Musical movie ′Life is Beautiful′ ...Familiarity bringing out pleasure and emotion

▲This photo, provided by Lotte Entertainment, shows movie "Life is Beautiful." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, September 14 (Yonhap) -- There is a husband who accompanies his wife on a journey to look for her first love.

Jinbong (played by Ryu Seung-ryong) could not refuse her wife Seyeon's (Yeom jeong-ah) request to look for her first love. It is because his wife is terminally ill and doesn't have much time left to live as she was diagnosed with lung cancer.

There is a wife who begs her husband to help her look for her first love.

Seyeon, who has only two months left to live, feels great regret for only taking care of her family for her whole life. Her grade 12 son never thanks his mom who always puts in so much effort to take care of his son's vitamins and lunch box, her middle school child is always annoyed, and her husband is so cold-hearted. Seyeon wants to meet her first love, who made her happy.

Therefore, the two go to Seyeon's hometown, Mokpo. In the process of looking for Seyeon's first love, the two travel all over Korea, from Mokpo, Busan and Wando, and confront their past.

"Life is beautiful" depicts the story of a middle-aged woman who is terminally ill and her husband. As the first jukebox musical (a musical made with popular music) in Korea, this work adds familiar songs and choreography to a simple plot.

Performances with songs such as Shin Jung Hyun's "Beauty," Hernan Im's "Ice-cream Love," Lee Moon-sae's "Unpredictable Life," Lee Seung-chul's "Do not Say Goodbye," Choi Ho-seob's "As Years go by," Toy's "Passionate Goodbye," will give enough enjoyment to the audience.

The work itself follows the basic form of a musical film. Like most musical films, fantasy unfolds as soon as the song begins. The Seoul Theater, which Se-yeon accidentally encountered, is where Jinbong and Seyeon had their first date, and the soldiers she met on the road summoned the two on Jin-bong's enlistment day. Middle-aged audience who experienced the 1980s, will be able to have fun traveling back to memories through the love story of the two people drawn out with popular songs of the time.

The gap between the drama and the musical scene was firmly filled by the two main characters, Ryu Seung-ryong and Yeom Jeong-ah. The two actors' performances immerse the audience in parts where it might turn out cliche and also realize the importance of family, which might have been forgotten because of its familiarity.

However, the movie would not bring newness due to how predictable it is and the static characters. Also, the parts where the musical features are brought out mostly follow the frame of "Mama Mia!" (2008), "Lala Land" (2016), and more.

At the press conference held on September 13, director Choi Kook-hee explained, "I think the movie depicts our mothers' generations' stories" and said, "Regardless of generation, the audience will enjoy it if they have a mother or a family."

Ryu Seung-ryong said, "Through this movie, I hope that our family, who is always there, and the ordinary and daily life we enjoy will come to us as thanks and gifts."

The movie will be released on September 28 and is rated PG, with a running time of 122 minutes.

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Dowon Kim.)

(END)

Musical movie 'Life is Beautiful' ...Familiarity bringing out pleasure and emotion