A Muse (2012)

Probably many of those curious about this film are snooping around this review because of some morbid curiosity about the relationship between one 70-year-old man and a student of 17. You want to know how it goes? Well, I'll tell you that it's not so much that kind of film, there are inevitably parts with some sexual charge, but in my case, what I felt after two hours was a sensation of beauty, spontaneity and, ironically, purity.

STORY:
Of course the premise is as good as controversial: two men who after an hour of film are attracted to a high school student, one more than the other. However, contrary to my expectations, the strongest reason to fight is not the girl but the literary talent of both men. Nevertheless, Eungyo does play an important role, because she is the straw that broke the camel's back (red ink involved, I warn you). And that's very interesting, although a little disconcerting if you expect a film with a strong erotic charge. What this story does have, and is meritorious, is a tour through very realistic and human feelings and doubts.
(Also, brace yourself for some graphic sex scenes)

ACTING:
To be honest, nothing to say "Hats off to you", but I understand why Go Eun received many awards for Best New Actress, I've seen this movie before "Cheese in the trap" (maybe a bad idea) because I wanted to know the actress, and I have to tell you that the girl's talent itself is obvious. Also, Park Hae Il is notable for his portrayal of an old man when he is not old at all.

In conclusion, in my humble opinion, the highlights of this film are the beautiful framings, the morbid-pure relationship between the old man and the student, the obvious talent and beauty of Go Eun, and that the bad things do not happen to whom you imagine (something I enjoyed).

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There are spoilers in this review.

Beautifully filmed and well written.

I was really surprised after watching this movie because I didn't expect much. I thought I would just skim through it and be like meh but ended up watching the whole thing and even liking it!

First of all, acting is pretty good, these people know what they are doing. All characters are well written, lovable and hateful in their own ways. But I am a little bit disappointed with the screenwriting in general. I didn't expect this movie to be so black and white about the moral codes.

One of the messages is that love is timeless. I like that message the most. An old man wishing he was young again so he could love freely. It's pretty sad if you ask me, that just because he is old it's wrong to have those beautiful feelings. So he pours those feelings into a beautiful poem which, unfortunately, gets stolen by his student. It's as if his feelings got stolen and sold, disgraced. And as if that wasn't enough the student also steals the purity of EunGyo. He pretty much tramples Juk Yo's heart, smashes it into a miserable paddle. I don't know, what he does is like peeing on his teacher's face after receiving all the teaching and then stealing the rest what he could. He gets totally swallowed by greed. No wonder Juk Yo retaliates in the end, I'm not sure if he really hoped for such a thing happen in the end or if he just wanted to scare Ji Woo a bit. I don't know, but I kind of feel for him. I mean he got old, lost his glory (to Ji Woo), lost everything and then he realized that he wasn't even allowed to love because that would be simply wrong. If I was him I would wonder about it too. I mean, it's love. And well, Juk Yo wasn't even asking for much, he just enjoyed her presence and the innocence. He was probably reminded of his own youth and all that...

I actually enjoyed Ji Woo's and EunGyo's interactions. I liked it how Ji Woo was annoyed by how easily EunGyo managed get on Juk Yo's good side. He constantly listened to her and allowed he to do whatever she wanted while being extremely strict with Ji Woo. As I watched Ji Woo and Eun Gyo together I was waiting for some kind of atonement for JI Woo's character. That maybe her innocence would touch his heart too and make him view things in different light. But instead, she only turned these two men against each other. Love can be ugly too. It was clear why Ji Woo couldn't write as beautifully as Juk Yo, because his spirit was confined within the society's norms and he wasn't able to break free. Too many superficial things mattered to him while Juk Yo, well he was just a poet who loved writing, that's all.

In a way, I think Ji Woo was a really sad character too, completely trapped. He struggled to get free but he was too petty and close-minded, ambitious without the talent. Juk Yo was trapped too but, at least, he had an open mind. I don't think Ji Woo cared about EunGyo on the emotional level, he might have been lonely, he definitely was and probably smitten by the poem too. He tried to live it but... how can you live the beauty of timeless love without feeling it? Maybe Juk Yo knew it, that what he write could never be lived because once the purity is lost it's lost forever.

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Caution - Spoilers galore:
Ok seriously, like I mentioned in the heading, this movie is all those creepy pedophiles wet dream! There is nothing beautiful about this story! A creepy 70 yr old pedo lusts after a minor girl (below 20) and writes a creepy short story based on his dirty lustful thoughts imagining doing things to that girl and finally tries to justify the whole shit by saying age is just a number and it's not his fault he is 70! This is exactly what all the pedos who prey on little children tell!

And for some unfathomable reason people are telling this creepy stuff is beautiful?! Like really??

