JU ON : THE GRUDGE [Kr][Mov]

Written by Tok Kebayan

" It'll keep ya up real late at night just thinking about it. I know I did."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Director
Takashi Shimizu

Cast
Megumi Okina
Misaki Ito
Misa Uehara
Yui Ichikawa
Kanji Tsuda
Takako Fuji

Tagline
'Rrrrrrrrrrrhhhh…….meeoowwww' (The sounds you will hear before the victim got killed).

Plot
A family consisting a daddy, a mummy and a sonny live happily in their house before the daddy begin suspecting that her wife is having an affair and his son is not his real son. He killed his wife and the little boy disappear mysteriously (dead I think). The man soon found dead on the street. Thus the grudge begun with the ghost of the family killing everyone that has any kind of connection with them or the house.

My Opinion
It seems that Asian horror films are becoming the next big hot ticket and wild craze all across our tiny planet. Why, you wonder? Well, best to my knowledge, Japanese director HIDEO NAKATA brought us RINGU (aka THE RING) some few years back with it's unique and eerie images of netherworldly supernatural creepiness. And frankly, it just hasn't been the same ever since. There were plenty of films before RINGU (the 70's YOKAI MONSTERS series springs to mind as the first notable entry) but I genuinely think THE RING made the biggest impact on modern movie going audiences around the globe. Yet all that aside for the moment, it's certainly a no-brainer that a once obscure little smattering of films only the diehardest of the diehards ever knew existed would spawn an endless plethora of wanna-be's, imitations, remakes, sequels, and legitimate contenders which would bring the Asian "Spooks & Spirits" movie genre to the horror public's big bloodshot eyes. And the most recent one to grab my attention was the Japanese motion picture, JUON: THE GRUDGE.

I suppose a confession is in order before I begin the review. I actually owned the DVD for months but for some reason I never sat down to watch it. I know, I know, it's sheer blasphemy! But all sinners can be forgiven, right? So one day, something came over me and I finally drug it out from the stack of unwatched DVD's I've amazed, blew off the dust, planted my butt on the couch, and watched it and get a freak out of it. And all I gotta say is, "DAMN! Why did I wait soooo long?!"

Just a little reminder here, JUON: THE GRUDGE is really the third JUON film to come outta Japan. Wait, hold on, if you've already seen THE GRUDGE but not the others yet, don't get all worked up. THE GRUDGE is only the big screen motion picture adaptation of the first two made-for-television movies that were simply called JUON 1 and JUON 2 (or JUON: THE CURSE 1 and 2). Fortunately for us, the same director (TAKASHI SHIMIZU) created all three (plus the new JUON 2 motion picture and the American remake) so they all have the exact same feel and similar story, and contrary to popular belief, only one actor has managed to star in all of the films and that's TAKAKO FUJI who plays the poor murdered wife, the main ghost. I guess she had the whole stair climbing thing perfected. You'll know what I'm talking about when you see it. Anyway, for the SHIMIZU completist, make sure you check out TOMIE REBIRTH (the third entry in the excellent JUNJI ITO manga-turned-movie series) since it was his first feature horror movie. It should also be noted that he's worked with another Japanese horror director, KIYOSHI KUROSAWA so those films (KAIRO aka THE PULSE and KOREI aka SEANCE) should be on the "Must-See" hit list too.

Ju-on: The curse of one who dies in the grip of powerful rage. It gathers and takes effect in the place where the person was alive. Those who encounter it die and a new curse is born.

The movie is set up a little differently than most. It contains seperate but interconnecting individually named chapters (short 10 or 15 minute episodes) that jump back and forth from start to finish throughout the whole storyline (something you've seen before done quite well in PULP FICTION). Our story starts off with volunteer social worker Rika (played by the adorable MEGUMI OKINA from THE RED SHADOW and ST. JOHN'S WORT) doing a favor for a friend and goes to visit an elderly woman who is in need of a checkup. As it turns out, the old woman's house was previously a murder scene where a man sliced and diced his wife, his son, and the house cat. What?! Frisky can't get no love?! Well, as you can guess, these are gonna be your angry and violent ghost of the film that now haunt their former homestead.

Once in the house and finished with her nursing duties, Rika hears a mysterious sound and discovers an upstairs closet that has been completely taped shut. She proceeds to open it which in turn, unleashes the nasty tempered spirits intent to wreck havoc on the living. Whether or not they were actually held captive in the closet is never explained and honestly, I have no idea. But needless to say, the body count begins to add up once the restless spooks are up and about and the ghosts really have a jolly good time scaring their souls before taking their lives.

As expected, the old woman is the first on the chopping block and as Rika witnesses grandma's paranormal demise, she faints. Surprisingly, Rika isn't the next victim. I suppose you have to actually do more than briefly glimpse the ghosts before they decide to turn on you next. But then again, there were a-plenty of other casualties that came from far less exposure. Yet whatever the reasoning behind this might be, it's this particular encounter that sets up the rest of the film where we're shown how it all started and the chain reaction for which many a hapless mortal would meet their unearthly doom. I mean, for a lack of a better description, there's just no getting away with your life once you've been touched by their presence or unlucky enough to visit the house itself. And that's quite scary because you'll never know until it's too late if you've been chosen as the next target or a possible potential victim. It'll keep ya up real late at night just thinking about it. I know I did.

That being said, JUON: THE GRUDGE is, without a doubt, sitting right there on the pinnacle of Asian supernatural horror. I can recall vividly after seeing it in the wee hours of slumber time, I walked down my hallway and I was honestly a little worried that I just might see some ghostly pale face appear in the darkened doorway of my bedroom. And I'm a grown man, macho and hunk. That's just how powerful, potent, and lasting the movie's visuals were to me. So without further ado, my praise, admiration, and thanks goes out to TAKASHI SHIMIZU for his keen eye and clever camerawork that surely made up for any aspects of the movie that may have been found lacking in some other department.

Which brings me to this next little tidbit. From what I've previously read across the world wide web, alot, and I mean a lot of people have one single thing in common when it comes time to point out the failings of THE GRUDGE. And that's the episodic chapters that they all say just doesn't provide enough story for the characters to develop and grow onscreen. All I gotta say to that is BOOOOO! I liked the whole idea of the skewed episodes featuring various people. After all, why would you wanna know people who's going to died soon. It was a nifty change of pace, in my opinion. And granted, perhaps some might have been a tad too short but JUON: THE GRUDGE is one of those rare movies that you (the viewer) were actually more interested in what the ghosts were gonna do and pop out than what the film's mortal cast had going on with their characters. The movie was a heart stinging spookshow thrill ride geared up, jacked up, and designed for one thing and one thing only, to make you say it "OH SHIT!" (I know I did!) and force you to repeatedly change your drawers. What? You don't think so? Well, wait until Toshio (child actor YUYA OZEKI) leans in on you, drumming his fingers on his knees. Let's just see what you have then.

So, in wrapping things up, even though THE GRUDGE has already hit all of it's cinematic marks (in my opinion), I gotta make one last mention and that's concerning the female cast of the movie. What a heap of honeys the director acquired for this outting! Every delightful and perky olive-skinned sweetie that showed up, starting with MEGUMI OKINA (the main character of Rika) to her best friend Mariko (actress KAYOKO SHIBATA, my personal favorite) to the scared schoolgirl, Sachie (sexy actress CHIKAKO ISOMURA) had me gasping for air and wishing I was Japanese too. Domo, SHIMIZU-san! Domo!

Oh, before I forget, I've got a suggestion for those who haven't seen any of the JUON films yet. For what it's worth, I'd recommend watching THE GRUDGE (the first theatrical movie) before seeing the JUON television movie. Even though both flicks are so similar and so different at the same time, I felt that JUON: THE GRUDGE was a more polished product and had a greater viewing impact on me than JUON: THE CURSE. That's not by any means saying JUON 1 wasn't good. I think it might simply be better to see the big screen remake before the original tv movie, ya know.

Either way, do yourself a favor and get out there right now and watch JUON: THE GRUDGE. Don't you dare wait like I did.

Rating
5 out of 5

Did You Know?
The ghost kid Toshio will appear to the victim just before his mother, Kayako pop out to finish the job! Talk about tag team!

Ju-on: The Gudge won the Screamfest "Crystal Skull" award in 2002 for "Best Foreign Film".

