BOY MEETS BOY (Korean Gay Short - No Dialogue)

[darcolover55]

BOY MEETS BOY
Starring "Kim Hye-Seong", "Lee Hyeon-Jin" and "Ye Ji-Won"
Directed by "Kim Jho Kwang-Soo"

Lovely Score with crazy disco fantasy sequence.
Beautifully shot.

Very sweet story of a surprising first love and the complicated and universal nature of adolescence.

Boy Meets Boy - PART 1




Boy Meets Boy - PART 2

[amber80]

Uhm... ok, that piece of music in the middle was a bit weird...

[dalia]

I love this little short. Just adorable. It is based on the director's own experience. He's following it up with a longer short, which is also based on his own experiences. And it looks very cute as well.

[HQ75]

Is it the same director as Boy Meets Boy?
I couldn't find any information about the film "Just Friends"
I'd love to know more.

[dalia]

yes, it's the same director. ^^

here is some more information on the film:
www.dramabeans.com/2009/06/kim-jo-gwang-soos-second-queer-film-friends/

[HQ75]

Yay. Thank you so much!

[Nitty]

The overused sound-effects in the "Just Friends" trailer are so funny! ;D

[jojo]

I loved Boy meets Boy, i just wished it was a bit longer but its was still great no matter what.

The Just Friends film looks great, im defitnetly looking foward to see it.

[cosmic]

"Just Friends" is up on YouTube now ;D Just search "Just Friends Korean movie" (embedding the video here would be against the rules, right??). It's in 6 parts, with the first 3 parts being the actual short film and the last 3 parts a making-of segment. However, there are no subtitles For most of the short it's fairly easy to guess what's going on (although, I do have a tiny bit of knowledge of Korean, just a tiny bit, so for someone with no knowledge it might possibly be more difficult?). Also, I don't know how much it might change your viewing of the short, but if you don't already know: in South Korea it is mandatory that males age 19-35 serve a 2 year stint in the military.

Overall, I thought "Just Friends" was cute and sweet But one thing I did find a bit odd was *spoilers* when the guys had their indoor prelude-to-sex scene, to me their kissing looked passionate and realistic; open mouth with tongue and all. But when they had outdoor kissing scenes, the kissing was veeery subdued; close mouth and slight pressing together of the lips, almost more like "posing" than kissing. I'm not saying they need to be sucking each others faces off all the time, lol, but even a little pucker of the lips would seem more realistic than just flatly touching lips. I was left wondering if maybe the actors were just nervous to be kissing on the sidewalk in front of a bunch of strangers passing by, so they held back. Or if maybe the director intentionally told them to hold back. In an early scene, MinSu (the boy who is in the army) and LeeSeok (the other boy) are outside and MinSu leans in like he is going to kiss LeeSuk. LeeSeok sort of freezes up and glances around like he's scared someone will see them. So perhaps the director told them to hold back when they were kissing in public, as a character trait? Anyone who's watched the short, what do you think about it?

[Veanar]

Boy Meets Boy was very cute, I liked the effects they used.
But the "Fairy-thing" kind of ruined it for me.. I was all like "What the heck?" xD

Ohh, and I just saw the trailer of "Just Friends", didn't understand it at all but it looks like a nice film.. Now I want to see it! Haha.

[Veanar]

Feb 19, 2010 2:43:25 GMT -5 cosmic said:

Overall, I thought "Just Friends" was cute and sweet But one thing I did find a bit odd was *spoilers* when the guys had their indoor prelude-to-sex scene, to me their kissing looked passionate and realistic; open mouth with tongue and all. But when they had outdoor kissing scenes, the kissing was veeery subdued; close mouth and slight pressing together of the lips, almost more like "posing" than kissing. I'm not saying they need to be sucking each others faces off all the time, lol, but even a little pucker of the lips would seem more realistic than just flatly touching lips. I was left wondering if maybe the actors were just nervous to be kissing on the sidewalk in front of a bunch of strangers passing by, so they held back. Or if maybe the director intentionally told them to hold back. In an early scene, MinSu (the boy who is in the army) and LeeSeok (the other boy) are outside and MinSu leans in like he is going to kiss LeeSuk. LeeSeok sort of freezes up and glances around like he's scared someone will see them. So perhaps the director told them to hold back when they were kissing in public, as a character trait? Anyone who's watched the short, what do you think about it?

