Twenty, face the world.
스무살,
세상과 마주하다
Boys grow up unexpectedly. In utilitarian society, is justice and conscience still valuable?
Four friends on a trip rescue a woman who is being beaten by a man, only to be pursued by the police. One of them lapses into unconsciousness following an ensuing car accident and the other three are arrested on suspicious of murder.
Saw the trailer of the movie on TV before and decided to watch it because of our EXO's leader, Suho, Kim Jun Myeon.
The loss of innocence and its ensuing disillusionment are at the heart of writer-director Choi Jeong Yeol’s ambitious and reasonably engaging debut, One Way Trip, a film that turns a jaundiced eye toward our poorer instincts and behavior and all but cautions against doing the right thing.
Originally bearing the ironic title Glory Day, the movie is brisk, delicately challenging and frequently surprising in its dedication to narrative logic, regardless of how miserable the story may become. Suffice it to say, One Way Trip doesn’t have a happy ending filled with revelations and deeper self-awareness. The cast of rising, appealing young stars should gain the film considerable traction in Asia-Pacific and Choi’s solid if unflashy filmmaking could earn it a spot in Asia-focused festivals around the world. Urban markets where sales agent CJ Entertainment’s reputation should engender goodwill could also take note.
Starting at the end, as is so trendy in thrillers it seems, four friends have traveled to the southeastern port town of Pohang for one last hurrah, as one of the quartet is reporting for military duty the next day. Sang Woo (Suho) is going to bypass university, do his service and get a cushy government job to support his grandmother, his primary, selfless guardian. The other three are fairly average but essentially good guys: de facto ringleader Yong Bi (Ji Soo, Han Gong Ju) comes from something of a troubled home, Ji Gong (Ryu Jun Yeol, Sori) is a sheltered mamma’s boy. Both flamed out on college entrance exams. Doo Man (Kim Hee Chan) is a budding baseball player with an athletic scholarship who doesn’t really like baseball.
The four are enjoying their last evening together for two years when they witness a couple arguing in a car, which quickly tips into wife-battering. They intervene, a police chase ensues and the end result is one dead abusive husband and Sang Woo in a coma. The rest of the evening — and their lives — unravel when the wife (Lee Ji Yeon), a prominent TV personality, opts to protect her reputation rather than make a truthful statement to police.
One Way Trip is typical of its kind: a brutal coming-of-age tale (a trend started with Bleak Night) wherein young men are smacked in the face with the more despicable side of human nature and compelled to reconcile their futures with it. Credit to first-time filmmaker Choi for attempting to tackle some thorny subjects, among them the all-important value of “what the neighbors will think” still plaguing Korea, perception and stigmatization, unattainable parental expectations and overburdened police departments.
Despite all the elements essentially being links in one long chain, Choi almost bites off more than he can reasonably chew in a slight 90 minutes. Watching the three young men wrestle with their consciences and occasionally let fear win out is the most compelling element of the story, and Choi would have been wise to zero in on that more as opposed to, say, spending needless time with a mustache twirler of a police captain who just wants to clear his caseload.
The young cast acquits itself fairly well, with Ji Soo doing most of the heavy lifting as the person most affected by the turn of events; the few sequences with Kim Dong Wan as his older brother are especially strong, and both actors are nicely nuanced.
From an aesthetic perspective, the movie is serviceable rather than creative, but Choi, cinematographer Lee Hyung Bin, and the rest of the technical crew turn in strong work, with Lee in particular doing a nice job of subtly shading the events of the boys’ defining night with dark edges. Too often the inter cut flashback technique is overplayed or distracting, but in the right circumstances it can heighten the emotional impact of the present, which it does here. By juxtaposing the foursome’s initial cusp-of-adulthood joy and friendship, Choi makes the final outcome all the more tragic and thoughtful.
Credits: THE Hollywood REPORTER
The ending was seriously unexpected, I didn't expect that Sang Woo will died in the end. In my opinion, he was the most pity character in the movie, not saying that the others were not but for me, Sang Woo was the most pity one, he has done nothing wrong, he doesn't deserves to be treated in that way, all he wants was just to give his grandmother a better life after he enters the military. Is that even counted as wrong?
Their lives will never be the same again, the world, the truth were so dark, they don't deserve to be treated like that and they shouldn't even treated their friend like that. Yong Bi's action was the rightest among them, he didn't want to shirk all those responsibilities to Sang Woo but because of the cruel world, even though he felt guilty, he had to.
Why can't EXO's members have happy ending in every movies or dramas? The moment when I saw Sang Woo got into the hospital after the accident and his funeral in the end, I cried like a mess. Please, just give them happy ending already! I'm so done crying my eyes out in every movies or dramas with EXO in it, I just want a happy ending for them! No matter what, I'll continue support films that played by EXO, their acting are seriously so good! Another great job, Suho!
Overall, it's a worth and thoughtful movie.
힘에 부쳐 잠깐 눈 좀
붙여 얼마나 고됐을까
바람과 이 비가
지나갈 때 까지만 기다렸다가
Have strength, close your eyes for a bit
How hard must it have been?
Just until the wind and rain pass
Wait a moment, then go
#GloryDay
#OneWayTrip
#光辉岁月
#글로리데이
#EXO
#엑소
#SUHO
#守护
#수호
#KimJunMyeon
#金俊勉
#김준면
#PLSY
