I've watched The Classic and A Moment To Remember before, and decided to watch AMTR again just to bask in my tears LOL. These two are classics that most k-movie fans will probably have watched before so I don't need to add more, except that she was LUMINOUS.
The Last Princess
SYJ stars at the titular Last Princess, Lee Deok Hye, who is first sent to Japan under the pretext of studying, not allowed to return to Joseon, and then when Japan surrenders, not allowed to return to her hometown Korea until she's an old lady. I was surprised that a large part of the show is action when the independence fighters try to sneak DeokHye and the Crown Prince out of Japan to Shanghai. It was done well, but the parts that shone were the emotional parts - when DeokHye changes her speech to the Korean workers in Japan from praising the Japanese to encouraging the Koreans to cheer up and fight till they can return home, when her servant BokSun was forcibly separated from her, when she is denied entry back to Joseon, and when she finally returned home an aged and insane lady to her court ladies waiting for her at the airport. SYJ was of course, great as the titular character, with equal parts strength and helplessness.
The Truth Beneath
2016 was undoubtedly her strongest year with 2 best actress-worthy performances, though this show left a bigger impression on my mind. She picked up the Best Actress awards from the mainstream award shows for The Last Princess but from the more critic-driven award ceremonies for The Truth Beneath - which reflects how both shows were received imo. I felt that editing a bit TOO tight (the show is 1h 48min), that sometimes I couldn't quite absorb what happened yet and we were off to the next twist. But the quick edits helped to heighten the anxiety and suspense...esp cos I watched this at 3am. Despite being in medicine and thus having seen quite a number of deaths and even an autopsy irl, I still can't help the gut reaction to being scared at the gory sights shown. So beware.
SYJ was utterly convincing as a seemingly perfect housewife who eventually loses her grip on sanity as she first tries to look for her missing daughter, and then when she unravels the truth after her daughter is found dead. She was fierce, uninhibited and frankly, abit scary to watch.
People who say SYJ has no versatility and can only use her puppy eyes to act in melos should watch this and reevaluate their words!
The cinematography was great too. And SYJ is as pretty as always.
Be With You
Managed to catch this at the theatres! I was expecting a tearjerker, so I was surprised I didn't actually cry. As with all korean melodramas, the front part was really funny before the heartbreak starts. SYJ had great chemistry with her son in the show, both in terms of comedic timing and mother-son bond. Of course, she shone as well when it came to the romantic and teary scenes, and So Ji Sub was a great romantic partner.
My favourite scene has to be the first kiss scene - not because it was sweet, but because it was so damn hilarious, from the part when they were fighting over the binoculars to watch the movie and then when SJS was trying to kiss her and she smacked his head.
White Night
What a twisted show. I enjoyed the tragic storyline, but felt that the editing was really off, because I had a lot of trouble trying to keep up with the timelines. There were also a few missteps in the writing - like why did she admit to those stuff on the phone in public? Regarding their lack of eye contact in the final scene, I wonder if it was just a missed opportunity to show their bond or done on purpose by YoHan.
I enjoyed the portrayal of all 3 main leads. Han SukKyu was the main character as the detective unravelling the mystery. SYJ was nicely cast as the beautiful Yoo MiHo, who hides a sheen of pain and sinister feeling beneath her seemingly perfect exterior. She had good chemistry with Go Soo, who acts as Yo Han, the guy who devoted his life to protecting her and living as her shadow, even though they hardly ever interacted throughout the whole show. "When the sun is at it's highest, the shadow disappears." Beautiful, and very apt.
The best SYJ scenes were the ones that showed just how warped her character was - when MiHo got YoHan to sexually assault the daughter of the man she intended to marry then went to console her, and when she denied knowing YoHan when he committed suicide at her fashion line launch.
The Pirates
Action comedy film where SYJ stars as a (very pretty) pirate captain with Kim Nam Gil as the chief of the mountain bandits. Great to watch SYJ being all badass and cool in that pirate getup, but the plot and writing honestly left a lot to be desired. I only remember laughing out loud at maybe 1 or 2 scenes despite the numerous attempts at comedy.
