Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Haeundae: Korean Movie Review

This Korean movie revolves mainly in the realm of the beautiful beach “Haeundae” together with the people around it.


  The Venue

Haeundae (gu) district is located in Eastern Busan, South Korea with an area of 51.44 km2 and a population of about 423,000. Busan has a best known beautiful beach named Haeundae Beach. Because of its easy access from the downtown area, it attracts many Koreans and foreign tourists alike. The beach is located southeast end of the city of Busan. The beach is busy all year round because many beach-related events and some festivals are held here.  



The Production

To consider as one of Korea’s all-time top grossing films, Haeundae had a budget estimate of 10-15 million USD, one of the largest for a Korean production. After enclosing the film, director Yoon Je-kyoon expressed his words saying, “My heart is too full for words. I thank the actors who had to go through such hard work, the American staff and the Korean staff who were in the same boat with me to the last.” He added, “I will aim for perfection with post-production to bring audiences a film that won’t disappoint in the summer of 2009.”  

The Story

The story is about love, family and friendship. Choi Man-sik (Sol Kyung-gu) has been local in Haeundae for a long time. He runs a seafood restaurant joint by the sea and he is in love with Kang Yeon-hee (Ha Ji-won), a hopeful seafood restaurant owner too, and plans to propose to her. Choi Hyeong-sik (Lee Min-ki), Man-sik’s younger brother, is a life guard and meets the wealthy college student from Seoul, Kim Hee-mi (Kang Ye-won).


On the other hand, Kim Hwi (Park Joong-hoon) is a marine geologist and divorced to Lee Yoo-jin and they had a daughter. Hwi first notice a strange activity in the Sea of Japan, similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and later the Disaster Prevention Agency, finds out that an undersea earthquake occurred and a huge tidal wave starts to travel rapidly towards Haeundae. Too late, the tourists and the locals only got minutes to escape and run for their lives. As the sea devoured Haeundae, many lives were taken. But like after any tragedy, a new hope will emerge.



 Interested to see this Korean movie? You can download and watch it here:

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