Archive for March, 2011

I was half hoping that my inabilty to post images was caused by a problem with my laptop at home. However, I am encountering the same problem using my office computer.  So I will type out this week’s box office results here instead of using Photoshop.   

1. King’s Speech (uk)–  2. World Invasion (us)– 3. Little Black Dress (kr)– 4. I Love You (kr)–  5. Wiheomhan Sangkyeonrye (kr)– 6. Red Riding Hood (us)– 7. Black Swan (us)— 8. Romantic Heaven (kr)– 9. Morning Glory (us)– 10. My Name is Kahn (in)

It was a very tight race between King’s Speech and World Invasion and the end result was separated by less than half a percentage point. The former film took 15.6% percent of the box office on 404 screens while the latter received 15.2% on 359 screens. The Korean film I Love You has now spent four weeks in the fourth tier while director Jang Jin’s new film, Romantic Heaven, was not very well received. It earned just 3.9% of the box office tallies on 338 screens and landed at number 8 in its opeing week. The fifth place film has not even officially opened according to KOFIC. That will happen next week depsite being on some 354 screens this past weekend.  It has not yet been assigned an English name.  That film, and others opening this coming week, are listed below in alphabetical order.

1. Confessions (jp)– d. Tesuya Nakashima, starring Takako Matsu, Masaki Okada– www.goback2011.co.kr

2. Julia’s Eyes (es)– d. Guillem Morales, starring Belen Rueda, Lluis Homar www.julia-eye.co.kr

3. Little Fockers (us)– d. Paul Weitz, starring Robert DiNero, Ben Stiller www.meet3.co.kr <opening as Meet the Parents 3>

4. Pool (jp)– d. Mika Ohmori, starring Ryo Kase, Satomi Kobayashi

5. Vanishing on 7th Street (us)– d. Brad Anderson, starring Hayden Christensen, John Leguizamo www.vanishing.co.kr  <opening as Vanishing>

6. Wiheomhan Sanggyeonrye (kr)– d. Kim Jin-yeong, starring Song Sae-byeok, Lee Shi-yeong http://danger2011.kr

hmm.. lets see if this works…    Nope, still not working….          I am unable to upload images at the moment for some reason, so I will just list the two films that are being released this coming week onto DVD and add the pictures later.

A PETTY ROMANCE–  directed by Kim Jeong-hoon and starring Lee Seon-gyun and Choi Kang-hee.  Number of discs: 2/ Subtitles: Korean and English/ Rating: ages 18+/ Format: 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Running Time: 118 min./ Disc 2 includes pre-production, making documentary, ‘the dance,’ postor shoot, Q&A/ Recommended Price: 25,300 KRW/ Available: March 29

NO DOUBT– directed by Park Soo-yeong, starring Lee Jeong-jin and Kim Tae-woo.  Number of discs: 1/ Subtitles: Korean and English/ Rating: ages 15+/ Format: 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Running Time: 88 min. + 12 minutes of extras which include deleted scenes. Recommended Price: 22,000 KRW/ Available: April 1

It has been very hard for me to sit down and watch movies the past couple of weeks let alone write anything. I think I won’t be giving any more homework for a little while. I need time to catch up. I did, however, get a chance to see KTV’s offering of classic Korean cinema last week, director Kang Dae-jin’s Love starring Moon Hee, Shin Yeong-gyun, Kim Ji-mi and Lee Soon-jae. Any one of these great actors could carry a film–and Moon Hee was one of my favorite actresses. The plot, according to the Korean Film Archives, goes something like this: Love is permanent. An-min is in agony by the knowledge that his wife has an incurable disease. Nurse Sun-ok, who feels sympathy toward him, falls deeply in love. But An-min does not accept her love. At the end, his wife dies, and he only thinks of her. Accordingly, Sun-ok leaves the hospital for the sake of An-min with tears in her eyes.  Wait… what was that first line? Love is permanent? Ummm.. I don’t mean to sound cynical–and its not often that I do– but even I have a hard time swallowing that line.  Then again, within the context of this film, love does seem to continue without change for all the characters. That above synopsis also claims ‘At the end’ the doctors wife dies and the nurse leaves in tears.  What? Didn’t the person who wrote that watch the whole movie? That sad event happens at about the halfway point in the film. Here is what really happens…

