Korean Movie: Josee - 조제

 I was wondering what ever happened to Nam Joo-hyuk.  Last drama I saw was last year's "Twenty Five Twenty One" which I loved.  I didn't know he had gone into the military March 2023 and is due to be released Sept 2024.  I wonder why not the full 2 years.  Gonna have to research that.

I happened upon this movie from 3 years ago on Viki.  I will watch this one tomorrow.  It's just under 2 hrs.

Death's Game - 이재, 곧 죽습니다 - Episode 1 DEATH

I love Seo In-guk.  I think he's hot and he's also a really good actor.  Even so, I did start to watch one of his dramas that I really didn't like much.  I don't think I ever made it past the first episode but I did not abandon it for good.  I plan to go back again.

So, when this drama starts, Seo In-guk is Choi Yee-Jae and you see him get shot in the head.  From there the story goes back to when he was still in school. He is on the phone with his girlfriend as he's on his way to a job interview.  After he gets off the phone with her, as he's walking to the interview, a man comes running by and kind of bumps into him as he runs out into the traffic and stands in front of a truck that strikes him and bounces him onto the sidewalk right in front of Yee-Jae.  He frantically runs over to the man.  The man grabs onto Yee Jae's arm and he dies.  Yee Jae is freaked out.  Next scene he is at the job interview and he is seated with 3 other candidates.  The scene starts off with one of the men calling Yee Jae's name and asks him to answer the question.  Yee Jae, who is still in shock, asks the man to please repeat the question and the man moves on to the next candidate.  Yee Jae fails to get the position.

Since that failure, he had a difficult time getting a job so he takes on part time work where he can so he can survive and pay off his student loan.  Seven years later, he gets the opportunity to apply for a position at the same company he failed at.  Things appear to go well but upon leaving, he gets a phone call from someone asking him if he had invested money with this guy because it seems he ended up losing all the money people had given him and he ran away.  Yee Jae loses his mind and goes to the guy's apartment and bangs on the door.  He flies into a rage and makes a scene at the complex and he gets reported to the police.  At the police station, the cop tells him there's nothing they can do about him losing his money.  He invested his money willingly believing he was going to make a profit but it ended up being a loss, under Korean law, there is nothing they can do about that.

Yee Jae believes his bad luck and shitty life goes back to when he saw that man die in front of him.  Being a failure, he decides to take his own life by jumping off a building.  Next scene, he's on an airplane but with a different face.  He freaks out and then notices a woman in sunglasses sitting across from him.  She introduces herself as Death.  She says he has sinned and he's going to be punished by dying 12 times.  His soul will enter the bodies of 12 people facing imminent death and he will end up dying regardless of which body he wakes up in.  She wants him to experience for himself how painful death can be.  If he manages to avoid the deaths that they face, he may carry on living.  If he avoids death in one of those bodies, he will live the rest of his life in that body.  Yee Jae says he doesn't want to live because life has been hell.  Death asks him if he thinks death is the end of it all.  It is only the beginning.

Angel Flight - One Final Thought...

After watching the last episode to the very end, I'm praying for another series.  The way it ended...there MUST be another series.

Angel Flight - Episode 6 - THE FINAL JOURNEY WITH HER MOTHER

 I guess part of this story is going to be what happens between Rinko and her mother.  

As this episode starts, There's a village and Rinko's mother is laying down on a bed.  She has a net all around her.  It doesn't say where she is.  It doesn't look like a hospital though.  She reaches over to grab a pen and paper but it falls to the floor.  They then cut to Rinko in a coffin.  Turns out the team is taking pictures to send to an Argentinian company to show them how they arrange bodies.  Rinko says she's uncomfortable and Nami tells her, "Just close your eyes and be dead". Lol  Nami has an idea to put the cover on and take a picture like that but she pulls her back trying to lift the lid from against the wall.

The walkie talkie in the room goes off and calls Rinko to the office. When she gets there, the staff tell Rinko her mother has passed away.  Nami tells her to go be with her.  She's asked where will she go and Rinko said "her home? the hospital?" but they tell her she's not there.  She's in Mocomoco.  Shusuke tells her it's near Lake Titicaca (in Bolivia).

