Korean Movie, Little Forest – Longing for mother, expressed with food

 How to say hello in Korea

I think Korea is probably the only country in the world that greets you with food.
In greeting, they ask if you have eaten a meal.

For example:

-To friends,
  밥 먹었니? (Bab meo-geok-nee?) → Did you eat rice?
  (Note: rice is Korean staple food)

-To superiors,
  식사하셨어요? (Sigsa hasyeoss-eoyo?) → Did you have a meal?

Hippocrates said...

It is probably due to the Koreans’ emotions about food.
In the past, Koreans regarded eating hot food and sleeping in a warm room as their greatest happiness. So, eating was an indicator of a person’s happiness, and this perception was reflected in the greeting.

In Korea’s idiom (aphorism), there is a saying-식약동원(sik-yak dong-won).
It means that food and medicine have the same principle.
In the past, Koreans thought that if you eat well, you can live healthy without getting sick. And they put it into practice in their life.

However, this was not unique to Korea. Hippocrates said something similar.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
It seems that the thoughts of ancient Eastern and ancient Western food were not significantly different.

Movie, Little Forest

Original “Little Forest (Ritoru Foresuto)” is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Daisuke Igarashi.

It was first filmed in two Japanese films. First film (2014)is “Little Forest: Summer/Autumn”. Sequel(2015) was “Little Forest: Winter/Spring”.

After that, it was filmed in Korea and released in 2018.

Director: Yim Soon-Rye
Starring: Kim Tae-Ri, Ryu Jun-Yeol, Moon So-Ri

Comport Food

There are five tastes-Sweet, salty, sour, spicy and bitter.
And there is one more flavor-Mom’s magic touch-The mysterious taste that is completed only through the mother’s hands. The emotion of this movie has the Mom’s magic touch. It is similar to the comport food of the animation Ratatouille.

Since Yim Soon-rye, the director of the Korean version of Little Forest, is a vegetarian, only vegetarian food is served in the filming. If you are a vegetarian, you can watch a movie and make it along. But it’s not a perfect vegan, so take note of this.

The foods in the Korean version of the movie all used Korean cuisine, unlike the Japanese version except for boiled chestnuts. In addition to this, it will be fun to find different parts from the original Japanese work.

In all the cooking scenes in this movie, the leading actress Kim Tae-Ri all cooked herself. After watching this movie, your mouth will be watering just thinking about her hands.

Kim Tae-Ri

Actress Kim Tae-Ri, isn’t she lovely?
I recommend other works starring Kim Tae-ri. 

 Movie - 1987: When the Day Comes (2017)
 TV Shows - Mr. Sunshine (2018)

You can see another side of Kim Tae-ri in these works.

-The End-

Crash Landing on You - Materials that connect a hero and a heroine

 Crash Landing on You, Korean Title is “사랑의 불시착(Sa-rang-ui Bul-si-chak)”.

It is a South Korean television series featuring Hyun Bin(Ri Jeong-hyeok) and Son Ye-jin(Yoon Se-ri). It is about a South Korean chaebol heiress who made an emergency landing in North Korean portion of the DMZ(Demilitarized Zone) because of a paragliding accident and meets a North Korean special army officer. Over time, they fall in love, despite the divide and dispute between their respective countries.

Can you tell the difference between South and North Korea?

How much do you know about North Korea other than Kim Jong-un and nuclear missiles?
North Korea is still a country where the Iron Curtain still exists and is the only place in the world that cannot be freely accessed. Even more so for North Koreans.
Through the “Crash Landing on You”, you can get a glimpse into the lives of North Koreans.
North Korea, like any other country, is a place where people live, and it shows in detail how people live there.
Film staffs interviewed North Korean defectors and expressed their lives in North Korea realistically.North Korean defectors who watched the drama say that although there are some drama elements, they told them well similar to those of the current North Koreans.
This TV show is a story where two people who have lived in such a disconnected place meet and fall in love.
This drama is the 21st-century edition of Romeo and Juliet. As you know, Hyun bin played Romeo, and Son Ye-jin played Juliet.
It’s fun to see how these two fall in love, get frustrated and overcome.

