The Beauty Inside

The Beauty Inside-S1E16

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South Korea is no stranger to putting some really good and entertaining movies out there, and "The Beauty Inside" (aka "Byuti insaideu") is definitely a movie that fits into that description. Now, I wasn't familiar with the movie or its storyline prior to happen to come across it by sheer luck, and of course with my love for the Asian cinema I just had to give it a go. And I am very glad that I did, because "The Beauty Inside" turned out to be a rather interesting and beautiful movie. The story in all its simplicity is Woo-Jin who wakes up every day in a different body; a change that spans both gender, nationality and age. One day he may be a Japanese middle aged man, only to wake up as an African teenage girl the next, and so on and so on. He falls in love with a salesperson at a local furniture vendor, and lets her in on the secret of his life, and she falls in love with him in return. The storyline is quite different and unlike anything I have ever seen before, and that really was a great and refreshing change of pace. The storyline in "The Beauty Inside" is nicely paced and really well composed by writers Seon-jeong Kim, Jeong-ye Park and Kyung-hee Noh. And director Jong-Yeol Baek really brought the story to life so well on the screen. "The Beauty Inside" has a very expanded list of actors and actresses, most of which portray the Woo-Jin character. I will say that this diversity was really well handled by the numerous actors and actresses that performed in the movie. While the storyline is beautiful and touching, then I don't see this as a movie that you will be likely to watch more than a single time. It just doesn't have that special quality to it.

I like the concepts but its not strong enough. Just an ok movie.

Those are three words that I can use to explain this movie. First, pastel tone throughout the movie softens and romanticize audience's feelings. When one describes the love or romance, pastel tone can really maximize those emotions. Yi-soo's emotion roller-coasters as her boyfriend's entire body and face change everyday. However, pastel color and actress' poised acting tones down this drama. Second, the director's use of warm lighting and colors is a great means to bring emotions out from the audience. Orange-yellowish lighting through the Sun, street light, lamp.. even the clothes of actors and wood color of the furniture create warm atmosphere. Visual directing and mise-en-scene constitutes fairy-tale ambiance even though the story is realistic about falling in love and breaking up.

Interesting movie about an even more interesting theme. A guy wakes up every morning in a new body, whether that's a woman, man, child, elder or even foreigner (in which case he has to talk in the language of the body's nationality). He tries to make the best out of his situation, when he falls in love with a girl who sales furniture. But his strange condition makes it nearly impossible to date her, let alone make her fall for him, as he changes faces every day. The theme, as I said, it's interesting and entertaining. Though, I couldn't help it but await for the guy's condition to eventually (miraculously) change. But, as the hero says (short of), love can change things but can make things difficult as well. The girl was amazing in her performance, as she displayed perfect chemistry with each actor that played her partner. Plus, some of the actors were really good (exapmle, the girl who performed the scene where the mother confesses her secret to her son). Still, however, it felt like it needed something more, maybe some twist or something more powerful. But all in all, a nice love story, so 7 out of 10.

The concept of the movie is very new, yet I would only give it a 7 - 8. It's beautiful and decent. No drama. No third wheelers. Just two people meeting, falling, struggling then learning to embrace their happiness. However, I still give it a 10. Partly, because Han Hyojoo smoothly transformed into her character. It's not a difficult role, but she's my favorite actress so I guess I can be quite biased. But the main reason why I give it a 10 is due to the cinematography. Shots are taken in the angles that can capture the perfect light and perfect scenes, giving it a dreamy, heaven-like feels, sometimes even very picturesque. The color of the film is of a vintage beige tone that matches my type perfectly.

While this remake remain true to the English versiom for the first hour of the film, I find it refreshing that they look at the psychological impact on carrying this kind of secret in a relationship. Also forces us to face reality...which most of us are taught, that beauty should not be skin deep, but how does a person really love another person.

If you watch this, I think you definitely bring the recent 'The Cobbler', 'The Deaths of Ian Stone' and many other high-concept films into the frame. Yep, it had a zero innovation, but smartly redesigned to bring a different outcome. Actually, it was based on the online film/series (aka social film) of the same name and also heard it was very similar to the book 'Every Day' by David Levithan. My thought is, it did not stand up to my expectation, but very easy to follow and overall, I think it was not a bad movie. If you are a fantasy film fan, then you should try it. A very fascinating fictional movie, that associated with romance. That means it's not your regular emotional-romantic-drama from Korea, but well pitched over all the complication in a relationship when a person is suffering from such a strange disorder. Just like the films 'The Time Traveler's Wife', '50 First Dates' and other similar ones about relationship problems. The first one hour was so good, like everything happened in that period itself. From a simple introduction to a few of fun stuff, until the romance track takes over. The next half was kind of a drag, none any interesting events take place other than keep going blindly like it lost its way out. In those stages, most of the scenes would appear as you are anticipating. Somewhat weaken its strength in storytelling. Since this theme was atypical, on that basis, it makes a vast difference to keep us to stick with it. "People say true beauty lies inside, but first impressions are equally important." Anyway, once you begin to watch an unusual love story like this, definitely you can't end it in the middle without knowing the conclusion. I feel, the end was okayish, no twist as you will know in the earlier itself, where it is heading. So nothing special at all, but it finishes it off quite a simple way. The only annoyance is that it was a 2 long hour movie, should have not exceeded more than 90 to 100 minute mark. What I'm saying is not an issue of falling into the boredom, but a stretch that should have remained short and sweet for a lovely film like this. The actors were excellent, but the interesting thing among them was those who are all played the most important role, Woo-Jin. I have seen plenty of high-concept flicks, but I have never seen so many actors (definitely more than 100 actors) playing a same role in a one movie. The appearance was kept changing, but the director did a good job to keep them all at the same pace and intensity to bring Woo-Jin as a single character in behaviour. These days, there's a high expectation for the movies coming out from the Korea. There are vast people around the world who follow either staggering crime-thriller or the sweet romantic- comedies from this region. I know when they take this up, they expect it to better Hollywood and European films. In that perspective, it will disappoint them, because I felt it was a great concept that fell into an ordinary for a few reasons. If you keep your mind narrow, then it might make your time worth spending for it. Personally, I liked it, but my only concern was the third act and a bit lengthy. 6½/10