I pity the children of people who think so! Please wake up and safeguard your children because there are many such uncles and grandpas out there who have such 'beautiful' intentions and you failing to recognise that may affect the innocent souls of children!

Also, I wanted to slap the Enguyo girl because if she wants to flirt with the old man, then for god's sake dont call him 'haraboji' aka grandpa at least! Because calling him your grandpa and then being ok or even being happy with the creepy stuff he wrote is just insulting to the real granpa granddaughter relationships!

Also if that creepy old man was lonely and 50 yrs age gap is just mathematics and nothing else, then why not go and seek out some intelligent and intellectual 70 yr old lonely woman who understands poetry? I am sure there are many such ladies who are equally lonely and would love someone to spend their time with.... But oh no, that he wouldn't do, will he? No because they aren't so young, innocent and beautiful and of course, in that case age isn't just a number! Huh! To whom are they trying to sell such utter BS in the name of artistic beauty?!

Also, what was the police doing? That guy should have been arrested for murder or at least attempted murder of that plaigarist! Then that pedo old man's truth would have been revealed to the world as the motive of the murder and then it would have been a satisfactory ending!

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Amazingly beautiful movie!

Kim Go-Eun is fantastic everywhere I watched her, but here... she was a ray of light through the dusty windows of the writer's old house...

I cannot imagine how one can watch this movie and come up with comment about porn, lust and "man in 70s thinking about a 17year old girl"... This movie is not about that. It was poetry, and and as with all poetry, you don't look at the words and sentences separately, you try to understand what the writer meant and what your heart understands, and this movie means so much more... like the writer understood how much Eungyo's mirror meant to her, and his student did not, seeing as one of thousand mirrors produced in a factory...

It's amazing how people cannot see through the age barrier the movie presents. Why do you think a young actor was chosen to play the role of a 70-year-old poet. Did Korea not have any talented actors in that age or an age closer than Par Hae-Il's 30s? Of course they did! He was chosen to show, that a 70-year-old does not mean old, boring, and a pervert, if he fell for a 17-year-old. I really loved the words he said during the award congratulatory speech "As your youth is not a prize for your efforts, my agedness is not a punishment for my shortcomings." This sentence wraps up the conflict of age of this movie so beautifully, I do not have anything to add.

EunGyo made him young, as young, as I am sure he still was in his heart, and she brought it even closer to the surface. As awkward and strange I felt in the beginning of the movie, imagining myself in such a situation, after a certain point of the movie that barrier was non-existant to me, and it is one of the main strengths of this movie, it describes the situation and feelings so well, all you have to do as a viewer is just follow its lead...

One more sentence... I will forever recognize Park Hae-Il's eyes... everywhere and every time... it was my first time seeing him in anything, and he just barged into my heart with no intention of leaving it anytime soon!

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Dream like quality

After watching this beautiful film I was blown away by the fact that this was Kim Go Eun's first ever acting role. Playing a younger (she is 21) role as a schoolgirl, Han Eun Gyo, she is incredibly natural and at ease in the part. Park Ha ll creates the elderly 'grandpa' figure Lee Juk Yo but is actually a revered poet laureate who has mentored a bitter, jealous Seo Ji Woo played convincingly by Jim Mu Yeol.
The chance meeting of the ML and FL is a catalyst as they create a relationship based on unspoken needs. For Han Eun Gyo, lacking affection at home, the 'grandfather' allows her to express her kindness and makes her happy and a little bit competitive with Seo Ji Woo to gain Le Juk Yo's affection. For Le Juk Yo he is transported back to a more youthful time and creates a romantic fantasy that he then channels into a beautiful story.

The plot is about art and literary posturing. It is about how, even when we age, the mind remembers our youthful selves. It is for each character about yearning.
Yes there is a sex scene. The depiction is summed up by the rhetoric question, mid coitus, by Han Eun Gyo "do you know why teenage girls have sex? It is because we are lonely". Reflecting back to Seo Ji Woo his own words and summarising it is just sex.

Loneliness is an underlying theme but the creative fantasy of the poet for the young girl is set in a dreamlike idyll and captures feelings of lost love.

Note to the wowsers; The female is a character, written by a writer, produced by a producer, directed by a director, acted by an actor.
If the part played by her offends you check your own moral compass. The role of Seo Ji Woo is quite despicable but his actions are not questioned. Sexism is alive and kicking - mostly females.

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And here I thought Kazuyoshi Kumakiri's My Man (2014) is already daring enough with its own lolita take given that Fumi Nikaido also plays a young girl in love with an older man who is actually her relative.

