Calla

This is not the best Korean love story ever filmed (that may be "Il Mare") but it wasn't as unsatisfying to me as it was to some people. It takes the premise of someone going back into the past to save someone he loves and gives it a genuinely ingenious twist, which I won't reveal, except to say that if you see it coming you're a lot smarter than I am.

A young man named Sunwoo is bemused to find a single calla lily on his desk each morning when he goes to work, and occasionally he picks up the telephone only to hear piano music. Investigating, he discovers a nearby flower shop in which two young women work. One of them, Jihee, is especially beautiful, and Sunwoo finds himself falling in love with her.

Eventually he gets up the nerve to tell her how he feels -- but only on the phone. He arranges to meet her in the top-floor lounge of a hotel, only to arrive as she is killed by the man who is holding her hostage.

Stunned, he takes the elevator down and finds that he has been delivered into the past. Once he is over his shock, he realizes he has been given a chance to rescue Jihee. From this point on, nothing goes as the viewer would expect.

The film's narrative is a bit disjointed, although that may be partly the fault of the English subtitles, which aren't perfect. (They're not Hong Kong-terrible, either.) The leading actors are attractive, but only one of them -- the other young woman in the flower shop -- really came off the screen for me. And that's probably the movie's biggest problem, because we want to be fully invested emotionally in the characters. Still, all three of them are pretty and nice to look over the length of the film.

Overall, a pretty good movie -- one I can recommend especially to romantics. A lot of it happens around Christmas and there's lots of snow, so huddle up under a blanket with someone you love, or (at the very least) like quite a bit. You'll be better friends when it's over.

I rented this movie after having watched Failan, also directed by Song Hae-sung. Whereas Failan drew powerful emotions of loss and sorrow, this movie was a bland march to a trite ending. The plot is somewhat interesting, as it takes on a Star Trek-like turn for the paranormal. But the characters are flat and the dialogue is painfully terse. Somehow the audience is supposed to feel what the characters feel, but how can we do that when the acting is so unexpressive and the dialogue so cryptic? Kim Hee-sun has no charm or allure, but is a pasty ghost of a woman, as usual. Song Seung-heon is too low key to portray the character's intense longings. Finally, Kim Hyun-joo doesn't strike me as someone who is completely head-over-heels. In the end, the trio's rigid acting made for a completely sterile experience.

It's a little cheesy, and kind of superficial. Honestly, I can't feel great about romances where you confess your undying love for someone you don't even know, or even talk to. I get accused of being superficial, but this is a little extreme. But since I'm superficial, admittedly the movie is good for eye candy and something to do on a weekend. Would I watch it again? No. I need movies with more substance, instead of long pauses, sighs and unexpressed longing. It might have been less predictable and more enjoyable if they hadn't explained everything that was going to happen in the movie description. Sheesh.

Time travel movies need to make some sense. This one doesn't. How could he love someone that much given the little contact they had. The twist is the only redeeming factor. Shows it's not worth it to travel in time and get all beat up. Don't bother even for Song Seung Heon fans.

Calla's frenetic opening, with its blurred, fast paced imagery, is representative of the occasionally illogical plot. Part the Time Machine and part Frequency, though rarely as powerful as either, Calla works its magic as a romantic drama, while also acting as a social commentary on life. The film has a strong focus on visuals and sound, from characters expressions and the worlds they inhabit, to the sweet melody of the soundtrack, there being stretches where dialogue has little role at all. It should be noted, the English subtitles for this film are not perfect, and some reading between the lines is required.

Seon-Woo (Song Seung-Heon) finds flowers on his desk each morning, his secret admirer leaving no clues to their identity. On a tram, he meets Ji-Hee (Kim Hee-Seon), who happens to work at the same store he receives his flowers from, immediately assuming it is she who has been serenading him with gifts, and not fellow florist Soo-jin (Kim Hyun-Joo). But who really has been giving him the flowers? Seon-Woo has little time to investigate due to work commitments, arranging to meet Ji-Hee at an extravagant lounge when his schedule next allows. On the evening of their first dinner however, Ji-Hee is violently killed by Chong (Choi Cheol-Ho), a deranged drug addict, in a hostage situation gone terribly wrong.

Three years on, Seon-Woo remains unable to move on from the past, and finds himself wishing that he could have one more chance to see the love of his life – a wish that just so happens to come true.

What follows is Seon-Woo's journey to stop history from repeating itself. To say more would take away from the film's enjoyment, and though there are moments of predictability, there are an equal number of twists that are brilliantly executed. Due to this, the film has us on the edge at all times, the burning question of whether Seon-Woo will be successful propelling Calla forward, sometimes with great intensity. Considering this is not a Hollywood film, where happy endings are almost always a certainty, we are unable to escape the dread of what might come of this love story, a feeling the filmmakers take great pride in establishing.

The leads especially deserve kudos in bringing their characters to life. We feel both the embarrassment and the intensity that Seon-Woo does, though his short-sightedness and lacking objectivity can occasionally be a letdown. At the same time, we feel the joy that Ji-Hee does, and the sadness when Soon-Jin cries, the film making us not just sympathetic, but empathetic, as we are dragged into the world of Calla, which is one of the feature's greatest accomplishments.

The music too helps conjure up emotions, granting the viewer a melancholic, sentimental overtone, while the Christmas setting from its vibrant colours to its pure snow, helps further establish the film as an addition to the romance genre.

Though having a specific focus on Seon-Woo, halfway through, the feature gives us the point of view of another of its leads, this segment strengthening the film as a whole, and establishing some of the emotional depth that was lacking until this moment.

Considering there are only three leading cast members, it is peculiar at times that we are denied further information about them, while sub-characters randomly crop up with little explanation, only to disappear just as quickly.

The film is not always rational, and there are moments that are given little to no explanation, though Calla's intent is not to leave us pondering about such things. Instead, the film would rather us think about the chance encounters we experience in our own lives, and the invisible few people we overlook, who deserve as much credit as those we focus all of our attentions on.

Calla can at times be sad, and at other times beautiful, and though there are other Korean films that harness both to greater effect, Calla in itself is a delight that ought to be experienced no less.