A Love to Kill: picspam of one of my favorite scenes...

[dangermousie]

Today's picspam is courtesy of A Love to Kill, a 2005 Korean drama starring Rain and Shin Min Ah.

ALTK is a story of a man (Rain) who decides to get close to a rising young actress (Shin Min Ah) in order to be able to wreck her life to avenge his brother, who he believes has been jilted by her and, as a result, committed suicide.

ALTK wasn't my first Korean drama, and probably not my fifth. But it was a drama I fell madly in love with, the first Kdrama I truly went psychotic for: it remains one of the most beautifully filmed kdramas I've ever seen: clean, sharp, yet oddly muted cinematography, tilted camera angles, mirrors and reflections (reflecting the deception and traumas of the protagonists).

But what really drew me in was the story and the characters: their love and dysfunction extreme in equal measure. Because, no surprise, when Rain is hired as SMA's bodyguard, he begins to slowly fall in love with her, and the lines between his revenge and genuine feeling get more and more blurred. But (and that is part of why I love this drama so), falling in love doesn't make things better, it doesn't make it all magically OK. Neither does even the eventual realization by him of the truth of which we, the audience, were aware from the start: Shin Min Ah is innocent of all he blames her for. Nothing makes it better, and yet nothing can make it worse, either, because they become two individuals who are literally incapable of existing without each other, and equally incapable of allowing themselves to be together.

They are both dysfunctional, brutalized people: not just Rain, who was raised on the streets as the younger son of an abusive goon, and whose belief in the value of a repaid obligation is so extreme as to be a psychological millstone. But Shin Min Ah is equally off-kilter: a tough drinker who is psychologically fragile, who is caught in the traumas of her childhood and who latches onto love with unhealthy desperation. They are both so so screwed-up. Yet somehow, they work together...

Anyway, this drama has a lot of amazing scenes, and a lot of them are spoilery :) But here is one of my all-time favorite scenes from the drama, from episode 5. Shin Min Ah is completely drunk and her fiance (who she got coerced into accepting, long story) decides that nothing will make love of a disinterested woman blossom like a little date rape. So he has Rain (whom he hired to be SMA's bodyguard) drive them to his hotel and takes her inside. You would think this is a perfect opportunity for Rain to get a little revenge, isn't it? The woman responsible for his brother's ruin getting date raped. (And at the very least, he owes her nothing, the guy is rich etc etc). Well, click and find out what happens.



She is drinking with fiance:





Passed-out:



He drives them to the hotel and SMA is all 'I want to go hoooome' to which fiance reacts not at all.





I just love the shots through reflections:





*stab*



So prettily shot:









And fiance takes her away and is all 'see you in the morning.'









And Rain just sits in the car, unmoving.









YESSSSSSS! He just leaves the car and goes into the hotel, slow at first and then faster and faster.







Mirrored shots FTW!



The elevator is too slow so he runs. Up the stairs.





Ugh:



Yup, running:







dieeeeee. This woman doesn't want to marry you, doesn't know you from hole in the wall and is passed out. That spells 'leave her the hell alone.'







Man, that's a workout :)





Yup, it's the bodyguard. And he is telling Fiance some pretty unpalatable things: (1) I am her bodyguard, so it's my job to take care of her safety (2) so give her back so I can take her home. (3) She thinks she is in her own house!





Fiance is all 'I am the one who hired you and also we are engaged.' Rain reacts to these marvelous pronouncements not at all.



And walks straight past flabbergasted fiance.



Fiance is all 'you are fired, so now go away' to which Rain is 'that's your prerogative, but nontheless I will complete my duty for the day. I'll be taking her home.'





Fiance Smash! (Side note: Fiance is not just wannabe rapist, he is an idiot. Do you really want to physically mess with the guy you hired to be a bodyguard because he is so damn competent at hand-to-hand and other forms of violence).





But Rain lets him hit and still repeats 'Please let me take Miss ES home.'





