Mal Moe-E is a 2019 historical drama film directed and written by Eom Yuna while starring Yoon Kye Sang,(G.O.D's singer turned actor) veteran actor Yu Hae Jin, Kim Sun Young, Kim Tae Hoon, Kim Hong Fa, Woo Hyeon, and, Min Jin Woong. The film's title comes from an old Korean saying that means to "collect vocabulary words." Director Eom had a bit of push back when choosing the title as people around her thought that the Korean public wouldn't understand the film's title. Mal Moe-E ended up debuting at the top of the Korean box office selling over a million tickets last year.
A group of people come together in order to try preserving the Korean language under Japanese rule in the 1940s. Japan invaded Korea at this time attempting to reforming Korean culture and society. This fact still didn't stop these people from having great pride in who they are as Koreans even if it meant their deaths.
Mal Moe-E isn't the kind of film I would have been looking to watch had it not been for Yoon Kye Sang being casted in a leading role. I ran over buying this film for over a week until I finally broke down and did so. Much of the film's backstory deals with the true history of a language society that made a Korean dictionary in secret during Japan's rule over Korea. The dictionary still exists in a museum to this day, being updated over the centuries. What's so great about this whole piece of South Korea's history is that Korean people fought to keep the language their ancestors passed on to them. Recreating this part of history could have simply formed a cheesy result of a film where Korean people feel "proud to be Korean" like all those other Korean films that are so sappy with patriotic messaging that I think i'm Korean after watching them. These people's mission to protect their language isn't about sending a message to feel sorry for what Korea went through or to push a "Japan is bad" kind of message. Eom just tells the story in the most entertaining way possibly. There's a mix of drama, comedy, and of course historic elements thrown at the viewer. You don't have to know the historical context to full understand Mal Moe-E but I do recommend viewers to research a tiny bit about Korea/Japan's past relationship. Nothing about what Japan did to Korea was honorable to say the least. Some Koreans's strong hate for Japan is understandable especially looking at some of the trade problems Korea had with Japan last year. What I like is that this film doesn't try to ignite emotions of rage unlike other Korean films. Eom gives just enough Japanese bad guy antics to establish a driving motive for the characters. The good and the bad balance out evenly though. Good times come in laughably interactions between the characters that are upbeat in contrast to what is going on right outside their door. I have a good knowledge of Korean language so I was invested in my viewing experience too. Some people may not be like me and find other reasons to love Mal Moe-E. Still, by the ending credits, you will have experience a "somewhat" fun history lesson about Korea that you can impress Koreans you meet by knowing a little bit about it. Kpop loving folks should have a small understanding of Korea's past at least. If you don't, that's kind of sad….. Korea's not only Kpop, You know?
Yoon Kye Sang and Yu Hae Jin's performances make the film, no doubt about it. This could have been a very very dull film if the actors hadn't had the right chemistry acting together. Both men feed off of each other in their rightful characters. Yu Hae Jin brings more comedic relief to the film. Yoon Kye Sang is more of the up standing kind of guy who learns of to loosen up. Each man learns from the other as they work toward a common goal. The rest of the cast were good support to the story. I'm always interested in hearing Korean actors play Japanese people. Listening to the Japanese lines are always fun.
Reviewers online said that Mal Moe-E wasn't the kind of film that you would watch more than once. I don't agree in the least. While watching Mal Moe-E, I learned a lot about a language society that did such a good service to Korea as a whole. I wonder if they know how much good they really did before they passed away? I have the same thoughts about all the black heroes who did so much for Black people in our present day……
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