ROCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR (2013)

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Director: Danny Nam
Cast: Lee Hong-Gi, Baek Jin-Hee, Don Lee, Lim Won-Hee, Jun Min-Seo, Shim Yi-Young
RunTime: 1 hr 39 mins
Rating: PG
Released By: Encore Films
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 22 August 2013 

Synopsis: Inside a hospice ward where patients are getting ready to bid the world goodbye, there are ‘wacky’ terminally ill patients who smoke and have part-time jobs? Something is not right! There is an ex-gangster with terminal brain cancer who goes crazy over sausages. After getting caught up in an assault case, ‘Chung-ui’, a troublemaker teen idol singer gets ordered to social service at a hospice ward. He pretends to be sorry and tries to sneak out of duty, but gets caught red-handed by some odd patients! There is also a man with terminal liver cancer who goes out to work at a nightclub every night, a young girl with leukemia whose hobby is secretly filming things, and there is even a tough hospital volunteer lady who maintains military style order of the ward. How did ‘Chung-ui’ end up at a wacky place like this of all places! From day one, he has major run-ins with the weird, unpredictable, terminally ill patients. Then one day, desperate to escape from the ward, ‘Chung-ui’ jumps at a chance to cut his volunteer hours in half and ends up helping a group of terminally patients to audition for a rock band competitions in order to save the hospital from getting shut down. The miraculous challenge of terminally ill patients and a troublemaker idol singer begins!

Movie Review:

What if one day you are given a time limit and all you can do is to wait upon death?

“I want to feel that I am living every moment.” was what An-na responded.

At first glance, Rockin’ on Heaven’s Door seem like a really unconventional depiction of people who are waiting upon death. How can they remain so cheerful despite knowing that death is creeping near?

The movie begins by introducing us to Chung-ui (played by Lee Hong-gi), a popular idol singer who got himself into trouble when started a fist fight with someone who provoked him at a club. To make up for his wrongdoings, he had to break away from his frivolous lifestyle to volunteer at a hospice. Chung-ui was depicted as a bratty and two-faced idol, who simply acted remorseful because he had had to upkeep his idol façade, a playful poke-fun at the ‘idoling’ industry. Hong-gi definitely stole the show and was a natural at his role. He was bubbly, cute and easy on the eyes, to say the least.

The bulk of the comedy and drama of course happened at the hospice. Chung-ui experienced quite a bit of culture shock, such as being bullied by a gangster-like patient and being tasked to bathe an elderly person. On top of that, he was subsequently pestered to join some of the patients to compete in a rock band competition in order to raise funds to keep the hospice running.

Chung-ui’s character development was easy to follow but rather predictable. At first of course he was unwilling help those patients, but eventually caved in due to his selfish reasons. And when he got reminded of his past and his deceased mother, who was also plagued by a terminal diseased, things suddenly took a 180 degree change. You wouldn’t need to know more to know how the story continued.

The story was pretty bare, and it was a great pity that the character development solely focused on Chung-ui. The other patients’ stories had great potential for development but unfortunately remained very fictional and distant. Also, it is quite characteristic of Korean films to mish-mash genres, and in this case, drama and comedy. In its attempt to strike a balance, it made it feel like it has neither achieved here nor there, and ultimately came across as half-baked. Of course, Korean films are still pretty good with tear jerking scenes, but the ability to make one cry does not necessary equate to the success of a film.

The film attempted to conclude with a heartening and uplifting one, but failed to make the impact. Given such a cliché and unoriginal story, one can’t help to think that it was just conveniently borrowing the popularity of Hong-gi to make this film sell. The only consolations are that the movie was short, easy to watch, and you can get to see many faces of Lee Hong-gi. 

Movie Rating:  

(Movie debut of Lee Hong-gi!!!!! For fans only)

Review by Tho Shu Ling