Camellia (2010)

Finally. I have been looking for this film forever. Just got a subscription to Amazon Prime and it's a freebie! As are many other K films! It's fully subbed and beautiful quality. You should know going in that it's an omnibus film with 3 distinct shorts, each about 45 minutes long, so none of them feel abridged.

The first, Iron Pussy, is a sort of 007 parody, Austin Powers style. Not my cup of tea. Just Very Weird. Didn't like it at all, so I am not going to include it in my rating nor my review for the film. Others I'm sure will like it...just not me.

The second short, Kamome, is lovely. An ethereal tale of 'what if' love, the story moves slowly and easily in the moments allowed for it, never feeling rushed nor given short shrift. The feelings and emotions of the two protagonists are unmistakable. It's a story of two lonely people connecting in spite of language barriers and falling in love. It is bittersweet and I could watch it again and again.

The final short is Love for Sale. I adore SciFi so my review isn't as objective as some others might be who would be concentrating on the story only and how well it is told and how well its 'message' gets across. However, I'm also not automatically prejudiced against just because it is SciFi either! Love for Sale is a tale of stolen love in a literal sense. Set in the future where people sell their memories of lost true love either for profit or because they cannot bear to live with them, and people buy them and live vicariously through those stolen memories...because they have none of their own I guess. The allegory is obvious and the ending is too, since SciFI is always allegorical and nothing is ever as it seems. I enjoyed it immensely as a SciFi story and could see it as a full fledged movie. There is a a lot of violence in it, so plot development is shortened by fight scenes replete with guns and fists. I also love that, so I won't downgrade it for that either. The story gets its point across loud and clear. The leads are beautiful to look at and, though Song Hye Kyo's appearance seems to be just for audience draw, Kang Dong Won, as usual, throws himself body and soul into the part.

Individually the stories rate a 6, 9 or 9.5, and an 8.5 or 9... for me. I gave the movie an 8.5 as an average. It is impossible to find this with decent subs and a quality picture, anywhere. We have been looking for it for a long time now. If you are desperate to watch, sign up for a free month of Amazon Prime, break your leg and stay home for a month and binge watch all the movies you can't find anywhere else. Luckily for me, I'm retired!!

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