Rub Love

"Rub Love started out OK, but then degenerated into just plain stupid."

- Equinox21


Rub Love (1998)

Director: Lee Seo-Gun

Writer: Lee Seo-Gun

Cast: Ahn Jae-Wuk, Lee Ji-Eun, Joshua Klausner, Jang Du-I, Bang Eun-Jin, Myeong Ro-Jin, Lee Hye-Jin

Running Time: 87 Min.

Plot: See review below.

Availability: This title is available at HKflix.com (not that you should spend your hard earned money on this crap)

Reviews

EQUINOX21'S REVIEW: Well, I’ve seen worse... but not by much. Rub Love started out OK, but then degenerated into just plain stupid. Coupled with the abysmal DVD transfer, this was one of the least enjoyable Korean movie experiences I’ve had.

The plot isn’t all that special, though I think it tried to be. In the year 2028, struggling comic illustrator, Cho Han, falls in love with his assassin neighbor, Lala, after simply passing her in the hall. He follows her on one of her hits, professes his love for her, and is allowed to tag along with her for a while. He spikes her drink with some new drug that can cause amnesia, and for the rest of the movie she doesn’t remember who either of them are, or what her job is. So, as Han is trying to finish his “masterpiece” comic, he has to try to help her through some more jobs so she can be his muse. But it was just dumb, having one of the main characters not knowing ANYTHING about ANYTHING, nor ever learning or remembering anything new. Besides, we’re not talking Memento caliber performances here. Anyway, it ends in typical Korean film fashion, Han gets shot by the police who think he’s committing all the assassinations and Lala is sitting on a bus bench, blissfully unaware of anything.

The acting overall was basically just average, with the exception of the American actor playing the character “Guy”. He was simply awful. There really wasn’t a lot of skill needed in this movie, as it was lots of long takes with people just sitting or laying there, not doing anything.

The video quality of the DVD was the worst thing about this movie. Perhaps it would have been a little better had the DVD not been so awful. It was like a bad dub of a bad EP VHS tape. Add to that the fact that it was full screen (not pan and scan, mind you… there was no panning and scanning, just a full screen view of the center of the picture), with lots of things happening on the edges of the frame that are cut off from view.

Thankfully, this movie wasn’t nearly as painful to watch as crap like Dream of a Warrior and Night on the Water, but it was still pretty dull. It simply had nothing going for it. If the movie consisted of only the first 15 minutes, it might not have been so bad. Avoid this garbage.

EQUINOX21'S RATING: 3/10