The first part is right, Nurse Seo Soon-ok (her name is better written with double ‘o’s rather than a ‘u’ to get the right pronunciation) does indeed love Dr. Ahn. He in turn loves his slowly dying wife (played by Kim Ji-mi), the mother of his two children. And it is true that Ahn rejects Soon-ok’s love even though his feelings run deep for her. However, she does not leave him in tears. Instead, she sacrifices her feelings and volunteers to care for his ailing wife and act as a governess for his children (while maintaining her job at the hospital and studying to be a doctor)   But when his wife coughs her last cough and Dr. Ahn Min mercilessly fails to rebound into Soon-ok’s arms, the nurse finally has to give up. As she is rapidly approaching her mid-twenties, remaining single is not an option of course, and poor Nurse Seo is quickly married to a man whom she does not love.  He loves her with all his heart, but he has an even greater love. Alcohol.

Soon-ok’s wedding night consisted of getting scolded by a mother-in-law her hates her and forbids her to study medicine and waiting for her husband to show up. When he finally does finally stagger home, he is so drunk he passes out without ..er..performing his husbandly duties. In fact, it is strongly suggested that they never sleep together. But that does not stop Soon-ok from becoming a mother–which might seem difficult given the prior sentence. But it was relatively easy. While visiting the hospital she used to work at and talking with Dr. Ahn, a woman comes in with a sick boy. Soon-ok helps in the emergency and the woman thanks her and explains that she is a single mother, the boys father having disappeared long ago. But when the mother learns Soon-ok’s name, she realizes that this was the woman her old lover had been obsessing about for years and that she is now married to him. The mother slips away, leaving a note for Soon-ok to raise the boy with her husband/the boy’s father. One would think there would be a lot of implications and issues to be addressed here, but the movie does not touch on them. Instead, in the very next scene, Soon-ok’s entire family–drunk husband, hardened mother-in-law and stepson–are packing up and rushing to Manchuria as her husband is fleeing from some unsavory characters he had crossed.

Life is hard in Manchuria  as Soon-ok becomes the sole bread-winner in the family. I have to assume that some time has passed as she opens her own hospital and people are now addressing her as ‘doctor.’  She gains the respect of the entire albeit small community she lives in and has a loving relationship with her son, but her home life is still miserable.  While I thought that Soon-ok’s suddenly becoming a mother was handled too quickly by the script, the next part made my head spin. In short order, her husband is murdered and her mother-in-law winds up dead. These two major events happen within three minutes of each other and it is impossible to meassure how much time has actually passed for the characters.  Soon-ok seems on the verge of giving up the ghost herself and winds up very ill in the hospital. Her spirits are lifted however, when her brother shows up to take her home and her will to live becomes even stronger when told that Dr. Ahn is dangerously ill with pneumonia.

And so, Soon-ok is reunited with Dr. Ahn and his children. The movie ends with Ahn Min, looking much older,  shuffling back into the house leaning heavily on Soon-ok who promises to nurse him back to health and never leave again while the three children play in the yard.

The movie had a skewed idea of what love should be and the ideal woman. Soon-ok was certainly depicted as the ideal– she was a virgin and a mother, nurse and governess, caring and nuturing.  Her own thoughts and needs took third place behind those of her true love and the duty to her family. The movie whitewashes the fact that she was silently lusting after another woman’s husband in the first half of the film by having Ahn’s wife wholely approve of Soon-ok–even inviting her on what she knows will be the last trip with her husband (who nixes the plan and does not allow Soon-ok to go).   What passes for love in this movie seems almost like obsession. Not merely Soon-ok’s feelings for Ahn Min– who keeps giving her false hopes as with the note he attached to a wedding gift he gave her which read ‘Think of me when you look at this.’ Is that what you really want to tell a woman on her wedding day? and one you have already told that you don’t want to be with?  Soon-ok’s husband also suffers from obsession for his wife. He would follow her around before they were married begging her to consider him and, despite all his faults, he genuinely did love her even though she could never return his feelings. Even in the end, the love Soon-ok feels for Ahn seems more platonic than the love a couple should feel–almost as if Ahn now has a mother-figure to look after him and care for him while he is ill.

