Korean Movie Night: Friend 친구 (2001) Korean

Yu Oh Seong, Jang Dong Gun, Seo Tae Hwa, Jung Woon Taek

Movie rating: 7/10     Neck score: A

I don't really remember what sparked my desire to watch Chingu, but it was probably my obsession for Jang Dong Gun after watching A Gentleman's Dignity. But it became a thing where my brother and I would say that we were going to watch Chingu, and then put it off because we knew it had a sad ending where Jang Dong Gun dies. Spoilers! Well if you had heard anything at all about Chingu 2 you would just already know it. So we determined that this president's day weekend, we would have a Chingu Marathon. So we did. We went all out and ordered Korean food at this new place in our town that actually delivers and has the most delicious fried garlic chicken. It was so good! Then we watched and ate and it was fun.



Being an older movie, it was a bit hard for us to understand, not having the cultural context or language nuances. It was hard to follow at times, but it was still good. It's about friendship. Shocker, right? Four friends who have been together since middle school. One is the son of the gangster boss of Busan, naturally the best fighter in school. One is the son of an undertaker, who is his right hand man and the 2nd best fighter in school, and then a regular kid, and a nerdy smart kid. They've been friends for forever, and through all their formative years. The story is told from the perspective of the nerdy smart kid, who has to watch the two fighter bad boys as they grow apart and enter rival gangs, which ultimately leads to them having to fight against each other and eventually kill each other.

I think it was the inferred information that was the hardest for us to understand. We understood what was going on. Basically, but when it came to the ending we were a bit at a loss. Did he order that hit? Why was everyone suddenly trying to kill each other? Was it because we skipped that nude scene where some chairman (still not 100% who) got caught in bed with two hookers and then Jang Dong Gun took pictures and blackmailed? Idk. Anyway, at the end we weren't sure who killed who or who was just taking the blame, but it was still a good story about friendship. What does friendship mean? Who was the truest friend? Even when rivalry tears you apart, bros before hoes, man.

It wasn't super violent. Just some punching, some smashing, some stabbing, more stabbing, lots of stabbing, the end. It was, like I said, about friendship and how it changes over the years. PS, Jang Dong Gun looked great as a gangster. Ow ow ow!