Ju-on: The Grudge has played in several important film festivals in a variety of countries including France, Germany, Australia, UK, Norway, and Canada.

There's a big budget Hollywood remake in the works starring Buffy the Vampire Slayer's SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR.

Movie Blunders
I was to scared and was busy controlling my macho in front of my friends that I failed to detect any.

Deleted Scenes
The DVD? What do you expect? Unless you watched it on the television or cinema in Malaysia…hahahaha!

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Yamakasi - Les Samouraï Des Temps Modernes [Fr][Mov]

Written by Adelyn Lim

"This was a great movie. It has a very simple plot that involved a whole lot of people. It's packed with lots of action. And when I say "action", I mean real action."

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

English Title
Yamakasi - The Samurais of the Modern Times

Language
French

Country
France

Release Date
4th April 2001

Genre
Action/Adventure

Rated
PG

Running Time
Approximately 90 minutes

Director
Ariel Zeitoun

Cast
Châu Belle Dinh - Baseball / Oliver Chen
Williams Belle - L'Araignée (Spider) / Bruno Duris
Malik Diouf - La Belette (Weasel) / Malik N'Diaye
Yann Hnautra - Zicmu / Ousmane Dadjacan
Gutlain N'Guba-Boyeke - Rocket / Abdou N'Goto
Charles Perrière - Sitting Bull/Ousmane Bana
Laurent Piemontesi - Tango/ Jean-Michel Lucas
Maher Kamoun - Vincent
Bruno Flender - Michelin
Amel Djemel - Aila
Afida Tahri - Fatima
Nassim Faid - Djamel

The Plot
This is the story of seven modern samurais who play the role of the modern Robin Hood, in order to save a little boy from dying from heart failure.

The Summary
Seven normal young men, who called themselves the Yamakasi, always got on the police's nerves by climbing up the walls of high-rise buildings early in the morning, disturbing the sleep of the neighborhood. Much as they were the seven "pain-in-the-ass" to the local police, they were also the seven heroes in the eyes of the kids. The kids loved to imitate the Yamakasi the action and one day, an accident occurred involving a young boy called Djamel. To prevent death-threatening complications, the doctors suggested an immediate heart transplant. A suitable donor was found outside France. However, Djamel's family members could not afford the $60,000 transportation fees. Feeling guilty and determined to help Djamel, the Yamakasi decided to raise funds for him. They then decided to play the role of Robin Hood and rob the rich doctors. On the other hand, Detective Vincent took the route of persuading the minister's advisor for help only to be rejected by him. With the police hot on their heels, the Yamakasi face the dilemma of abandoning their mission to save little Djamel or carrying on the samurai spirit to fight till the end. Engaging the help of Michelin, they managed to deliver the cash on time to the hospital but got themselves detained. However, despite their hard efforts, the doctor refused to go ahead with the operation.

The Ending
The Yamakasi gave a cock and bull statement to the police and was backed up by Detective Vincent. They were released and immediately headed for the hospital. With the help of the Yamakasi and Detective Vincent, Djamel managed to get the heart operation done.

The Yamakasi
1)Oliver Chen aka Baseball
-likes to play baseball

2)Bruno Duris aka L'Araigné (Spider)
-likes to slide down ropes instead of using the stairs

3)Malik N'Diaye aka La Belette (Weasel)
-does gymnastics pretty well

4)Ousmane Dadjacan aka Zicmu
-some calls him Mister Music
-Likes loud music

5)Abdou N'Goto aka Rocket
-runs very fast

6)Ousmane Bana aka Sitting Bull
-a quiet calm man

7)Jean-Michel Lucas aka Tango
-likes to dance

The Action
This was a great movie. It has a very simple plot that involved a whole lot of people. It's packed with lots of action. And when I say "action", I mean real action. These guys don't use guns or any form of weapon and they don't do much fighting in the movie. Throughout the whole movie, what the viewers see is actually the agility of the seven young men. Although they spend most of the movie running away from the police, the process was actually rather entertaining. I love the way they actually climb up and down high-rise buildings and jump from roof-top to roof-top. It was so realistic. Much better than those action-packed ancient Chinese movies where the pugilistic people practically "fly" from one building to another, which was probably one kilometer apart. With the Yamakasi, there wasn't such nonsense at all. Everything was absolutely realistic and excellent. Perfect!

The Plot
Apart from all the action, I found that the plot was also pretty okay too though most people would not have enjoyed the movie as much without the action. The movie was a mixture of samurais and Robin Hood. Actually, to be more précised, it was more of seven samurais pretending to be Robin Hood - to rob the rich to give to the poor. But I thought they did it better than Robin Hood. Robin used bows and arrows but they had nothing. They had to rely solely on their black knitted masks, haversack and their agility to escape from the heavily armed police.

The French Police Have Nothing Better to Do
It's true! The police seem to be doing nothing but trying to target seven big kids that are doing nothing but climbing up and down buildings at 6am in the morning. I mean, don't they have anything better to do? Don't they have murders to investigate? Why waste time and resources on a bunch of kids?

The Police Were Totally Useless
Aren't policemen supposed to be well-trained? They seemed pretty goofed up to me. In the movie, they seemed like total losers, running after a bunch of kids. What's more? It took them so many hours and probably the whole police force with weapons, to manage to detain seven crooks. Hmm…. what does it say about our dear law enforcers?

The Best Performance
I can't exactly point out who had the best performance because I don't think I can even point them out individually. The trait of the Yamakasi was that they always appeared together, all seven of them. And so I always look at them as a group and not as an individual. And if you really want to know, all right, the seven of them were okay. They were a bunch of cool and weird people.

The Cool and the Weird
I thought the Yamakasi was cool, yet I thought they were weird too. Yeah, it's cool rebelling against the police and not get caught, I guess. It's great being the hero in the eyes of the kids in the neighborhood. Makes them look like a superhero - superman or Spiderman, or something. On the other hand, I felt that it was weird. Normal kids don't go around climbing up walls or jumping from roof to roof. I mean, I would be freaked out if I looked out of my window one morning to find this guy staring back at me.

The Great Looking One
After watching this movie, I know one thing for sure. Châu Belle Dinh was so handsome!!! Oh goodness, he looked like Chiu Man Chiok. Perhaps even better looking than him. I liked that scene where he was climbing halfway up a building and he stopped to peep into one of the windows. He saw this little girl there and winked at her. I think if he were to do that to me, I'd faint. Not because the thought of seeing a face outside my window scares me but because he's drop-dead gorgeous! I swear I'd faint! Is he a Chinese? His name in the movie was Oliver Chen, so I guess he's Chinese right? Perhaps he's half Chinese?

A Multi-Racial Yamakasi
I realized that the seven of them have different skin colours. There are blacks, whites, Asians as well as people from the Middle East. They were diversified here, which was a good thing.

The Real Yamakasi
The reason why all the stunts looked so realistic is because they are…well….real! No computer effects and no camera tricks or any of that crap. In real life, the seven of them have known each other for 10 years and the background of the Yamakasi is rather similar to their own.

Rating
4 out of 5

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PERISH IN THE NAME OF LOVE [TVB][E]

Written by Funn Lim



SPOILERS ... SPOILERS ... SPOILERS

Click the link below to go to the Episodic Thoughts of this series. There 2 full reviews available for this series, one written by me and  the other by Jules.

>>EPISODIC THOUGHTS <<

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Hotelier [Korea]

Written by Funn Lim

"My favourite character is actually Han Tai Jun!"

