This Korean drama,
'Addicted' from director Young-hoon Park, is a slow moving but emotionally draining watch. At times the title itself does not seem to ring true with the movie you are watching, but by the heart-shattering end, it is a little more than uncomfortable.
Ho-jin (Eol Lee -
'H' ) and his wife, Eun-su (Mi-yeon Lee -
'The Harmonium in My Memory' ), live in the luxury of their romance, still very happily married after a few years they still leave each other little notes of love and the feeling of being dated is forever present.
Dae-jin (Byung-hun Lee - 'JSA' ) has just finished his national service and lives with the happy couple for a while, although they do not object to his presence they are happier on their own and give out little hints that he should find himself a girl a settle down. He seems only interested in his car racing, brushing off advances from the lovely and friendly Ye-jin (Seon-yeong Park), and looking upon her more as a friend.
Things seem almost idyllic until one day their happy and contented lives are shattered by not just one, but two car accidents. Both brothers are involved and it leaves Eun-su with the pieces of a broken existence. She starts putting parts of her life together and then the phone goes, its one of these phone calls you are patiently awaiting on, the news is that Dae-jin has recovered consciousness from his trauma. This is when the problems really start as Dae-jin starts to act in the way Ho-jin would, he makes her dinner, he works in Ho-jin's studio and says to Eun-su things that only Ho-jin would know. How can her brother in law display so many traits of her absent partner, she sees Dae-jin's face but starts seeing Ho-jin within. The recipe for unhappy things to come.
Young-hoon Park has created an absorbing tale well told and acted by his four mains, they play well off each other and the range of emotion, especially from Mi-yeon Lee, is heartfully felt. Like many of Asian, and especially Korean dramas, this can be a slow moving affair, well, slow in comparison in the hyper unreality of most western soaps and dramas, so to a patient viewer this has much to offer.
On the extras front there is a lengthy but insightful behind the scenes look as well as some interviews with cast and crew. The main 'love theme’ from the movie is given the music video treatment, although this is not particularly fresh or special, just a montage of film clips. Some text filmographies/biographies are included, a trailer and some storyboards fill up the remainder of the disc.
This is handsomely presented in a glossy slipcase with an info card, it is in its original Korean language (5.1 Dolby Digital and Stereo 2.0 options) with clear optional English subtitles. All extras are also subtitled.
A US remake is currently in production with direction from Michael Petroni, the writer of the Lestat sequel 'Queen of the Damned' .
'Addicted' is available now via
AmazonUK or via
Tai Seng UK directly, and as of yet no US release date has been given.
You can read more about the DVD in our
database .
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