Wow! Such a good movie.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This was my first-watched Korean anime, from director Seong-Kang Lee, called My Beautiful Girl, Mari (2002). The artwork and the music are truly beautiful. This looked different from much Japanese anime I've seen. In many of those anime they seem to try and hide Japanese facial features (i.e. minimize slanted eyes). In this film the children look Korean. I think it's refreshing.The story is about a withdrawn boy named Nam Woo whose father committed suicide. His mother is starting to date again and he's feeling neglected and ignored; even when the mother tries to arrange outings for her and her son and her new love interest Nam Woo has to be cajoled into going. He'd rather stay home and play with his cat.The boy has one close male friend; they are almost like brothers, however this friend is about to go away to boarding school, leaving Nam Woo feeling even more deserted by the people he loves. His grandmother has a heart attack and is sent to the hospital. Possibly another death in the family.Dealing with all the angst of growing up is never easy and so begins the strange adventure, whether real or imagined - it's never fully revealed, between Nam Woo and a beautiful voiceless girl who appears before him whenever he visits the top of the local lighthouse and rubs a marble with a tiny female image inside. Mari lives on the back of a giant white-pink dog who appears in the sky like a cloud. She takes Nam Woo on beautiful journeys and helps him to heal from his loneliness and sense of abandonment.Nam Woo's friend's father owns a charter boat and one day he's out doing an extra run to make money for his son's school tuition, when a huge storm appears over the water and shoreline. Nam Woo implores his friend to come with him and they run to the lighthouse, hoping that Mari can stop the storm and prevent the man's death. But Mari won't come when Nam Woo rubs the marble. The lighthouse is breaking up and it looks like a tidal wave is about to hit. Suddenly a bolt of lightning hits the lighthouse and Mari descends from on high, spreading a veil of peace, light, and beauty around everyone, calming the sea. The friend's father is saved.The friend goes off to his new school on the train, and as a parting gift Nam Woo hands him a little box. Inside is the treasured marble.Several years pass and Nam Woo and his friend are grown men. They have jobs in different parts of the country. The friend makes an effort to visit Nam Woo however -- and at the train station where they say goodbye the friend hands Nam Woo back the little box with the marble inside.Perhaps My Beautiful Girl Mari was a little slow at the start, but it's a dreamy, relaxing picture and so you should be prepared to be in a quiet room when you watch it, without disturbances, so you can enjoy its particular style of magic. 9 out of 10. If you love anime, don't miss it.

"My Beautiful Girl Mari" tells the story, or requiem if you will, of young Nam-woo's fast approaching adulthood, and the growing fear we all experienced growing up of ending up alone if we ever left that fantasy world that is our childhood were imagination is always company in the most bitter of days. We are softly submerged into a memory-like setting as the movie opens with what I would describe as one of the most haunting and calming intro montages I have ever seen in an animated film of this nature. You fly away on the path of a seagull, and for a moment you're thinking of your own life and memories with no motive; as Lee Byeong-Woo's opening score paints familiar images and summons warm thoughts of a beautiful memory that's past.You are introduced to Nam-woo, a young boy living a simple life in the beautiful coast of South Korea. There we meet other simple subjects like his young caring mother, his pet cat Yo, his grumpy grandmother, and best friend Jun-ho. They are all at a turning point in their lives. Nam-woo's mother is starting to date again after her husband's death. The grandmother is ailing quickly and trying to guide in the right path those she will leave behind. Nam-woo himself, deals with abandonment issues, after the death of his father, the though of his mother moving on with another man therefore forgetting him and his father; and the upcoming departure of his best friend as their lives as kids end and adulthood begins. As with most kids Nam-woo finds comfort in his own fantasies embodied by an angel-like girl and the world she inhabits who represent a more enduring and lasting bond. But as reality happens and nature runs its course fantasies fade, and Nam-woo must move on with the rest of his loved ones despite his wishes that the things he loves would never leave him.This is probably something most of us still deal with … things and people in our lives we refuse to let go. The character Nam-woo embodies that notion in a most realistic and gripping way. His loneliness and refusal of closeness with others by fear of abandonment is something many kids his age experience and later endure as grown ups. And I like very much the approach of this movie to these issues, in where there is not necessarily a happy compromise or an absolution; instead a world of options and question marks we might or might not figure out for the sake of the rest of our lives.Exquisite animation, haunting score, reflective subjects, and a calming escape for the mind are all part of what this work of art has to offer to those seeking something more meaningful in animation. Reminiscent of other great works such as "Whisper of The Heart", and as refreshing and inspiring as a Ghibli film; this beautiful story from Korea shows that everyone out there has visions of animation just as pure and resonant as the big boys.

Its been a week since I've seen this movie and it still haunts me. In its way its one of the finest animated films I've seen. Its not perfect and I'm not certain that its for everyone but for those who it clicks with will find that they have found a new friend.The story is told mostly in flashback.It concerns the summer when two boyhood friends were just about to be separated. As they prepare to be apart for the first time they find their lives are changing rapidly. Added into the mix are flights of fantasy, perhaps, as first one and then both boys are pulled into a strange world.What exactly transpires isn't wholly clear, which is fine, since this is essentially the memories of one of the adults of that magic summer. What happens, fantastic or not is simply reported as real, and we are forced to sort out if its real or not. Memory plays tricks and we don't remember everything, or even always correctly. You could say that how one sees the film marks what sort of person you are.This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. There is a quality to the films images that has rarely been equaled in animated film. Several times the sheer beauty of what I was seeing brought me to tears.The best part of the film is how it makes you feel like a child. Things transpire and you FEEL what its like to be a child. This is not an intellectual knowing that this is what its like to be a child, rather the film physically makes you FEEL what its like. I can't explain it other than to say its pure magic. I've seen literally tens of thousands of films and I've never felt like this ever.Perhaps the only downside to the film is the odd nature of the telling. As I said things are not always instantly clear with what's happening. This is particularly noticeable at the start of the film where are characters are adults and they speak rather obliquely about whats going on. There is also several moments in main narrative where things seem a bit odd. While the oddness passes there is a lingering feeling, oh so very very minor, that something is amiss.But the flaws are minor quibbles. This is one of the great animated films and proof that not all the best animation is coming from America or Japan. If you get the chance see this movie. There is something very special about it.

South Korea is a country mostly known in the animation industry for provided low cost labor in the completion of animation from other countries. Mari Iyagi is one, bright, shining attempt to show the originality and amazing work that Korean animators are capable of. It's a lone gun in the ambitiousness of such a project, and sadly, due to it's disappointing box office figures, may be for a long time.To describe the visual style of the film, I can only say to take a little touch of Samurai Jack, a heaping helping of Myazaki, and a dash of Waking life (minus the lack of fluidity in animation and pretentiousness of story) to flavor. Then realize that doesn't begin to describe the unique look of this film, that can't be classified as traditional, digital, or 3d. It's a remarkable blend of Flash, Traditional, rotoscoping, and 3D Studio Max that captures both realistic environments and fantasy worlds like none other. The story builds up nicely, until it reaches the end and never goes anywhere, but for all the times it made me laugh out loud, feel for a character, or gape in awe, I forgave it.It's not looking as though this film will get much of a release outside Korea, but if you ever get the chance to see it, don't let it slip by.