Customer Reviews

YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL KOREAN DRAMA 11 DVDs w/ English Subtitles

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This was a wonderful drama to watch. Ok ok so there were a few coincidences where you sort of "knew" what was going to happen but what movie doesn't have that? the story line was excellent and it held my interest all the way to finish. I do know that asian shows like love triangles and they also have sad endings so... I wasn't sure if this would be one of those sad endings or happy endings. It really kept me guessing until the end and I do mean the end... you'll have to watch it to know what I mean.

This show will make you cry! Get the tissue box out ladies! A snack and a drink doesn't hurt either.

There is just something about Korean dramas that are soooo addictive that make you want more. Winter Sonata is no exception. Korean dramas are like a roller coaster ride, they take you up and down and really stress you out (in a good way though!).=) I found myself yelling and throwing things at the tv screen while watching this drama, it was that good.

In this particular drama, it starts about 10 years before while the main characters are in high school. Joon-Sang is the new student, having just moved to town with his mother who's a famous pianist. He is a quiet, aloof and doesn't make friends easily except for one classmate who tries to be friends...a girl named Yujin. Of course, Yujin isn't the only girl who likes him. In Korean dramas there is always the "evil" girl who tries to take the nice girl's guy away from her. In Winter Sonata, that person is classmate Chelin. Also typical of Korean dramas are love triangles. Joon-Sang, Yujin and Yujin's best friend from childhood Sang-Hyuk. Yujin and Joon-Sang become a couple and it is first love for both of them.

But of course it doesn't last and Joon-Sang gets into an accident and dies (or does he?), and Yujin grieves over his death. 10 years pass and everyone has grown up. Yujin is now engaged to Sang-Hyuk and though she still thinks about her first love over the years she is determined to move on. She works as an architect in a firm and they land a contract with another company to help design and oversee a ski resort being built. The new director of this company, Min Hyung, arrives to Korea from the United States, and that's when everything starts getting really interesting in Winter Sonata. You see, Min Hyung looks EXACTLY like Yujin's first love Joon Sang. Everyone is stunned, what's worse Yujin's catty classmate Chelin (who always harbored an interest in Joon-Sang) has sunk her claws into Min Hyung.

Anyways, that is just a brief summary of the 1st 2 episodes and there is a lot more craziness and melodrama that you cannot miss so I highly recommend this drama!!!

After my wife and I watched all 20 episodes to this Korean Drama i thought i was going to have a heat attack with all the emotional ups and downs watching this drama unfold till the very end. We didn't have enough tissues to watch this show and with my yelling at the TV when the "villians" got in the way of the two main "love" characters didn't help any either. Without spoiling the drama it does contain beautiful locations and backgrounds while filming this drama, the director really captured awesome "winter" scenes that we normally do not see in our lifetimes. I ordered and have the other 3 "seasons" by the same director and look forward to watching them as well. This drama is highly recommended for those who like beautiful scenery and romance in their movie preferences.

I borrowed this drama in Chinese version from my friend. I watch it over and over. This is the best drama I have ever met. It explain me the meaning of true love. I have to cry when they are crying. I am addictive in the theme of an immovable,sacrificial infatuation that we couldn't meet in reality among the people. I could meet my dream by this drama. The softer music comfort me,too. I highly admire their exquisite performance and drama making. I haven't find out any critic of this drama. So I decide to buy one for myself.
I could only find this verson here. It says Korea with English subtitles. Actrually, from episode 1 to 18, the subtitles are absent.
I haven't return it because I have opened it and out of returning date. I have to guess what they are talking about when I enjoy the pictures and plots now. Hope onyday I can read the original book.
I suggest you think about it if you don't understand Korea before ordering.I don't know whether every box is the same or it is ouly my unfortunate.

Winter Sonata was an extremely moving, heart stopping, tasteful, seat clenching and sweetly romantic drama. I would watch this movie over and over until the very sad ending. I love the way this korean Drama kept me guessing and kept me remote control hogging. I watched until I dropped every night. Definitely this movie is a must have for every couple. My husband and I spent our alone times watching, pausing and talking about certain things which we found we are equally yoked in our beliefs and many values as we enjoy the simplicity of the drama and yet emotionally tweaking portions of this series.

The cultural display of respect and conservative wear/character traits are simply refreshing to watch. We tend to hope and ignite an inner sense of wanting what the Koreans hold as sacred, to be adopted and practiced in our own American/ Hawaiian or what have you daily life. The snowy weather keeps us on our toes and makes me wish I could go there and feel what they feel.

