The Second Most Heartbreaking Korean Movie

A Werewolf Boy

"Did you wait for me?...Why did you wait for me?... I am old now. My hair has turned white."

"No, it's the same. Hands, mouth, eyes... You are still beautiful. So much. I've missed you so much."

This movie is a favourite of mine because although I didn't cry a bucket of tears for this, the feeling I felt for this movie is the feeling of having your heart squeezed tightly. The guy was so pitiful in the sense that he was abandoned then abandoned and he was, as if, destined to live life alone and that made it so heartbreaking. Plus, the guy was so handsome, what a pity. 

Plot: 

Kim Sun-yi, an elderly woman in her sixties living in the US, receives a phone call about the sale of her old family home back in South Korea. Returning to her homeland, she's met by granddaughter Eun-joo, and they drive to the house in the country and stay the night. Sun-yi recalls how 47 years ago when she was a teenage girl in 1965, she moved fromSeoul along with her widowed mother and sister Sun-ja to a remote valley to undergo a period of convalescence after suffering problems with her lungs. The Kims lived in genteel poverty at the mercy of their arrogant and foppish landlord, Ji-tae, son of the business partner of Sun-yi's late father. Because of her delicate health, the beautiful yet introverted Sun-yi lives an isolated life in the country home, without any friends her age.

One night, Sun-yi glimpses a shadow in the outhouse; the next day, she discovers a feral boy of about 19 crouching in their yard. The boy's body temperature is 46 degrees Celsius, his blood type unidentifiable, and he can neither read nor speak. Even though he behaves like a wild beast, Sun-yi's kindhearted mother adopts him and names him Chul-soo, assuming he's one of more than 60,000 children orphaned in the Korean War.

At first Sun-yi considers him a nuisance, but eventually has fun taming him according to a dog-training manual. She teaches him how to wait patiently before a meal, how to wear clothes, how to speak, how to write and other human behavior so that he could one day live like a normal man. Chul-soo demonstrates unswerving loyalty and superhuman brawn, thus inspiring the envy of Ji-tae, who lusts after Sun-yi.

As Sun-yi attempts to "civilize" the beast, the two eventually become very close. Sun-yi opens her heart to Chul-soo, and he in turn falls in love with her, the only person to ever show him affection. But their relationship is fraught with difficulties, as Ji-tae begins to cause trouble. Feeling threatened, Chul-soo lets loose his bestial instincts, and in their fear the town villagers turn on him. In order to save the life of the boy who risked his to be by her side, Sun-yi leaves him with a promise: "Wait for me. I’ll come back for you".

Returning to present day, Sun-yi decides to stay the night. In the middle of the night she walks into the shed to find Chul-soo sitting there, still as young as he was 47 years ago. He hands her the note that she wrote. She realizes that he's been there waiting all along. He reads her the book that she asked him to when he can speak, as she sleeps. The next day she wakes up with Chul-soo nowhere in sight. She leaves with her granddaughter. In the car they receive a call from the county asking about the property. Sun-yi tells him that she's not selling the place and hangs up. Chul-soo stares from afar as the car drives away.

(source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Werewolf_Boy)

What I Like:

I actually watched this movie because of the actors who are part of this like Song Joong Ki. This did not disappoint me at all because this became one of the most heartbreaking movie that still saddens me whenever I remember the details from this movie. First, I love the romance and the chemistry between the guy and girl. It was such a cute couple because the guy, who was partly a wolf, acted like an animal thus he did not know any manner nor does he know how to speak. Then this girl would teach him how so before he ever learned the language of words, he learned the language of love first.

 But the ending made me want to pull out my hair or cry in frustration. This is because the girl, for the sake of the safety of the guy, left him saying that she will come back for him. Many years passed by, it was as if the girl didn't take the promise seriously and when she was old, she went back to the place because someone was interested in buying the place where they used to live with the guy. Upon returning there, she found out that the guy was still waiting for her. 

For how many years! Isn't that the type of guy what every girl wants? She was already old and married at that time, so she had to leave him. Once again, the guy was left alone, never able to find someone he will grow old with and not being able to grow old at all.The last scene showed the guy making a snow man by himself which he used to do with the girl and her family. Such a sad love story.

There was actually a little bit of action in this movie. Only the time when Joong Ki transformed himself into a wolf and defended his loved ones. I was amazed with how Joong Ki played the role of the wolf because in playing a role like that, you must act like an animal which is being barbaric even when eating, scared of taking a bath and even walking with your feet and hands. I salute him for he did all of this with matching facial expressions that makes you say that he is someone who used to live with wolves and has not seen human civilization, much like Tarzan actually.

What I Did Not Like:

I actually find the antagonist, which is another guy who has some feelings for the girl, really annoying. It was not actually the actor that I dislike, it was the character that he was portraying. He was irrational and boring. Aside from that, I disliked how this movie brings pain in my heart whenever I remember this. Okay, so maybe I don't dislike that after all. 

Rating:

I would still rate it 5/5 because it kept me interested from start to end.