Maybe that sounds worse than a 70-year-old lusting over a 17-year-old but I say that Eungyo (or A Muse) is more daring because the scenes are more graphic and explicit, it almost seems like 10 minutes of soft porn. And given that Nikaido (only 20 then and didn't do a whole frontal nude) had prior acting experience, Kim Go-Eun did not (only 21 then, did a whole frontal nude).

I go with the comparisons given the lolita approach and the young age of the actresses and their characters. My Man had straight up skinship and intimate, sexual scenes but definitely not as graphic or explicit as Eungyo. Hence, still a sense of reservation even if the two leads are actually in love with each other.

Eungyo is daring. While the main focus might go to its controversial subject and explicitly, to me, the film is ultimately about loneliness. That is not saying that it normalizes pedophilia or whatsoever. The film is not meant to answer that. You, as viewers, can decide that on your own.

While My Man is filled with similar themes, it tries to make you feel colder towards its characters, added by the fact that it was filmed in Hokkaido.

But Eungyo. Eungyo warms you up. Eungyo is like a confluence. On one hand, there is warmth. There is purity. There is longing. On the other hand, there is disgust. There is the swelling in your stomach like you want to throw up. Then they meet and clash and you feel a little bit of both.

Jung Ji-woo establishes Lee Jeok-yo's played by Park Hae II (who is actually in his late 30s) loneliness very early in the film. The opening sequence of his house, of a portrait of him when he was young, of him in his office, of his rice cooker, of him eating alone, of him falling asleep in the chair of his study all say one thing about him: he is old and alone and lonely.

On the other hand, 17-year-old Eungyo has an abusive mother. She, too, as she confesses later on, is lonely, despite her energetic and lucid nature.

Jeok-yo's semi-assistant, semi-protege, Seo Ji Woo (played by Kim Mu Yeol) is an engineering major who respects, admires and looks up to his mentor and only longs for his recognition, which to his demise, does not really get. He wants to write but has no talent. He lives in an apartment by himself and has become a mask of his mentor. He, too, is lonely.

Thus, I see Eungyo more as a film about loneliness.

Filled with beautiful cinematography, heart-warming soundtrack and poetic narration, it's difficult not to appreciate it despite its controversial subject matter. Even Jeok-yo's very sexual dreams are shot beautifully in bright colors, nostalgic tone and over a pile of books, you too, are suck into this seduction.

Just like her character, Eungyo, Go-Eun shines. This being her debut role, only acting previously in school dramas, she is the sunshine of this film. Playing an innocent, flirty but to an extent, seductive Eungyo is no joke for a 21-year-old with no film experience.

She captures the emotions, the movement and the smile (oh gosh, the smile) that Eungyo embodies. She plays an enhancing and an irritating lolita. Eungyo is a character that longs affection and to me, sees Jeok-yo more as a father figure (probably even a case of Electra Complex) more than a lover.

Eungyo started off well. But the second half, almost as it reaches its end, it becomes a more revenge-driven cliche story than what it first intended to be.

That sad, the ending monologue between the main characters is powerful.

I wished they have chosen an older actor to play a 70-year-old character than put Hae II in heavy make-up. Maybe that very idea sickens them that they couldn't do it too. Nevertheless, Hae II played his character, twice his age well, even spending hours to observe the eldery prior to his role. The way he moves, walks and even talks are convincing but it's being covered in make-up that doesn't.

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As for me, this is a raw but beautiful movie that teaches that ability to fall in love doesn't disappear with becoming old. So you all youngers must remember this when you meet olders and become close friends with them: they might secretly have love passion for you which they suppress inside of themselves. And the fact that they still fall in love is not bad at all, it's exciting, beautiful, but sad at some point too.

Other ideas of this movie aren't shown earnestly enough for me, so I don't pay attention to them. Well, they are problem of jealousy, fairness, guilt, understanding, etc.

It's amazing that the old man was played by actually a young actor. Amazing makeup and acting of the actor. I've become curious about Park Hae Il.

Erotical scenes are so natural here. This made me realize how korean movies are very different from korean dramas. Compared to k-movies, k-dramas are just 'cheap' entertainment industry that washes viewrs minds with tabboed cliches. (No, here are no erotical scenes between the girl and old man, don't worry).

Still I said that this movie seems raw. I don't know...Many scenes feel abrupt, incomplete or draggy and slow. The characters are not shown precisely and deeply enough: they are rather just sketches for actual very interesting characters.

Also here are many beautiful scenes and views in this moive.

I think people should watch this movie to develop their capability to feel different emotions and of understanding of this world.