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
Ching Ding Da Fan Dian

Cast : Character
Bae Yong Joon: Shin Dong-hyuk/Frank (Shen Dong Xian)
Kim Seung Woo: Head Mgr. Han Tae-jun (Han Tai Jun)
Song Yun Ah: Mgr. Suh Jin-young (Xu Zhen Yin)
Song Hae Gyo: Kim Yun-hee (Jin Yun Xi)
Park Jung Chul: Cui Rong Qi
Choi Yong Min: Leo Park
Choi Hwa Jung: Manager Lee Soon Jung (Manager Li)
Hu Joon Ho: Manager Oh Hyung Man (Manager Wu)
Ha Jin Hee: President Kim Bock Man (Jin Fu Wan)
Kim Nah Rae: Jenny
Joo Hyun: The "deceased' President Choi (President Cui)
Yoon Yu Jung: Madam Choi-Yoon Dong Sook (Madam Cui Dong Suk)
Kang Young Suk: Xuan Jie (the bellboy that always followed Han Tae Joon)
Myung Gye Nam: Head chef Loo
Lee Gae Yin: Manager Yoo

No. of VCDS
20

Year of Production
2001

Language
Korean - dubbed/subtitles in Mandarin

Recommended
MTV/VCD/Soundtrack.
There is a 3-song VCD-MTV out there for the 3 songs sung in this series. Frankly the songs are quite ok, I couldn't say memorable since I do not what the singer was singing about. If you're interested, you may download the MTVs here. Forgive me for the lack of titles as I do not

Summary
Love, hate, penitence and survival in the competitive world of hotel management with a difference; heart. Plenty of it. Service with a smile and a heart. Remember that; HEART. PLENTY OF IT.

Story
It's Seoul, it's modern times and there is a big hotel which has seen glorious days under attack by an unseen but very well known power. The boss of the hotel, a man who believes in service with a smile and heart died all of a sudden, leaving the management of the huge hotel now in financial difficulties to his aged wife and a son who doesn't even quite cut it as a bell boy. And so the wife, Mrs Chairman as she is known wanted to invite a Mr Han Tai Jun to return to the hotel and work some of his ordinary man magic and save the hotel in process. The problem is nobody knows where he is, except for his ex-girlfriend who is still pining for him, a Manager at the hotel and a bubbly women, Shu Zhen Ying. She traveled alone, all the way to Las Vegas tracing his steps only to find him in a downtrodden place, without a decent job and living in with a 20 year old female delinquent. After some emotional misunderstandings, she realised the girl, Jenny was actually Tai Jun's dead professor's adopted child who was all alone and he was actually taking care of her and his lack of achievements is actually his very own choice. Zhen Ying had to work her magic, to bring him back but he refused, remembering the bitter past where a politician's wife accused him of sexually attacking her in the hotel bedroom she was staying in, though in actual fact she was the one who tried very hard to seduce him (and failed miserably as Tai Jun is an honest and honourable man). Driven out of Korea by scandals and by his mentor the boss who died not long ago himself, Tai Jun went to Las Vegas a disappointed and broken man. But Zhen Ying wanted nothing of that sort; she literally scolded him when she had the opportunity. Only after Jenny tangled in some nasty business with some local bad guys and Tai Jun got beaten up as a result, Jenny wanted to start a new leaf and to return to her roots. Tai Jun could only agree and went back to Korea with Zhen Ying and Jenny in tow.

Once back, things were not as rosy as Tai Jun had anticipated. Back stabbing by jealous fellow staff, and one stiff competition by a competitor who wanted the hotel simply because the woman he loved married the owner of the hotel, he had to deal with also bad tempered guests at the hotel, a love struck young girl who so happened to be the daughter of the competitor who wanted the hotel and worst of all, he could not reveal his love for Zhen Ying though Zhen Ying has been waiting for his return for 3 long years. When he could almost do it, a highly competitive, successful and desirable mysterious man by the name of Frank Shen Dong Xian appeared in Zhen Ying's life. He was actually the one entrusted by the evil Mr Jin to acquire the shares to the hotel at all costs and together with his trusty lawyer-sidekick, he stayed at the hotel even though everybody eventually knew of 2 glaring facts;

1. He is the one commissioned to take over the hotel and so he is hotel enemy no.1; and

2. more importantly, he is Tai Jun's competitor even in love as he was pursuing Zhen Ying herself whilst Zhen Ying became highly confused about her feelings for 2 men.

When Zhen Ying rejected his advances, Frank took it badly and decided to concentrate fully on his job at hand, even when Zhen Ying branded him a liar for lying to her and for using her in getting around the hotel though that was really unnecessary. Zhen Ying who is highly protective of Tai Jun snubbed Frank though she found it increasingly hard to not acknowledge his presence whilst Frank and Tai Jun entered into a manly competition in business; each knows why each is so eager to save/destroy the hotel and things became personal with Zhen Ying involved.

Through thick and thin, troubles and glories, rumours and facts, Tai Jun with gritted teeth went through it all for the love of the hotel, a promise to his dead boss and dying Mrs Chairman and to the staff at the hotel; he'll save the hotel no matter what.

Frank Shen who took a high risk gamble when he realisd work isn't as important as he thought it was learned that life is more than mergers and acquisitions and together with Tai Jun, a confused Zhen Ying and his new found compassion, he learned to give instead of take.

So, will all these lead to an extremely magnificent happy ending for all?

Questions Asked And Answered
What does Frank do for a living?
M&A which is not like selling insurance but Mergers & Acquisitions. I guess he is the guy who acquires companies. Whilst this series had been compared with Pretty Woman since Richard Gere's character has the same job as Frank, I find that's where the similarities end. For one, there is no prostitute in here.

How did Frank knew Zhen Ying?
In Las Vegas, Frank was eating in a restaurant when he heard a very angry customer complaining about the bad service, the customer being Zhen Ying. He was I guess captivated by her honesty, beauty and personality. Along the way he met her several times in Las Vegas and began to like this fiesty woman who would not take no for an answer.

How long did Tai Jun left Korea?
3 years.

What was his position in the hotel before he left?
I would guess senior manager, and he would have taken over the management of the hotel if not for that scandal. He was after all Mr Chairman's favourite "son". A prodigal "son" whose father worked in the same hotel years before.

Why Mr Jin so eager to buy the hotel?
Anger, jilted lover. Mrs Chairman was kinda with him when she kinda left him for his good friend, the Mr Chairman. In fact Mr Jin had no interest in developing the hotel; he wanted to get rid of it. Even the prospect of going to jail for dealing in illegal trading methods in buying the shares of the hotel didn't scare him at all. He just wanted to destroy the hotel.

So how did Tai Jun managed it all?
Classic. Through heart, plenty of it. Of course a few helped along the way. Remember that lady who tried to seduce him 3 years before? Well, she holds some major number of shares and instead of selling them to Frank for a big amount of money, she gave it to Tai Jun. GAVE IT TO TAI JUN because she felt guilty for all the problems she caused him. Quite a decent woman. And of course Frank had a change of heart.

What change of heart?
Zhen Ying's condition for loving him is for him to not take over the hotel for Mr Jin. Without such condition, sooner of later he would have let go of everything for Zhen Ying anyway and of course, his long lost baby sister, Jenny. Jenny couldn't believe her brother was the hated enemy of the hotel where she was working as a junior chef in training and she couldn't bring herself to look at him with love as Frank had hoped. She felt a certain loyalty for Tai Jun, and she resents the fact that Frank almost had Zhen Ying's heart. And so she was rather cold towards him but with some intervention by the reasonable Tai Jun and Zhen Ying, she decided to accept Frank as her brother. And so Frank decided to take the biggest gamble of his life to win back the love of Zhen Ying, the trust of his sister and the friendship of Tai Jun.

Friendship of Tai Jun? But they're enemies!
Not quite. Each admires each other for various reasons but to Frank, Tai Jun would make a very good and loyal friend. In fact it was Tai Jun who avoided such a prospect because well, there's still the problem of Zhen Ying.

Is Zhen Ying the only woman in this series?
Nope. There's a younger, prettier, richer and of course sulkier Yun Xi, the unhappy daughter of mega rich Mr Jin who was a chauvinistic pig in his treatment towards his only child. But Yun Xi with gritted teeth worked in secret at enemy's hotel as a waitress and expressed an interest in mainly 2 things;

1. hotel management. She wants to take over papa's business but papa said go get married. Took quite some time for her to convince him of course that she was all business and not 100% play;

2. Han Tai Jun. After she was rescued by him when she was almost raped by some drunken young men, she became enamoured with Tai Jun despite the huge differences in their age (she's 20, he is presumably mid or late 30s). She went all the way out, confessed her love many many times but Tai Jun had only one woman in his heart, though he can't deny his attraction for this young beautiful child-woman. In the end, nothing happened. Sadly.

So does Tai Jun love Yun Xi?
I would say yes but he doesn't quite realise it. One scene he looked at her and said he realises he likes her but due to their age differences and society's taboo, he can't take the relationship any further. If you don't like a girl, you won't say that.