This may end up being a resolution episode for Rinko and her mother.  I wonder if it'll address Nami and her fiancee.  I do hope there is a season 2.  This was a great little mini series.  Even though the stories were all heartbreaking and sad, it was well done.

I have to opine on something I read online when I was just starting out with the episode in the made up town in Africa.  Someone had a blog where they were writing about dramas.  Kind of like me but he/she was summarizing up her opinions on each episode in 1 post while I've broken down my posts per episode.  It's more organized for me that way.  Anyway, he/she mentioned how the episode in South Africa was a little racist in how black people were portrayed as terrorists.  I didn't see it that way.  There was more he/she said about it but I didn't care to read any more.  I don't think it was intentional when they did that.  

Great mini series.  I want more.

I think I'll be watching Death's Game next week!

Angel Flight - Episode 05 - NAMI VS A MOST DEVILISH WOMAN

 This episode starts out with Rinko on a bus. While on one hand she tells her mother her boss asked her to return the next day due to a job they have lined up, Nami scolds her for not having stayed with her mother.  Rinko tells her the surgery went well and her mother told her to go back to work.  While at the airport, the famous "Lily" arrives and the press hounds her.  She's a young woman, maybe in her late 30s?  I'm not really good guessing ages.  She arrives with a much much older man.  Back at the office, the team clues in Rinko on who Lily really is.  She married a much older man and days later her died.  She married another older man and he died in an accident.  They believe she more than likely killed them.  While discussing this, someone says the next deceased is about to arrive.  Someone asks from where and someone else says "Cuba".  They cut to Nami and Yuya tells her she should take a break and he'll handle it.  She tells him she's fine; he'll hurt his back.  This obviously has to with her missing fiancee.

Lily runs out of a hotel room and she runs down the hallway.  There's a flashback scene where she is strangling a man on the couch.  She runs away and goes dancing.  The team discusses what happened and it turns out he drowned in the tub.  The body was taken to the hospital and Lily is with him.  Since he's a big Moroccan VIP, Angel Hearse has been given the case.  It'll be funny if it turns out Lily is innocent and just has bad luck with men.  It's certainly looks like she's guilty but dramas have a great way of explaining things!

Nami and Rinko arrive at the hotel to go over things with Lily and she is one cold witch.  She's on the couch smoking not really caring.  Nami said she's come back to discuss the casket and Lily told her to figure it out.  Nami said she heard she didn't identify the body and Lily told her she saw him drowned in the tub, what else should she do?  Damn.  She is cold.  Seems guilty but... maybe she's not?

Angel Flight - Episode 04 - THE VIETNAMESE INTERN WHO LOVED ANIME

E03 was yet another emotional episode.  The stories at the end explaining what happened in the lives of the two deceased characters before they passed made my mouth drop.  I love this about dramas.  You watch the show but then you find out what happened before that got them to a certain point.  Japanese dramas know how to really punch you in the gut with these.

E04 starts with a guy drawing in one scene and a woman sewing in another.  The girl is then seen walking around outside and she's obviously sad.  She stops walking and you can see a tear in her eye. The guy that is drawing is drawing the sad woman and he is crying.  They cut back to the sad woman and there's a truck coming down the road.  It jumps the curb and strikes the woman.

OMG.  I thought she was going to walk in front of it (because she was sad) but turns out it was a freak accident.

In a previous episode, we learn that Rinko has a difficult relationship with her mother.  Her mother had called her and said she was having surgery.  There are forms that need to be filled out and the mother tells her she'll send them over to her if she doesn't want to go there.  Last episode, Rinko remembers her bicycle getting stuck on train tracks when she was a little girl.  The train is approaching and the guardrails are down.  Little Rinko is desperately trying to get her bike off the tracks.  I'm yelling at the TV for her to just leave it when the camera angle changes and you see the guardrail with her mother standing there just looking at little Rinko struggling.  In the beginning of this episode, they revisit the phone call about the forms.

