Chingoo (2001) Reviews

• Friendship, the Korean way.

  hwarangdo2002-05-13

  Last year, "Chin goo (AKA Friend)" became the highest grossing film in Korean history, surpassing the highly acclaimed "Joint Security Area" and "Shiri". Many observers were curious as to the secret to its success. Was it because of the gangsters? the actors? The main reason for this movie's phenomenal success was the fact that is was a very good movie about male friendship. In Korean culture, friendship between guys is a very strong relationship. Especially in the city in which the movie is set - Pusan - loyalty and sacrifice for friendship is seen as a very important part of honour. In this movie, friendship is tested to the limit from beginning to end, as the movie's two main leads (Yoo Oh Sung and Jang Dong Gun) grow from being teenage rebels to big-time gangsters. The catch is, when they grow up, they become very different types of gangsters. One becomes a JOPOK - equivalent to the Korean Mafia, respected by the Korean people for sometimes punishing bad people. And the other becomes more of a thug gangster who kills and steals for fun. The direction is excellent, but the acting is the element which holds the film together as a whole. The two leads are two very different actors. The first, Yoo Oh-Sung, plays the Mafia gangster and has a very tough-as-nails look and uses method acting skills. The second (arguably Korea's most popular actor right now) chews scenery with Chow Yun Fat-like charisma and striking looks. if you enjoy gangster movies or movies about friendship, this will be a dream movie for you

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• Best movie I have seen this weekend. And I have seen 12 of them.

  Dockelektro2002-03-04

  Epic tale of paths that diverge only to be reunited again at some critical moments, "Chin Goo", or "Friend" was a blockbuster at homeland Korea, and one can tell why. The story is attractive: the choices that four friends take on their lives, and the way we end up paying dearly for our mistakes and weaknesses. The construction is somehow western, which has attracted the audiences, all I can say is that I have not seen this movie, but felt it within me. Great comic timing, moving and powerful moments, great, great, GREAT actors, and master directing by an emerging director, Kwak Kyung-Taek, which shows signs of great potential in the future. Loved it all the way, hope to get the DVD as soon as possible.

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• Right up there with The Godfather, but I liked it better

  Simon_Bocanegra2004-11-09

  I am surprised and encouraged by the quality films I've seen out of Korea. Chingoo is a touching first-person story about 4 boyhood friends and the way their lives unfold from carefree boyish cluelessness to the inevitable. There are flashy, chaotic,violent films like Pulp Fiction which become instant cult classics because they are not chaotic at all, but crafted immaculately. But the characters in Pulp Fiction are just that- unreal, comic-book lowlives who inadvertently display a few human characteristics while going about their destructive, pulp-fiction lives. Chingoo comes from the other direction, although it too is crafted superbly. No flash. Instead of the cool junkie Vincent portrayed by John Travolta, Joon-suk ably evokes a glimpse of the personal hellworld of addiction...and later wryly comments that he found the will to clean up after he saw he was losing ground in the gangster corporate hierarchy. Very much the CEO material. Yes, he coulda been a corporate contendah….and 500 years earlier he would have been the Korean equivalent of a Samurai daimyo…if only.. These are real human characters growing up in a society that is rigidly disciplined, yet dynamic- and their paths take them literally on an escalator of fate to adulthood with just a whimsical struggle of will by Joon-suk, the protagonist, the main toughguy. He evokes the late Lee Strasberg's famous line from The Godfather, "These are the lives we've chosen," in the stolidity with which he accepts the horror of being a gangster. But he's a better man than the Godfather or the Pacino Godfather. He shows loyalty goes both ways. Thirty minutes after Pulp Fiction, you're hungry- in fact, there's no story to digest at all. It's a fairytale as it intends. Chingoo sticks to your ribs (spoiler pun) by building real characters and taking real themes and hinting at issues that torment great men. Unfortunately, the film is true to the clime, and there are no great women characters. I suppose that's true of the Godfather too. Gangsters just aren't chick-flick material. Chingoo delivers a supposedly autobiographical story by the director which tells me yet again that life is stranger, realer, better than pulp fiction. Well worth viewing.

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• Must-See Film

  jmverville2004-11-26

  It is a bit hard to know where to begin when dissecting such a film. What I can say is that this was a very stunning film, and with the time you spend thinking about it and the more times that you watch it it only becomes more relevant and better. Mr. Kwak is capable to tell the story of four friends on such an intimate level because it was based very much on his own personal experiences. The story is extremely genuine, and it holds so much water for anybody who has ever witnessed the people that they love ruin their lives. It certainly comes straight from the heart of Kwak, and while watching it it is hard not to become emotional as you see the film being developed. I also found the film to be made very professionally, with some great camera-work and never once did I feel that the production was sub-par. A lot of the camera work is well executed. Overall, the dialogue and story are very powerful, and the calm, reflective nature of the film makes it easy to watch. I enjoyed this film very much. Overall, one of the best portrayals of the passage of time, nostalgic sentimentality, and the relations of friends.

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• Reminds me of Home.

  dennisyoon2004-03-02

  A friend of mine who grew up in Korea recommended this movie to me a couple years ago. He said it "reminded him of friends he had when he was young." I thought about that and remembered my friends who I watched my first porno with and who fought by my side win or lose and who I parted ways with sometimes on not so good terms. I ended up thanking him because the movie is a treasure trove of memories of coming of age. It reminded me of elder brothers who showed me honor in martial arts and gangsta life and my close friends who went their separate ways. Just like my friend said it reminded me of friends and growing up. 10/10. Great story. Great Acting. Great Characters. Stylish Violence. Well produced. Awesome Gangsta Drama. Right up there with "Failan" for impact.

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