Lost in Love

Although slow, meandering, and more or less uneventful, Lost in Love overcomes the odds and makes for a surprisingly compelling viewing experience. Director Choo Chang-Min’s second film amounts to an excellent rumination on the perils of unspoken love and missed opportunities.   From writer/director Choo Chang-Min comes Lost in Love, a 2006 melodrama about two people who can never seem to get things right when it comes to romance – they either can’t adequately communicate their feelings to one another or simply lack the courage to even try. Unlike other recent films of this kind, rather than throw in a terminal illness or have someone fall victim to a car accident somewhere in the story, the filmmakers wisely avoid these K-drama clichés, instead delivering a film that feels anything but formulaic. The pace may be a bit slow, but it’s a compelling journey nonetheless.Song Yoon-Ah portrays Yeon-Ju, a timid young girl who maintains a secret crush on her platonic male friend, Woo-Jae (Sol Kyung-Gu, from Public Enemy and Peppermint Candy). Her shyness frequently gets the better of her, and she can only stand idly by and watch as Woo-Jae suffers a broken heart at the hands of his ex-girlfriend and, consequently, get kicked off the school’s crew team due to his resulting attitude problem. Later, while Woo-Jae is in the army, Yeon-Ju visits him, hoping to spend the night with him. Unfortunately, just as in their school days, Woo-Jae is totally oblivious to her intentions, and a disappointed Yeon-Ju goes home.