Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA
(Spoilers)
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This 2008 Korean television mini-drama called U-Turn is the shortest K-drama I've ever watched: it was only about 20 minutes long, broken up into four short 5 minute episodes, but starred my top heartthrob, favorite Korean actor So Jisub, after he had been officially discharged out of his military service and was looking to get back into show business with the proper show biz vehicles, after becoming famous with his blockbuster performance in the 2004 classic I'm Sorry, I Love You. While in the military he had become ill, so it took awhile for him to get in shape for his first drama once he was released, and it probably helped him that this drama was very short; he could get his feet wet on acting again after four years away from it.
U-Turn was more like a haunting vignette; it left me wondering why they didn't expand this story, because it was a clever concept, and certainly would have been more memorable if the writers had been given more time to develop the story more.
Watch The Full Short Drama Here
The Story (Spoilers): So Jisub's character is a music producer (named Jisub!), and on a drive home in a thunderstorm he hears a big BANG! noise that sounds like something hit his car. He goes out to investigate and looks in his trunk and there is a beautiful but disoriented girl inside (actress Yeon Hee Lee from Gu Family Book). He takes her to his home and he and his two brothers who live with him (played by actors Seung Ryong Ryu, who played the gay businessman in Personal Taste, and Duk Hwan Ryu from Faith) feed her and let her sleep. She seems to have lost her memory.
He takes her to get medical tests the next morning, and then to the police station in an attempt to get her identified, but they have no record of a missing person. He is told to let her rest at his home to see if she recovers her memory.
Then he happens to overhear her singing his favorite song. He is impressed, so he brings her to his music studio and tells her to sing along to the music; however, possibly nervous, she sings rather hesitatingly over the programmed music, and seems to want to talk to him instead, which makes him angry.
He drops her back at his house and then he and his brothers go by themselves to their Mom's grave to put flowers there, since it is the anniversary of her death. While they are doing that the girl suddenly gains her memory back as to who she is; she runs out of the house, takes one of the cars in the driveway and races toward the cemetery, but halfway there she stops in the middle of the road, gets out of the car, and seems frozen in time, upset. One surmises that something terrible had happened to her in that spot on the road.
While the girl is going through all this personal internal agony, So Jisub's character puts flowers on the grave next to his Mom's grave as well. His brothers ask him, "Why do you do that every time? You don't know this person." He replies, "I just feel sorry for the person in this grave. No one tends to the tombstone, no one puts flowers on her grave." As he is wiping off the grave he suddenly sees a photograph of the dead person. It had been covered by soot. It was the same girl who had appeared to him on that rainy night, who is staying at his house! He reels from shock. She must be a spirit.
The brothers head back home but then So Jisub sees the girl in the middle of the street. He makes a severe U-turn and goes back to her, exits his car and runs over to her. She tells him that she got her memory back. "I know who I am, and I know who you are." She thanks him for tending to her grave and placing flowers there, because no one else had ever come to visit her final resting place.
He is very moved by her gratitude, and she asks him sweetly, "If it isn't too much trouble, could I sometimes come to your house and play?" and he smiles and nods yes.
Last scene: her spirit is gone. We see him wistfully listening to the recording that she had left behind, the one that had made him so mad because she didn't so much sing, but mainly talked to him over the microphone instead. "You have a good heart, don't you?" she says in the recording. He looks sad, because he knows he had lost his temper with her too many times while she was with him, yet she had seen through all that bluster to the caring heart inside the man.
The End.
Very simple and sweet ghost story. I had never even heard of U-Turn before and I've been a So Jisub fan for years now. It's not even listed on the IMDb. I was so glad I found it while surfing! If you are a So Jisub fan don't miss it!
