Naesaengae gajang areumdawun iljuil (2005)

Naesaengae gajang areumdawun iljuil: Directed by Kyu-dong Min. With Ho-jin Chun, Hyo-eun Hwang, Jung-min Hwang, Woo Hyeon. Stories about the Most Beautiful Love Affairs in Their Lives All for Love is a romantic comedy which portrays the most beautiful period in the lives of different couples who have just fallen in love. Breaking away with the omnibus style movies, the director interweaves stories of different couples into one encompassing frame during 7 days.

“La Plus Belle Semaine de Ma Vie (The Loveliest Week of my Life, aka: My Lovely Week or All for Love) is not the first Corean film Iu0026#39;ve seen that takes the central conceit behind British romantic comedy Love Actually and runs with it. The latter must have been a rather prominent success, either with Corean audiences or filmmakers, because every couple years, it seems like another film about multiple relationships with somewhat interconnected stories appears on the Corean film scene. Fortunately, this one doesnu0026#39;t do too bad a job with the conceit.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eEach of the stories presented focuses on different aspects of relationships: a rather strict divorced executiveu0026#39;s relationship (or lack thereof) with his friends and family including his young son, an old landlordu0026#39;s relationship with his widowed friend/tenant, financially burdened newlyweds, a divorced headstrong neurologist and a stubborn somewhat curmudgeon copu0026#39;s antagonism, a somewhat crazy nun-in-training struggling between her calling and her pop-star crush, and a former professional basketball player with a young u0026quot;make-a-wishu0026quot;-type cancer patient. That said, although the film does shift a lot between the parties, the dramatic weight of the film does seem to fall into the romantic comedy of the neurosurgeon/cop and the melodrama of the has-been and the kid.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe hardest part about the film is that it really does go for breadth rather than depth, making its strength, the exploration of the contexts of love in different circumstances, also its weakness. Some of the stories seem almost inconsequential and sometimes characters seem to undergo changes without believable causes. Also, the connections at times seem a little contrived (the pop star, in particular), but not so much as to take you out of the picture. Just harder to swallow in retrospect. At the same time, several of the stories are certainly entertaining, including the developing love hate relationship between doctor/cop and the same love-hate between has-been/kid. Still, you canu0026#39;t help but feel that the film is a little slight as a result of twisting all these stories together.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill, the production is pretty good, the acting is generally solid and the overall direction is good. Itu0026#39;s only that the stories are fairly uneven in quality and suffer occasionally from a lack of focus. All in all, Iu0026#39;d have to say that The Loveliest Week of My Life was pretty decent for its entertainment value. You canu0026#39;t go into it looking for depth, but it does consistently hit more than miss when it comes to the genre elements of romance, comedy, drama and melodrama. It does get a little crazy and even unbelievable at times and sometimes itu0026#39;s hard to understand just why people are doing what theyu0026#39;re doing, but its charms outweigh its flaws for the most part. If you loved Love Actually and want more of its approach to storytelling, youu0026#39;ll probably find something to like in this film. 7/10.”