The girl who died in Japan was Vietnamese.  The plan is to cremate her there and then send her home because it's cheaper.  The story goes to Vietnam where an older man is talking to a picture of his deceased wife.  He's asking her if she's met up with their daughter Xuan.  In the background are 2 younger kids, probably about 10 years old.  The man is their father.  They walk over to him and ask if Xuan isn't coming home.  He hugs both of them.

Nothing much has happened and already I'm dying over here because these little kids won't see their older sister again.  Man and kids lost their mother and now the eldest daughter. 

The second story is about a Japanese couple who died in the US while on tour.  Angel Hearse is hired to bring them back.  This team points out "...only those two died on the tour".  Turns out, they were not a couple after all.  They were both at the same hotel, on the same tour and working at different companies. The spouses are enroute on the same flight and they're worried "all hell might break loose".

Nami arrives in Vietnam and sees the girl.  She is given Xuan's backpack and they take us to the moment Xuan was packing that backpack before leaving.  Her father mentions how she took on a huge debt to be able to go work in Japan.  Xuan assures her father it'll be fine.  She will make a lot of money there and she'll be able to send her sibblings to school and she can buy a house for them to live in.  He tells her to be a good girl.  She hugs her brother and sister and then her father helps her put on her backpack.  He tells her to take care of herself.  She walks out the door and waves goodbye.  She walks a few steps, turns around and with a big smile, she waves to her family.  They cut back to Nami loading up Xuan's body into their suv.

Since Nami was mad at Rinko for her "attitude", she left her behind and took Mitsuko with her instead.  Rinko was paired off with Yuya to handle the spouses of the deceased coming back from the US.

Excellent episode again.  You'll learn more about why Nami is so dedicated and what she did for one of her colleagues in the past.

Angel Flight - Episode 3 - A CORPORATION'S FUNERAL OR DINER OKAME?

E02 was just as emotionally exhausting as E01.  One thing is clear to me though...there is no way I could ever do that job.  I'd be crying from clock in to clock out time.  There is no way I could stop crying seeing parents mourning the loss of one of their children.  Or worse, having to bury their only child.  Ugh...there's just no way.

E03 starts off in Seoul. There are 2 business men at a hotel bar talking.  One of the men mentions someone who has been his friend since they were kids.  Then, a young woman in a hotel robe comes running in and asks what is wrong with "him".  She drags the 2 business men to a room.  They walk in and an older gentleman is on the floor faced down.  One of the business men runs over to him and says "president!?" and then they flash back to 1969 where there are 2 kids in a field.  The younger one sees a hearse and he freaks out.  The older one tells him not to be afraid.  His own father's funeral was small with not may people in attendance.  The older boy says there's no way he's going out like that.  He's going to go to Tokyo and become a president of a company and he said he'll let the younger boy work for him.  The young boy is excited and thanks him. "As long as I'm alive, I gotta dream big..." says the older boy.  He tells the younger boy his funeral is going to be huge as people from all over will be there.  He orders the younger one to invite the prime minister or he'll smack him.  The young boy says "Yes, boss!"

The scene goes back to the business man on his knees yelling at the body on the floor.  

Nami and Rinko are in Seoul to escort the body of an older woman who was there for an NCT 127 concert.  After speaking with her son back in Tokyo and telling him she'd be "home tomorrow", she had a heart attack and died.  Due to the typhoon coming, all flights out of Seoul were cancelled and both Nami and Rinko along with their Korean collegue, beg someone at a cargo airline to please take them to Japan.  They have a deceased VIP client.  The cargo airline agrees to take them.

In the meantime, back in Tokyo, Angel Hearse gets a visit from someone at the company where the deceased president was in charge of, and they asked them to please bring back the president's body.  Earlier in the episode, the team was discussing this death and how another company was given the buisness of bringing the president home.  The businessman told Angel Hearse the company they hired said they could not bring the body back due to the typhoon but the foreign ministry recommended Angel Hearse.