So the ending?
Frank had to leave Korea as a condition for his freedom after nabbing Mr Jin in a highly dangerous cat and mouse game (I mean Frank himself is guilty of illegal trading but he was acting on orders), Zhen Ying didn't leave with him because of Tai Jun and when she finally realised Frank was the one she loved, too late, plane already flown. Yun Xi went abroad to study hotel management and well, hopefully something transpired off camera but on camera, Tai Jun and her remained cordial, polite, no hot romance or anything. Mrs Chairman succumbed to her illness and left the entire business to Tai Jun. Of course her son became a better person though still a lazy bum with really spiky hair. As for Frank and Zhen Ying, they got back together at last.

HAPPY ENDING. In a way. With HEART. Plenty of it.

Comments
I have heard a lot about Korean series, with the bombarding of Winter Sonata into the deeper recesses of my mind every day and Bae Yong Jun, Bae Yong Jun and more Bae Yong Jun. I wanted to watch a good Korean series, but having read some reviews of some really over the top love stories with one being blind, crippled or dead (in a happy way), I was skeptical; will Korean dramas turn up to be like Qiong Yau series? So my friends recommended me Hotelier. No one dies, at least not young people in their prime and whilst we get a fair share of diseases and tensions, nobody dies of some unfortunate freak accident or sisters falling in love with brothers, so to speak. The series is reasonably normal in length, 20 VCDs which is like watching a normal length TVB series. The story is frankly nothing remarkable. Luckily I didn't have to torture myself watching the original version, I watched the mandarin-dubbed version. I didn't know who is who, even when Bae Yong Jun appeared I was still clueless as to who the heck is this hottest Korean actor since...since I do not know who.

There is a certain joy in watching a series with people you do not know or has yet to be familiar with. Only then of course you open yourself to a whole new universe and suddenly you realise, there's more than TVB, ATV, TCS, Chinastar and Japanese series in this world. Right now Korean series is the in thing. One major reason why people love Korean series is because they focus on one subject and one couple. Unlike TVB series which tends to overblow the entire contents with explosions, threats and ten thousand women for one man, in Korean series we have one man (or max 2) loving one woman (or max 2) till death. We see a more monogamous kinda relationship. There's no hanky panky, even the kissing scenes are devoid of any romantic notions. No stripping off clothes, it's all love based on personality and knowing each other well.

So is this a good series?

In a way, and looking at it as a whole, a definite yes. It has some great moments, many funny moments and certainly loads of tender and sentimental moments. In fact this is a series with moments, connected to the story and yet you can appreciate it without associating it with the next scene. Everything happens for a reason and in that aspect, this series is very consistent in its flow of story and definitely, in the characterisation of certain key players, but of course not quite.

Everybody has their fair share of screen time, certainly one couple tends to have more, that is Frank Shen and Zhen Ying. The thing is whilst the whole world was fascinated by their love story, I wasn't. I find their love story interesting at first, but when Han Tai Jun posed no threat at all to their blossoming love and the entire series built on mergers and takeovers, frankly their love story becomes rather stale and bland. But as I do not know who the heck Bae Yong Jun is, I was left to wonder who will get the girl. Of course I made the mistake of reading some reviews and then the suspense was gone for me and when I realised how famous Bae Yong Jun is the whole suspense kinda disappear for me. Actually I should have known the ending would be as such; after all the VCD cover has two faces, one Bae Yong Jun smiling that famous smile of his and the actress, smiling sweetly.

So what about the story you may ask?

As I said, it's consistent but not entirely logical.

I do believe in the business of servicing people such as the hotel industry, a worker must be polite and helpful, all the time, like Zhen Ying and Tai Jun. But I do not believe any hotel would buy underwear or kneel before a guest to make these guest feel happy for staying at the hotel. I certainly don't see that in Malaysian or Singaporean hotels. Maybe only in Korea. In that sense it is illogical but not unreasonable as they are to show how dedicated these people are even when faced with such insults.

Whilst everybody hoped, prayed and cheered when Frank came back to Zhen Ying, I was a tad disappointed. I do believe in real life if Tai Jun were to say "Come back to me" a person like Zhen Ying would run to him. In TVB world, this would be the case and of course very boring in the end. But I was hoping Tai Jun ends up with somebody, even if the person is Yun Xi but that's not the case. I do believe Zhen Ying loves Tai Jun, I do believe she feels something for Frank. And I also believe if Zhen Ying were to be with Frank, when Tai Jun has a problem she would run to him. This is because they have this unbreakable bond. In a way the ending was apt but still, I was hoping for the boring ending for once.

As for the idea of a villain, you won't find one here except for one stubborn old man you could hate for the way he treated his daughter and the reason why he wanted the hotel, which is pretty lame and very unwise for a man who has made a fortune by making wise business decisions. Of course in the business of the heart, you can't always guarantee logical actions.

Last but not least, I was very disappointed at some characters which were more cartoonish than real. Like for example Tai Jun's rival Manager who did quite a lot of back stabbing, even opposed the appointment of Tai Jun and yet the Mrs Chairman never considered dismissing him. Certainly in the world of management, when one dissents for no apparent reason, some vote of no confidence must be given against such opposition? But not in here. Everybody tolerates him and I do not know why. Then they went on with how he fell for another supervisor, all of a sudden. That was illogical and very out of place. No reason, just love all of a sudden. Strange.

And of course the story of Mrs Chairman's son, with the spiky hair and all. Lazy bum but for love, he was willing to buck up. The thing is I was hoping he would create some problem for Tai Jun but in the end, he is just a love sick puppy. Whilst in TVB world he would have turned real bad, in here he is nothing more than a mild puppy. I find that disappointing because at the end of the day the problems posed to Tai Jun is really nothing personal, just business. If it had been an inside job, and inside spy, that would make this series even more interesting. The main focus of this series though is love or the inability to accept or confess love. Very narrow focus and not my cup of tea.

But that doesn't mean I hated it. Quite the contrary I quite liked it. Some of my favourites are ...

Most Favourite Couple
Strangely, I like Yun Xi and Tai Jun's segments because it's just so funny. Whilst Frank had the bubbly one, guess who had the young beautiful physically perfect being? Ahhhhhh...justice, sweet justice. Of course both girls had personalities to die for, NOT. Yun Xi is such a boring girl.

Most Favourite Scene(s)
Plenty. Not all Frank Shen's. I like the scene where Frank met his father. I love the scene where he looked at his sister, Jenny, the pain in his eyes when Jenny told him she disliked him and was ashamed that he was her brother by blood. I like the scene where Frank tried to make friendly conversations with Tai Jun and basically, Tai Jun was very rude. Gave one line answers only. I like the scenes where Zhen Ying scolded Tai Jun for everything. I like the scene where Yun Xi questioned Tai Jun on everything and then dropped the bomb; that she liked him. All except scenes between Zhen Ying and Frank and that Mr Jin scenes.

Most Favourite Character
I do like Zhen Ying who has personality like no other female heroines before. I can understand why two men would vie for her even with her messy appearance and temper.

A lot of my friends who watched this series fell in love with the cold, calculative, but loving and stylish Frank Shen. Quite a contradiction. He was that kinda man that most women would try hard to vie for since he is rich, successful and best of all hard to get. Imagine when he smiles at you and says he loves you, wouldn't you melt like Zhen Ying and thousands of women did when his smile is rarer than lightning striking you?

I didn't.

My favourite character is actually Han Tai Jun. He is honest, hard working, decent, loyal and yes yes yes, very indecisive when it comes to women. Why don't he just confess his love for Zhen Ying? Surely Zhen Ying would have run to him in a second. But he must have had his reasons; maybe with so much responsibilities at hand, a relationship is the last he would expect. I find him rather good looking in a very ordinary man sort of way. He is a man you could trust. But the funny thing is and the best thing about this series is things are not what they seem to be.

Funniest Scene
Yun Xi joined with his drunken friends in a hotel room. Somebody played a joke at and his clothes were a bit dirty. So he said he wanted to change his clothes. FINE. Then whilst changing, Yun Xi was sexually assaulted by his drunken friends, she was crying help and this guy, was from changing his clothes to... get this....drum roll please...WASHING HIS HAIR AND HAVING A FULL SHOWER! I mean that was so funny! And the of course Tai Jun came in and rescued the damsel in distress with Yun Xi, feeling refreshed from the shower stupefied as to what happened.

