A Boy Who Went To Heaven (DVD) (Korea Version) DVD Region 3

After her death, Nae Mo is allowed to live alone in his mother's house unsupervised. Why he isn't shipped off to an orphanage or forced to live with relatives is unclear; but whatever the case, Nae Mo's solitary existence gets a lift when a comic book rental shop opens up in place of his mother's old business. The shop's owner is Boo Ja (Yeom Jeong Ah), a beautiful single mother to Gi Chul, a little boy several years younger than Nae Mo. Seeing an opportunity to make his dream come true, Nae Mo resolves to "take care" of them, protecting Gi Chul from bullies and sending anonymous love letters to Boo Ja. But just as her secret admirer is set to reveal himself and propose marriage (promising to wait until he's old enough), fate intervenes as a blazing fire breaks out in the local movie theatre. In the ensuing chaos, Gi Chul gets separated from his mother, and it's up to Nae Mo to save the little boy - an act of bravery that ultimately proves fatal.

However, Nae Mo does get a reprieve of sorts. Two angels (one assumes, anyway) show up to collect Nae Mo's soul, but realize there may have been a mistake. One chart says he's destined to die at thirteen, while the other says his expiration date is set for the ripe old age of ninety-three. Although one would expect this sort of problem would have been worked out beforehand, the plot calls for the angels to hatch a solution: they'll resurrect Nae Mo, but age him to be thirty-three years old, complete with his thirteen-year-old mind intact. Subsequently, he will age one year for each day that passes until he's ninety-three. Tragically, that means that Nae Mo only has sixty days to live. While all this amounts to some fairly interesting rules for the plot to follow, it's important to realize that they also make absolutely no sense whatsoever. What makes even less sense is the fact that Nae Mo doesn't physically age each day as they said he would; he only really begins making a dramatic transformation to retirement age in the last few days of his life. Illogical plot contrivances aside, Nae Mo comes back to earth, this time played by Park Hae Il. In order to keep up the charade, he pretends to be his own father and pursues a relationship with Boo Ja. After some comical miscues, a real romance develops, but with no happy ending in sight...or is there?

If one doesn't think too hard about A Boy Who Went To Heaven, it makes for an entertaining diversion. Both Park Hae Il and Kim Kwan Woo turn in likeable performances as the older and younger Nae Mo respectively. The developing relationship between the mature, sexually aggressive Boo Ja, and the naive "older" Nae Mo makes for some entertaining byplay, but it's a bit strange how the man/boy's indoctrination into the world of sexual maturity is glossed over both by the film's "innocent tone" and its hyper-stylized fantasy elements. It's a beautifully shot film, with plenty of CGI enhancements added here and there, but ultimately, it's that same glossiness, particularly in the filmmaker's lack of concern for detail or consistency in plot that proves to be rather off-putting upon close inspection.

For instance, one of the better parts of the film involves the newly resurrected Nae Mo catching up with his angelic father, who is invisible to others. The idea of a boy finally getting to meet and talk with his father is an intriguing one, and it gets explored oh-so briefly, as it is dropped from the narrative almost as soon as it is introduced, only reappearing once more in order to throw Nae Mo's mental state in doubt by the outside public. For every additional plot quibble I could add, it's easy to see how one could argue that "it's all fantasy," and thus shouldn't be made to fit into any sort of logic. But really that's no excuse - creating arbitrary rules or simply not following the rules and logic one sets up in the movie is just plain sloppy filmmaking. If a film is going to operate under certain fantastical parameters, then it needs to establish an internal logic that not only makes sense, but is consistently adhered to throughout. But when a film set in the early eighties references Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, clearly something is wrong. Considering the sixteen deleted scenes on the DVD, one has to wonder if perhaps a better film, or at least one more fully fleshed out, found itself lying on the cutting room floor.

That's not to say that A Boy Who Went To Heaven is a bad movie per se. In fact, if you're interested in the concept of a kid trapped in an older person's body or just have a particular affinity for Park Hae Il and/or Yeom Jeong Ah, you could do a whole lot worse than to check this film out. When it comes to innocuous fluff, A Boy Who Went To Heaven is one of the more positive examples. It's cute, fun, and a little bit naughty. Still, be sure to check your brain at the door.

