DEATH NOTE (2006)

Light Yagami is a college student who naively believes that if he pursues a career in Law that he will be able to make a difference. One night he witnesses something that shatters his beliefs.  A few moments later he finds the Death Note. It's a notebook that belongs to a God of Death (think Grim Reaper) named Ryuk and there's a bunch of rules to it, but simply put: you write a person's name in the book and they die.  Also, Ryuk hangs out with Light now, but nobody else can see him.

That's a huge oversimplification of the story (I completely left out the exciting cat and mouse stuff with the brilliant crime fighter, L), but I don't want to give too much away, because one the most satisfying parts of watching DEATH NOTE for the first time is discovering all the new rules and crazy twists and turns as it happens. Yeah, some of it's silly, but DEATH NOTE is still a wicked story.  Silly and wicked.  That's my kind of movie!  I love it.  Highly recommended.

Part 2 - Death Note: The Last Name (2006)
Part 3 - Death Note: L Change the World (2008)

LOVELY RIVALS (2004)

As the new school year begins the 5th grade art teacher quits. Her replacement is a sexy male and all of the female staff and young girls instantly fall in love with him, including 5th grade homeroom teacher Ms. Yeo and one of her students Mi-nam. That's a weird premise for a movie: a female teacher vs. a 10 year-old girl for the love of a grown man, but that's what we got. And somehow it works. 

From the very first scene, LOVELY RIVALS travels at a neck break pace and never lets up. It's funny, unfocused, silly, slightly perverted, bizarre, surprisingly deep and in the end heartwarming. I'm not even sure what to think of it, but I think I liked it. At one moment it's fucking silly as shit and just a few seconds later it deadly serious...very bizarre style of storytelling. Overall, I wish the film had been more focused and the ending not quite as predictable.

Enough about the story, let's get to the acting: I really enjoyed everybody involved. I usually hate movies with kids in it, but all of these kids put in believable performances. Very impressive. I also really liked the two adults leads. Another favorite was the headmaster. He was only in a handful of scenes, but he was really great.

If you're into Korean cinema and are looking for something lighthearted and enjoyable then I say it's worth a watch.