Bae Yong Joon 배용준

[Guest vignette]

Yes still burning cash here at netopia. Did you read my posting in Quilt, I find myself smiling whenever I recall my going up and down the escalator of G1 just to get a photo of the AS tarp.

Have you watched your dvd of The Making, I just did last Saturday too! I can't take my eyes off the screen.

[Guest liezle]

Screen Magazine

scanned and posted by Style in BYJ's Quilt

[ginagan]

thanx liezle for reposting the pics here... they are so nice and i'm drooling at the last pic especially coz if BYJ's expression...

[Guest liezle]

[GIF] From One of Yong Joon's LG CF

you're welcome Gina!

[Guest happiebb]

My views after third viewing

Today I watched AS for the third time.

Yon and me were 50% correct.

The first time it was "What ....", the second time was "Where..." and the person posing the questions was In soo in the first instance and then Seo young at the end of the movie.

The scene showing In soo eating noodle alone was interesting. Seems he had moved out on his own after parting with Su jin. The interesting bit in this scene was the pot of plant above the boxes of belongings which In soo was staring at. Whether it was elegant, artsy or silly to hide such details from the audience, I am not sure.

At the scene where Seo young sat in the cafe and watched In su through the window of her room, today there were audience crying and blowing nose.

To some audience, April Snow is about the love between In soo and Seo young and how it started under extraordinary circumstances.

I think the Director could not make up his mind. He removed scenes showing In soo and Seo young strolling in the park and holding hand for the first time and he removed scenes showing them kissing for the first time watching a cinema. Why? Maybe he wanted the audience to guess did the two get together out of revenge and out of their own desperation. But fortunately, once they got together, the audience could only feel the new found love. Suddenly, both In soo and Seo young were calmer in their outlook and there was no more sorrow or hatred towards the betrayal.

The Director mishandled the script I think. AS would have been better if it was simply a beautiful love story of the two. Perhaps it would have touched more audience.

While trying to keep the audience guessing, the highlight and most powerful scene in the movie ended up in two scenes where audience could feel the love of In soo and Seo Young.

The first scene: Seo young, watching with anticipation at her window. Her face broke into a contented smile when she saw In soo venturing into her room, thus convincing the audience of her joy discovering that she had a place in In soo's heart. But in an instant, her mood turned sorrowful realising the longing that she wanted more than a place in his heart. At the final instant, she weeped uncontrollably when she understood she could not possess his love. Finally the audience could feel the emotions in the movie.

The second scene: In soo crying in his room. Again the audience learnt of his love for Seo young was more than for revenge.

Like a book which is not clear, the writer is at as much as fault as the reader. No one wants to watch a movie a few times to piece up what is happening in the movie. Even in such movies, the scripts had to be skillfully done. In this case, it was a case of bad story telling. If Director Hur wanted to keep the audience guessing, then he should have put in more scenes of confusion, anger or sorrow on the betrayal even after In soo and Seo young got together. Otherwise, the movie ended up as not having a well defined theme.

Other than die-hard fans of BYJ and Ye jin, I can understand why the neutrals were not moved by AS.

i do like the movie, and i even like the guesswork i had to do. the feel, the mood, the characters, the music, the set, the story just somehow appealed to me. maybe it's because i'm the cool and detached sort in real life anyhow. never like hysteria nor theatrics.

while i wouldn't go so far as to say it's bad storytelling on director hur's part, coz it did touch me, i will have to agree that it's not a movie for everyone. and i will also have to agree that some of the details are a teeny weeny bit too obscure. then again, if these details are plotted and filmed in such an obvious manner, the movie might lose its original flavour and end up being a stuck-in-the-middle.

and yes, i will have to agree with you... that fact that it's not your usual love story, quite possibly, explains the less-than-enthusiastic review from some quarters.

of course if director hur had gone ahead and shot an 'ordinary' love story, it would probably achieve more commercial success. by that, i mean remove most of the guesswork and plot in more of the lovey-dovey or at least show more of the falling-in-love as well as the sorrowful parting scenes. but i've a feeling april snow would not seem like a director hur movie should that have happened. i kindda still prefer it this way.

some people have also commented that the two characters, particularly in-soo, were much too detached and cool about the adultery of their spouses. but i was thinking... their spouses were still in a coma, many questions were still left unanswered. and the outside world still did not know the truth. therefore in-soo and seo-young had to keep up a front and they also had to be strong to tide over the difficult period. difficult period in the sense of having to deal with an unconscious and seriously injured spouse, having to deal with the hurt and pain of betrayal, having to deal with keeping up a front for the rest of the world, and also having to deal with the confusing affection for another person.

all these... just imagine... most people would probably end up looking, acting, feeling the way the characters did. only in the movies will we see people breaking down in tears like nobody's business, because that's the way to show the audience anguish and to move them to tears. but in real life? i tried to imagine myself in that situation, i think i would probably behave like in-soo and seo-young too.

one last note, in fact, even amongst so-called diehard fans, there're also people who didn't quite enjoy the movie. well, to each his own.