6 Materials that connect a hero and a heroine

In this drama, the props that connect the two, Hyun bin and Son Ye-jin, appear.

1. Camera

The camera makes an opportunity for the two to have a conversation and then gives a strong hint in the story’s progress. Hyun Bin’s camera was Leica M-P 240 and Summicron-M 35mm f/2 ASPH lens.
However, It will be difficult for you to find that camera in the online market.

2. Candle

Captain Ri looks for Yoon Se-ri in a crowded market while holding up her favorite scented candle. The scene was really romantic, and it became an opportunity for Se-ri to trust Ri Jeong-hyeok.

3. Smartphone

The phone soothes the emptiness of Se-ri’s heart after Se-ri was forced to part with Ri Jeong-hyeok. The phone alleviates her feelings of emptiness and depression after Se-ri was forced to part with Ri Jeong-hyeok. 
The phone in drama was Samsung Note 10 looks stylish.

4. Piano Music - The Song for My Brother

This music reminds of the two who were latent in the unconscious, making the meeting of the two fate from chance. The melody of the piano binds two people together with the thread of fate before they even meet, and pulls the two apart so that they can meet again.

5. Swiss Travel

Switzerland is a place that gave Se-ri the hope of a life free from the feelings of death. And this is where the relationship between the two began.
The Swiss filming locations for this drama are Lindenhof, Interlaken, Sigriswil, Iseltwald and Kleine Scheidegg.

6. Chocolate

Chocolate gives an opportunity to the two heroine to meet. 
It is really ironic that two people who will later become rivals in love form a sympathy first through chocolate.

If you have someone who wants to connect with you, try using those.

-The End-

Two Perspective Views on the Squid Game-Episode 9

Warning: This post contains some spoilers for Squid Game Episode 9, so if you don’t want spoilers, please re-read it after you’ve finished Squid Game. 

 

Koreans will see the final episode of Squid Game with different emotions than non-Koreans. Koreans would have recognized the fate of the main character Gi-hun and his mother as soon as they saw the title of Episode 9-One Lucky Day. The reason is that the title of this episode is the same as that of a famous Korean short story.

The novel One Lucky Day (Unsu Joeun Nal 운수 좋은 날) is a work by Hyun Jin-geon written in 1924. The plot is as follows.

The main character is a rickshaw man and his wife has been ill for over a month.

One rainy day, the hero’s wife is not feeling well, so she asks her husband to take a day off today and stay by her side.
But her husband goes to work to earn even a penny more to overcome poverty.
The husband is lucky that day because he constantly has guests.

After work, he wants to go home quickly because he is worried about his sick wife, but on the other hand, it is hard for him to see his sick wife, so he drinks at a pub.
The drunken husband buys Seolleongtang, which his wife usually wants to eat, but can’t because of lack of money, and returns home.

The house is darker and quieter than usual. His wife is already dead.
The husband rubs his face against the face of his deceased wife and mutters.

“I bought Seolleongtang, but why can’t you eat it… Oddly enough, I was lucky today… ”

If you are a Korean, you must have come across this novel at least once in a textbook when you were a student. So, just by looking at the title, you know at once that “his mother must be dead when he returns with the prize money.”

And as you go through the play, you continue to agonize. If I were in the same situation as the hero, would I go back with my money and meet my dead mother? Will I go back empty-handed and spend my last time with my living mother?

The Squid Game has a similar theme to director Bong Joon-ho’s movie Parasite. The debt problem warns us about the growing inequality between the rich and the poor in Korea and the inequality of opportunity.

The number of participants shows this most symbolically. People at the top and bottom of society are represented by numbers 1 and 456, respectively.

In a slightly better situation than the actual situation of number 456, I chose to play the game to the end to receive the prize money.

Which one are you going to choose?

-The end-