He Was Cool (Korea 2004)

One of the things that I admire about Korean movies are their poster! They are stylized and well-thought of. The kind of posters that would attract the audience to see the film. In Pinoy's terms, "Poster pa lang, ulam na!" That is what I wish the Filipino producers would do. I hope that they would give much attention to the publicity items of their particular movie. Tigilan na 'yung mga pictorials kung saan naka-pose 'yung mga artista, nakangiti, at 'yun na! Poster na! Although I must admit that some are already changing the styles of the Filipino movie posters. Sana magtuloy-tuloy na. And please, Carlo Caparas! Ang pinagtagni-tagning scenes sa pelikula upang ilagay sa poster ay di matatawag na art at kailanma'y di nakakatawag pansin! However, what could you expect from a man who thinks that his movies are gems to Philippine Cinema?!

Anyway, back to Korean movie posters. When I saw the DVD of this movie, I didn't have any idea what it was because everything was written in Korean, even the title! But I thought to myself, the poster looks good so the film itself might be good. At least I know who stars in it, Song Seung-heon (Johnny of "Endless Love 1" series). As it turned out, the title of this film is "He Was Cool" or for better wording, it is also known as "The Guy Is Cool".

As the title suggests, is this movie as "cool" as its poster? Yes, it is. But only during the first half of it. It started out great. Eun-sung (Heung-heon) is the leader of a rebellious group who happens to roam the streets at night and somehow was able to protect innocent girls from bully guys as they victimize them. Although not particularly happy with it, he would also warn the "innocent" ones to stay away from trouble. One person who naively replied to his warning through the school's bulletin board was Ye-won (Jung Da-bin). From then on, Eun-sung hunted her but accident happened. While she was running away from him, Ye-won fell over him and accidentally kissed him! Believing in no physical contact before marriage, Eun-sung asked Ye-won to be responsible for what she did and marry him soon! Because she fears for her life, Ye-won agreed to go out with him and become his girlfriend. The "coolness" ended there. 'Cause after that, subplots kept on emerging. There was about AIDS, about death, about friendships lost, unrequited love, love triangle, and destiny. There were too many things going on for a movie that was supposed to be a light-hearted romantic comedy. I want to like it but the subplots are just too much for me to handle. Not to mention the ending that just seemed to be out of place.

However, despite of it all, I could still suggest that you see it because I might be wrong for not liking it. I am not sure whether it was me or it was just an overkill for me! I might have expected a lot after seeing "My Boyfriend Is Type B". Or maybe because the subtitles are not that good. Whatever it is, I can't decide well. What the film did for me though is like Seung-heon! He is really good (and looks good!) in this one...