Shades of the Heart

This movie is ok. But, it very slow. The characters in the movie talk so slow that I played it on 1.5 speed, still at some part the characters are speaking painfully slow. But, it was interesting to hear the story of the different characters in the story.

This is an introspective meditation on life, loss & loneliness. The film is a sequence of half-a-dozen conversations between the main character, Chang Seok, and the various people he encounters on his walks around Seoul. Each of them plays like a short film within a themed narrative. Each was poetic. Each was beautifully acted. Each was shot by an old soul... for old souls.

Don't listen to the other idiot reviews by kids and teenagers watching this film for their celebrity idol's cameo. Don't get me wrong, IU is great in this film (she's always a great actress) and her cameo is so well done. Nothing against her, only her idiot fans giving this movie a bad review. Director Jong-kwan Kim is a master at his craft reminiscent of the great Japanese master Yasujiro Ozu with his long takes and idyllic shots. As other great reviewers have said about this film, this is a meditation on loss and mortality, deeply felt and poignant. A more mature and slice of life film, not for kids with low attention spans who can't appreciate real art.

It so boring, it bored me within 20mins. But I kept watching, thought something gonna pops up. Guess what I was wrong, totally wasted my time. Another reason of my watching this crap is for IU, but she were only in first 15 mins.

Talking about the what the movie really about?

After getting divorced , Chang-seok returns to Korea and readies to publish a novel based on his own life. Mi-young recollects her meeting him and their past together. Yoo-jin shares a leftover cigarette with him and thinks about her past. Sung-ha tries his best to nurse his dying wife. Ju-eun, a bartender who has lost her memories after a car accident, collects memories of her patrons... Chang-seok listens and hears stories of people around him and feels his heart changing and begins writing a new story.

That's all of it. Nothing else was in the movie.

Having watched only a few works of director Kim, I felt like the theme of loss and love always finds itself a special place in his mind evidently in his work. I would highly recommend this to anyone who is into slow burn and realistic movies. Although I love how director Kim managed his scene and let the characters serendipitously met each other, I think the dialogues' quality is not consistent. Honestly, there are some parts which are a bit too straightforward or some unnatural parts which made the watching experiences less enjoyable. However, such amazing performance from all these actors kinda made up for it. Overall, a good movie.