Interruption because if the noise:





Rain calmly picks up passed out SMA and takes her away past the fiance.











I love the infinite reflections:













And here are other various scenes from the ep that I like.

Crisp colors:



SMA depressed:



Remembering his ex-gf, with whom he broke up out of obligation to Secondary Girl:









With Secondary Girl. OK, nobody repays a debt of gratitude by forcing himself to be with a girl you are not attracted to. Nobody but Rain...





But he flashbacks to kissing SMA on the beach and can't make himself do it, eee!



I love these shots:







This scene made me LOL.













So crisp!

Comments

[roseblessing.livejournal.com]

Thank you, I enjoy reading your reviews of Korean drams. I had not heard of "A love To Kill", but looked it up on Amazon, and they have the drama for sale with English subtitles. I think I will get it in a couple of months. Right now I am in the middle of Damo, which as you know, is very sad and dark during much of the movie, so my heart is a little broken and overwhelmed. I am also in the sad part of Love Story in Harvard, sheesh. It sounds like "I Love to Kill" has the same sort of pathos, but I will want to see it anyway.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Re: subs. Make sure you get the good subs version, not the engrish ones. I shelled out for a really expensive set with perfect Japanese/English subs but it was super pricy. If you want, I can link you to people who burn discs for you and that's cheap and the subs are good...

[(Anonymous)]

oh please can I have that link- I really want to see this now!!

[xiaobellsa.livejournal.com]

oh please can I have that link- I really want to see this now!!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

http://dangermousie.livejournal.com/1023245.html

[xiaobellsa.livejournal.com]

yay!! Thank you! *hugs*

[bambinainnero.livejournal.com]

argh, you want to kill me.
guh how I love ALTK.

it remains one of the most beautifully filmed kdramas I've ever seen: clean, sharp, yet oddly muted cinematography, tilted camera angles, mirrors and reflections

sooo true. Amen to that.


Also, I think I was the only one to almost Rain him with Secondary Girl. I don't really know why, since he clearly doesn't love her and she's more like a sister; maybe I watched the whole thing only from her perspective, and that's why it was so painfully beautiful and delicate and heartwrenching (I love that scene when he goes on a date with her to make her happy and he's resting and she's watching him eeeh).
And when he kisses her neck and her scar and he tells her not to hide it, that it's/she's beautiful omg *loves to death*

and maybe that's one of the reasons I'm still on ep 12, lol.
(no seriously, it's too painful. Have to gain the courage. I got to the point I was about to cry every 10 minutes or so.)

[bambinainnero.livejournal.com]

*to almost SHIP, sorry.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I started the drama liking Secondary Girl, loathed her for a bit in the middle and ended up with liking her again. She is as dysfunctional as the rest of them: she knows he doesn't love her and the good thing would be to let him go, but she cannot.

Btw, what's your fave scene in the drama so far?

I cried SO much with this drama.

[bambinainnero.livejournal.com]

Hmm I couldn't really pick one, I loved too many scenes. How could you not, when they're filmed so beautifully?
The first ones that came to my mind:

-Pretty much everything of ep 5. Besides the rescuing-from-Secondary-Guy (whom I dislike A LOT) scene, I loved the ending, when she slips and he's holding her and you see that he wants to let her fall but he can't actually bring himself to do it, and the conflict in eyes and omgtheangst.
-After their first kiss, when he drives her (and Secondary Guy, guh) home and there's this beautiful sequence of them glancing at each other through the car mirror (does it have a name? lol), it was so intense. and god, Rain is so unbelievably perfect in this.
-When he closes his eyes and covers his ears in the middle of the street, desperately trying not to hear that song.
That's an example of what makes this drama so strikingly different from all the others I've seen; even the shortest sequence, the tiniest expression can be so haunting and delicate and desperate at the same time. You may still not know the characters well, how they got to that point, but you can feel the pain all the same, the regrets, that craving for something they don't have (anymore) or something they would actually want but they're too fucked up to get (Secondary Girl knowing Bok-gu will never love her--but she can't let go of him and keeps on suffering; SMA destroying herself cause she's too broken for BG's brother's disappearance and she can't really bring herself to survive; Bok-gu, realising he's fallen in love with SMA -- but it only makes things worse, cause it's impossible and revenge was all that kept him alive and all the broken pieces can't be fixed at that point, it's too late).