I just watched it.
It was so cute! I didn't understand any of what was being sad, but the cute scenes made up for it.. Now to the white parts.. I loved it when they held hands and ran away all laughing..
And yeah, I think the director told them to hold back, since people aren't very accepting there.. So they would have to portray their relationship less. That's the impression I got.. And maybe they were scared off other negative reactions since they were interrupted by that woman, who didn't react that positivite.. But I still think their outside kisses were cute.

[cosmic]

Feb 23, 2010 8:18:20 GMT -5 Veanar said:

I just watched it.
It was so cute! I didn't understand any of what was being sad, but the cute scenes made up for it.. Now to the white parts.. I loved it when they held hands and ran away all laughing..
And yeah, I think the director told them to hold back, since people aren't very accepting there.. So they would have to portray their relationship less. That's the impression I got.. And maybe they were scared off other negative reactions since they were interrupted by that woman, who didn't react that positivite.. But I still think their outside kisses were cute.

The woman is MinSu's mother.

...Perhaps I can explain about the plot, or what I understood/assumed based on what little Korean I know ^^ There are definitely some parts that won't make much sense unless you know a few Korean words, or can type it up and run it through a translator haha. Ok, get ready for a wall of beige to highlight...

The boy on the bus in the beginning is LeeSeok. He's going to visit MinSu who is in the army serving his mandatory 2 years military service. When LeeSeok gets to the army base, he has to fill out a visitor form. That's what you see him writing/filling out. On the visitor form you have to write what your relation is to the person you're visiting. LeeSeok writes "ae-in" which can be translated as "lover" or "boyfriend"/"girlfriend" depending on the gender of the person. However, it's technically illegal for gays to serve in the military in S.Korea, but if no one knows then they can't stop you. LeeSeok realizes his mistake and tries to get another visitor form to fill out, but the guy at the desk won't give him a new form, so he just crosses out his mistake and writes "friend" next to it.

The woman they are with for most of the short is MinSu's mom. I guess he didn't know she was coming, hence why he and LeeSeok were so surprised when she first showed up: in the scene where they were sitting at the table and you can hear a woman off screen say "MinSu-ya!", then MinSu faces the voice and says "Mom?!". Next we see LeeSeok, MinSu, and MinSu's mom at what I assume is a hotel room that MinSu's mom rented to stay in while she was visiting her son. LeeSeok says he's a "friend" of MinSu, but MinSu's mom has no idea who LeeSeok is. I suppose MinSu has never mentioned him.

When LeeSeok and MinSu are outside eating the candies, the little slip of paper that MinSu pulls out of the candy box is, I'm pretty sure, a notification of when LeeSeok's military service time will be. After MinSu sees the paper, LeeSeok keeps saying "ppalli" which means like, "hurry", "fast", "quick", etc. So I think he's saying like he wants to get his service over with as soon as possible?

Next we see LeeSeok, MinSu, and MinSu's mom outside. MinSu is walking LeeSeok to the bus station. While they're on their way, I'm not sure what they were talking about, but LeeSeok mentions "military gay couple" XD. When they're at the bus station, for whatever reason (maybe the last bus has already ran?) LeeSeok can't leave, so he ends up spending the night at the hotel room with MinSu and his mom.

The next day MinSu's mom is going somewhere, probably shopping? LeeSeok and MinSu gleefuly race back to the hotel room to have some private time ; ) I don't know how long MinSu's been in the military at the point in time of this short, but seeing as he has to serve 2 years, he and LeeSeok probably haven't gotten to see each other very often and when they have, I get the feeling they probably weren't able to be intimate since it might seem a bit suspicious if they went and rented a hotel room just the two of them...So there was probably a lot of pent up sexual energy they were happy to release lol. And how cute was it when MinSu teased LeeSeok about having Mickey Mouse underwear? XD I couldn't pick up anything they were saying at that part, but just the tone of voice was easy enough to understand that it was teasing. Then they get caught when MinSu's mom comes back because she forgot her wallet.