[Guest yon]

My views after third viewing

The first scene: Seo young, watching with anticipation at her window. Her face broke into a contented smile when she saw In soo venturing into her room, thus convincing the audience of her joy discovering that she had a place in In soo's heart. But in an instant, her mood turned sorrowful realising the longing that she wanted more than a place in his heart. At the final instant, she weeped uncontrollably when she understood she could not possess his love. Finally the audience could feel the emotions in the movie.

SYJfan is going to kill me again.....

In Soo was in his own room...not Seo Young's room...

Seo Young room is looking over the place where In Soo was throwing the snow ball.........

When i was there during september, 1 of the motel staff told us In Soo room is on the 2nd floor, the 2nd room from the right side....After that, he told us 15,000won.....1 person......we thought that he meant 15000won per person per night to stay there..........Later.... our driver told us he meant to go to In Soo room to take a look, 15000won per person.......hahahahahaha.....

We met a japanese fan at "Bicyle Thief" and she told us the room is very small, and the display is exactly the same as it is..

Seo Young room is the 1st one on the 2nd floor if you look up from the back of the building...

[Guest Syjfan]

some people have also commented that the two characters, particularly in-soo, were much too detached and cool about the adultery of their spouses. but i was thinking... their spouses were still in a coma, many questions were still left unanswered. and the outside world still did not know the truth. therefore in-soo and seo-young had to keep up a front and they also had to be strong to tide over the difficult period. difficult period in the sense of having to deal with an unconscious and seriously injured spouse, having to deal with the hurt and pain of betrayal, having to deal with keeping up a front for the rest of the world, and also having to deal with the confusing affection for another person. all these... just imagine... most people would probably end up looking, acting, feeling the way the characters did. only in the movies will we see people breaking down in tears like nobody's business, because that's the way to show the audience anguish and to move them to tears. but in real life? i tried to imagine myself in that situation, i think i would probably behave like in-soo and seo-young too.

I think because they were falling in love with each other, other affairs have become less important.

Otherwise, they would still be upset with their spouses for the betrayal.

I actually like many things about AS; the cinematography, scene composition, the OST and the acting in this movie but not the script. Some parts of the script are good but many things are wrong with it.

I suppose there will be people who like the way AS is being made.

I am trying to understand what Director Hur is trying to achieve with this movie. He wants this to be a moving love story? He only wants to move a certain type of audience? He wants us to understand how love can start under irony situation? He wants us to think about the betrayal within a betrayal situation?

Finally, AS ended up as a half-hearted love story.

SYJfan is going to kill me again.....

In Soo was in his own room...not Seo Young's room...

Seo Young room is looking over the place where In Soo was throwing the snow ball.........

When i was there during september, 1 of the motel staff told us In Soo room is on the 2nd floor, the 2nd room from the right side....After that, he told us 15,000won.....1 person......we thought that he meant 15000won per person per night to stay there..........Later.... our driver told us he meant to go to In Soo room to take a look, 15000won per person.......hahahahahaha.....

We met a japanese fan at "Bicyle Thief" and she told us the room is very small, and the display is exactly the same as it is..

Seo Young room is the 1st one on the 2nd floor if you look up from the back of the building...

Hi yon,

No issue. Whose room was it doesn't really affect the enjoyment of the movie. ~smile~

[Guest yon]

I think because they were falling in love with each other, other affairs have become less important.

Otherwise, they would still be upset with their spouses for the betrayal.

I actually like many things about AS; the cinematography, scene composition, the OST and the acting in this movie but not the script. Some parts of the script are good but many things are wrong with it.

I suppose there will be people who like the way AS is being made.

I am trying to understand what Director Hur is trying to achieve with this movie. He wants this to be a moving love story? He only wants to move a certain type of audience? He wants us to understand how love can start under irony situation? He wants us to think about the betrayal within a betrayal situation?

Finally, AS ended up as a half-hearted love story.

Hi yon,

No issue. Whose room was it doesn't really affect the enjoyment of the movie. ~smile~

sorry SYJfan...hope you don't mind i point out the mistake......