Worst Aspect
Frank is supposed to be Korean born but educated in America. Whilst Bae Yong Jun's voice is certainly very deep and quite pleasing to the ears, his poor grasp of English had me laughing in stitches. So much attention given to the details of management and yet very little on just a few lines of English.

And did I mention that every time they had dinner in the hotel, it's in this big hall that looks more like a ball room than a restaurant?

Best Aspect : A Study Of The Characters Of Two Men
Frank Shen started out as cold, calculative, arrogant. But in his pursuit of Zhen Ying, we know he believes in romance, he believes in revealing his feelings when he had to. He is a man who has no problems flirting with Zhen Ying, with teary eyes looking at his sister, silently begging for Jenny to accept him as his brother, very vocal in his love for Zhen Ying. This is a man who may look secretive, or even sometimes behave as one in business (more so when Zhen Ying rejected him, he went emotional overload and wanted the hotel to squash Han Tai Jun, after all he is just a jealous man) but in actual fact, you can read everything from his face. He has nothing to hide emotionally and his feelings is an open book.

Now we move on to Han Tai Jun.

He started out as exceedingly friendly, hard working, everybody tells him their problems and being less competitive than Frank, you would expect him to be more open with his feelings. And yet he is one secretive man. He doesn't get emotional, he looks downwards but his eyes fixed on you with his head tilted down when he is embarrassed and when he has nothing much to say. In fact Tai Jun has nothing much to say at all as opposed to Frank Shen. And yet when it comes to Frank Shen, he does get emotional but not in a big way. He just ignores you. That can be very annoying but Tai Jun made it very clear, what can be discussed and what can't be without even saying a word. His lack of emotional output frustrated Zhen Ying (and me) though many a times he would suddenly blurt out old memories and quietly told off Zhen Ying for revealing to people he likes chocolates when he likes chocolates because Zhen Ying used to give him chocolates during Valentine's day. He takes problems onto his shoulder, he doesn't reveal them nor share them, a quiet man and so a potentially loyal friend because he may not say much, he would compensate his lack of words with plenty of action.

Which is why I liked the fact that Frank wanted him as a friend. Frank's successful and all but had no friends except for one. Tai Jun could easily make friends because no one feels threatened when they're with him. In a way, Frank envied Tai Jun's ability to communicate with people in a level without revealing too much and Tai Jun's ability to make friends, and very loyal friends along the way. Tai Jun is humble whilst Frank learned to be humble. Tai Jun is a good man whilst Frank whilst a good man had to learn to give more than take. Tai Jun had his sister's loyalty without much question or hesitation on Jenny's part whilst Frank practically had to earn his way to Jenny's heart.

What Frank at last realised is you don't have to give to get back what you lost in equal portions. When at last he walked down the corridors of the hotel, he realised people were actually greeting him even when they all knew he was hotel enemy no. 1. He realised people are innately friendly. Why people turn the other way is because of his output. Tai Jun always treated others with respect, acknowledging everybody in his presence no matter how lowly ranking they may be whilst Frank didn't even stop to look. When he did, he realised he lost a lot of things and he suddenly understood why Zhen Ying and Tai Jun wanted to save the hotel, not for profit but because of the vision of the dead chairman and because of hundreds of jobs which could be lost by one angry man's whim and fancy. He could no longer serve such an unreasonable master and for once he understood the idea of giving in a small way is much better than taking in a major way. What's the use of money when at the end he losses his humanity and everybody else? By sacrificing a little, he gained not only the heart of a woman he loves, he gained back his sister and plenty of grateful friends.

Certainly the best aspect of this series.

Best Performances
Surprisingly everybody gave good performances with the exception of Bae Yong Jun (Frank Shen), Kim Seong Yu (Han Tai Jun) and Song Yun Erh (Shu Zhen Ying) who gave excellent performances. There's no over the top acting but more of restraint acting. One though stood out as a poor actress, that is Song Hye Kyo (Jin Yun Xi) who is pretty to look at and really nothing much in other aspects. That doesn't mean she isn't good, but she could have been better. Her character is angry, cold and frustrated, but frankly she sulked too much.

As for Song Yun Erh , for once we have a heroine who doesn't comb her hair or wear make up. She is so believably messy, so unremarkably unattractive in looks and yet 2 men vies for her heart for a very simple reason; her character is bursting with personality. Instead of expensive restaurants, her unofficial first date with Frank is a fast food restaurant. She is not flawless, she is not perfect, she is not afraid to show her flaws and like those 2 guys, you'll end up liking her and think of her as kinda cute too.

My favourite actor happens to be the guy who plays my favourite character, Kim Seong Yu where he gave a very controlled performance of a man who could blend into the background but not quite. He is charismatic, he is a very good actor and in a way he brings integrity and honour into Han Tai Jun, which is why I like his Han Tai Jun; you don't see this kinda man anymore. Of course you could hate him for being so indecisive when it comes to love, but who would go and woo a woman when faced with such huge responsibilities? I feel the actor handled all the emotional scenes well and in a way I feel Zhen Ying is much more relaxed when with him and less pretentious than when she was with Bae Yong Jun's Frank Shen.

Bae Yong Jun was not my favourite at first. I thought he tried so hard to be cool he seems rather pretentious. Girls swoon over the fact that when he smiles, he lights up the whole screen. The same compliment I gave Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame; when they smile all your worries disappear and all you're left with is this amazingly sincere and happy smile. Frankly I didn't feel that way with Bae Yong Jun. Maybe too fair for my taste, maybe acts too cool, maybe it's the way he walks where he swings left to right and right to left in a very unmanly and young-ish kinda way, in fact like Keanu Reeves. But later on I appreciated his acting, when he had to do emotional scenes like with his dad or his sister. But with Song Yun Erh's Zhen Ying, I feel nothing for their love. Maybe I am immune to romanticism, but then I am absolutely in love with Hugh Jackman's Leopold in Kate and Leopold. Maybe I just don't like him. Anyway, a competent performance deserving of all the swooning female fans.

Verdict
The intro scenes are not theme song based but music based and the artwork is refreshingly different. The story was well paced at first, with interesting moments but after the 10th VCD, things get a bit draggy when things finally settles. And it picks up again towards the end but still is overly too long. It's not very well paced with moments where I just didn't feel like watching it anymore. In fact I stopped watching for quite some time, due to my busy schedule and mostly because I don't feel motivated to watch what I would term as seen that-done that series. However I must compliment the voice overs who did such excellent jobs. When the lips moves, the dialogue begins and when the lips stop, so will the dialogue. I do wonder how they all sound in real life but then the Korean language is such a difficult language to listen to; all sound the same to me.

Anyway, look at the length of my review. It could have been longer if I were to deal with the nitty gritty stuff. But let me get straight to the point;

I wouldn't mind watching more Korean series thanks to my introduction to Korean series by this what I would term as a very good series, short of brilliant series. Guys are rather ok looking, girls are exceptionally beautiful (all looks the same to me, long black hair, flawless skin which is why I appreciated the actress Song Yun Erh who looks messy enough to look different but when she wore the hotel uniform, I couldn't recognise her), beautiful sceneries and of course, nice soundtrack.

I don't think this series need my recommendation or my introduction. Just look at the girls swooning at Bae Yong Jun's face filmed at 45 degrees to the left with the sun shining on his face with a slightly crooked lips forming into what would be a beautiful smile and you'll realise how famous this series is. Put that aside, do give this series a try and I hope you'll like Han Tai Jun like those few odd people in this world like yours truly. After all if everybody loves Bae Yong Jun's Frank Shen, things would be a bit crowded don't you think?

Rating
A good

Interesting observation
Bae Yong Jun, Kim Yoon Hee, Jang Dong Gun ... Malaysians have names like Lim Chee Yung, Wong Mei Ling, Tan Yong Jin...see anything similar?

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Hotelier [Korea]

Written by Funn Lim

"My favourite character is actually Han Tai Jun!"

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILERS!