Then there's that scene with the woman and LeeSeok talking at that street food stand. This is the only part where I was totally confused! I can make out what the woman is saying, but I'm not totally sure what it all means. And most of what LeeSeok says is so mumbled, I can't get hardly any of it. I'm pretty sure they had both been drinking, from all the empty bottles we see on the counter. From what I can understand, the woman says she didn't know that someone was gay (I'm not sure if she's talking about the guy she went to visit in the army, or LeeSeok, or herself, or whoever else). LeeSeok asks if she really didn't know, then I think the woman asks how/why she didn't know. The woman keeps saying she's stupid, and LeeSeok I think says he's stupid too. The woman says "I know" then something about about being female and hating something...that whole scene really confused me :/

Next, during the musical number where MinSu is singing to his mom in the church, part of the lyrics are "eomma nan namja-ga johayo" which can mean "mom I like men" or "mom I love a man". It's his big confession song~

In the next scene LeeSeok wakes up after having spent the night sleeping outside of the apartment of MinSu's mom (it's probably where MinSu lives as well, when he's not in the military).

Then we see MinSu show up at LeeSeok's work. LeeSeok asks why MinSu is there, they say a bit more, but everyone talks really fast in this scene so I can't really pick up much. Inside they are talking to LeeSeok's boss. I guess she gives LeeSeok the afternoon off? When they realize waiting around for traffic to clear isn't working, MinSu finally says "let's go" and grabs LeeSeok's hand to start running down the sidewalk. The voice-over we hear is MinSu talking to his mom on the phone.

If you sit through all the credits, there's a short part at the end that's set in the future. At this point, LeeSeok is now in the military and MinSu is visiting him. MinSu asks something about the squad (group of soldiers) being hard, LeeSeok reassures him that "it's fine". They continue to talk when, off-camera, you hear a woman say "son!". The boys turn to face the woman and LeeSeok says "Mom?!"...And so the coming out process starts all over.

Oh my god, that came out way longer than I thought it would

[dalia]

i'm waiting for the subtitled version (i have no idea how they got this and put it on youtube, because it is not on dvd yet). i'm being strong and resisting temptation. but i heard it is good, so i can't wait.

[Veanar]

Feb 25, 2010 3:46:53 GMT -5 cosmic said:

Feb 23, 2010 8:18:20 GMT -5 Veanar said:

I just watched it.
It was so cute! I didn't understand any of what was being sad, but the cute scenes made up for it.. Now to the white parts.. I loved it when they held hands and ran away all laughing..
And yeah, I think the director told them to hold back, since people aren't very accepting there.. So they would have to portray their relationship less. That's the impression I got.. And maybe they were scared off other negative reactions since they were interrupted by that woman, who didn't react that positivite.. But I still think their outside kisses were cute.

The woman is MinSu's mother.

...Perhaps I can explain about the plot, or what I understood/assumed based on what little Korean I know ^^ There are definitely some parts that won't make much sense unless you know a few Korean words, or can type it up and run it through a translator haha. Ok, get ready for a wall of beige to highlight...

The boy on the bus in the beginning is LeeSeok. He's going to visit MinSu who is in the army serving his mandatory 2 years military service. When LeeSeok gets to the army base, he has to fill out a visitor form. That's what you see him writing/filling out. On the visitor form you have to write what your relation is to the person you're visiting. LeeSeok writes "ae-in" which can be translated as "lover" or "boyfriend"/"girlfriend" depending on the gender of the person. However, it's technically illegal for gays to serve in the military in S.Korea, but if no one knows then they can't stop you. LeeSeok realizes his mistake and tries to get another visitor form to fill out, but the guy at the desk won't give him a new form, so he just crosses out his mistake and writes "friend" next to it.

Oh my god, that came out way longer than I thought it would

LOL, I'm quoting you, but I'll remove some parts so that this post won't be as long. xD
Thanks for the info! It all makes sense now.

[Veanar]

After watching "Just Friends" I couldn't resist doodling Seok-i..
(That's his name, right? My spelling is absolutely crap. xD)

[cosmic]

Feb 26, 2010 9:41:01 GMT -5 Veanar said:

(That's his name, right? My spelling is absolutely crap. xD)

Aww~ Good job!! ;D

Well, on the visitor form that he fills out, he writes his name as "이석" which would be literally transcribed as "I-seok", but a more common Romanization (writing using the Latin alphabet) to see would probably be "LeeSuk" or "LeeSeok"...Korean is not a language that lends itself well to Romanization. Even though there is a "formal" Romanization standard, a lot of people don't follow it, so you can end up with multiple spellings for the same name lol.

Anyway, yeah, I think he was called Seok-i a few times in the short, as a nickname (which is pretty funny to my English-speaking ears since it sounds like "sucky" xD). It's fairly common to add an "i" (ee) sound to the end of someone's name as a sort of cutesy nickname.