Review By Calvin McMillin

After her death, Nae Mo is allowed to live alone in his mother's house unsupervised. Why he isn't shipped off to an orphanage or forced to live with relatives is unclear; but whatever the case, Nae Mo's solitary existence gets a lift when a comic book rental shop opens up in place of his mother's old business. The shop's owner is Boo Ja (Yeom Jeong Ah), a beautiful single mother to Gi Chul, a little boy several years younger than Nae Mo. Seeing an opportunity to make his dream come true, Nae Mo resolves to "take care" of them, protecting Gi Chul from bullies and sending anonymous love letters to Boo Ja. But just as her secret admirer is set to reveal himself and propose marriage (promising to wait until he's old enough), fate intervenes as a blazing fire breaks out in the local movie theatre. In the ensuing chaos, Gi Chul gets separated from his mother, and it's up to Nae Mo to save the little boy - an act of bravery that ultimately proves fatal.

However, Nae Mo does get a reprieve of sorts. Two angels (one assumes, anyway) show up to collect Nae Mo's soul, but realize there may have been a mistake. One chart says he's destined to die at thirteen, while the other says his expiration date is set for the ripe old age of ninety-three. Although one would expect this sort of problem would have been worked out beforehand, the plot calls for the angels to hatch a solution: they'll resurrect Nae Mo, but age him to be thirty-three years old, complete with his thirteen-year-old mind intact. Subsequently, he will age one year for each day that passes until he's ninety-three. Tragically, that means that Nae Mo only has sixty days to live. While all this amounts to some fairly interesting rules for the plot to follow, it's important to realize that they also make absolutely no sense whatsoever. What makes even less sense is the fact that Nae Mo doesn't physically age each day as they said he would; he only really begins making a dramatic transformation to retirement age in the last few days of his life. Illogical plot contrivances aside, Nae Mo comes back to earth, this time played by Park Hae Il. In order to keep up the charade, he pretends to be his own father and pursues a relationship with Boo Ja. After some comical miscues, a real romance develops, but with no happy ending in sight...or is there?

If one doesn't think too hard about A Boy Who Went To Heaven, it makes for an entertaining diversion. Both Park Hae Il and Kim Kwan Woo turn in likeable performances as the older and younger Nae Mo respectively. The developing relationship between the mature, sexually aggressive Boo Ja, and the naive "older" Nae Mo makes for some entertaining byplay, but it's a bit strange how the man/boy's indoctrination into the world of sexual maturity is glossed over both by the film's "innocent tone" and its hyper-stylized fantasy elements. It's a beautifully shot film, with plenty of CGI enhancements added here and there, but ultimately, it's that same glossiness, particularly in the filmmaker's lack of concern for detail or consistency in plot that proves to be rather off-putting upon close inspection.

For instance, one of the better parts of the film involves the newly resurrected Nae Mo catching up with his angelic father, who is invisible to others. The idea of a boy finally getting to meet and talk with his father is an intriguing one, and it gets explored oh-so briefly, as it is dropped from the narrative almost as soon as it is introduced, only reappearing once more in order to throw Nae Mo's mental state in doubt by the outside public. For every additional plot quibble I could add, it's easy to see how one could argue that "it's all fantasy," and thus shouldn't be made to fit into any sort of logic. But really that's no excuse - creating arbitrary rules or simply not following the rules and logic one sets up in the movie is just plain sloppy filmmaking. If a film is going to operate under certain fantastical parameters, then it needs to establish an internal logic that not only makes sense, but is consistently adhered to throughout. But when a film set in the early eighties references Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher, clearly something is wrong. Considering the sixteen deleted scenes on the DVD, one has to wonder if perhaps a better film, or at least one more fully fleshed out, found itself lying on the cutting room floor.

That's not to say that A Boy Who Went To Heaven is a bad movie per se. In fact, if you're interested in the concept of a kid trapped in an older person's body or just have a particular affinity for Park Hae Il and/or Yeom Jeong Ah, you could do a whole lot worse than to check this film out. When it comes to innocuous fluff, A Boy Who Went To Heaven is one of the more positive examples. It's cute, fun, and a little bit naughty. Still, be sure to check your brain at the door.

Review By Calvin McMillin