The Beauty Inside (2015) | thoughts |
I just finished watching this movie with my girlfriend! It was phenomenal!! I rarely sit down for a movie so I'm glad this one seemingly happened to fall out of the sky this Sunday.
As an esoteric girl who's interests naturally extend into psychology and art, I find a movie like this one especially perfect. The premise is cliche yet profound which is so attractive for a sap like me who loves to project my ideals onto *everything*. The movie begins in a somber tone (at least to me) as the exposition unravels and we become intimately aware of the recluse and ambiguous life of main character, Kim Woo-Jin. He wakes up a different person everyday,,,young, old, man, woman, he assumes the face of all but his own. With a plot like this, it's hard NOT to derive a cosmic lesson or two from the whole tale.
NONATTACHMENT!!!
Non-attachment is a philosophy you see often in Buddhist traditions and also a theme that sticks out to me having watched this movie. Most of the characters in this movie display qualities of the concept and at varying degrees. The two leads go through a metamorphosis of ego and spirit showcasing how love can exist within the complexities of this long since misunderstood philosophy.
"Love without attachment means being aware that our possessions can break, get stolen or change, and that sadly people can leave or die."
These characters didn't really have the luxury of encountering this ideology in the typical sense through spiritual exploration or meditation and that makes it all the more important. We watch the male lead navigate grief over the loss of one's sense of self. A truly unique plight. We watch him grapple with acceptance over and over again as his life is at the will of his oscillating appearance. By proxy, Hong E-soo, our ever exuberant female lead, goes through several mental hurdles as she learns to love our damned Kim Woo-Jin.
By the end, it felt like I witnessed a complete evolution, one with many stages and nuances. Forty minutes in and I had already gone through the 7 stages of grief. The second act almost took me off this PLANET. I can't recommend it enough! Even without the mystics of it all, it's a very, very sweet movie and the cinematography is such a treat. Give it a watch and maybe remember to let go while you're at it!
