From Jack, an announcement about the Korean movie NO REGRET, opening in New York and Los Angeles on July 25th: “… [t]he idea and image of homosexuality continues to be a taboo in the Asian and Asian American community. The dramatic Korean soap-opera like NO REGRET is a close depiction of men on the down-low living in suburbia and living double lives in order to assimilate and imitate the mainstream image of masculinity.”
Which lead to this e-mail thread on the 8A mailing list:
Efren: I think I remember seeing bits and pieces of this on YouTube. The boys are very cute, but it’s a fairly typical gay story from Korea (meaning: no happy ending).
Brian: What do you mean exactly by no “happy ending?”
Ernie: One dude goes blind and the other donates his eyes to him.
Nicole: They all die in a fiery cauldron of boiling hot kim chee.
Efren: Nicole, [that] sounds like a bad Korean horror movie.
Xxxtine: I’ve actually already seen this film when it played at the Reel Asian Film Festival this past November – it played to a sold out house up here. There was enough eye candy to keep me interested, but it’s rather forgettable as I don’t REALLY remember much of anything other than the sex scenes.
And while I’m all for a frank and honest discussion of the convergence of gay and Asian/Asian American issues… have you SEEN a Korean drama lately? Someone always dies. For the love of God, I watched a film about B-BOYS and two characters were horrifically wiped out the last 15 minutes of the movie. This is a movie about closeted gay men; no one is going to come out unscathed here, people.
What next?
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6 Comments to “No Regret: Just Another Depressing Korean Movie Dealing with Gay Issues”
pmok wrote:
nooo you ruined the ending to ALL OF THEM! haha
Posted on 15-Jul-08 at 11:04 am | Permalink
jen wrote:
ernie, see how public health minded Koreans are?
Countries make push to increase eye donors:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/15/health/15corn...
Posted on 15-Jul-08 at 12:40 pm | Permalink
Charles wrote:
Actually, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie, which definitely exceeded my expectations. And yes the sex was hot.
I did walk out of the movie thinking “This movie is SO Korean.” (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) There is quite a bit of melodrama.
There are *no* eye donations; Ernie is being silly.
I can say no more.
Posted on 15-Jul-08 at 11:29 pm | Permalink
Efren wrote:
Blah blah—living on the down low—oh god.
Don't get me started on the use of that word, since guys who usually use the word down-low usually end up coming out with feather boas and make up a year later.
Anyway, there was actually a very good queer Korean comedy called “Bizarre Love Triangle” that featured two dykes AND the ending was actually very positive and happy–that is, if one is into (ahem) nontraditional relationships.
Posted on 15-Jul-08 at 11:34 pm | Permalink
eggrollstan wrote:
Yeah, my mother's side of the family's gotten used to watching Korean dramas, and my grandmother insists on letting me know the possibilities that can happen in my life, gleaned from Korean dramas…
As I always say, Koreans Know Drama!
Posted on 19-Jul-08 at 12:27 pm | Permalink
wayde wrote:
I like the movie!!!!! I think it shows a side of love in a forbiden place, and also we need to see gay asain movies like this. Be proud Asian folks at least you somthing!!!!!!
Posted on 18-Sep-08 at 11:06 pm | Permalink
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