(and I should stop ranting, yeah.)

I don't remember if you've ever mentioned it, but what about the soundtrack? I've never loved the music in a drama so much. It was gorgeous, perfectly blended with the images and the story. and the violins, really. <3

(OT: I'm halfway through Dog&Wolf and I'm loving it. and wow, LJK can actually look like a man.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

(OT: I'm halfway through Dog&Wolf and I'm loving it. and wow, LJK can actually look like a man.)

Isn't it awesome? He looks very hot in TODAW. Mmmm, love that drama.

-Pretty much everything of ep 5. Besides the rescuing-from-Secondary-Guy (whom I dislike A LOT) scene, I loved the ending, when she slips and he's holding her and you see that he wants to let her fall but he can't actually bring himself to do it, and the conflict in eyes and omgtheangst.

Oh yes. I love how he always finds rationalizations in himself why he doesn't do it but...

-When he closes his eyes and covers his ears in the middle of the street, desperately trying not to hear that song.


I love that so much!

And yes, Rain is utterly perfect in this. I mean, I thought he was adorable and all in Full House, but I didn't know at all that he could be like this...Oh, and yes, the soundtrack is amazing.

it only makes things worse, cause it's impossible and revenge was all that kept him alive and all the broken pieces can't be fixed at that point, it's too late

Oh yes, that is so true and so sad and yet (narratively) so perfect. He had nothing to live for but revenge and now even that is gone...

[bambinainnero.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, that is so true and so sad and yet (narratively) so perfect. He had nothing to live for but revenge and now even that is gone...

Exactly.
He has no more reasons to live and now he's too broken and doesn't have the force and the will to use his love as a new reason, he's beyond repair (and so is she I guess, even if not as much as him). And well, I haven't seen the ending yet but I can certainly take a guess..
(and we're always talking about kdramas after all)

I thought he was adorable and all in Full House, but I didn't know at all that he could be like this

I loved Full House as well, but I've always thought it was quite -if not shallow- one-dimensional. Entertaining, yes, but it lacked something, a certain depth in the characters, in the story, dunno.
So yes, I thought Rain was good enough for that kind of drama, but I certainly didn't exepct that he could be this good and talented and soo perfect *swoons*
On a shallower note, I'd like to point out that bodyguard!outfit and new haircut did help, lol; in Full House he was simply.. guh.
They surely had run out of money for a decent wardrobe. I refuse to believe that someone voluntarily picked those clothes. *shivers*

Isn't it awesome? He looks very hot in TODAW. Mmmm, love that drama

Another example when the haircut helps A LOT, haha.
I've always found LJK too girly, but I have to admit that he's pretty handsome in this. (I wish he'd keep his hair short, guh)
And yes, I'm loving the drama so far. The memory loss part annoyed me a bit at first, but
1) it's a kdrama (again)
2) maybe it was the only way to allow LJK to live again and not be crushed by all the hatred and the desire of revenge (it would have been another ALTK and I'm already almost out of tears, so it's better this way lol)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

maybe it was the only way to allow LJK to live again and not be crushed by all the hatred

He is quite something else as Kay, isn't he? So casually vicious, but also so relaxed...it's kinda awesome. Have you gotten to the forced kissing part yet? I am so sick but I found it so HOT.

I wish he'd keep his hair short, guh

Me too. I love Iljimae, I do, but when I read they made him lose the weight he bulked up for TODAW and that he was going to have long hair I was all...whhyyyyyyyy!