This movie is far too heavy on the melodrama and the pacing is way off. The two-thirds of the movie crawl by as Soon-ok suffers in silence and then, in the last part, things go by so quickly we have no idea how much time is passing.  Time in general was an issue. The issue with the medical license I assumed Soon-ok earned and the fact that Dr. Ahn is very grey by the end of the movie implies that years have passed. But Ahn’s children do not age at all which makes it feel that mere months have passed and was very confusing. As much as I like Moon Hee, I think I will give this movie a pass if I ever have the opportunity to see it again…

Well, this week’s box office results are in and if you have been watching the news or following promos about upcoming Korean films, you may be surprised at one ommision from the top ten. Im Kwon-taek’s 101st film, Hanji failed to rate higher than 11th nationally despite opening on 161 screens. In fact in almost every province in Korea, the movie ranked only 11th or 12th place. The sole exception was here in North Jeolla Province where the movie ranked 1st taking 20.9% of the box office! The reason of this was simply regional interest as the area is the home of Hanji. Another prominent director, Jang Jin, will be releasing his film, Romantic Heaven, this week. It is listed below with the other movies opening this week.

1. Another Year (uk)– d. Mike Leigh, starring Jim Broadbent, Ruth Sheen

2. Hereafter (us)– d. Clint Eastwood, starring Matt Damon, Cecile de France www.hereafter.kr

3. Imagining Argentina (es)– d. Christopher Hampton, starring Antonio Banderas, Emma Thompson

4. Little Black Dress (kr)– d. Heo In-moo, starring Yoon Eun-hye, Park Han-byeol www.minidress2011.co.kr

5. My Name is Khan (in)– d. Karan Johar, starring Shahrukh Khan, Kajol Mukherjee www.2011khan.co.kr

6. Ong Bak 3 (th)– d. Tony Jaa, starring Tony Jaa, Dan Chupong

7. Rolling Stars (kr)– d. Im Sang-joon, voiced by Ryu Seung-ryong, Ryu Deok-hwan www.rollingstars.ki

8. Romantic Heaven (kr)– d. Jang Jin, starring Kim Soo-ro, Kim Dong-wook www.romanticheaven.co.kr

9. Tears of Africa (kr)— d. Jang Hyeong-won, Han Hak-soo, starring Yoon Hee-yeong, Jeong Seok-hoo www.tearsafrica.com <documentary>

10. Time Traveller (jp)– d. Masauki Taniguchi, starring Riisa Naka, Akinohu Nikao

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do any blogging this past week. It was a very busy time at work with guests visiting the university from a school in California and Cambodia. This coming week, we have another set of guests coming from the USA and New Zealand, but the latter is confined to one meeting on Tuesday, so I will probably have time to write a review.  As far as DVDs, we have several being released, including modern classics that should definitely be part of your collection if they are not already, Oasis and Peppermint Candy.  Below are the details of all the dvds coming this week.

SEONGGYUNGWAN SCANDAL (tv-drama)– directed by  Hwang In-hyeok, starring Park Min-yeong, Song Joon-gi, Yoo Ah-in.  Number of Discs: 12 + 84 page picture book, calendar and 10 signed cars/ Subtitles: English/ Rating: ages 15+/ Format: 16:9/ Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0/ Region Codes: 3,4,5,6/ Extras: Each disc contains 10-20 minutes of extras/ Recommended Price:  121,000 KRW/ Available: March 23

YEOKJEONUI YEOWANG vol. 2,  (tv drama)– directed by Kim Nam-won, starring Kim Nam-joo, Jeong Joon-ho, Park Shi-hoo.  A few weeks ago, a box set containing the first 16 episodes of this tv drama was released, here are the remainder of the episodes. Number of discs: 6/ Subtitles: No Subtitles/ Rating: ages 15+/ Format: 16:9/ Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo/ Extras: Love Scenes, Filming the last episode,  a look at the cast, Shi-hoo with fans, NGs/ Region Code: 3/ Recommended Price: 77,000 KRW/ Available: March 22.

