Os Sovinas (2011)

Penny Pinching Romance isn't a perfect movie but it was a very enjoyable one. The synopsis here really doesn't tell you much or very clearly. Hong Sil is a woman whose past clearly navigates her present life. Unlike the synopsis suggests, she doesn't have any goal in life other than to collect money. She is calculated and methodical in collecting it and frugal in the extreme once procured. What she intends to do with it once she has it, even she doesn't know. Enter Ji Woong (Song Joong Ki) in whom Hong Sil sees purely an opportunity to make money faster. Of course, when you hook yourself up with a bit a scoundrel things don't always go according to plan.

This movie has a nice solid plot and story trajectory all the way through. It's real charm for me lay in all the atypical things about it. It is not standard rom/com fare. There is a serious and slightly gray quality to it that I actually found refreshing. This gray cast was in the set direction and writing but it was more to shape their circumstances. Let me assure you this is not a darkly written movie in a dramatic or depressing sense.

There were lots of moments I laughed out loud. Especially at some of the antics of Ji Woong. The scenes between Hong Sil and Ji Woong aren't overly cutesy but they are interesting and they make a great team as, unbeknownst to both of them, their feelings start to grow. Both actors sold their characters for me. Their chemistry together was good. The payoff at the end for both characters was worth 2 hours of my time.

Song Joong Ki is a 'characters' actor. Even if he has the looks to play a leading man, I hope he chooses wisely in the future because he's better playing a part with quirks and charisma. He has excellent comedic timing and a face made for acting through expression.

Han Ye Seul sells serious characters to me more than comedy so this part was perfect for her. I felt her emotion and I connected with the reasons why she was cut off emotionally and relied so completely on monetary security rather than the human kind.

I liked this movie. I would re-watch it again and I recommend watching if you are hesitating.

Leia Mais

Okay, so I finally finished watching this movie and honestly I don't know if I like it or not. I was really looking forward to watching this movie because I really like the main actor and actress but this movie was disappointing. For me it wasn't as romantic as they said it would be. It was sometimes funny though. Joong Ki is really adorable and he had really cute and funny moments in the movie and I think that was the only things I enjoyed while watching the movie. It wasn't as funny as what they described it to be. I don't even remember a lot of things that was going on in the movie because I was busy looking forward to the romance, but there wasn't even any. The acting was good but I don't think the story did justice towards the acting. It was an okay movie, for me at least.

Leia Mais

I've read prior to watching the movie that many people found the pacing slow, or the movie somewhat bleak, but I feel that it is worth it to stick it out. The story definitely picks up pace towards the latter half of the movie, though for me the first half really sets the movie up to characterise and explain who our protagonists are and what drives them; the latter half introduces the experiences that have shaped them and there are new shared experiences which continue to shape them though with a changed perspective. I do think the movie can be somewhat bleak - I mean, we are dealing with a movie with the premise of money making the world go round and we learn what money stands for us individually. However, I still enjoyed it because I wasn't set on a rom-com, I just loved watching the interactions between the two leads. I found the movie very heartwarming and it brought me to tears.

PS. Song Joong Ki and Han Ye Seul are both adorable in the movie in their own ways, for those who like the additional eye candy ;)

Leia Mais

Objectively, this movie might not be that great. I've read quite a few mediocre reviews and comments on it and that makes me think there is something wrong with my taste, cause I loved it! The story is simple and quick and cute! Song Joong Ki is, as always, an utter delight to watch. And Han Ye Seul was really cute in this as well.

I find myself in watching Korean movies that I always end up wishing someone had made these into dramas, and that is never more true than of Penny pinchers. I could have definitely devoted 16 episodes to this story. The side characters are under developed quite a bit in the movie, but the storyline doesn't suffer because of it. In fact, the only two characters you even want to know more of were the leads.

All in all, this movie is a delightful way to waste two hours, and you get to hear Song Joong Ki singing, which to me, even if I hated the movie, would make it worth it :) I was surprised by how enjoyable this was, so you should give a shot and you might be surprised too!

Leia Mais

I was looking forward to watching this movie because I'm a fan of both leads...

The movie started off just being funny as the leads meet by "coincidence" and then start this weird partnership of doing all these odd jobs to make quick money. For a comedy I thought they wrote the story more realistic than I'm use to seeing with K romantic comedies. The story does get a bit dramatic towards the end due to some unforseen events, although I quite guessed what happened would happened. The romance in this was really light and we don't really see any payoffs till the end. I didn't really have a problem with this because although the leads had a good chemistry I didnt sense a romantic connection. It could be the fact that HYS looks 10 yrs older than SJK. Anyways the actors did a great job with thier characters and portrayed thier flaws perfectly. I'd watch this again but not right away because I wasn't in love with the story.

Leia Mais

Good Storyline

Although I have just seen this movie (10 years later), I still find it relevant and interesting movie. It is not always we see this kind of theme depicted in the storyline. More often than not, we see a lot of conflicts in amassing wealth. This movie tells us a story of how people's view on wealth or money and how we put significance to it. The characters are not necessarily different in terms of economic status but has different methods of livelihood or source of income, how they utlilize the wealth and how to fend for themselves. Though the female lead character proves to be wise in terms of finding means to earn money, it shows too her inability to make sound judgement in terms of trusting people -- who eventually got defrauded.

While the male lead character may seem carefree and unstable in many aspects, prove to be a better person -- not consumed by money or riches, cares for the people who showed him kindness, knows how to repay good deeds, incorporates fun in 'living'.

This could be a reality to some or most of us.

Leia Mais

Cute and good but not great

8/10 is my rating. This is a 2011 South Korean romantic comedy also known as “Saving Up for Romance”. Run time is 114 minutes.

Chun Ji-Wong (Song Joong-ki) graduated college and despite going to many job interviews has failed to land a job. His mother has continued to supply him a modest income until a circumstance at her restaurant makes her unable to do so. Jobless and on the verge of being evicted, Ji-Wong meets Gu Hong-sil (Han Ye-Seu) who takes life perhaps a bit too seriously. She saves practically everything she earns unwilling to spend money on even life’s simple pleasures like dating, running heat or having television. She is very good at finding the smallest odd jobs to earn money. Having observed Ji-Wong from the adjacent rooftop apartment, she decides to help him learn the art of earning and saving money. In exchange she wants to deposit some funds in his name since she has reached a cap on her savings. As they each learn aspects of a happy life from the other can two such different people fall in love?

Spoiler ? I liked this movie but did not love it. I wanted to see Ji-Wong find a way to really make it. I wanted Hong-sil to show evidence she had learned that love and enjoyment of life are even more valuable than money. I did not really see that. I was surprised that Joon-ki was the same actor that starred in “Empire of the Sun” because he played such dramatically different roles.

Leia Mais

i really liked and disliked at the same time
although the story line was new but the romance was pale

it's about love between two normal poor people which i liked a lot
because i fed up from stories of rich people so much which was most of the time far away from being realistic

this movie was about two poor persons one of them learned how to be responsible then they depend on each other and struggling together
but i found the love story between the two main leads was really lukewarm and the romance was lackluster

i found also the end was cold

Leia Mais