Love Letter

Love Letter
Description | Characters | Review | More Information

Product Information
Region Code: ALL
Picture Format: NTSC
Cast: Jo Hyun Jae, Ji Jin Hee, Soo Aeh
Release Date: April 24, 2004
Language: Korean
Subtitles: English, Chinese
Publisher: YA Entertainment
Number of Episodes: 16
Number of Discs: 8
SRP: $99.99
UPC#: 880604000039


	"Twist and turns to make you shutter and gasp... find yourself absolutely hooked. Highly recommended."
	DVD Talk

Description

Shooting to stardom in Love Letter, Jo Hyun-Jae, who plays Andrew in Love Letter, performed in Bae Yong-Jun's movie debut Untold Scandal in 2003. Suave and gentle, Hyun-Jae has also been gaining popularity in Japan. In early 2004 he was cast in Star's Echo, a Korean-Japanese co-production drama broadcast in Japan and Korea.

Also demonstrating remarkable acting in Love Letter, lead actress Soo Aeh was awarded Best New Actress at MBC's 2003 Acting Awards. Starring new Korean stars Jo Hyun-Jae, Soo Aeh, and K-drama veteran actor Ji Jin-Hee (MBC's Dae Jang Geum), the romantic TV-series Love Letter offers intriguing plot twists and good acting backed with melancholic scores. It tells a story about three intimate friends who struggle in their lives against desires, religion, and illnesses to keep their love alive.

Characters

Lee Woo-Jin (Jo Hyun-Jae) became an orphan at a young age and ended up living with his abusive aunt. He was then adopted by his uncle Father Peter (Son Hyun-Joo). Grown up into a gentle, optimistic youth, Andrew meets Cho Eun-Ha (Soo Aeh) who has lost her parents as he did. Andrew and Eun-Ha are accepted into medical school in Seoul where they meet Jung Woo-Jin (Ji Jin-Hee). Both of them have the same given name and soon become friends. Meanwhile, Jung Woo-Jin starts to have feelings for Eun-Ha and tries his best to charm her. As Andrew's two best friends gradually become closer and closer, he feels an emptiness and realizes for the first time that he has lost his heart to Eun-Ha...
Lee Woo-Jin, Andrew (Jo Hyun-Jae)
	Lee Woo-Jin, also known as Andrew, is an optimistic, kind-hearted youth who was an orphan mistreated by his aunt. His uncle, Father Peter, who had just returned from Italy, then adopted him. Since then, Andrew was determined to become a priest to help the poor and needy. His belief, however, begins to shift as he encounters Eun-Ha. Attending the same high school and medical school, Andrew and Eun-Ha struggle in their lives against religion and illnesses to keep their love alive.
Cho Eun-Ha (Soo Aeh)
	Genuine and strong-minded, Cho Eun-Ha lost her parents and moved into Angel' Place where she met Andrew. Despite Andrew' warm welcome, Eun-Ha remains aloof from him until she learns that he lost his parents as she did. Eun-Ha and Andrew become friends and slowly Eun-Ha begins to fall for Andrew. But as she does so, Andrew reveals his wish to become a priest leaving Eun-Ha to keep her feelings to herself.
Jung Woo-Jin (Ji Jin-Hee)
	JJung Woo-Jin is a bright, passionate child from a well-off family. Both his parents are doctors. He, nevertheless, suffers from the fact that Dr. Yim Kyung-Eun who raises him is not his real mother. As Woo-Jin enters Medical School, he runs into Andrew and Eun-Ha, and soon they all become friends. However, his friendship with Andrew ends as he falls for Eun-Ha and learns that Andrew is Yim Kyung-Eun' son.

Review

Love Letter is a mini-series from the Korean television studio MBC. The series is conducted in sixteen hour (not TV hours, real sixty minute hours) long episodes. The basic story is about three people who get stuck in a twisted love triangle, but there is, of course, plenty of heart pounding drama surrounding the situation. The series covers the three main character's lives as the go from young adults to adults in the professional world. The mood and tempo of the series is heavy with drama, it's your basic soap opera with twist and turns to make you shutter and gasp with dismay and pleasure as you find yourself absolutely hooked.

