South Korea is no stranger to putting some really good and entertaining movies out there, and "The Beauty Inside" (aka "Byuti insaideu") is definitely a movie that fits into that description.Now, I wasn't familiar with the movie or its storyline prior to happen to come across it by sheer luck, and of course with my love for the Asian cinema I just had to give it a go. And I am very glad that I did, because "The Beauty Inside" turned out to be a rather interesting and beautiful movie.The story in all its simplicity is Woo-Jin who wakes up every day in a different body; a change that spans both gender, nationality and age. One day he may be a Japanese middle aged man, only to wake up as an African teenage girl the next, and so on and so on. He falls in love with a salesperson at a local furniture vendor, and lets her in on the secret of his life, and she falls in love with him in return.The storyline is quite different and unlike anything I have ever seen before, and that really was a great and refreshing change of pace. The storyline in "The Beauty Inside" is nicely paced and really well composed by writers Seon-jeong Kim, Jeong-ye Park and Kyung-hee Noh. And director Jong-Yeol Baek really brought the story to life so well on the screen."The Beauty Inside" has a very expanded list of actors and actresses, most of which portray the Woo-Jin character. I will say that this diversity was really well handled by the numerous actors and actresses that performed in the movie.While the storyline is beautiful and touching, then I don't see this as a movie that you will be likely to watch more than a single time. It just doesn't have that special quality to it.

The Korean man who directed this movie made a big splash at Cannes? I haven't heard that piece of news yet, but surely it was an interesting film. This romantic love story will positively make young people want to fall in love with somebody. It is an important message to young generations since I've heard people rarely fall in love nowadays. Being in love is thought of as wasting time and money it maybe that there are some substitutes, 2jigen 二次元、two-dimensional girls/boys, therefore people don't need real women/men anymore. That's what I've heard, and that it is one of the big social problems with contributing to the declining birth rate in Japan. It was such a romantic and freaky film that would never occur in real life, but the funny thing was that all the reactions the people have taken and what happened to the others except the leading characters were all too normal like a real life situation. For example, Yi-soo is a pretty woman who fell in love with Woo-jin, being well aware of his weird disease that his face transforms to any kind of face daily; her mental condition worsen as the time passes. She has hard time getting used to it and having anguished days. Also there has been a bad rumor that Yi-soo is such a slutty woman that she has been dating with a different guy everyday, and that she doesn't even hesitate to do so. The rumor depressed her, but I wonder why she would care about such a rumor. If she had not had a real resolution on her part, she would have never been able to meet Woo-jin outside where they might be witnessed by colleagues. This part was one of the contradictions I found in the story. This kind of highly improbable situation is such a hard thing to keep up with that only those who either are numb in their sensitivity or who are well in anticipation of now and then should deal with, and that she should only get in touch with him once a week or so and should take it only as a special matter besides her everyday's normal life. If a woman of her fragility come to this situation, and get involved too much, she'd definitely die by mental disorder. By the way, Woo-jin is a genius upholsterer, who mainly creates original custom-made woodworks. They were so beautiful. Just looking at all those furniture Woo-jin made, I get full of joy since I love wooden furniture so much! The actress, Hyo-ju Han is beautiful. Her type of woman is hardly seen in Japan for some reason. She is one romantic girl that I found her befuddled look so breathtakingly beautiful. She was also a skillful actress that acted fragile and elegant woman in the film. Another point to notice is that "Yi-soo", the girl's name means "chair" 椅子 in Japanese I believed was not a pun, but could be a pun since Ueno Juri上野樹里(Nodame, my icon), a Japanse actress was starring in the film as one of the Woo-jin's most important transformers. In this context, the director could be said to be a Japanophile. Maybe or maybe not.

If you watch this, I think you definitely bring the recent 'The Cobbler', 'The Deaths of Ian Stone' and many other high-concept films into the frame. Yep, it had a zero innovation, but smartly redesigned to bring a different outcome. Actually, it was based on the online film/series (aka social film) of the same name and also heard it was very similar to the book 'Every Day' by David Levithan. My thought is, it did not stand up to my expectation, but very easy to follow and overall, I think it was not a bad movie.If you are a fantasy film fan, then you should try it. A very fascinating fictional movie, that associated with romance. That means it's not your regular emotional-romantic-drama from Korea, but well pitched over all the complication in a relationship when a person is suffering from such a strange disorder. Just like the films 'The Time Traveler's Wife', '50 First Dates' and other similar ones about relationship problems.The first one hour was so good, like everything happened in that period itself. From a simple introduction to a few of fun stuff, until the romance track takes over. The next half was kind of a drag, none any interesting events take place other than keep going blindly like it lost its way out. In those stages, most of the scenes would appear as you are anticipating. Somewhat weaken its strength in storytelling. Since this theme was atypical, on that basis, it makes a vast difference to keep us to stick with it."People say true beauty lies inside, but first impressions are equally important."Anyway, once you begin to watch an unusual love story like this, definitely you can't end it in the middle without knowing the conclusion. I feel, the end was okayish, no twist as you will know in the earlier itself, where it is heading. So nothing special at all, but it finishes it off quite a simple way. The only annoyance is that it was a 2 long hour movie, should have not exceeded more than 90 to 100 minute mark. What I'm saying is not an issue of falling into the boredom, but a stretch that should have remained short and sweet for a lovely film like this.The actors were excellent, but the interesting thing among them was those who are all played the most important role, Woo-Jin. I have seen plenty of high-concept flicks, but I have never seen so many actors (definitely more than 100 actors) playing a same role in a one movie. The appearance was kept changing, but the director did a good job to keep them all at the same pace and intensity to bring Woo-Jin as a single character in behaviour.These days, there's a high expectation for the movies coming out from the Korea. There are vast people around the world who follow either staggering crime-thriller or the sweet romantic- comedies from this region. I know when they take this up, they expect it to better Hollywood and European films. In that perspective, it will disappoint them, because I felt it was a great concept that fell into an ordinary for a few reasons. If you keep your mind narrow, then it might make your time worth spending for it. Personally, I liked it, but my only concern was the third act and a bit lengthy.6½/10

Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies.A man's spirit generates a different human body everyday when he wakes up, but he finds himself in a major dilemma when he falls in love with a beautiful woman. It's easy to invest oneself in the protagonist's difficult situation, but the female lead (played by the excellent Hyo-joo Han) is given just as much (if not more) attention in terms of character development. This really taps into the difficulties of dating someone whose appearance changes completely on a daily basis. There's some very good, everyday humor as well – which makes this film more pleasant than one might think. The bizarre premise allows for a number of different actors and actresses to contribute. Melodramaticism is tempered nicely, with a tone that is very realistic and romantic.The previous IMDb reviewer complained that more ground was not covered by the film, but I felt that the script benefited from maintaining a focus on the relationship between the two main characters - and how the man's "condition" affects that relationship. A few other internet reviewers complained that social issues were left unaddressed, but I can only imagine how unbearably preachy that tactic would get.This is based on an American television mini-series.