Chinese Title
Ching Ding Da Fan Dian

Cast : Character
Bae Yong Joon: Shin Dong-hyuk/Frank (Shen Dong Xian)
Kim Seung Woo: Head Mgr. Han Tae-jun (Han Tai Jun)
Song Yun Ah: Mgr. Suh Jin-young (Xu Zhen Yin)
Song Hae Gyo: Kim Yun-hee (Jin Yun Xi)
Park Jung Chul: Cui Rong Qi
Choi Yong Min: Leo Park
Choi Hwa Jung: Manager Lee Soon Jung (Manager Li)
Hu Joon Ho: Manager Oh Hyung Man (Manager Wu)
Ha Jin Hee: President Kim Bock Man (Jin Fu Wan)
Kim Nah Rae: Jenny
Joo Hyun: The "deceased' President Choi (President Cui)
Yoon Yu Jung: Madam Choi-Yoon Dong Sook (Madam Cui Dong Suk)
Kang Young Suk: Xuan Jie (the bellboy that always followed Han Tae Joon)
Myung Gye Nam: Head chef Loo
Lee Gae Yin: Manager Yoo

No. of VCDS
20

Year of Production
2001

Language
Korean - dubbed/subtitles in Mandarin

Recommended
MTV/VCD/Soundtrack.
There is a 3-song VCD-MTV out there for the 3 songs sung in this series. Frankly the songs are quite ok, I couldn't say memorable since I do not what the singer was singing about. If you're interested, you may download the MTVs here. Forgive me for the lack of titles as I do not

Summary
Love, hate, penitence and survival in the competitive world of hotel management with a difference; heart. Plenty of it. Service with a smile and a heart. Remember that; HEART. PLENTY OF IT.

Story
It's Seoul, it's modern times and there is a big hotel which has seen glorious days under attack by an unseen but very well known power. The boss of the hotel, a man who believes in service with a smile and heart died all of a sudden, leaving the management of the huge hotel now in financial difficulties to his aged wife and a son who doesn't even quite cut it as a bell boy. And so the wife, Mrs Chairman as she is known wanted to invite a Mr Han Tai Jun to return to the hotel and work some of his ordinary man magic and save the hotel in process. The problem is nobody knows where he is, except for his ex-girlfriend who is still pining for him, a Manager at the hotel and a bubbly women, Shu Zhen Ying. She traveled alone, all the way to Las Vegas tracing his steps only to find him in a downtrodden place, without a decent job and living in with a 20 year old female delinquent. After some emotional misunderstandings, she realised the girl, Jenny was actually Tai Jun's dead professor's adopted child who was all alone and he was actually taking care of her and his lack of achievements is actually his very own choice. Zhen Ying had to work her magic, to bring him back but he refused, remembering the bitter past where a politician's wife accused him of sexually attacking her in the hotel bedroom she was staying in, though in actual fact she was the one who tried very hard to seduce him (and failed miserably as Tai Jun is an honest and honourable man). Driven out of Korea by scandals and by his mentor the boss who died not long ago himself, Tai Jun went to Las Vegas a disappointed and broken man. But Zhen Ying wanted nothing of that sort; she literally scolded him when she had the opportunity. Only after Jenny tangled in some nasty business with some local bad guys and Tai Jun got beaten up as a result, Jenny wanted to start a new leaf and to return to her roots. Tai Jun could only agree and went back to Korea with Zhen Ying and Jenny in tow.

Once back, things were not as rosy as Tai Jun had anticipated. Back stabbing by jealous fellow staff, and one stiff competition by a competitor who wanted the hotel simply because the woman he loved married the owner of the hotel, he had to deal with also bad tempered guests at the hotel, a love struck young girl who so happened to be the daughter of the competitor who wanted the hotel and worst of all, he could not reveal his love for Zhen Ying though Zhen Ying has been waiting for his return for 3 long years. When he could almost do it, a highly competitive, successful and desirable mysterious man by the name of Frank Shen Dong Xian appeared in Zhen Ying's life. He was actually the one entrusted by the evil Mr Jin to acquire the shares to the hotel at all costs and together with his trusty lawyer-sidekick, he stayed at the hotel even though everybody eventually knew of 2 glaring facts;

1. He is the one commissioned to take over the hotel and so he is hotel enemy no.1; and

2. more importantly, he is Tai Jun's competitor even in love as he was pursuing Zhen Ying herself whilst Zhen Ying became highly confused about her feelings for 2 men.

When Zhen Ying rejected his advances, Frank took it badly and decided to concentrate fully on his job at hand, even when Zhen Ying branded him a liar for lying to her and for using her in getting around the hotel though that was really unnecessary. Zhen Ying who is highly protective of Tai Jun snubbed Frank though she found it increasingly hard to not acknowledge his presence whilst Frank and Tai Jun entered into a manly competition in business; each knows why each is so eager to save/destroy the hotel and things became personal with Zhen Ying involved.

Through thick and thin, troubles and glories, rumours and facts, Tai Jun with gritted teeth went through it all for the love of the hotel, a promise to his dead boss and dying Mrs Chairman and to the staff at the hotel; he'll save the hotel no matter what.

Frank Shen who took a high risk gamble when he realisd work isn't as important as he thought it was learned that life is more than mergers and acquisitions and together with Tai Jun, a confused Zhen Ying and his new found compassion, he learned to give instead of take.

So, will all these lead to an extremely magnificent happy ending for all?

Questions Asked And Answered
What does Frank do for a living?
M&A which is not like selling insurance but Mergers & Acquisitions. I guess he is the guy who acquires companies. Whilst this series had been compared with Pretty Woman since Richard Gere's character has the same job as Frank, I find that's where the similarities end. For one, there is no prostitute in here.

How did Frank knew Zhen Ying?
In Las Vegas, Frank was eating in a restaurant when he heard a very angry customer complaining about the bad service, the customer being Zhen Ying. He was I guess captivated by her honesty, beauty and personality. Along the way he met her several times in Las Vegas and began to like this fiesty woman who would not take no for an answer.

How long did Tai Jun left Korea?
3 years.

What was his position in the hotel before he left?
I would guess senior manager, and he would have taken over the management of the hotel if not for that scandal. He was after all Mr Chairman's favourite "son". A prodigal "son" whose father worked in the same hotel years before.

Why Mr Jin so eager to buy the hotel?
Anger, jilted lover. Mrs Chairman was kinda with him when she kinda left him for his good friend, the Mr Chairman. In fact Mr Jin had no interest in developing the hotel; he wanted to get rid of it. Even the prospect of going to jail for dealing in illegal trading methods in buying the shares of the hotel didn't scare him at all. He just wanted to destroy the hotel.

So how did Tai Jun managed it all?
Classic. Through heart, plenty of it. Of course a few helped along the way. Remember that lady who tried to seduce him 3 years before? Well, she holds some major number of shares and instead of selling them to Frank for a big amount of money, she gave it to Tai Jun. GAVE IT TO TAI JUN because she felt guilty for all the problems she caused him. Quite a decent woman. And of course Frank had a change of heart.

What change of heart?
Zhen Ying's condition for loving him is for him to not take over the hotel for Mr Jin. Without such condition, sooner of later he would have let go of everything for Zhen Ying anyway and of course, his long lost baby sister, Jenny. Jenny couldn't believe her brother was the hated enemy of the hotel where she was working as a junior chef in training and she couldn't bring herself to look at him with love as Frank had hoped. She felt a certain loyalty for Tai Jun, and she resents the fact that Frank almost had Zhen Ying's heart. And so she was rather cold towards him but with some intervention by the reasonable Tai Jun and Zhen Ying, she decided to accept Frank as her brother. And so Frank decided to take the biggest gamble of his life to win back the love of Zhen Ying, the trust of his sister and the friendship of Tai Jun.

Friendship of Tai Jun? But they're enemies!
Not quite. Each admires each other for various reasons but to Frank, Tai Jun would make a very good and loyal friend. In fact it was Tai Jun who avoided such a prospect because well, there's still the problem of Zhen Ying.

Is Zhen Ying the only woman in this series?
Nope. There's a younger, prettier, richer and of course sulkier Yun Xi, the unhappy daughter of mega rich Mr Jin who was a chauvinistic pig in his treatment towards his only child. But Yun Xi with gritted teeth worked in secret at enemy's hotel as a waitress and expressed an interest in mainly 2 things;

1. hotel management. She wants to take over papa's business but papa said go get married. Took quite some time for her to convince him of course that she was all business and not 100% play;

2. Han Tai Jun. After she was rescued by him when she was almost raped by some drunken young men, she became enamoured with Tai Jun despite the huge differences in their age (she's 20, he is presumably mid or late 30s). She went all the way out, confessed her love many many times but Tai Jun had only one woman in his heart, though he can't deny his attraction for this young beautiful child-woman. In the end, nothing happened. Sadly.

