In the continuing series of things I’m able to do here in the city, that I wasn’t able to do at home in the woods, last week I had a fun adventure the other weekend.
My first weekend in the city and I’d had a line on a Korean American movie which was premiering here in the city, starring Tablo’s wife. I got a notice that they were doing a special bloggers promotion. High off my press badge with DramaFever, I was ready for another night out. Then waaah…waaah…waaah I realized the theater it was showing in was in Bayside, a 2 hour trek from me. Granted my one NY friend lives in Bayside, so I could have made it a double-header visit, but even so? I wasn’t super excited. Then I watched the trailer.
And it was awful.
I’m talking really bad guys, like cringe-worthy bad. I guess we had to know this was a possibility when the lead is billed as “Tablo’s wife.” What’s next? “You should go see this because it stars Lee Min Ho’s dry cleaner!” Umm… I don’t think so. Despite all this, I part of me said I should still go, because it was something new and Korean, and as my first weekend here it was my responsibility to go just because I could. Kind of like the Infinite concert. While I don’t love Infinite, I felt like I HAD to get tickets, because it was the first Kpop band to come to NY during my tenure here.
But where do I draw the line? Do I go to everything remotely Kdrama or Kpop or Korean entertainment related? Sometimes I have to remind myself I have a life outside of Kdrama and the blog. Sacrilegious I know, but true. (Kind of.)
Later that night though, I was saved by another Kdrama blogger. Be over at NewKdramaAddict talked about the new Yoo Ah In movie coming to the States. Which made me think—perhaps I’m not limited to the dregs—maybe there’s actual good stuff out there that I could do instead.
If I just looked hard enough.
And whadda know? There it was, The AMC Times Square was showing Tough as Iron! Since I don’t have any concept as to how long things like that would stick around, and didn’t want to be stuck with a case of the ‘what if’s’, I decided to change my plans for the next day, use my newly acquired knowledge of public transportation, and prepared myself for my first Korean movie on the big screen.
It felt weird being in Times Square without an interest in the touristy things. You know. I don’t need that. I live here now! I zipped my way to the theater just in time and hit the ticket kiosk. A very cute Korean man stood next to me and I just happened to stare at his screen, interested to see if he was going to the same movie I was. Wouldn’t that have been a nice opening?
Alas, he wasn’t. He was going to see The Face Reader! WHAT? Not one but TWO Korean movies playing? Not only that, but isn’t The Face Readerlike the hottest movie right now? For a split second I thought about changing my plans and going to see that flick instead, but I was feeling more of an action movie.
As I sat there in the theater, eagerly awaiting my movie to begin, I couldn’t believe it. A sense of, “I can’t believe I’m doing this—I can’t believe I CAN do this…” came over me. And at that moment—I knew what I was going to do—what I needed to do. Just because I could. What was it?
A double feature.
Oh yeah. Double movie awesomeness. Korean-y goodness. I wasn’t relegated to the uninteresting just because there was no other option. I no longer live in a place where I’m the only Korean fan within shouting distance. I no longer live in a place where it takes me two hours to find Korean food.
Long Live NYC-adjacent!
(I’ll have reviews for both movies coming up soon.)
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