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STORY: Well, I don't know what to say with this movie, when I read the summary I was like "Really?!" I think it depends on the watchers some might think this type o f thing is disgusting and some might say that age doesn't matter or whatever. For me, I was in between really I don't know what to feel while watching the movie, hahahha. Anyways, all I can say is that the story/plot was well written and their are a lot of mix elements in this movie such as love, betrayal, family, relationships there's a lot going on in this movie that's what I wanted to say.
CAST: the cast was great! I watched Goblin and Cheese in the trap first before this one so I was quite shocked on her role in this film TBH, but great nonetheless.
MUSIC: Eh, nothing much I can say on the music really it's a movie so they don't really dwell too much in music.
REWATCH VALUE: Weird enough, I did watched this movie twice already because I just can't get over her role in the movie, HAHHA
OVERALL: 8.5/10, there's nothing much to say, just go watch it! It's not everybody's cup of tea but you'll never know until you watched it! ENJOY!!!

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Uncomfortable

People in the reviews say that Juk Yo is just in love with Eun Gyo and that it shouldn't be wrong because love is love. Juk Yo is in his 70s, and Eun Gyo is a minor. I definitely agree with Ji Woo when he mentioned how wrong it is for the two to be together. Juk Yo does love her, undoubtedly, but unlike what many say, he's not content with her just being there with him.
On many occasions does he fantasize about touching her which eventually led to him writing that poem. And every time he was about to touch her inappropriately, he held back because he was AWARE that what he was doing is wrong. He has the right to love her, which still doesn't sit right with me but it's a fact, but fantasizing about a minor is too much. I would be okay with it if he really was just happy with her being around him, but that obviously wasn't the case. It left me feeling gross.

Other than the romance aspect of the story, I liked the relationship between Ji Woo and Juk Yo, and how complicated it is. The acting is superb but the music isn't that memorable (I do believe that it fitted the scenes well though). I doubt I'll ever watch this again. Everyone has their own definition and boundaries for love, and this just isn't it for me.

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don't get all the hype about this movie

reading some of the comments u would think it was verge-ing on porno, which it isn't - mildly erotic at best. but that is besides the point. this was beyond aggravating - to say the least. like what the hell kind of female teenager will act like an airhead tease around any man, no matter his age?!? what is her damage??? that was the main question on my mind, like appearing at his house in the middle of the night conveniently dripping wet, and asking to spend the night. what?!? why????? then going to another guy's house to get him medicine, cause he's sick - supposedly. but blindly walking in - again WTF... no one teach this stupid girl basic sh*t - a female is taught, so she wont get molested / raped?!? or the message of the day is, all teenage girl want sex cause they're bored??? the whole "Lolita" vibe was vomit inducing...

add to the annoyance is the whole dynamic between the men. like kill me if i understand why someone would write a book and gift it to someone else. you need to be a genius to know this won't be a one-off deal???? especially when the other (younger) guy has no means to support himself, but to now be a writer. or the old dude thought by gifting him one book he would magical get the ability to write?!?

until the middle it was fine, cause u go with the follow of the story and it isn't jarring. didn't think it was weird or unnatural for an old dude to fantasize about a teen, that was prancing around his house in a flirty way, and even if she wasn't being a flirt - men will be men, age doesn't matter and even if he can't get it up, his mind still works fine. u can't arrest or judge a man for fantasizing - that's idiotic. but after the confrontation with the younger dude - everything turned weird. like her showing up at his place, asking him if all writer's take each others stuff. i thought that meant she heard and got that the old dude was the one to write "Eungyo". but nope - got it wrong.
or the old dude coming to the award show for the younger dude's plagiarized work, and not saying anything - or inviting the younger one to stay for his birthday, when he appeared uninvited - why???
all this and more just pissed me off. the only bit that made me smile was him making sure the younger dude had to use his car and the younger dude almost getting into an accident and then getting into one. well deserved. but won't say this worth the hype or the time watching it. still angry about sh*t.

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If you are both conservative and not fond of reading, you need not to watch this.
I watched it because I got curious to see Kim Go Eun's acting in her first debut.
I think they are trying to show how a 70 yr old cans till fall in love regardless of time an age, but not for me, the only thing I have learned form the movie is for us women to be sensitive with our actions towards men regardless of how harmless them may seem to us, we should be modestly dressed and careful with our gestures, so that we won't provoke them men.
I have read reviews relating poetry to this movie, well I am no poet, writer nor a bookworm, but I love to read between the lines, I give life a deep thought, and try to see things differently, but I can not see any poetry nor love in this movie, they just used poetry and love as an excuse for a human's weakness.
As for the female character, i think she speaks of the problem with teenage girls who have low self esteem, they tend to adore who ever sees them otherwise. That's why it is important for parents to praise their children.
I am wondering if Kim Go Eun did not regret doing this film up until now. I mean, if it is something like the Hollywood film ; "The notebook" it is worth some sexy scenes (but still less than what was shown in A muse)
A Man and A Woman, was even more decent than this.

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