The music and songs were skillfilly picked to match each scene and although I understand none of the words, the spirit within each melody and song creates the perfect atmosphere depicted for the selection. The unbelievable part of meeting someone, losing someone, seeing that same person yet finding they don't remember or know you at all- quenches the mind but releases the energy to watch on and want to know why? how? and keeps the audience questioning themselves and saying-"OMG- what's next?"

I have learned to take my family to each Korean setting to witness what trully holy, respectful, culturally flavorful life can be like. We Americans can learn and adopt so many wonderful qualities that are portrayed through each character. I love the fact that men cry so readily and I feel the healing that it brings to each individual as well as myself.

The foreign flavor and lifestyles capture our everyday gloom and take us out of our own miseries for the moment of each expected scene when we see that the show keeps peaking our interest to watch on. My whole family of 10- loved this drama- cried at the very emotional ending but grasped the heart of this particular show.

Sanghyuk is the worst character of them all he will do and say anything to get Jujin to be his girlfriend. The lies everyone tells in this movie will start to way on you. Jujin walks through life mourning her dead boyfriend and simply does what everyone wants her to do and Sanghyuk rises to the occassion by almost raping her and making himself sick to the point of death so that she will keep him as a boyfriend and she becomes submissive to him and only him.

In reality this girl has no REAL friends everyone see Sanghyuk point of view.

No one cares for her feelings or really about her needs and wants except for one person and he is the center of this mini-series. I've watched many korean, Japanese, Bollywood movie etc. For me this is by far the longest,tiresome and downright annoying movie I have ever seen.

Received shipment notification and my item in a few days after I placed my order. I also received follow up call from the seller. I love the movie and will definitely purchase items from this seller in the future.

*(Those who did not see this yet is DO NOT read other reviews online, or even google the movie title. Every review and search I came across was filled with spoilers and tend to explain the entire story thru to the end in order to prove why Winter Sonata is the best love story since Shakespeare penned "Romeo & Juliet". Winter Sonata is long, beautiful and intense, yet so simple enough that it can be explained and spoiled in a few sentences. I have included no spoilers in my review and kept to the technical reasons of why everyone should see this amazing work of art)
This DVD was introduced to me by a friend who suggested that it was the best thing she'd ever seen. It sat around my living room for a few weeks and then I read the back of the DVD box, where I got the first spoiler-but still started watching it anyway. After 30 minutes I was hooked. I had never seen anything like this before and at one point wasn't sure if it was a movie, a sitcom or a soap-opera. I even googled the actors just to be sure it wasn't some sort of Korean reality TV gimmick. That is how great the acting is! Between the two main characters, this is hands down the best acting I've ever seen anywhere!

As for the technical details;

STORY: Very original and absolutely not a single minute in 20+ hours of drama is wasted or dead. Every scene from minute 1 to the last minute (I really mean the last minute) tells the story with a high level of intensity. Even though the story is simple and easy to follow, there are twists and surprises that come when least expected or are so well engineered into the plot that you will want to watch certain parts a few times over "just because" you can't believe they did that!

Over all: A+ story!

CHARACTERS: We follow the 5 or 6 main characters with their families over a period of 13 years, we watch them interact and grow. What I liked here is that the characters are not easy to love, hate or understand-even after you know them. Everyone in Winter Sonata retains a high level of complexity, even the peripheral characters like parents and co-workers carry their own weight to the screen. This was new for me and I liked it because every scene where characters met and dialogue occured you had no idea what would be said or done.

DRAMA: By far this was the MOST remarkable show I've ever experienced. At one point towards the end, it just becomes unbearingly hard to watch. In fact, Winter Sonata was both the hardest and most beautiful story I've ever seen. It provides great scenery, amazing romance, and lovable characters, but at a price. And you pay it in full with every range of emotion possible. Never have I been so angry, happy, depressed and giddy from one show before and I loved every moment of it. WARNING: The intensity here is at a whole new level not seen in film before. Some parts of Sonata will make any hardcore serial killer/convict cry their eyes out whiles other parts will make a soft hearted person like Mother Theresa or Ghandi curse at her TV and want to kick in the screen!

CINEMATOGRAPHY: It was the first thing that caught my attention. I'm still not sure how it was shot, or what kind of camera was used. But it has this reality TV look and feel to it, overlapped with dreamy, ethereal scenes that rivals any Wong Kar Wai movie. This was my personal favorite thing about this movie, the cinematography was very good. Frightenly Good!