I really likeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee the scene when In Soo came back from the 1st floor telling his father-in-law that he didn't lock the door properly and went up to his room again....When he opened the door to the toilet, we saw Seo young standing there.....When Seo Young said "it's okay".....In Soo hugged her.......I love this scene very much....i cried yesterday when i saw this scene................

[Guest happiebb]

SYJfan is going to kill me again.....

In Soo was in his own room...not Seo Young's room...

Seo Young room is looking over the place where In Soo was throwing the snow ball.........

When i was there during september, 1 of the motel staff told us In Soo room is on the 2nd floor, the 2nd room from the right side....After that, he told us 15,000won.....1 person......we thought that he meant 15000won per person per night to stay there..........Later.... our driver told us he meant to go to In Soo room to take a look, 15000won per person.......hahahahahaha.....

We met a japanese fan at "Bicyle Thief" and she told us the room is very small, and the display is exactly the same as it is..

Seo Young room is the 1st one on the 2nd floor if you look up from the back of the building...

oops... i also thought he was in her room...

mmm... gives me another reason to go watch AS again, GOTTA confirm this...

[Guest liezle]

I'm off to bed now ladies and gent. I enjoyed reading your posts on AS and again I'm really, really looking forward to seeing it so that I can join your discussion.

Before i log off here's Yong Joon saying.....

"Sssshhhh, Liezle is going to sleep now and dream about me."

posted by style (from geocities)

[Guest yon]

I think some of you will think that i'm nuts(going crazy) when you read further....

I monitor the box office for GV cinema and also Cathay Cineleisure....

GV cinema....the best box office is at GV Plaza(i.e. Plaza Singapura)...

For eg. tomorrow(tuesday) 7.15pm show, as at today(monday) 11.53pm, 80tickets are already sold out of a total of 180 seats....

Other time slots do not have many people......this is very common for other films as well...

For HDB area, seems like not only April Snow, other movies any time before 6.30pm has very few viewers....

Cathay, though is in orchard area, doesn't seems to be doing as well as in GV Plaza....

As for other like Shaw, need to be a registered member before they allow you to go into the booking area...and i always have a hard time registering in.....so gave up...But i remember that during the 1st day of screening, a friend of mine went with her friend.....and guess what.....? They have to sit separately because there are no more seats together....

Hopefully the box office is like that every day at Lido....

in less than 1-1/2days time, we will be able to know which position is AS box office in singapore......

(this is no fun..............wonder if i can sleep on tuesday night....)

[Guest frances]

hey yon , no worry sis, its the farthest thing from my mind to think that you're going nuts monitoring the box office results of AS !! i also did that in taiwan, hk, korea

btw, got your PM, take ur time and thanks so much !!!!!

in the meantime, lets rewind for a while....

Images from Sony Cybershot CF

click the pictures...

[Guest yon]

hey yon , no worry sis, its the farthest thing from my mind to think that you're going nuts monitoring the box office results of AS !! i also did that in taiwan, hk, korea

btw, got your PM, take ur time and thanks so much !!!!!

i monitored it every day every 1-2hrs...

by looking at the online booking.....GV cinemas and cathay cinemas, we are able to see how many tickets are sold.....

[Guest tiffany]

Director Hur is quite strange. Well, I say strange because all his movies so far, though supposed to be love stories, are not very dramatic. In fact, in all his movies, the female lead was stronger in terms of facing love. That is why BYJ once commented that the male leads in his previoous 2 movies were coward and he wa determind that In Su wouldn't be. But still, when it comes down to it finally, Seo Yeong was the stronger of the two.

In an interview with Dir Hur, he was asked what he was trying to portray. He said to the normal people, it would be a lame love story, to the victims, it would be a sad story and to the lovers, it would be a beautiful love story.

It's a love story but Dir Hur did not want to turn it into one of those usual beautiful love stories between 2 star crossed lovers. As much as In Su and Seo Yeong were lovers, their spouses were also lovers.

In Su's wife asked him if he wanted to know why. He said "I did at first. But not now." Not just because he was in love with Seo Yeong and was not concerned about the other affairs, but because he now understands the difficult situation they were in and can forgive her. When he told her, "That man had died". There was neither anger nor hatred anymore, in fact, there was a hint of resignation and sadness. Do you know, I actually almost cried as he closed the door and his wife started crying. Don't forget, they were also lovers and the story could also be told just as beautifully from their end.

