Cherry Blossom Life?

Here I go in my Asian Frenzy Mood!

As my close friends on iMEEM know, I am an anime/manga addict. Besides this, when I was in Philippines, I have been a tv drama asian fanatic, so as the movies. I would spend my days in front of the television watching the NHK channel or the chinese movie channels on cable, wanting to see some of my fave celebrities such as, Daniel Wu, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Stephen Fung, Ekin Chen, and Edison Chen, until my mom siblings would decide to play PS1. Aside from recording animes and collecting OSTs (thanks to my loveer , u know who you are *winks*) who collected Ghibli Studio Osts, I would spend my time on net cafes reading and printing asian celebrities. Aaaah, those were the days.

Tonight, having a sleepless syndrome again, I browsed on Nana website (Nana movie/anime) then found some added features on the site which introduced you to the other movies/works of the Nana Movie characters. I found a captivating title, VIRGIN SNOW, starring Aoi Miyazaki, (Nana aka Hachiko) and supporting Korean actor from the famous Korean tv drama, My Girl, Lee Jun Ki.

Virgin Snow starts with Lee Jun Ki aka Kim-min / Min, taking his bike on the roads of Kyoto. He is the son of an exchange pottery from Korea. Min , in short, is an exchange student due to his father’s job. A lazy dude who lacks motivation to study, took his bike around Kyoto, had an accident, and ended up in one of the historical/tourist places in Kyoto where alot of temples were located. Taking photos with a tiny digital camera on his hand, he takes photo of anything he finds eccentric and beautiful. He shows these photos to his friend in Korean where he uses MSN messenger to chat to them, hehe. In one of the occasions, he was trying to shoot a view then suddenly Aoi MIyazaki aka Nanae Sae, was captured. In her Yukata uniform, because she works in a restaurant or a temple (im not pretty sure what her work but it looks like either a temple of restaurant)  and with a wooden container with papers on it, she walked infront of Min, who was captivated by her beauty, while the papers flew around. It was a love-at-first sight for Min. A Japanese beauty. Without Make-up. Only in a white and red Yukata. Hair tied up, while end loosen down, definitely, Nanae is a simple Japanese beauty cleared of deception and radiating through Min’s eyes. She was definitely, definitely a beautiful sight.

The two became friends though they have a language barrier. Min persevered to get the attention of Nanae. Despite of being tactless and innocent of the Japanese culture, with the help of Nanae, they were somehow, able to understand each other. Because of love, they were willing to teach other in many ways. Regardless of the different beliefs they had, their unselfishness to share love was limitless. Min’s character portray the carefree and frank Korean teenager. Nanae is a Kyoto girl, who is famous for being delicate, refined, and firm, but is hardworking and headstrong.

The two of them shared a relationship that neither is able to mind if they are speaking two different languages. They learned to learn from each other, work hard to achieve something, and show the feelings which is pure innocent in this movie, yet, beautifully acted by both actor and actress.The innocent scenery of Japan and the rugged part of  Korea add effects on the emotion that the characters brought out. I love the story examples that the scriptwriter added, like the japanese and korean version of some words. My most favorite fact from this movie is about the two country’s version of relationship beliefs. Like in Japan, when two lovers ride in thesame boat, they will be separated. In Korea there is a similar belief, where if two lovers walk in the Palace park, they will get separated, too. But if a couple walk together on the first snow, then they will be happy together.How Min interpreted it was like this:

These beliefs are all negative. In mathematics, when you add two negative, it will become positive. So neither of these two can be true. That’s how it begun: their promise of having a date on the D. Palace on the first snowfall in Korea. In addition, there’s also one thing that I like about this movie. It showed the most sweetest part of the culture of each country. Like when they wrote something on the Memory Note in one of the places in Kyoto. And after a year they first wrote there, the girl keeps on coming back to that place and writes her wishes and expectations. That is watching… waiting, for the boy to make their promised date come true on the first snowfall.

I really love this movie. There’re some scenes and dialogues where it made me cry. Maybe because of its relevance in my life experience.

I can testify that language barrier cannot take away the feeling of being in-love. When two people are in-love and destined to be together, no matter what happens, love will cross the border of that language barrier. I am praising the director who found these places to make the movie. ALthough I know it is a Korean Production movie, but the essence is so Japanese! ^__^ that means… alot of natural sceneries. Eloquent views. Not to mention, both main character are quite good-looking, too! ^___^ Aoi Miyazaki is so different from her Nana Character. As Nanae Sae, she still has that sense of being subtle, but the difference is that, in Virgin Snow, she looks even younger, and not as hyperactive as Hachi in Nana. Junki was quite good in drama. He has this aura of being eloquent with his every move. His timing for the dramatic scenes is excellent. Beyond his tiny eyes, his emotions and facial expressions are quite expressive. I’m really amazed that he’s this good in drama. I mean, I watched My Girl and hes quite good too, but the character he portrayed here as Min can be harder than in My Girl. SO I thumbs up for Junki!

If you are interested to watch this movie, I found it on Veoh.com, through Mysoju.com. The movie whose torrents are currently less seeded, can be found on different torrents site. The one on veoh, were cut in 9 parts. So bare with the slight interruption.

If you are interested on the OSTs, please msg me.

Find out why is it called Virgin Snow in the end.