OTHER THINGS: Every single element came together perfectly. Even when you think the story is about to run out of ideas or fall apart, it picks up new speeds and unforseen directions. For something so long, you would expect sluggish editing, slight imperfections or inconsistencies with acting and direction, but when it comes to Winter Sonata, Production, Direction and Execution are all seamlessly tight to perfection from beginging to end.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE:
1. The Theme Music! It's a nice song that comes in at just the right times, but after the first 3 DVDs of it looping over and over again it gets tiring-and by the last hours of the show the song by then associated with so many different emotions and scenes that it becomes schizophrenic and you don't know if something tragic or happy is coming next. I did realize some scenes in restaurants or bars they would play other kinds of music (rock, soul and pop)and it is then you realize that you've been listening to the sonata looping for the entire show. Not that this is bad or ruins anything, but I would add about 4 more variations to the background theme music.
2. The spoiler description on the DVD box! Why? O' Why must the entire story be explained for us on the back of the DVD box and inserts? Also the DVD Play & Scene Menus have these selections boxes that automatically previews upcoming scenes for you which also have spoilers! Why?! Normally these things would totally ruin a movie for me but this is a testament to how great Winter Sonata is. I was still impressed thru every moment until the end, even though I sort of knew what was coming. Also everytime I googled Winter Sonata, every blog there is for it and reviews is brimming with spoilers! If you are going to watch this make sure you stay away from ALL spoilers. It's my only regret.
3. The Pacing During The Last Two Hours: You won't understand why the pace seem to slow down until the very last minute of the show. And its frustrating, because the anticipation builds up slowly and creeps up on you. I may be wrong, but the final scenes seem to hang on forever and didn't get to the "real" ending until the final minute. I'm literal when I say the "final minute". I understand now why the pace slows down at the end, to build up the finale, but I didn't think it was necessary because the story is so strong and powerful on its own that the climax doesn't need to be meticulously built up. Then again, after sitting in front of Winter Sonata for 20+ hours and going thru every emotion I could possibly go thru, I was so eager to see how it turned out that every second seem to drag getting there.

I completely recommend seeing this show! It is in my all time top 3 of personal favorite movies. The other 2 being "Space Odyssey 2001" & "The Thin Red Line"!

Excellent DVD, good drama, funny and kind of cheesy but also easy to relate to the characters. I watched this DVD on TV a few years ago and enjoyed it, so I purchased from amazon.

So I got this series because it was recommended by the local video shop lady. Apparently, it was really popular in Korea and Japan. I'm really not sure why!!

Before I get into this.. yes, I know Koreans love melodramas with impossibly sad love stories where every possible bad things known to mankind happens to the characters in a span of 1 month. And I'm sure I'll get all kinds of crap for giving this series just one star.. but it's okay...

Here's the thing. I realize this is a made up story of made up people and they need to make things interesting and sad and so on... Having said that, my wife and I just go so tired of the story advancing mainly due to lies and misunderstandings.

The majority of the characters lie pretty much about everything. How they feel, what they've done and so on. That's pretty much the only way the story advances. Because characters lie and things just get snowballed into bigger and crazier things. Do they see it? No, they just live their lives lying just making everything so difficult for themselves and their friends. Here's an example..

Yujin(main character girl): She acts like she has no control over her life. She basically sleepwalks through her life... just going through the motion of doing things because of the expectations from others. She started out as an interesting character at first but as the series went on, she just became very indecisive to a point where it was hard to believe. The story mainly goes on because of her indecisiveness.. she just keeps going back and forth between two guys. Her favorite things to say are "I'm sorry.", "No, there's nothing really wrong." and "Let's talk about it later." She sweeps everything under the rug.. ignoring and lying. And meanwhile, people around her are getting hurt and things just unravel and the craziest thing is that even the other characters tell her this flat out! She's so unhappy being with SangHyuk. But I guess nobody else sees it. She seems to know Sang Hyuk's crazy and immature and stupid but she lies about how she feels. She doesn't want to be with this guy at all but she does! Why? Who knows! Because her friends want her to? Her mom? Come on, now... She acts like her life isn't her own. When did this happen? She was so vibrant and lively at first. What the heck? Finally towards the end, she started to speak her mind but nothing really prompts her to do so. Just a personality change? Weird. But either way, it's just so frustrating because for the most part, she just looks all doped up while other people(namely Sang Hyuk) makes decisions or says things that are pretty shocking. As if she's saying "Well, I guess it's wrong but I'm just too dumb to say anything about it". I hate it when they change people's personalities for no reason just for a sake of convenience.

