Very disappointed :(

One of my all time favorites.

Film Perfection

Dreadfully Boring

I've seen Korean movies that get pretty "emotional", but this one did a great job of balancing the hard and heavy parts with the light hearted depiction of someone's life.You may wonder why and how could I say this movie isn't a seemingly intentionally-tear-jerking tryhard movie?My grandpa's family lived north of the border when the war broke. He had lost a single parent, and as his older brother was in the south of the border when the war started, he became the dedault head. He took care of 5 younger siblings when North Korea forced him to join their side in the Korean war. He however defected to the South, and he began looking for his brother but his brother was kIA. He was not even 20 years old at this point. As a result, he lived in the south with no family and no home. The only time I've seen my grandpa cry was when he talked about his youngest sister he hasn't seen since she was 5.So in many regards, this movie wasn't an intentionally tear jerking teagedy, it was a tragedy because it was reflecting reality of that time.

I watched this film with my mom and she was so drawn in. She and the main character comes from the same generation. I think that while watching this movie, my mom and people her age understand a lot more than I know how it feels to live a hard life and to build up your family from nothing. Although my mom isn't a Korean, she can relates to those days when the oldest child of the family have to sacrifice happiness in his or her life for the younger ones. I think this is a film with a big heart and I'm glad that it was created because younger people can learn to appreciate and understand their parents or grandparents more. It is beautifully filmed, well-acted, and contain a story that is somehow feel "real" to me although many scenes are too intentionally sentimental. It makes you feel what is like to be someone who live in that generation. It makes you appreciate and understand older people in your family much more. The story goes through a whole life of a person but I don't feel that it's too long. There are moments of tears and moments of laughter, you can both cry and smile while watching it. I highly recommend this film for both the older and the younger generation in your family.

What a beautiful movie. By far the best Korean movie I have ever seen. It starts with flashback of an old man's story, gets separated from his father and sister when he was a small guy. While separating from his father, the father entrusts him with the responsibility of the entire family. The entire story revolves around this. He strives very hard, travels places, makes his brother and sister study in University, etc. It's a beautifully narrated movie. One must watch it. One more special character in this movie is hi is friend who accompanies him during fights, war, mining, etc. He is also an interesting character. Probably without him the entire movie would look a little incomplete.Overall, a truly entertaining, beautiful and mesmerizing movie. It makes you to go back to your roots. Amazed... Thank you.

I love watching Korean movies. There is always something new to be discovered and their narratives can be out of this world in terms of inventiveness, crazy story lines, hard-hitting action, high melodrama and kinetic energy. If you have seen enough of Korean cinema, you will probably know your love for the current Korean flick is only there during the duration. The moment it ends, all memories of the film start to dissipate into oblivion. These are usually the dime in a dozen type of film. Ode to My Father belongs in the category of the 'two'. This one got the emotional beats spot on with nary any overt manipulativeness (which is a wonder) and it is easily one of the best films I have seen this year. Synopsis - Amid the chaos of refugees fleeing the Korean War in December 1950, a young boy, Duk- soo, sees his fate change in the blink of an eye when he loses track of his younger sister and he leaves his father behind to find her. Settling in Busan, Duk-soo devotes himself to his remaining family, working all manner of odd jobs to support them in place of his father. His dedication leads him first to the deadly coal mines of Germany, where he meets his first love, Youngja, and then to war-torn Vietnam in this generational epic about one man's personal sacrifices.Review - This film is ambitious in wanting to depict 60 years of tumultuous history through the life of one man. IMHO the movie manages to do just that. I like the strong sense of place and time. The staging of the epic scenes is so outstanding, I was easily pulled into the story. Absolutely love that refugee fleeing scene of Hungnam in 1951 which later becomes part of North Korea. It was heartbreaking to see how a pair of sister and brother get separated in the chaos. I also love the brilliant use of flashbacks to move the plot. How the flashbacks are triggered is seamlessly and creatively done. Jeong-min Hwang (of New World fame) who plays Duk-soo, gives his character a cheeriness balanced with a sense of dogged purpose. His positive energy is affable and infectious, and his stubborn bickering with his wife and good friend, the source of many jokes. Dal-su Oh, Korea's busiest supporting actor plays Duk-soo's best friend, Dal-gu through the years. Their relationship is painted with much comedic strokes and full-hearted poignancy without those usual skull-numbing stylistics. The immediate film you will no doubt compare this Korean film with is Forrest Gump which isn't a bad thing. But the similarity is only with its use of historical events. With Forrest Gump, a man is sanctified to God-like status and he unknowingly changes history, but with this one it doesn't walk that path. This is a story of a man whose his father's parting words at Hungnam haunts him to his core and he would take the entire duration of his life to live up to his father's words. The movie maintains an even tone throughout and I feel it is the historical events that change him. This is a film possessing a remarkable balance of sentimentality and harshness, light and darkness.