DON’T CRY FOR ME, SUDAN (documentary, tv version)– Number of discs: 1/ Subtitles: No Subtitles/ Rating: all ages/ Format: 4:3/ Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo/ Region Code: 3/ Recommended Price: 33,000 KRW/ Available: March 24

OUTLAW– directed by Song Hae-seong, starring Joo Jin-mo, Song Seung-heon, Kim Kang-woo.  Number of discs: 1/ Subtitles: Korean and English/ Rating: ages 15+/ Format: 2.35:1/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Running Time: 121 minutes/ Extras: Making, Interview with the main actors, trailer/ Recommended Price: 25,300 KRW/ Available: March 24

FUGITVE: PLAN B (tv-drama)– directed by Kwak Jeong-hwan, starring Lee Na-yeong, Jeong Ji-hoon (Rain), Daniel Henney.  Number of discs: 10 (episodes 1-20)/ Subtitles: English/ Running Time: 1300 minutes +193 minutes of extras/ Region Codes: 3,4,5,6/ Recommended Price: 110,000 KRW/ Available: March 25

OASIS– directed by Lee Chang-dong, starring Seol Kyeong-gu, Moon So-ri.  Number of discs: 2/ Subtitles: Korean, English/ Rating: ages 18+/ Format: 1.85:1/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Running Time: 130 min/ New extras include reactions from film festivals/ Region Code: All Region/ Recommended Price: 22,000 KRW/ Available: March 25

PEPPERMINT CANDY– directed by Lee Chang-dong, starring Seol Kyeong-gu, Moon So-ri, Kim Yeo-jin.  Number of discs: 2/ Subtitles: Korean, English, Japanese/ Format: 1.85:1/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Running time: 127 minutes/ making, trailer, tv spots, film festival reactions/ Region Code: All Region/ Recommended Price: 22,000 KRW/ Available: March 25

The new Korean movie that opened last weekend that I listed under its Korean name Sarang Mooseoweo was given an official English name and will be known as Shotgun Wedding internationally. However, the movie fell before World Invasion and Black Swan, landing in the number 3 position.   Of interest this coming weekend is director Im Kwon-taek’s 101st film, Hanji.  Hanji is the tradional paper made from rice that North Jeolla Province is famous for. A number of film critics have already panned the film saying it is too much like a documentary instead of the drama it was intended to be and Im himself has expressed some regrets with the film. I plan to keep an open mind while viewing it, though and remain hopeful.  This and other movies being released this coming week are detailed below.

1. Beastly (us)– d. Daniel Barnz, starring Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens www.beastly.co.kr

2. Dooman River (kr)– d. Lu Zhang, starring Choi Geon, Yoon Ran

3. Hanji (kr)– d. Im Kwon-taek, starring Park Joong-hoon, Kang Soo-yeon  www.hanji2011.co.kr

4. Kamui Gaiden (jp)– d. Yoichi Sai, starring Kenichi Matsuyama, Koyuki 

5. King’s Speech (uk)– d. Tom Hooper, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush http://kingsspeech.co.kr

6. Morning Glory (us)– d. Roger Michell, starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford www.goodmorningeveryone.co,kr (opening as Good Morning, Everyone)

7. Red Riding Hood (us)– d. Catherine Hardwick, starring Amanda Seyfried, Shiloh Fernandez www.redridinghood.kr

8. Way Back (us)– d. Peter Weir, starring Jim Sturgess, Colin Farell www.thewayback.co.kr

9. Wendell Baker Story (us)– d. Luke Wilson, starring Luke Wilson, Eva Mendes (opening as Trouble Love)

Two movies, a theatrically released documentary and an SBS TV drama are to be released this week on DVD. These will be listed below. Also, for people who follow Korean actors, the American film Fetish featuring Song Hye-gyo will also be available for purchase this week.

ONE STEP MORE TO THE SEA– directed by Choi Ji-yeong and starring Park Ji-yeong, Kim Ye-ri and Kim Yeong-jae.  Number of discs: 1/ Subtitles: Korean and English/ Rating: All Ages/ Format: 1.85:1/ Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0/ Running Time: 90 min./ Region Code: All regions/ Extras: Music Video, Trailer/ Recommended Price: 22,000 KRW/ Available: March 15.