Sanghyuk: Yujin's fiance. He lies about everything, too. Of course, it bothers him when Yujin's still thinking about her old boyfriend, Joon Sang. But no, it'll be too easy to just tell the truth. So he keeps telling Yujin that he's just fine. Later when Yujin meets MinHyung who looks just like JoonSang, of course it bothered SanHyuk... but oh, no... he's once again just fine. And on and on and on... he lies about how he feels to a point where things and emotions go out of control... then he snaps and threatens to kill himself if Yujin doesn't come back to him. Er... and here's the kicker! She actually comes back to him! What? SangHyuk is the biggest mama's boy and lies about everything... makes major decisions about their lives without consulting Yujin AND faked his own illness just to get her back. So what happens? Yujin comes back to him even though she loves Min Hyung... What? Seriously? Once again.. lies! Sang Hyuk lies about what happened between him and Yujin after Yujin calls off the wedding. Then lies about where she is. Just too many lies! I just can't get over the fact that he's just such a big mama's boy! I'm sure Korean moms would love that. They all want their little(or not so little) sons to basically do whatever they want them to do... and he fits the character very well. Of course, he's so messed up! He's so delusional... I don't know how he got hired at his job. He seems like a nice normal guy but he'll do anything to keep Yujin. They don't really tell you why, either. He just knows that he needs Yujin by him at all costs. And finally he comes to his senses but then why? Just because Min Hyung regained his memory? But he knew Min Hyung = Joon Sang already. Once again, writers change him just so that the story can move on.

Charim: Yujin's rival and Min Hyung's girlfriend. She's evil pretty much. She does everything to hurt Yujin and mess up her life. She always goes out of her ways to blackmail people and spread lies about them. But the thing is that her motive is not very clear. She seems to think that Yujin stole JoonSang away from her and she's trying to prevent the same thing happening with Min Hyung. She's pretty much delusional but her motive isn't really strong enough for her to go way out of her way to be vicious and mean. She's portrayed as such an evil, calculating character but her motive is pretty silly... "I don't want to lose my new boyfriend so I'll try to ruin everyone's lives by lying about everything about them." Did she not think that they'll talk amongst themselves at some point and figure these things out?

The parents(all of them): For some odd reason, Sang Hyuk's mom just hates Yujin.. when they were in school, she seemed to like her. What happened? I guess she's just trying to follow the tradition where Mother in laws naturally have to hate their daughter in laws. Sang Hyuk's dad seems to exist just to agree with his wife. It doesn't matter how unreasonable his wife gets or stupid his son gets.. he just plays cool. Like nothing really wrong is going on. After hearing that his son might have "raped" Yujin, all he says is "If you've done something against Yujin's will, I'm very disappointed in you." What? Your son told you he just raped his girlfriend and that's all you say? Yujin's mom! Obviously, her daughter's unhappy and her soon to be son in law's an idiot but she ignores it. She thinks they should be together mainly because she wants to save her face. Now, about Joon Sang's mom... She basically rebuilt a brand new memory for her son... seems like a lot of work to me just because somebody's lost his memory. but then it's okay because they had to do something for the story.

The only person that's somewhat realistic is Joon Sang/Min Hyung. He's pretty much THE ONLY person who speaks the truth about how he feels. So I guess he's okay.

Obviously, I can't list everything. I don't want to spoil it too much for you, either. I guess I did that already, though. Look, I know this is a story about lies and misunderstandings. It happens. We all lie and have misunderstandings and things go bad. But come on. I know the writers have to do crazy things so people will watch it but I'm just so disappointed. My wife as well. My wife does not speak Korean so I had to translate it to her after each line and after a while, I felt really silly and embarrassed to even repeat what they were saying.

I don't think I'm taking this too seriously, either. I'm just disappointed at the way the writers advance the main story. I just don't think that's a good way to do it. Be creative! Come on!

So I'm done venting here. If you like the series, that's good for you. Brainless entertainment and we all need it one way or the other. But I can't help but wonder why so many people are so attracted to these kinds of stories. Not just this one but I'm guessing a lot of Korean dramas are very similar. All sad and pretty much impossible story of love. Lies, betrayals and heartbreak. I would think our everyday lives are pretty much filled with heartbreaks and disappointment already. Maybe that's how they want to live? Is this a version of fantasy lives Korea people dream about living? Just weird...