So does Tai Jun love Yun Xi?
I would say yes but he doesn't quite realise it. One scene he looked at her and said he realises he likes her but due to their age differences and society's taboo, he can't take the relationship any further. If you don't like a girl, you won't say that.

So the ending?
Frank had to leave Korea as a condition for his freedom after nabbing Mr Jin in a highly dangerous cat and mouse game (I mean Frank himself is guilty of illegal trading but he was acting on orders), Zhen Ying didn't leave with him because of Tai Jun and when she finally realised Frank was the one she loved, too late, plane already flown. Yun Xi went abroad to study hotel management and well, hopefully something transpired off camera but on camera, Tai Jun and her remained cordial, polite, no hot romance or anything. Mrs Chairman succumbed to her illness and left the entire business to Tai Jun. Of course her son became a better person though still a lazy bum with really spiky hair. As for Frank and Zhen Ying, they got back together at last.

HAPPY ENDING. In a way. With HEART. Plenty of it.

Comments
I have heard a lot about Korean series, with the bombarding of Winter Sonata into the deeper recesses of my mind every day and Bae Yong Jun, Bae Yong Jun and more Bae Yong Jun. I wanted to watch a good Korean series, but having read some reviews of some really over the top love stories with one being blind, crippled or dead (in a happy way), I was skeptical; will Korean dramas turn up to be like Qiong Yau series? So my friends recommended me Hotelier. No one dies, at least not young people in their prime and whilst we get a fair share of diseases and tensions, nobody dies of some unfortunate freak accident or sisters falling in love with brothers, so to speak. The series is reasonably normal in length, 20 VCDs which is like watching a normal length TVB series. The story is frankly nothing remarkable. Luckily I didn't have to torture myself watching the original version, I watched the mandarin-dubbed version. I didn't know who is who, even when Bae Yong Jun appeared I was still clueless as to who the heck is this hottest Korean actor since...since I do not know who.

There is a certain joy in watching a series with people you do not know or has yet to be familiar with. Only then of course you open yourself to a whole new universe and suddenly you realise, there's more than TVB, ATV, TCS, Chinastar and Japanese series in this world. Right now Korean series is the in thing. One major reason why people love Korean series is because they focus on one subject and one couple. Unlike TVB series which tends to overblow the entire contents with explosions, threats and ten thousand women for one man, in Korean series we have one man (or max 2) loving one woman (or max 2) till death. We see a more monogamous kinda relationship. There's no hanky panky, even the kissing scenes are devoid of any romantic notions. No stripping off clothes, it's all love based on personality and knowing each other well.

So is this a good series?

In a way, and looking at it as a whole, a definite yes. It has some great moments, many funny moments and certainly loads of tender and sentimental moments. In fact this is a series with moments, connected to the story and yet you can appreciate it without associating it with the next scene. Everything happens for a reason and in that aspect, this series is very consistent in its flow of story and definitely, in the characterisation of certain key players, but of course not quite.

Everybody has their fair share of screen time, certainly one couple tends to have more, that is Frank Shen and Zhen Ying. The thing is whilst the whole world was fascinated by their love story, I wasn't. I find their love story interesting at first, but when Han Tai Jun posed no threat at all to their blossoming love and the entire series built on mergers and takeovers, frankly their love story becomes rather stale and bland. But as I do not know who the heck Bae Yong Jun is, I was left to wonder who will get the girl. Of course I made the mistake of reading some reviews and then the suspense was gone for me and when I realised how famous Bae Yong Jun is the whole suspense kinda disappear for me. Actually I should have known the ending would be as such; after all the VCD cover has two faces, one Bae Yong Jun smiling that famous smile of his and the actress, smiling sweetly.

So what about the story you may ask?

As I said, it's consistent but not entirely logical.

I do believe in the business of servicing people such as the hotel industry, a worker must be polite and helpful, all the time, like Zhen Ying and Tai Jun. But I do not believe any hotel would buy underwear or kneel before a guest to make these guest feel happy for staying at the hotel. I certainly don't see that in Malaysian or Singaporean hotels. Maybe only in Korea. In that sense it is illogical but not unreasonable as they are to show how dedicated these people are even when faced with such insults.

Whilst everybody hoped, prayed and cheered when Frank came back to Zhen Ying, I was a tad disappointed. I do believe in real life if Tai Jun were to say "Come back to me" a person like Zhen Ying would run to him. In TVB world, this would be the case and of course very boring in the end. But I was hoping Tai Jun ends up with somebody, even if the person is Yun Xi but that's not the case. I do believe Zhen Ying loves Tai Jun, I do believe she feels something for Frank. And I also believe if Zhen Ying were to be with Frank, when Tai Jun has a problem she would run to him. This is because they have this unbreakable bond. In a way the ending was apt but still, I was hoping for the boring ending for once.

As for the idea of a villain, you won't find one here except for one stubborn old man you could hate for the way he treated his daughter and the reason why he wanted the hotel, which is pretty lame and very unwise for a man who has made a fortune by making wise business decisions. Of course in the business of the heart, you can't always guarantee logical actions.

Last but not least, I was very disappointed at some characters which were more cartoonish than real. Like for example Tai Jun's rival Manager who did quite a lot of back stabbing, even opposed the appointment of Tai Jun and yet the Mrs Chairman never considered dismissing him. Certainly in the world of management, when one dissents for no apparent reason, some vote of no confidence must be given against such opposition? But not in here. Everybody tolerates him and I do not know why. Then they went on with how he fell for another supervisor, all of a sudden. That was illogical and very out of place. No reason, just love all of a sudden. Strange.

And of course the story of Mrs Chairman's son, with the spiky hair and all. Lazy bum but for love, he was willing to buck up. The thing is I was hoping he would create some problem for Tai Jun but in the end, he is just a love sick puppy. Whilst in TVB world he would have turned real bad, in here he is nothing more than a mild puppy. I find that disappointing because at the end of the day the problems posed to Tai Jun is really nothing personal, just business. If it had been an inside job, and inside spy, that would make this series even more interesting. The main focus of this series though is love or the inability to accept or confess love. Very narrow focus and not my cup of tea.

But that doesn't mean I hated it. Quite the contrary I quite liked it. Some of my favourites are ...

Most Favourite Couple
Strangely, I like Yun Xi and Tai Jun's segments because it's just so funny. Whilst Frank had the bubbly one, guess who had the young beautiful physically perfect being? Ahhhhhh...justice, sweet justice. Of course both girls had personalities to die for, NOT. Yun Xi is such a boring girl.

Most Favourite Scene(s)
Plenty. Not all Frank Shen's. I like the scene where Frank met his father. I love the scene where he looked at his sister, Jenny, the pain in his eyes when Jenny told him she disliked him and was ashamed that he was her brother by blood. I like the scene where Frank tried to make friendly conversations with Tai Jun and basically, Tai Jun was very rude. Gave one line answers only. I like the scenes where Zhen Ying scolded Tai Jun for everything. I like the scene where Yun Xi questioned Tai Jun on everything and then dropped the bomb; that she liked him. All except scenes between Zhen Ying and Frank and that Mr Jin scenes.

Most Favourite Character
I do like Zhen Ying who has personality like no other female heroines before. I can understand why two men would vie for her even with her messy appearance and temper.

A lot of my friends who watched this series fell in love with the cold, calculative, but loving and stylish Frank Shen. Quite a contradiction. He was that kinda man that most women would try hard to vie for since he is rich, successful and best of all hard to get. Imagine when he smiles at you and says he loves you, wouldn't you melt like Zhen Ying and thousands of women did when his smile is rarer than lightning striking you?

I didn't.

My favourite character is actually Han Tai Jun. He is honest, hard working, decent, loyal and yes yes yes, very indecisive when it comes to women. Why don't he just confess his love for Zhen Ying? Surely Zhen Ying would have run to him in a second. But he must have had his reasons; maybe with so much responsibilities at hand, a relationship is the last he would expect. I find him rather good looking in a very ordinary man sort of way. He is a man you could trust. But the funny thing is and the best thing about this series is things are not what they seem to be.

