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The early 2000s was a time when what is now known as the Korean New Wave exposed the western world to what the cinema of the South Korea could offer in various genres. One genre in particular that the cinema of the country got to be best known for then, and to a degree still is, is the romantic melodrama. Among the many features within it that ended up impressing both the domestic and international audience was “Failan”, starring Choi Min-sik, who had just been introduced to international audiences a couple years back in “Shiri” and a pre-international fame Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung.

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Lee Kang-jae is a two-bit, low-level gangster, fresh out of prison for smuggling in illegal Chinese immigrants. He isn’t that great at being a gangster and doesn’t get much respect either from his friend-turned-boss Yong-sik or from his younger subordinates. When...

Korean director Song Hae Sung has had a very interesting career which has seen him tackle a variety of social and (often multi) cultural issues in different ways, from his award winning Choi Min Sik and Cecilia Cheung starring “Failan” through to his recent “A Better Tomorrow” remake. Based on a novel by Cheon Myung Gwan, his latest offering “Boomerang Family” is on the surface a lighter and more comic affair, dealing with a group of nearly middle aged siblings who return home to live with their aging mother. Playing the family are a fittingly eclectic and impressive cast, which includes Park Hae Il (“War of the Arrows”), Kong Hyo Jin (“Love Fiction”), Yoon Je Moon (“Dangerously Excited”) and Yoon Yeo Jeong (“The Taste of Money”), joined by young actress Jin Ji Hee (“Moon That Embraces the Sun”). Like most of Song’s works, the film went down well with the critics at home,...

A Better Tomorrow 2012

Stars: Jin-mo Ju, Seung-heon Song, Kang-woo Kim, Han Sun Jo, Kyeong-yeong Lee | Written by Hing-Ka Chan, Suk-Wah Leung | Directed by Hae-sung Song

A Korean remake of John Woo’s original film, A Better Tomorrow 2012 tells the story of Hyuk (Jin-mo), who lives the fast life as a high-ranking mobster in Busan, South Korea with his closest pal, fellow mobster Lee Young-Chun (Seung-heon). Hyuk is haunted by the memory of leaving behind his younger brother Chul (Kang-woo) and mother as they attempted to flee into South Korea from North Korea. Hyuk is set up by the police and jailed. Three years later, he is released and travels back to Busan to find his younger brother Chul now a high-ranking police officer. Hyuk tries to earn back the trust of his brother, but rejection and betrayal are hard to forget. Things come to a head when Young-Chun pulls Hyuk into doing one last gig.

Happy Valentine's Day, kids. Hope you've all got loved ones to squeeze today, and have better things planned than to see schmaltzy, unchallenging romance flicks like, er, Valentine's Day. Submitted for your approval is a list of movies in the spirit of love that aren't your typical rom-coms or melodramas—the unusual suspects with something a little strange accompanying the couplings.

Rather than just list movies with romance between quirky characters, though, since many people would be quick to name unconventional couples like Harold and Maude or Bonnie and Clyde, how about we seek the more trying scenarios? Here are some movies that attain sweet, robust romance even in situations that are normally hard to swallow. But you don't need to make sense of love to get it.

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Oasis (2002)

Why it's weird? It begins with rape.

In most relationships, when the man rapes the woman, what follows is usually the end.