Nami tries to get the president on that flight as well but she's told there is no more room.  She's pretty determined to get shit done so, you'll need to watch to find out if she finds a way or not!

Angel Flight - Episode 02 - DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE THWARTED BY TERRORISTS

 After an emotionally exhausting E01, I can't wait to see what this one is about.  The title of this episode doesn't make sense to me right now but maybe once I get into it, it'll explain itself and I'll be more clear on it!

This episode starts in Japan with Nami watching TV at 0200 when she gets a phone call from someone she knows.  She says "terrorism?" and by 1100 she is walking into a meeting room at Haneda Airport (officially known as Tokyo International Airport).  There is a briefing as to what happened in South Africa.  I think it involves a company named Mubadal.  I Googled it looking for a country as it sounded like it was a place not a company.  In reality, there is a company named Mubadala but right now I'm not sure if that's what this company is supposed to be.

The guy doing the briefing says that they have hired Angel Hearse to take care of bringing back the dead Japanese citizens.  He gives Nami the floor and she says a few words.

Soon after we get to know the people who were killed.

One victim was an older gentleman was away on business.  He had told his wife he was going to retire and leave the younger kids to run things.  He said they could make plans to go on a trip to a hot spring.

One victim was a young woman about Rinko's age (according to the conversation she had with the parents).  It was her first time abroad and she had been nervous about going.  In a flashback, the girl's mother said the place was sketchy.

Another victim was a younger man whose father says his son's wife is pregnant. He shows Nami a text from his son that says "I don't feel like a father yet, but when I look at you, I think that I just need to be kinda like you". He then calls his son an "idiot" for dying before his child is born.  They then flashback briefly to 2 months earlier with his son smiling and laughing with his pregnant wife before taking you back to the pregnant wife in the present time.  She is on the couch by herself looking at her phone where there is an article about the families on their way to Mubadal.  She begins to panic.  Her mother appears and tells her she needs to focus only on the baby.  So, at this point, I see Mubadal is a location but it is made up.

Once in Mubadal, Nami and Rinko are taken to an area where the bodies of the 6 deceased Japanese citizens are being kept.  Nami approaches the first bodybag and unzips it to reveal the older gentleman that was away on business.

I'm going to end my post here so I can watch the rest of this episode.  I've watched just under 12 minutes and a lot has happened already!

Sorry for the poor quality pic below of Nami with the first of 6 bodies.  It's so difficult to get a good screenshot nowadays

Angel Flight - Episode 01 SHATTERNED DREAMS IN THE SLUMS - Part 2

I got involved doing other stuff last night and I ended up not having enough time to watch the rest of this first episode. 

Nami and Rinko arrive at HappyLand and we finally learn what happened to Yohei.

Angel Flight - Episode 01 SHATTERNED DREAMS IN THE SLUMS - Part 1

 The drama starts out showing what looks to be slums in Manila, Philippines.  It shows the word  "HAPPY LAND" so I immediately go and look this up.  The Tondo slums in HappyLand is the worst in the Philippines. How they live is heartbreaking.

You can read about it on these 2 sites I went to.
guardian.com HappyLand
lydiascapes HappyLand

So it start out with someone getting their ass kicked in HappyLand until I assume, he is dead.  In the next scene, a worried woman in Tokyo answers her phone. The embassy of Japan in Manila is calling.  Her husband walks in and she says she wonders if their passports have expired.  The husband takes the phone.

The first body to return to Japan is an old man who was traveling in Palau and died there.  You see the body arrive and they open up the temporary coffin to get to the body so they can start working on making him "look handsome" for the family.  When they do open the box, it emits an odor that sends the rookie employee outside to vomit.  The body is full of toilet paper rolls because it was used to soak up the bodily fluids.