This, I feel, was perhaps what Dir Hur was trying to convey. He did not want us to just feel sorry for In Su and Seo Yeong or that it was another love story. In Su and Seo Yeong had also betrayed their partners. Worse, where was Seo Yeong when her husband died?

As for teh planr, like I just told someone, it has always been there, in the background. It is not only an indicator of time but also an indication of his feelings for her. Was the plant obscure in his place? I don't think so. All the boxes were unpacked. The place was untidy. And yet, right on top of the boxes, was this very thriving plant.

SYJfan said if it was him, he would not have waited for one year. Think about it, in real life. Would you really have gone and looked for each other straight away? With all those guilt, regret and a thousand emotions? If not because of the miracle, which I think they took it as a sign, they may have stayed apart even longer.

As you can tell, I really love this movie. And the more I watch it, the more involve with the characters I get. And I would tend to agree with happiebb, in real life, if such a thing happened to me, I would not be acreaming and crying all the time either. Especially not if I still have to look after my spouse who is in a coma. Don't forget, nobody knows about their spouse's affair, not even the family. Remember what In Su told Seo Yeong at the beginning? "I've told everyone that my wife is here on business. I think you should say the same about your husband too."

It's not everyone's cup of tea.... not if you want straight forward answers in movies. But oh, I love the movie.

[Guest frances]

posted by style in quilt

[Guest Syjfan]

In an interview with Dir Hur, he was asked what he was trying to portray. He said to the normal people, it would be a lame love story, to the victims, it would be a sad story and to the lovers, it would be a beautiful love story.

It's a love story but Dir Hur did not want to turn it into one of those usual beautiful love stories between 2 star crossed lovers. As much as In Su and Seo Yeong were lovers, their spouses were also lovers.

In Su's wife asked him if he wanted to know why. He said "I did at first. But not now." Not just because he was in love with Seo Yeong and was not concerned about the other affairs, but because he now understands the difficult situation they were in and can forgive her. When he told her, "That man had died". There was neither anger nor hatred anymore, in fact, there was a hint of resignation and sadness. Do you know, I actually almost cried as he closed the door and his wife started crying. Don't forget, they were also lovers and the story could also be told just as beautifully from their end.

My interpretation of this scene was a little different. I think In soo's wife and Seo Young's husband were uni lovers and for some reasons, they married other people (lots of reasons for this to happen) but were still in love with each other. Their affairs must have gone on for a while. Hence when the In soo's wife cried, and In soo walked out of the room, my feeling was that In soo's wife was crying for the man she really loved.

The way In soo's wife cried so violently told me who is the man that is really in her heart. Thus In soo and his wife was not a pair of lovers to me at that time.

This, I feel, was perhaps what Dir Hur was trying to convey. He did not want us to just feel sorry for In Su and Seo Yeong or that it was another love story. In Su and Seo Yeong had also betrayed their partners. Worse, where was Seo Yeong when her husband died?

I won't blame Seo young for not having a sense of duty compared In soo. Once she learnt of his betrayal, I think she has stopped loving this man. Her reaction as a woman, was different from In soo as a man.

With regards to the irony and contradiction of the situation, I read about it in his past interview. The phrase that was very catchy was this "If it happened to your spouses, it is betrayal. If it happens to you, it is love". Having noted this from a long time, I don't think this theme was well expanded on in the movie. It was too much of a love story eventually although Director Hur didn't want it to be a simple love story. This is a weakness in the final edited movie.

As for teh planr, like I just told someone, it has always been there, in the background. It is not only an indicator of time but also an indication of his feelings for her. Was the plant obscure in his place? I don't think so. All the boxes were unpacked. The place was untidy. And yet, right on top of the boxes, was this very thriving plant.

SYJfan said if it was him, he would not have waited for one year. Think about it, in real life. Would you really have gone and looked for each other straight away? With all those guilt, regret and a thousand emotions? If not because of the miracle, which I think they took it as a sign, they may have stayed apart even longer.

Actually I was just kidding when I said this. Was saying this because of how much I love Ye jin...I wasn't saying this in the context of the movie. I supposed...for the movie to be romantic, having snow in april is nice. But I think it's more reasonable for In soo to be calling Seo young when he and his wife parted. I think In soo's wife didn't love In soo any more and In soo knew it. I would imagine he wanted to take care of her until she was emotionally and physically stable. After all that happened, it only made sense for In soo and his wife to divorce. Their marriage and Seo young's marriage with her husband were two mistakes right from the beginning if you believe that their spouses have an affair for a long time and were really not in love with In soo and Seo young. But this will depend on each person's interpretation.

