Nat-sool (2008) User Reviews

Trusting Souls

[MyFilmHabit · 7/10 · 29 May 2011]

This movie is really hard to watch. It's one of those stories where things start going wrong right from the beginning, and only proceed to get worse and worse from there. The movie is actually really good. The writing is very witty, and director, Young-Seok Noh has an excellent sense of comedic timing. It's just all so painful to watch our hapless hero, Hyuk-jin, stumble from one disaster, right into another. The basic plot starts with Hyuk-jin right after his girlfriend has dumped him. He's in a deep funk and his friends think he's in need of a little cheering up, so they take him out to the bar, where they all proceed to get rollicking drunk. In a flurry of intoxicated exuberance, the friends make plans to continue this little pep rally the next day at a little countryside resort that one of their cousins runs a few hours drive away. Unfortunately Hyuk-jin doesn't recognize these plans for the drunken puffery they are, and sets off for the bus station the following morning, completely believing that his friends will be waiting for him at the resort. Of course, it's no surprise when none of them are there to meet him when the bus finally gets there. Hyuk-jin is hung-over, awake far too early in the morning, and stranded at a virtually deserted, outdoor bus stop in the middle of rural Korea, in the dead of winter. And, Korea has some of the coldest winters on earth. On top of this, his cell phone reception is pretty spotty. Not a good way to start one's weekend.

All this sounds pretty awful already, but trust me that the story only gets more and more traumatic. Hyuk-jin's biggest problem is that he just keeps trusting people that he really shouldn't—his flaky friends, strangers he meets on the bus, pretty ladies soliciting him for booze money. And they all keep pushing liquor on him. He's already feeling pretty hung- over and queasy, so more alcohol is that last thing Hyuk-jin's in the mood for. Unfortunately, it seems to be the only form of sustenance on offer, no matter where he goes. You read the pain right on his face. Sooner or later, you'd think this guy would learn his lesson, but Hyuk- jin is a romantic at heart, and just can't help looking for the good in people. So, I liked this movie. It's pretty rough going, yes, but sometimes a little dark humor is exactly what I'm in the mood for.

Drink it all up.

[lastliberal · 7/10 · 28 August 2010]

Indies are not uniquely American. Here is a digitally shot indie out of South Korea with a cast of unknowns and a small budget.

Hyuk-jin (Sam-dong Song) breaks up with his girl and his friends suggest a weekend in the country to forget. The only problem is that they get drunk and forget, so Hyuk-jin is in a strange town all alone.

He meets an assortment of characters and gets himself in some strange situations, but it is the drinking that is interesting. he never seems to even get tipsy! Well, I guess waking on the side of the road in the snow without your pants will sober you up quickly.

A good first effort for Young-Seok Noh.

A movie with a lot of feel

[Eric-1226 · 7/10 · 4 July 2011]

While sloshing back copious amounts of alcohol with his buddies at a bar in Seoul, our hero, the quiet but amiable chump Hyuk-jin, gets duped into meeting up with his drinking buddies the following day at a resort town somewhere in rural Korea, in what appears to be the dead of winter. Hyuk-jin dutifully gets on a bus the following morning to make the appointed rendezvous, but alas, his friends - who were apparently full of both hot air and alcohol - fail to show up. This leaves Hyuk-jin to fend for himself and still try to have a good time at, well, at a resort town in rural Korea in the dead of winter.

As if this isn't dismal enough, well, trust me, things start to go from bad to worse for our luckless hero. But it's the way in which things start to deteriorate for him that makes this movie so compelling. The movie is almost entirely free of the loud, obvious gags and pratfalls that you'd expect to find in, say, a Hollywood movie. This movie is a masterpiece of subtlety and understatement. Events move at a slow but steady pace - maybe too slow for the patience of some viewers who are more accustomed to faster action. But for me, that was a big part of the charm of this movie: the way it just rolled along at a gradual pace, absolutely sucking me into Hyuk-jin's steadily deteriorating adventure.

As I said in the summary line, the movie has a lot of feel. The action takes place in winter, and you actually feel the icy cold. There's a poignant scene where Hyuk-jin gets robbed - oh, and the robbers also had the "courtesy" of stealing his pants - and he's dumped by the side of the highway. Dead of winter. Rural Korea. Far away from a police station. Nobody bothers to help him. No pants… Believe me, YOUR legs will be shivering when you watch that scene! Our hero encounters a bevy of questionable and at times really unlikable people, and believe me, you too will actually feel a palpable dislike for them!

I really enjoyed this movie. It has lots of subtle attention to detail, and although it's a bit slow paced, it makes up for it by constantly making you really care about what happens to the main character. The ending is a bit abrupt and enigmatic, which is a little jarring, I guess because you actually want to see what else lies ahead for our hapless hero, Hyuk-jin. But I like to think that he's somewhere safely back in Seoul and, having learned a few of life's hard lessons, will never make this sort of "adventure" again.

The Korean Superbad?

[dark77778 · 10/10 · 9 October 2008]

I caught this movie towards the end of the Toronto International Film Festival, and it easily ranked one of the highest movies on my list. It was funny, smart, well filmed, well written, and just all around fun to watch. Certain bits ran on a little longer than needed, but nothing to the point of boredom, and there was always a punch line to be had within the film. It was easy-going, but had a silly feeling like something out of a teen stoner movie (something made clear once the main character wakes up missing a certain article of clothing in the winter). This movie deserves all the credit it can muster as well, because unless you actually pay attention to the credits, or care about this sort of stuff, you might forget that this whole film was done by one man, and I mean the WHOLE thing save for the acting and some other minor bits. This was an entire creative license taken by the director and it worked phenomenally, to the point where everything seemed effortless, and made me gasp in awe of the amount of work that it must've taken to create such an amazing project. The film is sublime in every sense of the word and I recommend that everyone hunt down some friends, and just watch this film and have a good time laughing yourself silly.

Alcohol and more alcohol - even if you don't want it

[TheGOLDENWALRUS · 8/10 · 6 February 2010]

Very similar to 500 days of Summer. A young man (Hyuk-Jin) just broke up with his girlfriend, attempts to go on a road trip with his friends. His friends flake out leaving him stranded in a town he doesn't know. His only friend seems to be the bottle.

Very low budget. Just made it to the Charles in Baltimore (Wish I got to see it). Just made over 2,000. A little two long at almost two hours but still kept my interest all the way through.

Relatable film that might go a little far at times but overall gets the chuckles it was meant to bring. Alcohol leads to miscommunication. At the end you can only smile and remember that yes, this life.

Road movie runs on alcohol

[poikkeus · 5/10 · 22 August 2009]

When a slacker (Hyeok-jin) discovers he's lost his girlfriend, he's inconsolable - but his three buddies hatch a plan to blow away the blues - a big party with lots of food and suds. The next day, his hard-drinking friends flake out, leaving him to survive against people he meets on the road, who are considerably less reliable. What results is a road movie of sorts during which our hero loses his money, cell phone, clothes, and learns altogether too much about his former girlfriend. Cheap soju is the most convenient solution to his woes, but his drinking quickly moves to heavier stuff - including a homemade brew that's claimed to be cure-all for everything from the common cold to drunkenness itself; you begin to wonder if he's even going to survive the ordeal.

DAYTIME DRINKING starts off slowly, develops with the random feel of a road movie, then settles into a relaxed rhythm of its own laconic humor. Not laugh-at-loud humor; it's more the "chuckle-to-yourself" variety, and pleasant enough once it starts moving.