The couple from Japan arrive in Manila and are greeted by someone from the embassy of Japan.  The couple is taken to the morgue and are told they need to identify the body.  They are warned that because he died from being assaulted, "it won't be pretty".  The husband tells his wife to stay and he will go and see.  They unzip the body bag and reveal the face.  He walks back outside with an expressionless face and he  confirms to the embassy official that it is his son.  He walks over to his wife and stares straight ahead and says to her "You shouldn't see him" and then walks away.

They flashback to 4 years before with the son putting on his backpack.  As he walks out the door, he turns to his mother and says "I'm never coming back here.  Bye".  The father sits in a chair with that same expressionless face as we see the son walking away.

This is only 11 minutes in and alredy I'm sad.  I get the feeling that the father and son had some issues that caused their only son to leave.  For whatever reason (they better tell us what happened at Happyland that caused him to get beaten to death) he ran off to the Philippines just to come home in a bodybag 4 years later.  That alone breaks my heart.

The employees (one of them is Yuu Shirota) all have these quirky things about them.  The rookie employee who is narrating this story, describes the president of the company as a mafia princess.  She had a few things to say about all of them lol

Angel Hearse is chosen to bring back the body of Sugihara Yohei, the son killed in Manila.  They get word that the body is missing.  The father stands looking at the empty slab and says "He can't cause enough problems, huh? Fool!".  There was definitely some shit going on between Yohei and his father.  So far, his mother has not uttered one word but you can see the pain in her face.

Angel Hearse gets a call from the father and he tells them he doesn't want the body back because he disowned him long ago. "He got what he wanted. So it is what it is. Bye".  Yohei's mother needs to say something soon.  

The president (Nami) isn't having any of it and she goes to Manila and takes Rinko (rookie employee) with her.  Upon their arrival, Nami meets up with the parents at the hotel and tells them she's arranged to meet with some of the Japanese community who knew Yohei and she asks if they would like to have lunch with them.  The father declines saying they're "tired".  So Nami and Rinko go alone.  I'm thinking Yohei may have had some kind of mental illness.  There was a scene where it was explained exactly who Yohei was, why he and his father were estranged and why he left Japan.

This is where I stop telling you more so you can go and watch it.  I tried my best to give you an idea of the show without giving away too much.  Go watch.  If I had a star rating of 1 to 10, so far, this would be a solid 9.

Angel Flight ~ エンジェルフライト

 I love Seo In-guk so when I saw his drama "Death's Game" was available on Amazon, I logged in to add it to my watchlist.  It was there that I saw "Angel Flight" as a recommendation.  The Synopsis, according to Amazon:

"Ryoko Yonerkura stars in this series written by Ryota Kosawa about specialists who transport the deceased back home.  The company Angel Hearse is run by Nami Izawa (Ryoko Yonekura) and Kashiwagi (Kenichi Endo).  A drama thta portrays love between the deceased and the bereaved..."

I usually go and check Asianwiki.com to see who else is in the drama.  I haven't watched Japanese dramas regularly for about close to 10 years so there aren't many actors I recognize.  However, I have seen some of the younger ones I used to watch.  Of course, they are all mature adults now so every now and then I do recognize one! 

I couldn't find anything about this drama on Asianwiki.  I looked at some of the actors and this drama is not listed for any of them.  Weird.  

I still researched some more and found 2 things.

First, I actually recognize one of the actors.  Yuu Shirota.  I remember seeing him in for the first time in Samurai High School which I watched because Haruma Miura (RIP) was in it.  First time I saw Haruma Miura was in Crow's Zero 2.  I had no idea who he was but he was so good looking and I eventually figured out who he was.  It was a little difficult because I don't think he's properly credited for his role.  Crow's Zero 2 is not listed under dramas he's been in.  Anyway, after seeing him in Crow's Zero 2, I found him on Bloody Monday and then Samurai High School where I saw Yuu Shirota.  Glad to see he is in this new drama!

Second thing I found is that Airhearse Interational is a real company.  I accidentally stumbled upon their website when I was looking for more info on the drama.  There's a notice from March 17, 2023 "An Amazon Original Movie "Angel Flight" created under our support and supervision started to be on air".

So, I'm about to watch an episode  and then start Death's Game.