As you can tell, I really love this movie. And the more I watch it, the more involve with the characters I get. And I would tend to agree with happiebb, in real life, if such a thing happened to me, I would not be acreaming and crying all the time either. Especially not if I still have to look after my spouse who is in a coma. Don't forget, nobody knows about their spouse's affair, not even the family. Remember what In Su told Seo Yeong at the beginning? "I've told everyone that my wife is here on business. I think you should say the same about your husband too."

It's not everyone's cup of tea.... not if you want straight forward answers in movies. But oh, I love the movie.

The intention of portraying the irony of the two couples was an interesting theme of the movie all along. People are not against movies with a twist or a few twists but messing up the underlying themes was another issue altogether. In this case, I think Director Hur final movie didn't achieve what he set out to achieve. If he has wanted more than a simple and beautiful love story, he didn't build on it. Mid way through, In soo and Seo young were so involved with each other that audience were treating this like a love story. After the movie, because of Director Hur's reluctance to make a simple and beautiful love story, the love story element was weak as well.

The way Director Hur tried to achieve his objectives was simply to remove all traces from the audience on how In soo and Seo young fell for each other. After a few outings, they ended up in bed and in their predicament, some audience would easily conclude anger and revenge was part of agenda. Then it emerged that they were really in love at the end of the movie. By now, some audience could not be convinced of their love because why should they be in love? The movie didn't show any reasons for them to be in love with each other.

The movie tried to show the irony of the situation and the true love within the circumstances and I think this was where it failed.

Let's put it this way. For people who have monitored the making of this movie from day 1, read all the interviews by Director Hur, SYJ and Ye jin, downloaded all the video clips, it was not difficult to piece the whole story together after one or several viewings. But the majority of the intended audience are not like this. To begin with, most people don't want to watch the same movie several times. They went to a movie, spent about 2 hours and the movie itself should have done the job.

If Director Hur just wanted this movie to be understood by a minority of the audience, one could consider this movie a success. So if Director Hur is looking to touch many people with this movie, he has failed. And I think many people are putting the blaming on him.

Interestingly, in one of the interviews, I remembered BYJ and Ye jin were asked whether In soo and Seo young should be together at the end of the movie. I think BYJ said YES and Ye jin said NO (or it could be the other way). What happened was that there wasn't a complete script from the beginning and the Director made the movie with 2 possible outcomes and shoot the scenes. BYJ and Ye jin were also involved in making up the script with their acting. This process, whilst supposed to be highly intelligent and gaining from 3 persons' minds, has a high risk of getting things messed up. Eventually Director Hur has to decide on the outcome of the movie and the fact that I think he chose his favourite scenes to be included messed up the movie a bit.

The way the final movie developed, I would be happier if In soo and Seo young didn't get together and they realised it was just their weaknesses that have brought them together briefly. With this ending, the betrayal within a betrayal theme would have been well elaborated.

Last but not least, I am speaking as a person who enjoys AS. I just feel that it would have been a better film if the themes were better developed and consistent.

[Guest frances]

good morning :)

a not so new but oh so cute gif

[Guest chiligoyo]

Wow.. so many reviews, thoughts and conclusions from you bae gals~! Didn't really complete reading all.. apologies to that.. but then again, the more I read.. the more confused I get about the movie. I've only watched twice, and no.. it really wasn't enough~! When reading on some posts, I was going.. hmm.. did that really happen.. where?? Yon is so right.. I need to watch it again.

I haven't tried this before, but I was thinking of watching the movie myself alone, with no distraction. Twice watching the movie, twice distracted by my friends coz we were oogling over him. I just don't really understand why they said it is a slow movie.. because I find it a pretty fast pace as the scenes changed really fast and if u are oogling too much at him or picked up the popcorn that u accidentally dropped when munching.. u may just miss an expression or scene. Probably because the movie is really quiet? Hmm.. but I find the quietness quite perfect for this movie. U wouldn't expect such movie to be action packed and comical right? It would have been so weird~

It's a pity that some scenes were not included as I was really look forward to seeing those scenes in the movie.. thats one disappointment for me. But, there will definitely be a 3rd time for me.. and still considering if I should go watch it alone..

[Guest liezle]

posted by rosie in www.joonsfamily.com

[caroline]

Good morning everyone.....

Wow...lots of reviews and opinions are coming out... I enjoyed reading them....thanks gals!

Style posted these pics in Quilt...

[sCAN] New April Snow ㅡ Nanairo acha