The films that always get me the most emotionally are those that make me laugh and cry.  You are at your most vulnerable when you are doing those two things in a film.  And making you swing back and forth between the two usually is a winning combination for having me connect with the film if you do it well.  Korean director Kim Yeong-tak succeeds in making a film that does both of these things well.  He also successfully camouflages the touching moments, so that you don’t really see them coming and that renders them that much more poignant.

Sang-man (Cha Tae-hyeong - My Sassy Girl) is beyond depressed; he is suicidal.  An orphan from a young age, he was never adopted and has lived out his twenty-something years alone.  He cannot take it anymore.  After having not married, not had a family and losing his job Sang-man has hit bottom.  He is a man who believes he has nothing to live for.

With this in mind he rents a cheap motel room and starts taking a lot of pills.  In tears in the middle of the floor in the sparsely furnished motel room he looks towards the pitcher of water in the middle of the floor.  The fact that it has no water in it makes him cry all the more.  In his mind he cannot do anything right.

Just then the phone rings.  It is the owner of the motel telling Sang-man that his time is up and that if he wants to stay any longer he is going to have to pay $20.  Hanging up the phone Sang-man is even more upset by the fact that he is not being left alone long enough for him to end his own life.  The motel owner then comes in and finds Sang-man on the floor and shouts at him that he doesn’t want him dying in his motel.

When Sang-man wakes up he is in the hospital.  He is very upset that he was not successful in his suicide attempt.  While there he begins to see people that no one else can.  A crying woman (Jang Young-nam), a young boy (Cheon Bo-geun), an older man who really likes pretty women (Lee Moon-su), and a chain smoking middle aged man (Ko Chang-seok).  Despite the fact that the hospital workers and the psychiatrist find him crazy, Sang-man is eventually released.

Once in his apartment he begins to understand that the four are ghosts.  A little frightened at first he doesn’t react much.  He begins to understand that each of them is taking turns inhabiting his body causing people around him to think he is quite loony.  And they will not let him kill himself as they need his body.

As time goes on he wants to know what they want and how he can get rid of them.  He consults with a psychic that tells him that they will not leave him until he fulfills their last desires.

Sang-man goes about trying to grant their last wish each, so he can get rid of them and end his life. In peace.

Obviously you can see the humour in the situation of a man who has four demanding ghosts of different ages and sexes asking him to do things for them.  One wants him to get a camera back for him from a dishonest cop while another (the young boy) has an insatiable appetite especially for candy, which ends up making Sang-man quite sick as he has always been a healthy eater.

The touching parts comes when, through the crazy things the four ghosts get him to do, Sang-man begins connecting with the world around him.  Especially a pretty young nurse he meets named Jung (Kang Hye-wong - first film).  Through all this he begins to enjoy life and forgets that he is depressed enough to want to kill himself.

The ending came as a shock to me.  A wonderful shock.  One I did not see coming.  Tears will be falling from your eyes as you watch with a smile on your face.  It is that enjoyable and easy to connect with.

Like I said previously, the emotion in the film caught me off guard and really affected me.  I set myself up for a light comedy and got that plus some real touching moments.  Well done, Kim Yeong-tak!

I have read that American director Chris Columbus (Home Alone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) is going to remake the film.  Might work.  Might not.  I hope he does it justice because bringing it to a wider audience, but not doing it well would be a shame.