Wanee & Junah (2001) User Reviews

Wanee & Junah

[vishwas-verma · 8/10 · 1 December 2012]

This is probably the second Korean romance which I have seen. The first movie which I saw around 8 years ago was the brilliant My Sassy Girl. And today on a lazy Saturday was just browsing UTV World Movies, and caught this captivating romance, which came in the same year as My Sassy Girl.

Named as if it is one of the eternal love stories like Romeo & Juliet, Laila Majnu, Veer Zaara, it is hardly anything like that. Instead, it deals with many mature themes at multiple layers, which many people will find as a kind of a taboo or even repulsive. But it is shown with so much sensitivity and subtlety that you end up caring for the main characters.

Wanee is an animator, having a live-in relationship with Junah, who is trying to put his foothold in the movie industry as a writer on his own terms. Things get complicated when Wanee's old friend visits her, and unearths memories of her first love, who happened to be her stepbrother.

Making his debut as writer-director, Yong-gyun Kim creates a perfect poignant atmosphere, where in the beginning when you see the two young protagonists, who should be living happily with each other, but there looks something missing with them. When Wanee gets reminded of her past love, she gets so involved in her memories, that it becomes a love triangle, without being an actual one. The third person in the love triangle is not a person, but memories of Wanee's stepbrother. Many people would have considered falling in love with one's stepbrother as a taboo, but having already witnessed a similar story line in the 7th season of Showtime TV series – Dexter, I was very much open to it.

The performances are extraordinary, especially by Hee-seon Kim as Wanee shows great subtlety in her performance. It's a shame that she hasn't been in anything major since this movie. Though Jin-mo Ju was just fine as Junah, it was Seung-woo Cho as Yeong-min, Wanee's stepbrother who gave a very competent performance. I would love to watch a full movie which shows just their love story.

Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who would like to experience some of Asian cinema. Try to catch it on UTV World Movies sometime, watch it with an open mind and I am sure you'll love it. And after having a very good experience with two Korean movies, I am going to search for more in Korean cinema.

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So many subtle variations within the genre of Korean romances

[harry_tk_yung · 28 June 2003]

Spoilers

It¡¦s quite fascinating to note that within the genre of Korean romance (see list of selected films below), there can be so many shades of differences. Wanee and Junah is among the three that I saw recently, all within a few weeks. Of the three, Lover¡¦s Concerto is more traditional, with the romance developing along a well-trodden path starting with infatuation, while Marriage Is a Crazy Thing is clearly untraditional, portraying a relationship that starts in pure physical attraction, with the pair jumping into bed on the first date.

At the start of this movie, Wanee and Junah have been living together for maybe a year or two, in a quaint little town in an atmosphere that can be described as almost idyllic. The initial burning passion, if there was any at all, has apparently worn off. The two certainly care for each other, but this care feels more like something coming from a couple married for years. Their live together seems to be at a point when it has become so stagnant there¡¦s hardly any ripple, partly because of the pressure they each get from work, which is anything but idyllic. He (Juhan) is a screenplay writer and she (Wanee) is an animation artist.

The ripple, when it comes, is brought by Wanee¡¦s visiting girl friend Yeong-mi, whom she hasn¡¦t seen for a few years. Yeong-mi is coming to stay with them for a little while to get a break from her parents. No, it¡¦s not a triangle developing between Wanee, Juhan and Yeong-mi. The triangle, the feelings of which is rekindled by Yeong-mi as the catalyst, is shown to the audience in flash-back, with Wanee and Yeong-mi both falling in love with So-yeong, an attractive young man who is also Wanee¡¦s brother. This is not as bad as it sounds because Wanee and So-yeong are not brother and sister by blood, but only because Wanee¡¦s mother got together with So-yeong¡¦s father. Even so, the artificial brother-and-sister relation is sufficient to prohibit Wanee from showing her true feelings.

The real triangle, therefore, is one that traverses time, with Juhan struggling against Wanee¡¦s rekindled feelings for So-yeong. And the ¡§threat¡¨ is not purely imaginary because at one point, it is believed that So-yeong is coming back from overseas to stay, although he never actually did, and appears in the movie only in flash backs. The anticipation of the imminent return, however, becomes a catalyst for Wanee and Juhan to examine their relationship.

I won¡¦t go into any more details. Suffices to say that within the relationship of these four young people in two temporal dimensions, there are so many different shades of interesting emotions to explore. The movie explores them in the traditional style of Korean romance: understatements, subtleties, gentleness.

One very unique feature about Wanee and Juhan is that it both opens and closes with animations that seamlessly blend into the story, at two levels. First, the girl is, as I mentioned, an animation artist. In addition, the subject of the animation reflects back on the characters.

Throughout the movie, the more attentive of the audience will be delighted with fine touches that enhance their enjoyment. The snail as a motif of Wanee¡¦s innate fear is one example. Another one is the scene with the returning So-yeong sitting opposite to Wanee talking with her, a somewhat abrupt development to the audience, until they are led to realise that this is really a telephone call. The one I like best is the use of sound off, from a stylus lingering languidly at the end of the turntable, to return a scene from a flashback to the present.

Wanee and Juhan, another addition to a collection of the Korean romance genre, will be enjoyed by connoisseurs of Korean romances and is also well worth a try by movie enthusiast in general.

LIST OF SELECTED KOREAN ROMANCES IN THE LAST FEW YEARS

Contact (1997) (Cheob sok)

Christmas in August (1998) (Palwol ui Christmas)

Art Museum by the Zoo (1998) (Misulgwan yup gondmulwon)

Il Mare (2000) (Siworae)

One Fine Spring Day (2001) (Bomnaleun ganda)

My Sassy Girl (2001) (Yeopgijeogin geunyeo)

Lover¡¦s concerto (2002) (Yeonae sosheol)

Marriage is a crazy thing (2002) (Gyeolhoneun michinjishida)

This movie is one of the best humanist movies of our times

[Deran_Ludd · 10/10 · 5 May 2003]

The writing and directing is subttle, and very poignant. The directing tells us a very intimate tale in a way that flows back and forth, but always moves forward. To me Wanee and Junah shows that the most interesting movies of our times are being made in South Korea.

Ending of Impressiveness

[The_Foxxy · 9/10 · 14 July 2003]

Before I saw this movie,I think Wanee and Junah are not interesting as other ordinary romance story.But after the end of movie appear attach me with the colorful animation I very impress that very amazing.The emotion of character is held this movie best except that no power in middle of movie. 9 out of 10

A BAD film with a very BORING story

[lia00027 · 1/10 · 9 November 2002]

It's really one of the BAD FILM that I've ever seen. The story is so bad (I wonder, what the script writer was thinking when wrote for this bad film?).

Is not just the story but also the actors, they really looked like fool people, because the story is unbelievable. Beside what I really don't like is the ending, it was too short and really BAD.

Just don't like it. Thank goodness because now (2005) Korean movie is starting better and make a make sense story even though sometimes the main actor/actress are death because of some cancer desease(I don't like it).

A good movie for lovers

[dzunglv · 10/10 · 8 January 2007]

I have seen several Korean movies, don't like the way characters suffer cancer. But there is no decease, no really big problem either in this story. The two characters, however, must try to find out their true love. A gentle story, especially gives out something to think of. I like the way some ripples take place. A lid fell onto the floor, causes watchers foresee some problems, the past image of two people with a bicycle, the feeling of two Wanee's lovers about her scent or the surprising kiss from Wanee's stepbrother...delighted by Wanee's animation screensaves about the her and Junah.

I like the last scene, the tiny cat is still alive.