...ing (Movie - 2003)

F

rom the onset, the viewers are given a taste of how close the mother and daughter are, and this is an important foundation of the movie because of a twist towards the end.

Lim SooJeong plays Kang MinAh, a reclusive young lady who knows she's sick but doesn't know EXACTLY how sick because that fact is hidden by her mom, whose only wish is to have MinAh's remaining years lived in happiness. Enter Lee YoungJae, played by Kim RaeWon, a photography student. He befriends MinAh, who is reluctant at first but gives in when YoungJae proves to be relentless in his pursuit of friendship.

And the story progresses with YoungJae and MinAh dating. I didn't see any solid scenes where I can conclude that the two are falling in love, except maybe that hospital scene when YoungJae placed a ring on MinAh's deformed hand - and that signalled YoungJae being IN love already. And even that was weak because there weren't previous scenes to back it up. Sure, MinAh was probably attracted to youngJae, her lines say as much; and YoungJae was being extraordinarily sweet and nice, but by the time MinAh succumbs to her illness, you're left hanging.

Now on to that twist. The twist kind of muddles the plot abit, and I found myself replaying scenes in my head as to when the mom and YoungJae could have possibly met. I was left to speculate. And I also found myself justifying to myself that maybe the reason why the scenes between Youngjae and MinAh aren't that solid to establish a romantic set-up is because there would be a twist in the end. I got more confused rather than being enlightened though.

I think it would have been better if they showed YoungJae meeting the mom earlier in the movie. The twist would no longer be a surprise as discerning viewers would arelady know what will happen but what the heck, it would have been a million times better and more poignant. Think 10 Things I Hate About you and ...ING's plot would have been illuminating.

6 kimchi dishes out of 10.

*also on www.yesasia.com