Cinderella Man - 신데렐라맨

An April 15 through June 04, 2009 Korean drama that starred Kwon Sang woo as both Lee Joon hee (the wealthy heir of a fashion empire) and Oh Dae san, the forgotten twin.
Also starring Im Yoon ah as Seo Yeo jin, a designer hopeful who is forced to return from Paris early after her father's untimely death.
Han Eun jung is Jang Se eun, the snobbish daughter of a banker who also studied design in Paris, and Song Chang ui as Lee Jae Min, the hot but ruthless stepbrother of Lee Joon hee.

It's about a rich family whose son has an affair with a woman beneath his social status who gives birth to twin boys.
Unbeknownst to the man's mother (who looked like a guy in drag, I swear), she stole just one of two heirs, leaving the ill and weak lower class woman to have to give up the second twin to an orphanage.

The drama then moves ahead to the present day, and the wealthy Joon hee is having heart problems like his birth mother.
He hates his father's family and his stepbrother, Jae min.
Meanwhile, Dae san is working hard at a place called Great East Gate, a 5th Avenue of sorts in Seoul, where fashion knock-offs reign supreme.

Jeong woo as Ma Yi san, Dae san's buddy from the orphanage, was a definite scene stealer in this 16-episode drama.
The chemistry between them was undeniably perfect and their delivery, magnificently hilarious.
It's my hope they'll work together again soon.

It, too, has become increasingly obvious to me that whenever a Korean man plays the part of a homo, it's hard to distinguish fact from fiction, and Lee Byeong joon did it again with his to the hilt portrayal of Elegance Choi.

Anyway, it's the story of the separated-at-birth twins who grow up in entirely opposite directions.
They meet by chance at age twenty-seven, and because the wealthy twin is dying, he enlists the aid of his identical twin in order to obtain the answers about his past.
Wealthy Joon hee goes to Paris for a heart transplant (I know - whaaat?) and struggling-to-survive Dae san takes his place.

Song Chang ui (wicked stepbrother, Lee Jae min) is a good-looking guy!



Dae san worked with Yeo jin's father at the Great East Gate shopping complex, so he meets her at the man's funeral and eventually falls for her.

Jae min meets her, too, and he falls for her as well.

Se eun once dated Jae min, but when he asked her to get serious, she dumped him and ran off to Paris to become a fashion designer.
Then, she keeps bumping into the fake Joon hee and eventually falls for him, thinking he's wealthy and available.
She and Yeo jin met in Paris at the same design school, and because Yeo jin is better than her at their art, and because Se eun is wealthy and Yeo jin isn't, they don't get along too well.

Se eun tolerates Yeo jin until she finds out that Yeo jin and Joon hee (Dae san) are into each other, and then she goes Korean actress crazy.

I know - it's fake - it's drama - but, wtf?

every woman knows that blackmail works on a guy!

so, she brags about it to his stepbrother, like that makes any, more sense

suitable?? and, for whom?

yikes

so, do as I say - boy.

yes, because this mean, nasty bitch who hasn't got a clue about what real love is wants to make you into her whipping boy - why can't you get that?

Since Kwon's a married man with a kid now, I'm not as inclined to go crazy over him anymore, (while watching Cinderella Man, I kept wondering about his lucky wife, and what it might be like to get to hold a guy like him in bed every night - sigh)
but he's still got one of the finest bods in Korean show-biz, and it was only revealed to us once in Cinderella Man, wah!
Also, the scene was shot too fast for me to get a good screen image. (sniff)

I'd have liked to see Song Chang ui topless, too!
I never heard of him before, and now I'm curious to see him in something else.

OMG!

The first, few episodes I watched at Mysoju, and they used Ning and Ku6 for their uploads, which was great!
But, either they or my PC began acting funny, so I had to go to Viikii to watch episodes six through ten.
Y'all already know how I feel about Viikii, and they didn't fail to disappoint me AGAIN.
There's nothing I or any of the other subbers there can do about timing - it's entirely up to the person who submitted the drama to work that out, and it was the timing that was off along with the horrible subtitling.

I worked on it to the best of my ability, and then I just gave up.
Fortunately, Ku6 and then Ning came back at Mysoju and I was able to finish watching in relative peace.

Isn't this vase adorable?



Continuity isn't something Asian directors seem to care about, but toward the end of the show, I noticed that the Great East Gate suddenly disappeared from view at Dae san' place.

All through the show, whenever he or Yeo jin or both of them went to the roof to talk or contemplate about life, there was always a magnificent view of the city lights -
and then, near the end of the show - it wasn't there - and then it was!



Finally, my last, constant complaint about Korean drama -
SEX, or lack thereof.

the first and only time they kissed - at the very end

It's Ok, though, because I'm not at all fond of the way they do it over there anyhow!
It's kind a like two fish in the sea (or a tank) that touch lips in order to extract food from one another.
The girl always hangs limp in his arms, not touching anything about him, and keeping her lips limp as well.

HOW FREAKIN' BORING AND UNROMANTIC!

Not at all happy about that aspect of Asian life (unless it's totally toned down for censorship reasons), and I know I'd go stark raving MAD if I dated a guy who'd expect me to behave that way, too.