Man in Love

Man in Love
Directed by Han Dong-wook
Produced by Han Jae-deok
Kim Yoon-ho
Written by Yu Gap-yeol
Starring Hwang Jung-min
Han Hye-jin
Music by Hwang Sang-jun
Cinematography Yu Eok
Edited by Kim Sang-beom
Kim Jae-beom
Distributed by Next Entertainment World
Release dates
  • January 22, 2014
Running time
 122 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean

Man in Love (Hangul: 남자가 사랑할 때; RR: Namjaga Saranghal Ddae; lit. "When a Man Is in Love") is a 2014 South Korean romance drama film about a terminally ill gangster who falls in love for the first, and possibly last time.[1] It stars Hwang Jung-min and Han Hye-jin.[2][3]

Plot

Tae-il is a low-level thug who goes around the streets of his neighborhood in Gunsan, collecting debts for a loan shark and harassing shop owners for the protection money owed to the small gang he works for. He is 42 years old, lives with his barber brother Young-il and Young-il's family, and has never been in love. Tae-il does well at his job and doesn't seem to harbor many scruples about it, but then he meets Ho-jung, a bank clerk who is taking care of her debt-ridden, terminally ill father. During their first encounter, Tae-il forces her to sign a contract that requires her to sell her organs if she can't pay back her father's debt on time. After their not-so-pleasant first meeting, however, Tae-il finds himself thinking about Ho-jung constantly and his conscience begins to get the better of him. He writes a new contract and offers it to her: He will exempt her from the debt if she goes on date with him. The more dates she goes on, the less debt she will have to pay off. Ho-jung rejects his offer at first, but knowing that she is unable to make the payments at any cost, she reluctantly agrees. As they start to go on awkward "dates," an unlikely romance blossoms between the two. Following his prolonged courtship, Tae-il tries to leave the gang life behind him, but the break isn't clean. Unfortunately he is soon diagnosed with cancer and his relationship with Ho-jung is suddenly thrown into jeopardy.[4][5][6]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ Song, Soon-jin (6 January 2014). "4 Big Releases March Into Theaters for Korean New Year". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  2. ↑ Ji, Yong-jin (25 April 2013). "Charming and Addictive Korean Films: Impactful melodrama that will move audiences (When a Man Is in Love)". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  3. ↑ Jung, Ji-won (14 February 2014). "Hwang Jung-min, a man in love with acting". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  4. ↑ Conran, Pierce (27 January 2014). "Man in Love". Korean Cinema Today. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  5. ↑ Lee, Claire (15 January 2014). "When a gangster falls in love". The Korea Herald. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  6. ↑ Elley, Derek (27 March 2014). "Man in Love". Film Business Asia. Retrieved 2014-05-12.

External links