Movies: When I Turned Nine

In 2004, Korean audiences were treated to films that showcased the talents of the country's older, veteran actors in the films Sweet Sixties and Shit Up! In contrast, 2004 also offered When I Turned Nine, based on the popular novel by We Ki-chul, with a cast of up and coming young actors, notably Lee Se-young, who would go on to star in at least two more films in '04: (quite paradoxically) the aformentioned film Sweet Sixties and the school comedy flick Lovely Rivals. When I turned nine, I was in the third grade. It was the dawn of the last decade of the millenium. I had a crush on my seatmate, I worried about grades and wanted toys and watched cartoons, I basically went through the same bratty phase most of us probably did. The same phases of growth are experienced by our characters. Woo-rim is a transfer student who comes from Seoul, who seems fickle and snobbish at times, and adapted to the city life. Yeo-min is the kid version of the generic Korean teen drama male lead - a noble, good-hearted guy who is the "Captain" of his third-grade class, being the best fighter in school. Through the span of the film, I saw that the characters have at least some depth to them: Yeo-min experiences probably his first brush with the love bug; also, in one of the side-plots he works hard to buy glasses for his mother, whose one eye is looked down upon by some people. Woo-rim brags about living in America, but there is more than meets the eye than we may initially think. Keum-bok, one of Yeo-min's core friends, begins to feel jealousy towards the budding relationship between her friend and the new girl. Adam Hartzell, in his review of the film, points out the way social classes are treated. I think he makes a pretty good point about it, and it shows itself in the film the most for me when Woo-rim first comes to class and looks in mixed disgust and surprise when she sees Yeo-min's dirty bare feet. In some way, I felt that I connected with some of the characters in a personal level. I myself know how it feels to experience such feelings at a young age. Things proceed as only a Korean melodrama can and at the end, we are left with the fleeting memories of a cherished past. Ultimately, the film is a decent experience which could have been handled a bit better, but as a whole left me more or less satisfied.