On a shallower note, I'd like to point out that bodyguard!outfit and new haircut did help, lol; in Full House he was simply.. guh.

FH was my first kdrama and I remember thinking: do people in Korea really dress like this?

he's beyond repair (and so is she I guess, even if not as much as him).

I don't think he can use his love as a new motivation because it's all tied up with guilt because she is his idolized older brother's girl and he is someone who is pathologically indebted-feeling. It's such a core of him, to repay obligations, to do the 'right thing' in these matters, that to him it would be a complete impossibility to take ES and start a new life...

[bambinainnero.livejournal.com]

Have you gotten to the forced kissing part yet? I am so sick but I found it so HOT.

Not yet, but I am totally spoiled and I've already seen that scene, lol (maybe in some video you posted, don't remember). And yes, it was hot :D (but I'll enjoy it even more now, knowing about the new found hotness of LJK characters and the story.
I'm on ep. 8 and I am a little hesitant, knowing what's gonna happen to his father, and his brother is gonna blame him and blah blah. It's like the writers are throwing in as much (awful) stuff as they can, and I'm not sure I like that. It's getting too messed up even for me.
But I do love it. I just have to recharge the batteries, hehe.

Oh and about the forced kiss and all the h/c, the other day I was making some icons and this one (http://i32.tinypic.com/esuk44.png) totally made me think of you. "dangermousie would like that". lol.

FH was my first kdrama and I remember thinking: do people in Korea really dress like this?

LOL.
My first drama was It started with a kiss (and I was totally new to the Asian World) and I kept wondering things like "is holding each other's hand while walking on the street really THAT shameful?", or "hugging each other is the equivalent of western porn?"
And I'm still wondering sometimes! I really don't understand if it's just the dramas or people in Korea/Taiwan/Japan etc. actually act like this.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I definitely posted it, LOL. It's pretty awesome. TODAW is, after it all, a surprisingly optimistic drama, I promise.

Ooooh, do you have TODAW icons? I neeeeeed some :P

[bambinainnero.livejournal.com]

(just finished ALTK)
(I'm sobbing.)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember the ending killing me. Oh...

But how gorgeous was their day together?

[joonni.livejournal.com]

I always love your synopsis of dramas. They make me like the dramas more. Very enlightening.

I love scenes in this drama when Rain is in inner turmoil between hating her and loving her. Very expressive.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

is in inner turmoil between hating her and loving her.

Oh, I loved that. And of course, even once he finds out the truth, he is still in turmoil because then he is torn between love and guilt towards wanting the woman his brother loved. There really is no hope for them, is there?

I love how he has all these chances to have her harmed even without his active involvement, early on (when she almost gets run over by a speeding motorcycle, when she is almost gang-raped, when the goons are hitting her) and yet he can't let himself do it and saves her every time...so messed up.

That drama made me bawl so hard.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I think Rain's best acting in a drama can be seen in ALTK :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I think I died a little looking at your icon. Eeee!

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Courtesy of bambinainnero

[shinystory.livejournal.com]

I have the discs of this for the longest time, but it's collecting dust. Just a day ago, a friend recommended it again: said if I really liked Shin Min-ah in "The Devil," I would really like her here more.

I'm a little hesitant about watching Rain angst. Is he any good? :)

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

It's an awesome drama. And he is very excellent. I don't listen to kpop at all so my knowledge of him is only from three dramas I've seen him in and I fangirl him from that :)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

I think I am fixated on Rain's lips. YUM.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

And who could blame you.

[callmeaznaddct.livejournal.com]

That just makes me want to watch it....
for the 11th time

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Heee. it's so good, isn't it?

[ambergold.livejournal.com]

this reminds me ridiculously of Snow Queen. But is has Rain! But, if you've seen Snow Queen, doesn't the same actor play the scumbag-ish fiance of the rich girl in both? He LOOKS a lot like the one in Snow Queen.

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

Diff actor, actually...