a restaurant that is very significant in the movie Old Boy. 

This hot place is the restaurant Woo-Jin got his dumplings for Dae-Su for fifteen years. When Dae-Su gets freed from the prison, he goes around to look for clues as to who planned his unreasonable imprisonment. He decides to look for the chinese restaurant that sells the dumplings he ate for fifteen years and finally finds this place in China town. 

This is the infamous fried dumplings the restaurant has. Everyone should definitely try their dumplings to vicariously experience Dae-Su's life of eating the same kind of dumplings for fifteen years. 

Movie: Introduction to Architecture (건축학개론)

{Introduction to Architecture (건축학개론) movie poster}

Introduction to Architecture is a 2012 South Korean romance film written and directed by Lee Yong-joo. The film tells the story of two students Lee Seung-min and Yang Seo-yeon, who meet in an introductory architecture class and fall in love. Fifteen years later, the girl, Seo-yeon, tracks down her first love, Seung-min, to seek his help in building her dream house on Jeju Island. Seung-min reluctantly agrees but can’t come up with a design that pleases her. Therefore, they decide to renovate and expand the existing house, and he and Seo-yeon spend considerable amount of time together down in Jeju. Alternating time period from past to present, the audience can experience the full story of what really happened to the two characters in the past and how each event led them to behave the way they do in the present.  

{Gu-Doon Station} 

The name, Gu Doon, is believed to be named after the construction of nine hills to fend off Japanese soldiers during Imjin Japanese Invasion. In January of 1940, a train station was built near the area, which was named Gu Doon station. Although not many people use this station anymore due to the stoppage of renovation and ignorance, many tourists have visited the site ever since it has been featured in Introduction to Architecture.

{Cafe Seoyeon's House in Jeju Island}

Seo-yeon’s house in the film has been opened up as a café after the movie. Many tourists visit this venue in remembrance of this romance film.

This café sells drinks and snacks that bring back memories from the movie. For example, rice cakes are decorated with the characters’ names and nicknames

One of many movie-related canvases in the cafe. 

At the end of the movie, the two main characters lie down on the grass patio. Many wondered whether this patio was actually attached to the house, and it appears to be real! Visitors cannot enter the patio during winter because the grass needs to take a break from myriad of people visiting during the summer. It has a beautiful view of the sea and its volcanic rocks of basalt, which constitutes the base of the island.