Though I have seen millions and millions (only a slight exaggeration) of dramas, I’ve sadly only born witness to a limited number of Korean movies. By limited number, I mean in the tens. It’s pathetic, but that’s life and I refuse to be saddened to the depths of despair. Early on in my #Klife, back when I was still a lonely fan with no KBestie and no network of Nerdherders, I watched the movie Secretly Greatly by myself late at night in my basement. I laughed, I wept, I fell in love. The next time my mom visited, I forced her to do the same, but with me as moral support. She loved it too. It remains, to this day, one of my favorite movies…and I don’t mean to limit that to Korean movies. It is genuinely one of my favorite movies. There are poop jokes and devastating heartbreak. It doesn’t get any better.
At the time, I was familiar with Kim Soo Hyun and Park Ki Woong from other things, but I was less familiar with the upstart kid that stole so many scenes as the youngest North Korean spy/assassin, Lee Hyun Woo. I think I watched To the Beautiful You shortly after that and have since seen a number of his dramas and I’m pretty well bonded with him now. I would say he is almost someone I would watch anything for. I mean, I watched Moorim School and by about eight episodes in I was truly only watching for the female stars and his smile. I have not yet seen The Liar and His Lover, but Alix watched it and said that he did a fantastic job. I knew he was musically inclined, but I never quite put together that as a Korean entertainer, he had probably released some music.
He has. Of course. And it’s not bad. Right before our young hero left for his military service earlier this week, he released a song called 26.I’ve saved it to one of my many lists of songs I like to pop up while I’m working. But it also prompted me to check out some of his earlier stuff to see what he had going on. There are some great collabs with the Geeks and Louis. There’s some solo stuff worth checking out. But this one, this song that I absolutely don’t love at all, nearly made me cry. It was the video. This is from the Secretly Greatly OST and the MV is really just scenes from the movie. It’s disturbing how quickly it took me back to the middle of the night in my basement clutching a pillow to my chest as I cried. So though the song isn’t the best and though I won’t be playing it over and over and I probably won’t put it on any playlists or send the link to my friends to moon over, it touched me. For just a brief moment, it made me feel things in a really strong way. I want to watch this movie again. I think I’ll make Alix watch it with me…she hasn’t seen it yet.
청춘예찬, Lee Hyun Woo
1 Comment
I do adore Lee Hyun Woo. He is lovely. He was the reason I made it through ‘To the Beautiful You’ and ‘Moorim’
I did not know he went into the military already!?!
I have always thought that at times he reminds me a bit of GD.