No Regret

2006 "Divided by class, united by passion."
6.9| 1h53m| en
Details

Sumin is an orphan trying to balance work in a factory with study at an art college and an evening job. One night, a rich young businessman makes an advance on him during one of his driving jobs.

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Also starring Lee Young-hoon

Reviews

Mjeteconer Just perfect...
Konterr Brilliant and touching
Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Cheryl A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
citronellaa Well this film outlines conservative culture in South Korea that I have heard of from a South Korean. Homosexuality is not widely accepted, men are expected to marry.The film has a kind of strange and dark nature, at times. There is a death, almost a murder, and of course, prostitution. We see the desperation of a man who feels he is not worthy due to his lack of education, and simple rural background, fall into a prostitution ring for money.A man from his previous non-prostitution workplace takes a liking for him, but eventually follows suit, giving into his parents demands - who he is financially dependent on - to marry a lady. I found this disappointing, as the two main characters were getting on well. But by the time he changes his mind, his lover already has other, very twisted plans, and is accompanied by an equally mentally troubled man to fulfill them. Thankfully at least, the plan is not completed.Overall I found this film too dark a storyline, cold in behavior, and at times the acting seemed stunted, in ways.
Havan_IronOak Su-min is a poor country boy raised in an orphanage who goes to the big city and gets a job working in a factory in Seoul. He also does odd jobs to make ends meet and one night while working as a driver meets a man Jae-min who propositions him. Su-min soon discovers that the Jae-min is the son of the plant owner and that he's being laid-off. While the son attempts to save his job, Su-min rejects the offer and walks out.Shortly thereafter he finds himself working in a boydello and the rich man has tracked him down. Also working at the boydello is a jaded Hustler named Jung-tae who's only working where he is so that he can make a lot of cash to spend on his girlfriend. Later we meet another young country orphan who comes to work at the boydello and wins the affections of a local policeman.With the story of how this life changes these three young men as a backdrop we see the relationship between Su-min and Jae-min grow from a stalker relationship to something more only to have Jae-min's parents intercede with plans of their own.The subtitling could be better and some of the plot developments seemed to be somewhat abrupt, (at least to an occidental mind) but overall the film is watchable and better than most Korean gay films that I've seen. Some additional character development would have helped as well.
thesar-2 Yeah, well, I definitely had regrets about giving up my Saturday night watching this strange little, yet very long, movie. Apparently neither did the main character for stealing two hours of my life. Here's the epitome of the antihero in 'No Regrets.' We have this jerk, so messed up, so wandering, so selfish, aimless and unlikable that it was extremely hard to get past the attraction a highly favored businessman's up-and-coming son, Jaemin, unless it was just that: physical attraction. He claims otherwise, that it's love. But after watching this, it's like loving Charles Manson because you dig the beard. (Alright, he's not that bad, but still no real redeemable characteristics.) I could never get past the reason Jaemin endless stalks Sumin. It was never shown, just told, that Jaemin loves Sumin. Perhaps it's a culture thing that flew over my head: crazy/stalking = mad love over in Seoul. It has to be, because a little more than half the movie is one stalking the other and the last part is stalking back and forth to the point I thought this was turning into a screwball comedy. I was waiting for a tiger named "baby" to make an appearance. Okay, so Sumin works two jobs while going to school, so far so good on someone trying to better themselves. But after his first taste of his stalker's attraction, he gives up his day job for some kind of prostitution ring. What? OK, well, as previously mentioned, the obsession doesn't stop due to the job/career change and if you throw in a bunch of other very angry characters you get one messed up movie where unbelievable occurrences just seem to happen without buildup. Basic movie, not 100% terrible, but you can do better with foreign gay-themed movies.
bbmtwist I was very surprised at the quality of this film. Script, direction and performances were superb. It is a gritty, often violent romance between two young men of different classes and the love that almost destroys them.Su-Min is an 18 year old orphan who comes to the city of Seoul, Korea to find work so that he can put himself through college and gain an education. He works at a variety of jobs, one of which is a car service. Here he meets the tortured Jae-Min Song, a wealthy closeted young man, who is trapped by his parents into a soon to be heterosexual wedding.Jae-Min falls hard for Su-Min, who rejects him because of his contempt for the rich and careless. When Su-Min loses his jobs, he turns to a life of prostitution in an all-male brothel, where Jae-Min tracks him down as a client, only further gaining Su-Min's contempt.It is Jae-Min's true love and constant pursuit of Su-Min that finally wins him over. The jaded Su-Min allows himself to return the love, but the road to happiness is paved with many pitfalls, all arising out of the class hatred and opposite backgrounds of the two protagonists.The film's first half occurs almost always at night in murky and oftentimes unpleasant locations. When love blossoms it is all sunlight playing over naked bodies. Then night falls once again.The script is very believable in depicting the conflicts of the main characters, although it has some plot continuity problems at times. The subtitles are poorly written and spelled, but one can grasp what is happening at all times.Both Lee Young-hoon as Su-Min and Kim Nam-gil as Jae-Min turn in extraordinary emotional performances - every nuance from elation to grief is superbly expressed. Director-writer Leesong Hee-il in his first feature has the firm control over every detail of a veteran film director and does an astonishing job here.This is the best gay-themed film to come out of Asia and the Pacific Islands thus far and is close to masterpiece status. One of the great film experiences for gay audiences.