lee min ho matures for gangnam 1970
I finally caught Gangnam 1970. It’s a well-plotted, gritty film with tons of violence and a hefty serving of explicit sexual scenes. But it is a Yoo Ha work so we shouldn’t be surprised. I was engrossed in the story from start to end since I have a liking for triad-themed stuff. As much as I love Lee Min Ho, I would say I would have enjoyed the movie even if he wasn’t starring in it.
LMH acted extremely well and there was mature assuredness to his portrayal. But in all honesty, I don’t really think he outdid himself. Which is good since it means he has tons of room to improve and hone his craft. There is no doubt he has talent, but he lacks a little gravitas, which I think comes with age and more experience. His action scenes were fluid and graceful, which I loved.
I do understand why the director thought he was too good-looking to play the part of Kim Yong Dae – because LMH looked ridiculously handsome in rags, dirt-smudged mien and straggly hair. You can’t hide that beautiful face of his – LMH even went to the extent of not looking after his skin while filming in order too look worse but all I saw was those soulful eyes of his starring at me out of the screen. His eyes are the ones that capture and reel you in because they are just so expressive and you can read everything he feels there even if his actions and gestures remain muted.
On a more superficial note, he looked amazing. The camera loves him – doesn’t matter if he is strewn in blood or gazing longingly at his beloved one. I so prefer him styled simple and more rugged because it suits him tons better than all dressed up as a flower boy. Was swooning over the scenes of him in white shirts and aviators. For those who were disappointed with him in Heirs, Gangnam 1970 does make up for it. You do feel he was pushed to develop depth and breadth for this role as compared to how he cruised through Heirs without breaking a sweat in those fancy sweaters.
Gangnam 1970 is doing great at the domestic box office and I would say LMH made an astute choice for his silver screen debut. He has the makings of a movie star and he’s still relatively young with lots going for his future. I do like him a lot in darker roles like this. As a fan, I’m super proud of him. Min Ho… fighting!
glad to hear that lmh did great in ‘gangnam 1970’. i trust your critique, so i look forward watching it in the very far future! anyway, like in many s.k. dramas, they are not very good with ‘make-up, which production should have invested in to make lmh look really poor and whatever was his role. poor ‘make-up’ was, and still is, one of the stuff i did not like when i first watched korean dramas, but i got used to how they do things. thanks for the info. ahh, while typing this note i see that lmh ‘will reveal a spankin’ new bod for gangnam blues’. in his last seoul concert earlier this year which was hooked up in ‘you tube’ i did not see that. how was it in the movie? so, was his sex scene excluded? let me ask you: is this director the same as the one in ‘frozen flower’?
Yup – Frozen Flower was by Yoo Ha. And nope, Gangnam 1970 didn’t include his sex scene though they included KRW’s rather raunchy one. I do think the final decision to LMH’s sex scene out was out of consideration to his younger fans and to maintain his image. He did have a kissing scene though. So we get no view of his ‘spankin’ new bod’.
thanks for the info. the reason i asked about ‘frozen flower’ is i did not finish watching it because there were too many sex scenes which were not needed in the story – so the director had those for commercialism, soft porn! i’d still watch ‘gangnam 1970’, when i can,
Yoo Ha is equally graphic when it comes to both violence and sex. The plot for Gangnam 1970 is actually quite compelling and I don’t think he needed the sex scenes to sell the movie. But I just gues it’s just so part of his repertoire now and viewers kinda expect that from him. It’s a good movie – so go watch! 🙂
I am really happy LMH did this movie. He did great in my opinion. I disliked BOF for several reasons. I thought he was good & compelling but overacted in some scenes. I loved City Hunter but it wasn’t until Faith that LMH completely won me over. Some people will find that weird but surprisingly, it was his Choi Young portrayal that moved me. But the one unforgettable scene for me where I thought “wow, Min Ho can act” is that 10mins or so in CH when Nana was shot. LMH has finally topped that scene in this movie. Not with one but several scenes that will be unforgettable for me. He really acts so well with his eyes & just his face. I’ve always loved that about him – the subtlety and nuances are sometimes lost on TV. It came out in a big way in the silver screen. Sure, he could have done better in 1-2 scenes, where the lack of (life?) experience showed. But overall, he was a revelation in this movie. I never thought I could picture him as a violent man. He really challenged himself here & I hope that he continues to do so because that’s how he will continue to grow. He will never please everybody. But at least, he’s stepped so far out of his comfort zone & took a risk with this movie & it is paying off in a big way.
So glad it is is doing so well. The R21 was worrisome but it seems like they pulled in the audiences anyway. It was a good & compelling movie, but seriously not the type you would want to watch more than 2x because of the violence & explicit sex.
I totally agree – I won’t watch it again even to ogle him because of the intense violence and the rather unnecessary over-raunchy sex scenes. But the story was a good one – very fluid and engaging.
I Was really looking foward to the release of this film. Ic ouldn’t finish the film because I was so annnoyed with the unnecessary raunchy sex scenes. I found the plot a bit disjointed and the script a bit artificial.What I like about the usual Korean movies and dramas is they are done in good taste wiith interesting character development, . The amount of the film I watched was very disappointing.