Big Screen Korean Madness with Subtitles

I said I'd call my book "The Benefits of Knowing Half-Assed Korean" if I ever wrote about my experiences here. I think I changed my mind. The title of this post sounds pretty good.

Anyway, I went to a DVD bawng for the first time this weekend. Recall from my post about video games that "bawng" means room. A DVD bawng is a place where you rent a room to, oddly, watch DVDs. It's cooler than it sounds.

First off, the screen that you watch the movies on is huge. I'd say it's about 5 feet by 8 feet. Big. Second, you get to sit on a comfy couch while you watch the movies. Mmmm, nice. Third and most importantly for me, you can get them to turn on the subtitles for you.

So, I've lived in Korea for four months now. I'm a film buff, who has a penchant for foreign films. And there are award winning Korean movies playing around me all the time. Why, you say, has it taken you four months to see a Korean film? Subtitles.

Sure, the movies are playing around all the time, but they play in Korean. My Korean isn't even close to good enough to keep up with a movie. I can barely carry on a half-assed conversation, and even when I do, there are a lot of "moolayo" (I don't understand) and "chawn chawn he" (slowly) thrown in.

But come on, you say, you get paid a shit load, why didn't you just buy a DVD player and turn on your own damn subtitles? Because I already have a VCR, and although I get paid a lot, a DVD player falls down the priority list because I'm saving for a computer right now (with a DVD rom that I can watch movies with).

Still, you say, you've been there four months. Did it honestly take you that long to find a DVD bawng? If you can believe it, it actually did. I've known about DVD bawngs for a while. I've been looking for one for about three months. I even have had offers to show me where they are (but the offers never followed through). I don't understand it: DVD bawngs appear to always be hidden away on the 7th floor of some building that has poor signs on the outside so you can't see a DVD bawng is in there until you are standing on the 7th floor looking right inside its door. These things happen.

Anyway, a friend finally showed me a DVD bawng this weekend. I saw the movie "Taegukgi." It was fantastic. It was the story of two brothers forced to fight in the Korean war. The older brother learns that if he gets a medal, he can ask that his younger brother be allowed to go home. He tries for that medal...and gets it, but things don't quite work out as he plans. The real meat of the story is the exploration of how the older brother changes in his pursuit of the medal, and how that affects the brothers' relationship. I highly recommend it to anyone who can find it.

Well, now I know where a DVD bawng is so I no longer have an excuse. Expect a review of a Korean film posted from time to time....when I can find someone else to go with me. It's too expensive to go on your own (about $10 a room), but not too bad if you split it two, three, or four ways. Good times.

R