Derek Childs (totalovrdose) The film opens with a severely beaten Anna (the always beautiful Wang Tei) desperately struggling to come to terms with what led to the death of an, as of yet, unidentified male. Much of the film operates in this fashion, providing the viewer with enough of a taste to comprehend what may have happened, however, rarely definitively illustrating an exact answer, allowing the audience's imagination to fill in the blanks. On one hand, this has the unique feel of independent cinema, and allows viewers much freedom, though at the same time, can become frustrating, considering we, the viewers, long for completeness to quench our thirst for knowledge.Seven years later, in the midst of a prison sentence, Anna is given a three day furlough to visit her mother's funeral. On the way to Seattle, she bumps into Hoon (Hyun-Bin), who asks her to lend him money for bus fare, and though he promises to pay her back, Anna shows little interest. Ms. Tei convincingly plays a woman who has become disillusioned and pessimistic from her time in prison, while exhibiting melancholy in a city which has changed since she was last there.By chance, she meets Hoon once more, who offers to take her around Seattle. Hoon is, for lack of a better term, a gigolo, however, his explanation sounds far more advertising, though at the same time, he seems painfully romantic, garnering feelings for some of the women he meets, despite being required to maintain his professionalism.On the run from the jealous husband of a woman who fell in love with him two years earlier, Hoon is a man whose life has taken a turn for the worse, much like Anna's, yet continues to maintain optimism and confidence, that attracts her to him. Surrounded by judgemental relatives, Hoon is the one man who accepts Anna for who she is.The chemistry between the leads is especially great, there being a number of equally dramatic and humorous moments to behold. Moreover, a number of scenes are very memorable, including a moment when Hoon and Anna break into an amusement park, alongside another time when Anna discusses some of her past.The multiple locations are brilliantly brought to life by the cinematography, which further draws us into the experience, while the use of sound and music is just as effective.By the conclusion of the film, I was left feeling a little empty, for unlike other features, that serenade us with fantastical plots of everlasting love, director Kim Tae-Yong never tries to force anything. Instead, he creates a feature that feels very genuine, right down to the painful reality that not everything is destined to end happily ever after, despite our wishful thinking.(Half of the film is in English, while the other half is sub-titled).

Josh Yau Picture: Anna gets out of prison for 2 days after 7 years on falsely charged crime of killing her husband, because her mother passed away. She returned home to her brother asking for her signature to sell the house; she sees young nephews and nieces that she has never seen before. As family members argue with each other over logistics of the funeral, she walks to the backyard and attempts to make friend with a cat, who led her to see her lover - a man who grew up with her, left her, came back to ask her to divorce her husband, and later killed her husband and never left Anna in prison, with his new wife and a baby. He said, how are you doing, it's good to see you, you still look like a child, and squeezes her cheeks. The film then shows Anna shopping, buying and putting on a dress, earrings, make-up. Throughout the movie Tang Wei does not say much, except in a few outbursts where her emotions accumulates (she did this before in Lust, Caution). You think in this scene, she want something, just a little bit, for herself now. This is a movie where if you put in enough empathy, you might shift uncomfortably in your chair during a few scenes. I walked away thinking, how long will that one kiss, or the one promise, lasts for her in prison? With her understated and unspoken acting, Wei's character appears to be of almost limitless will - and I think she will wait in that cafe for forever. It's a superb script, with brilliant surprises that make emotional sense that superb script has. I think it asks: stripped of all the superficial necessities and orders that make our lives make sense, what happen to us? What would you do if you are Chinese American on a Portland to Seattle bus attending your mother's funeral and need to go back to prison in two days, with the persons you loved leaving you in prison, bumping into a handsome Korean gigolo, who might be the only person in the world that cares about you?

rainonmebi This movie was pretty bad. I hadn't planned on writing a review for this ever because there was just too much to say but I guess I'll write it anyway. I usually love Korean movies and watch them all the time so I know the format.. they can be overly long and overly sentimental. I digress.The movie started out interesting. However quickly got WTF when Anna was let out of jail on so-called "compassionate leave" WITHOUT an escort OR ankle bracelet not to mention she was in jail for a VIOLENT CRIME. All they gave her was a cell phone to keep track of her (which they only called her twice). so that bothered me.why did they get such bad actors for Americans? all of them sounded like English wasn't their first language... that scene at the bumper cars.omg such bad acting... the scene went on WAYY too long and then that random dance that they did?! it was beautiful, and how it was edited but it had NO place in that movie and made NO sense what so ever! so they ran and were in some meat shop where it was bothering me that they had left the meat sitting out like that and the doors open?!and then, when anna was telling her story to hyunbin, he kept saying hao and hwey and was TOTALLY making everything she said "unserious" and i didn't feel bad for character. everyone in this movie fell flat... that kiss in the end WAS TOO LONG OMG. WTF was that! It was LITERALLY, over a minute long kiss scene. i kept looking at my watch waiting for that movie to be over.i could say more but who will read it? anyway. they tried to shove a comedy a drama and an indie art film into one movie and it DID NOT work.

Avery Hudson Man chu | Late Autumn Director: Kim Tae-Yong Republic of Korea (South Korea), Hong Kong, China, USA 2010 English, Korean, Mandarin Cast includes Tang Wei (Anna), Hyun Bin (Hoon).A young woman waits in an empty diner outside a lonely bus stop. Pie and a cup of coffee. She touches neither. Every sound of footsteps, she turns. She smiles. "Hi. It's been a long time."Man chu opens with Anna staggering down a suburban street, bloodied, face bruised, clothes torn. We learn that she has killed her abusive husband. Seven years later, serving out the sentence for her crime, Anna is given two days' compassionate leave to attend her mother's funeral in Seattle, tied to prison by a cell phone that rings periodically and which she must answer, giving her location.As Anna's bus pulls out of a station, Hoon, a young dandy and rent boy, jumps aboard. He doesn't have enough money to pay for his ticket and asks to borrow money from Anna. He is Korean, Anna is Chinese – he seems to assume a bond? Deciding whether to give a stranger 30 bucks.Thus two unlikely misfits meet and fall in love, despite all odds.Man chu, a remake of a 1966 Korean film of the same name, is ravishingly filmed with a RED camera transferred to D-Cinema Cinemascope, featuring deeply affecting lead performances by the Chinese actress Tang Wei and South Korean actor Hyun Bin and strong supporting performances, including two white dancers who silently act out a beautifully composed break-up scene choreographed by Dayna Hanson and dubbed by Anna and Hoon in a brilliant sequence filmed in a derelict amusement park.Anna and Hoon speak to each other in English, when Anna decides to speak at all. (Tang Wei achieves the lion's share of her unforgettable performance in silence.) In one emotionally devastating scene, Anna tells Hoon her story step by step in Chinese. He interprets by her face and responds to each sentence "Hao" (good) or "Huai" (bad). Though it is evident he does not understand, his responses reveal deep empathy, which Anna recognizes in an extended sequence of acting without words – one among many in this profoundly actorly film.One slow dissolve on Anna's beautiful face is destined for the annals of film history, I think.