Some random thoughts about this movie and release.
This release blows the dvd out of the water, easily. The colors and detail, just look at the scene where the boy sneaks through the garden at the beginning, just beautiful. Or the scenes at the mountain. Or the details of Jun Ji-Hyun’s face in her close-ups, really beautiful. Sure, there are some white little specks and it looks a bit rougher when opticals are involved, but that’s fine. It looks like a movie. I love the cinematography of Korean movies from the early 2000s, they have a special look to them. I think this a beautiful "print", even though it didn’t get cleaned up.
I don’t like the menu. The starmax dvd had a photo of the tree and emotional scenes superimposed in the background while the boy speaks the 10 rules to follow AND the “I Believe” song is playing, I mean, you get emotional just by playing the menu. The blu-ray menu looks weird, Jun Ji-Hyun doesn’t look right. Of all the photos they have of her from this movie, why use one where she doesn’t look like herself. Tae-hyun looks weird as well. The whole menu looks kinda cheap, like a rushed photoshop job.
I tear up for the first time at the exact same scene every time I watch this, when the girl runs out in the rain after a fight with her parents and the boy is watching her from a distance and “I Believe” starts playing. It’s where this movie gets magical. Btw, Jun Ji-Hyun is just fantastic, what a range she had at just 19, she can do anything.
Glad I got both editions, both covers are beautiful. I wonder if this movie will ever get another physical release, I don’t think so. Unless a company like Arrow or 88 Films get their hands on it and do a 4k remaster with normal subtitles, one can hope. But this one didn’t even sell out, which I thought it would do in just a couple of hours on release day. I think this is it. And I’m happy with it. Now bring on “Windstruck” and “The Classic”, then I can "retire".
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