TURN IT UP TO 11 <documentary>– d. Baek Seung-hwa, starring Ri Gyu-yeong, Tobacco Juice (band), Galaxy Express (band). Number of discs: 1/ Subtitles: Korean/ Rating: Ages 15+/ Format: 16:9/ Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0/ Running Time: 95 min./ Region Code: All Regions/ Extra: Audio commentary, Galaxy Express music video/ Recommended Price: 22,000 KRW/ Available: March 15.

ROMANTIC DEBTORS– directed by Shin Geun-ho and starring Im Chang-jeong and Uhm Ji-won.  Number of Discs: 1/ Subtitles: Korean and English/ Rating: Ages 15+/ Format: 2.35:1/ Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1/ Running Time: 108 min./Region Code: 3/ Extras: Trailers/ Recommended Price: 25,000 KRW/ Available: March 17

SHE– directed by Lee Hyeon-jik, starring Shim Hye-jin, Jang Dong-jik, Oh Yoon-ah.  Number of Discs: 7/ Subtitles: English/ Rating: Ages 15+/ Format: 4:3/ Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0/ Running Time: 1,075 min./ Region Code: 1 and 3/ Recommended Price: 88,000 KRW/ Available: March 17

Here are the final 16 movies produced in Korea in 1973. That year is now finished!  Up next.. well, one would think it would be 1974. But I might change direction just slightly. A few weeks ago, I posted the films on Ahn Byeong-ki in ‘The 2000s’ section and I am contemplating finishing the 70s by completing each director in order.  The change has come about for a practical reason… I have apparently misplaced 1974.  It was the only year that was not backed up and realizing that I said to myself a few weeks ago that I need to keep it someplace safe until I could copy it… Now if I could just remember where I put the flashdrive that had the completed images…

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When most people think of Yoo Ji-tae, the think of the actor who debuted in Bye, June back in 1998, made a name for himself in Attack the Gas Station in ‘99 and followed that up with major roles in a trio of films (Ditto, One Fine Spring Day and Oldboy) that landed him a permanent place among the top stars of Korea.  What most people don’t realize is that Yoo also has a passion for directing and has helmed a number of award-winning short films. The first of these was the 40-minute short Bike Boy in 2003 which won an Audience Pick award for short films at the Pusan International Film Festival where it originally screened and it went on to open in festivals Hong Kong and Japan.  It is the story of a boy named Min-soo who is in his final year of elementary school. He stands on the brink of adolescence but he is not quite ready to cross over. He is a child confused by forces within and people without that are trying to force him to change and to grow up. One of these forces in Ki-ran, a girl in his class. She also is experiencing changes in her feelings as well as she grows into young womanhood. She is also unsure how to express her feelings, but she seems to handle them in a more mature way than Min-soo whom she likes. Min-soo may like her as well, but he is unwilling to address how he feels and it makes him moody and sullen except when he is playing with his friends or riding his beloved bike.

The bike becomes a refuge, a way to hold on to the familar while setting new challenges for himself– such as attempting to outrace the bus. He takes time to train himself for this task, fixes his bike up, gets a haircut and even does something that makes him feel guilty and proud at the same time. When the time is right, he sets off to accomplish his goal without telling a soul and the finish of his personal race is timed to coincide with the arrival of Ki-ran at her home. However, her response to him and his new look completely robs him of any sense of victory and he walks home with a vague sense of having lost something.  However, that is not the end. The final scene of the movie and the dialogue spoken therein brought a smile to my face and sweetened the story, letting the viewer that everything is going to be alright and that he can remain a child for just a little longer.

That final scene is simple, but beautiful and shows Yoo’s potential as a director that would be better realized in some of his later shorts. What happened in that scene?  You’ll have to watch it yourself– I only give spoilers to endings of movies not available on DVD. You can see Bike Boy along with How Do the Blind Dream? (2005), Out of My Intention (2007) and Invitation (2009) as part of the Yoo Ji-Tae Collection.  Search for it. You will find that it shows another, unexpected side of a man we have come to know as a great actor.

