Yesterday marked the first day of the year I watched a movie in the theatres. A movie I’ve been waiting to watch since 2017 and got me more hyped when it did really well in its home country, South Korea. That movie is Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds or 신과함께 -죄와 벌 

In South Korea, the movie did so well and achieved 10 million admissions in just 15 days. In Taiwan, the film overtook Train To Busan to become the highest-grossing Korean film in the country ever, which is a big deal knowing how huge Train To Busan was.

It got me so excited to finally watch the movie yesterday with my colleagues and boy, it was one of the best movie nights I have ever organized.

The movie follows the story of Kim Ja-hong (Cha Tae-hyun), a firefighter who unfortunately died on the job, saving a young girl from a burning building, as he went through the afterlife – going through 7 trials in 7 different hell to find out if he can be reincarnated in 49 days. The 7 different trials are – murder, betrayal, indolence, violence, filial piety, justice, lies. He went through the 7 trials alongside three guardians – Gang-rim, Haewonmak and Dukchun, played by Ha Jung-woo, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi respectively.

There is no dry eyes in the house when the movie ends. If you have watched enough Korean films, you know that they are really good at tugging your heartstrings. This movie nailed that part. It also knows how to tickle your funny bones so it was a hell of a ride (no pun intended) while watching the movie – one second you were laughing and another, you were crying… and at one point you were laughing AND crying at the same time. What the… well… hell!

The list of cast are already brilliant. Therefore, seeing them all in one movie is like watching Harry Potter. It’s filled with an A-list Korean cast in one entire movie. There are no bad ones at all. Everyone is just perfect especially the Goddess of Lies played by Kim Su-an, aka the little girl from Train To Busan. She’s absolutely adorable and bad-ass.

Another reason I wanted to watch the movie was Doh Kyung-soo who played Private Won Dong-yeon (the name of the producer, by the way). I became a fan of EXO because of him and his acting. After this movie was released in South Korea, his name trended multiple times and I was curious to know what his role was. The only thing I know before watching was it’s the most pitiable character he has ever played. Another reason was that the producer was willing to move filming dates just to fit his packed schedule.

After watching the movie, I now know why the producer wanted him to play the role. I can’t divulge further without revealing the movie. But what I could say is to act out having a mental illness is not easy for an actor to portray but Kyung-soo did that beautifully. His eyes conveyed the innocence of the youth. There is no way you would not sympathized with his character.

Now I know why his name is on the poster, regardless of how small his role was. He’s deserving of it.

If you have not watched the movie, please do. It is worth it.

I give this movie a 4.5 out of 5.

The trailer…