The strongest point about this series is its cast. The characters presented in this series are developed very wel , whether from the main cast or supporting roles. It becomes very easy to associate with them by despising the bad characters and caring for the good characters. Their emotions also pour out of the screen. Another attraction to this series is how the interactions between characters in past and present events develop extremely dramatic situations. While the main story us covered in the present, there are also past events that play a very big role in the show's development. It adds a very strong melodramatic characteristic that you'd only expect to find in a soap opera.

In the very first episode, two of the main cast members are introduced. The first of the two characters is Lee Wo -jin (Jo Hyun Jae), who is also known as Andrew. At a young age, Andrew was abandoned by his mother and raised by his aunt. Under his aunt's care, his childhood was full of many hardships. She never fully accepted him as her child and instead scorned his mother for leaving him with her. He was nothing more than burden to her and she frequently ignored him and focused on her own two children. In comparison, Andrew's childhood was a lot like Cinderella and her two evil step sisters. Fortunately for young Andrew, his mother's brother, a priest named Peter (Son Hyun Joo) saved him from a life of agony and turmoil and raised Andrew in an orphanage he ran.

The next main character is introduced when Andrew is nearing the end of grade school. A young girl named Cho Eun- ha's (Soo Ae) parents died and without a family, she was brought to the orphanage. At first Eun-ha is reluctant and cold. She is coming to terms with her new way of life and really wants nothing to do with anyone or the orphanage. Andrew being a noble and kind person continually makes an effort to befriend her. Their relationship slowly develops and an unspoken bond is created between the pair. In the second episode, Andrew and Eun-ha go off to medical school to become doctors. This is when the third main character is introduced. He is Jung Woo-jin (Ji Jin Hee), who is also studying to be a doctor. Eventually the three meet and the real story begins to unfold. Woo- jin and Andrew become good friends, but at the same time their friendship drives a wedge between the unspoken love between Andrew and Eun-ha.

Of course, there is more to the relationships than just Woo-jin getting in between Andrew and Eun-ha, because he never is able to break their bond. What really makes the situation difficult is Andrew's path in life. When his uncle saved him from his abusive situation, he decided he wanted to walk a similar path. He decided he would become a priest and that lifestyle left no room for the kind of relationship Eun-ha hoped for. Alone the main characters relationships and interactions are very interesting and the addition of several supporting roles make the situations even more enticing and dramatic.

While in some series the supporting characters are not very significant, the ones in Love Letter have a huge effect on the show. Dr. Kim Kyung-Eun (Kim Young Ae) is Woo-jin's mother and at one point was the temporary guardian for Eun-ha. She also has an odd relationship with Andrew, which turns into a very interesting development . Having three separate relationships with the main characters make her an important character. Dr. Jung Myung-woo (Jo Hyun) is Woo-jin's father who is a very bitter man. Despite all of the good in his life, he cannot overcome a dark event from his past. The story behind the tale is enough to warrant this show as a true soap opera. Jung Yuri (Choi Jae Hyung & Suh Hyun Ki) is Woo-jin's sister. When we first see her she is a young girl, who was born mute and deaf. At this point, her role is quite small, with most of the attention on the three main characters. However later in the series, we see her as a young adult and she has her own interesting love side-story. Finally, there is Father Peter, who has the biggest impact earlier on in the series when he rescues Andrew from his bitter aunt. As the series goes on, there is still plenty of drama surrounding Father Peter to entice you.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Love Letter. Its characters and the stories driving their relationships and interactions were most definitely gripping. The audio track included in this release comes in the form of Korean 2.0 Dolby digital stereo. The sound quality is quite good. All spoken dialogue is audible and sounds somewhat flat, which is expected with a dialogue driven DVD release. As for music, it sounds very full and rich and adds a wonderful element that enriches the dramatic moments. The subtitles included are in the English and Chinese languages. The English subtitles are professionally done and are extremely easy to follow.

My experience with Korean TV dramas is limited to another MBC TV series, All About Eve. In comparison, I thoroughly enjoyed All About Eve more. It had more diversity in its story and even more appealing characters. While not as good, Love Letter is still a very entertaining and provides well developed characters. Watching those character's relationships develop, change, and crumble becomes enticing and gripping. The bottom line, if you enjoy plenty of drama, Love Letter is exciting. It's highly recommended.

More Information

http://www.koreanwiz.org

http://www.imbc.com

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