Summary
An emotional roller coaster, but by mixing genres and many storylines, this film will leave you feeling both hot and cold.
South Korean drama My Name Is Loh Kiwan, which was written and directed by Kim Hee-jin (this being his first feature film), is based on the novel I Met Loh Kiwan by author Cho Hae-jin. It tells the story of Loh Ki-Wan (Song Joong-Ki, known for Reborn Rich and Vincenzo), a director who has arrived in the unfamiliar country of Belgium to fulfill his mother’s wishes that he find somewhere to call home and live freely.
For a film described as a drama, it’s more of a heartbreaking action-romance. Although My Name is Loh Kiwan tries to showcase themes of refuge, love, survival, and self-discovery, it all feels a little much, as it has far too many plots running against one another. However, the story of Loh Kiwan is a sad one, and when you focus on him and his plights, the film is powerful and poignant.
His only hope to settle down is to receive refugee status from the Belgian government. Loh Ki-Wan meets Mari (Choi Sung-Eun), who has received Belgian citizenship. With a sordid past, Mari and Ki-Wan are two very different people. Nonetheless, they begin to fall in love.
Famous heartthrob Song Joong-ki plays our lead, which certainly will draw the fans in as this is unlike any character he’s played before. His acting is excellent in this raw and demanding role, and his compelling performance makes the film worth watching.
While I enjoyed Mari’s dark and complicated character, and it’s very different from how women are usually portrayed in Korean content, I found her hard to engage with and believe as her backstory is a little ridiculous. The rich girl now with the bad gangster boss and underground job, who is drugged most of the time but finds time to help Kiwan and they fall in love… it’s a little over-dramatic and unnecessary. However, both the actors have great chemistry on screen and their scenes together are very strong.
What is nice, although feels underdeveloped, is how the film lets Kiwan be a refugee, and Marie be a recovering drug addict, and doesn’t fix anything for them. They talk about these issues, which is where the film is at its strongest, and give time for emotion and the actors to flex their muscles.
There is a lot of wasted screen time with Mari’s gangster employees and it’s unnecessary. The real drama and hard-hitting emotion we wanted to see was the main plot about Kiwan seeking refuge.
The cinematography is extremely dark throughout, which is quite distracting, especially in the intense scenes of intimacy and violence, where you can’t see what is happening and lose interest quickly. However, there are some beautiful close-ups and well-crafted shots, especially drone shots of Brussels.
Instead of being political and drawing attention to the minefield which is immigration, difficult systems, and the form this takes, the film opts for romance. This feels easy and at times disappointing as their romance is from a shared nationality and nothing much else.
Overall, My Name is Loh Kiwan is a sad, heavy film to watch, it throws a lot at you as a viewer and expects you to listen, concentrate, and feel. The film sees both protagonists on a quest for self-discovery and survival. Together they find new hope and life in each other’s arms, leading to a predictable, yet surprisingly happy, ending (which was needed after a few heart-wrenching scenes and monologues.)
It’s a story about finding light in the darkest of times but takes a romantic turn rather than a dramatic and political one, and for me, this isn’t the road it should have taken. I believe it could have been something very inspiring and important, but becomes another romance-drama with a cheesy happy ending. However, the film is not bad, and what I will strongly compliment is that the pace doesn’t reflect the long runtime of over two hours. I put this down to the instrumental music and compelling acting. My Name is Loh Kiwan is a film you should invest your time in.
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