Cable television channel KTV came through yet again with another movie I had never seen– this time from director Kim Shi-hyeon. I had reviewed one of Kim’s films, Fight at Hong Kong Ranch,  back in November. He directed numerous films between 1965 and 1988 and the vast majority of these were action movies. A Spy Remaining Behind is no exception, taking place in the early days of the Korean War in 1950 after Seoul has fallen and been occupied by North Korean forces.  While the southern armies were being driven back towards Busan and awaiting UN support, a spy is sent into the capital to learn about enemy plans and military manuevers.  This is Lt. Han Deok-won played by Shin Seong-il. He has been given intensive training and a support network of top undercover agents to help him move information south of enemy lines. In order to build his credibility among the communist commanders in charge of Seoul, Han is ‘arrested’ by his southern comrades and housed in a prison cell with a high-ranking communist official. After gaining his cellmate’s trust, Han and his new friend escape their captors.  While his former cellmate sets himself up as the key power in Seoul, Han hides in the house of the wife of an army officer from the north. After time passes, he makes his way to city hall to meet with his former cellmate and see what he can learn that will help turn the tide of the battle. Much to his shock, he finds his former girlfriend Mi-yeong (played by Kim Chang-sook) working there as a secretary.

Mi-yeong is the other half of the story. She had no communist tendencies but found herself caught up in the politics of the time when a man she trusted played by Heo Jang-kang turned out to be a communist spy and assassin. He duped Mi-yeong into delivering an exploding bottle of champagne to the house of a South Korean politician. While the bomb-in-a-bottle was detonated harmlessly, Mi-yeong was arrested and sentenced to prison time as an enemy of the state. However, when North Korea invaded Seoul, they freed all political prisoners and the confused Mi-yeong found herself in a position of priviledge and given a job in the city hall. However, once she meets her former lover again, she makes it clear where her loyalties lie. Her position in the government building makes it easier for her to obtain state secrets than Lt. Han can.

Their small spy ring seems to be doing quite well, but suspicion eventually falls on Han. He and his team decide that they will attempt to cripple northern army by bringing down the administration in Seoul. They plan not to simply assassinate the members of the communist party working in city hall, but to bring down the building itself in a series of explosions. To make this work, will require everyone to know his or her part and for everything to go off without a hitch.  Of course, it wouldn’t be a movie if there wasn’t a hitch…

I found this movie to be quite good, although I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been directed by a different director. Kim Shi-hyeon’s style of directing is a little choppy and too much importance is given to people who turn out to be minor characters while not developing some other characters at all. For example, the assassin who uses Mi-yeong is made to seem like he would be important later in the movie, but he is barely seen again after Mi-yeong is freed from prison. Meanwhile, Lt. Han’s team are all given introductions complete with tight close ups and descriptions of their specialties, but they are never expanded upon after that and are pretty much interchangable.

Shin Seong-il is good as always and Kim Chang-sook does a fair job as Mi-yeong–she tends to be a little too obvious in her ‘furtive’ movements while acting as a spy. However, there is one person who steals the spotlight in every scene she is in. Unfortunately, she is not in anywhere near enough of the movie. That is the officer’s wife who takes in Lt. Han not realizing he is a spy. You can see her in the poster above, baring her cleavage..I will blow that up for you and put it in this paragraph. It is veteran actress Kim Soo-mi in her debut film role. She had debuted on television a few years prior to this winning MBC TV’s ‘Best New Actress’ award in 1972. Kim Soo-mi (or should I call her by her real name, Kim Yeong-ok) played Ae-ja. She takes in Lt. Han after he has jumped from a moving train, offers him something to eat and ten minutes later she is in bed with him. She is motivated entirely by her own selfish needs, not politics. She apparently had thought herself a widow and greets her husband with a shocked expression and a ‘Honey, you’re still alive.’  She asks her husband to wait while she hides Lt. Han whom she has been living with several weeks by that time, into the closet. She is not worried that Han might steal the top secret documents her husband in carrying. She is only concerned that she is not caught in adultry.

Most Korean movies of the 70s have a bad reputation, but I have often found them to be fun to watch. Not just for the actors and actresses, many of whom are still active today, but for the stories themselves. I think it is just a matter of becoming familar with the style of storytelling and accepting the limitations of the film technology available at the time.  A Spy Remaining Behind is not on DVD nor do I expect it to be. But on the off chance it receives a DVD release, give it a chance. You may find yourself enjoying it too.