Funniest Scene
Yun Xi joined with his drunken friends in a hotel room. Somebody played a joke at and his clothes were a bit dirty. So he said he wanted to change his clothes. FINE. Then whilst changing, Yun Xi was sexually assaulted by his drunken friends, she was crying help and this guy, was from changing his clothes to... get this....drum roll please...WASHING HIS HAIR AND HAVING A FULL SHOWER! I mean that was so funny! And the of course Tai Jun came in and rescued the damsel in distress with Yun Xi, feeling refreshed from the shower stupefied as to what happened.

Worst Aspect
Frank is supposed to be Korean born but educated in America. Whilst Bae Yong Jun's voice is certainly very deep and quite pleasing to the ears, his poor grasp of English had me laughing in stitches. So much attention given to the details of management and yet very little on just a few lines of English.

And did I mention that every time they had dinner in the hotel, it's in this big hall that looks more like a ball room than a restaurant?

Best Aspect : A Study Of The Characters Of Two Men
Frank Shen started out as cold, calculative, arrogant. But in his pursuit of Zhen Ying, we know he believes in romance, he believes in revealing his feelings when he had to. He is a man who has no problems flirting with Zhen Ying, with teary eyes looking at his sister, silently begging for Jenny to accept him as his brother, very vocal in his love for Zhen Ying. This is a man who may look secretive, or even sometimes behave as one in business (more so when Zhen Ying rejected him, he went emotional overload and wanted the hotel to squash Han Tai Jun, after all he is just a jealous man) but in actual fact, you can read everything from his face. He has nothing to hide emotionally and his feelings is an open book.

Now we move on to Han Tai Jun.

He started out as exceedingly friendly, hard working, everybody tells him their problems and being less competitive than Frank, you would expect him to be more open with his feelings. And yet he is one secretive man. He doesn't get emotional, he looks downwards but his eyes fixed on you with his head tilted down when he is embarrassed and when he has nothing much to say. In fact Tai Jun has nothing much to say at all as opposed to Frank Shen. And yet when it comes to Frank Shen, he does get emotional but not in a big way. He just ignores you. That can be very annoying but Tai Jun made it very clear, what can be discussed and what can't be without even saying a word. His lack of emotional output frustrated Zhen Ying (and me) though many a times he would suddenly blurt out old memories and quietly told off Zhen Ying for revealing to people he likes chocolates when he likes chocolates because Zhen Ying used to give him chocolates during Valentine's day. He takes problems onto his shoulder, he doesn't reveal them nor share them, a quiet man and so a potentially loyal friend because he may not say much, he would compensate his lack of words with plenty of action.

Which is why I liked the fact that Frank wanted him as a friend. Frank's successful and all but had no friends except for one. Tai Jun could easily make friends because no one feels threatened when they're with him. In a way, Frank envied Tai Jun's ability to communicate with people in a level without revealing too much and Tai Jun's ability to make friends, and very loyal friends along the way. Tai Jun is humble whilst Frank learned to be humble. Tai Jun is a good man whilst Frank whilst a good man had to learn to give more than take. Tai Jun had his sister's loyalty without much question or hesitation on Jenny's part whilst Frank practically had to earn his way to Jenny's heart.

What Frank at last realised is you don't have to give to get back what you lost in equal portions. When at last he walked down the corridors of the hotel, he realised people were actually greeting him even when they all knew he was hotel enemy no. 1. He realised people are innately friendly. Why people turn the other way is because of his output. Tai Jun always treated others with respect, acknowledging everybody in his presence no matter how lowly ranking they may be whilst Frank didn't even stop to look. When he did, he realised he lost a lot of things and he suddenly understood why Zhen Ying and Tai Jun wanted to save the hotel, not for profit but because of the vision of the dead chairman and because of hundreds of jobs which could be lost by one angry man's whim and fancy. He could no longer serve such an unreasonable master and for once he understood the idea of giving in a small way is much better than taking in a major way. What's the use of money when at the end he losses his humanity and everybody else? By sacrificing a little, he gained not only the heart of a woman he loves, he gained back his sister and plenty of grateful friends.

Certainly the best aspect of this series.

Best Performances
Surprisingly everybody gave good performances with the exception of Bae Yong Jun (Frank Shen), Kim Seong Yu (Han Tai Jun) and Song Yun Erh (Shu Zhen Ying) who gave excellent performances. There's no over the top acting but more of restraint acting. One though stood out as a poor actress, that is Song Hye Kyo (Jin Yun Xi) who is pretty to look at and really nothing much in other aspects. That doesn't mean she isn't good, but she could have been better. Her character is angry, cold and frustrated, but frankly she sulked too much.

As for Song Yun Erh , for once we have a heroine who doesn't comb her hair or wear make up. She is so believably messy, so unremarkably unattractive in looks and yet 2 men vies for her heart for a very simple reason; her character is bursting with personality. Instead of expensive restaurants, her unofficial first date with Frank is a fast food restaurant. She is not flawless, she is not perfect, she is not afraid to show her flaws and like those 2 guys, you'll end up liking her and think of her as kinda cute too.

My favourite actor happens to be the guy who plays my favourite character, Kim Seong Yu where he gave a very controlled performance of a man who could blend into the background but not quite. He is charismatic, he is a very good actor and in a way he brings integrity and honour into Han Tai Jun, which is why I like his Han Tai Jun; you don't see this kinda man anymore. Of course you could hate him for being so indecisive when it comes to love, but who would go and woo a woman when faced with such huge responsibilities? I feel the actor handled all the emotional scenes well and in a way I feel Zhen Ying is much more relaxed when with him and less pretentious than when she was with Bae Yong Jun's Frank Shen.

Bae Yong Jun was not my favourite at first. I thought he tried so hard to be cool he seems rather pretentious. Girls swoon over the fact that when he smiles, he lights up the whole screen. The same compliment I gave Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame; when they smile all your worries disappear and all you're left with is this amazingly sincere and happy smile. Frankly I didn't feel that way with Bae Yong Jun. Maybe too fair for my taste, maybe acts too cool, maybe it's the way he walks where he swings left to right and right to left in a very unmanly and young-ish kinda way, in fact like Keanu Reeves. But later on I appreciated his acting, when he had to do emotional scenes like with his dad or his sister. But with Song Yun Erh's Zhen Ying, I feel nothing for their love. Maybe I am immune to romanticism, but then I am absolutely in love with Hugh Jackman's Leopold in Kate and Leopold. Maybe I just don't like him. Anyway, a competent performance deserving of all the swooning female fans.

Verdict
The intro scenes are not theme song based but music based and the artwork is refreshingly different. The story was well paced at first, with interesting moments but after the 10th VCD, things get a bit draggy when things finally settles. And it picks up again towards the end but still is overly too long. It's not very well paced with moments where I just didn't feel like watching it anymore. In fact I stopped watching for quite some time, due to my busy schedule and mostly because I don't feel motivated to watch what I would term as seen that-done that series. However I must compliment the voice overs who did such excellent jobs. When the lips moves, the dialogue begins and when the lips stop, so will the dialogue. I do wonder how they all sound in real life but then the Korean language is such a difficult language to listen to; all sound the same to me.

Anyway, look at the length of my review. It could have been longer if I were to deal with the nitty gritty stuff. But let me get straight to the point;

I wouldn't mind watching more Korean series thanks to my introduction to Korean series by this what I would term as a very good series, short of brilliant series. Guys are rather ok looking, girls are exceptionally beautiful (all looks the same to me, long black hair, flawless skin which is why I appreciated the actress Song Yun Erh who looks messy enough to look different but when she wore the hotel uniform, I couldn't recognise her), beautiful sceneries and of course, nice soundtrack.

I don't think this series need my recommendation or my introduction. Just look at the girls swooning at Bae Yong Jun's face filmed at 45 degrees to the left with the sun shining on his face with a slightly crooked lips forming into what would be a beautiful smile and you'll realise how famous this series is. Put that aside, do give this series a try and I hope you'll like Han Tai Jun like those few odd people in this world like yours truly. After all if everybody loves Bae Yong Jun's Frank Shen, things would be a bit crowded don't you think?

Rating
A good

Interesting observation
Bae Yong Jun, Kim Yoon Hee, Jang Dong Gun ... Malaysians have names like Lim Chee Yung, Wong Mei Ling, Tan Yong Jin...see anything similar?

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