User reviews

It's rare to find a top-billed South Korean actor like Song Seung Hoon in an erotic romance, which probably explains why 'Obsessed' shot up to the top of the box-office charts when it opened in its home territory earlier this year. But lest you think this is some softcore porn masquerading as artsy drama, let us caution you that it isn't quite as lurid as you think it is, notwithstanding the fact that much of the early buzz has been of the explicit lovemaking scenes between Song and his newcomer co-star Im Ji-Yeon.

In case you need a number, we counted a grand total of three such intimate sequences, each of which is depicted with just the right amount of passion to convey the intensity of the love between Song and Im's characters, but doesn't go on too long to veer into exploitation. But though we recognise why they are the movie's selling point, there is much more to this tale of forbidden love than just these three sequences; indeed, we can safely say that those looking only for such lurid pleasures will probably go away quite disappointed, which says a lot about what the movie is not about.

Co-written and directed by Kim Dae-woo, the sumptuously mounted period drama sees Song play the decorated Vietnam War Colonel Kim Jin-pyeong, who spends his restless days in charge of training at an army camp in the countryside. Still reeling from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder following his Vietnam stint, he is also caught in a loveless marriage with Suk-jin (Jo Yeo-jeong), the latter of which wants nothing more than to be pregnant with his child. Jin-pyeong of course has no such ambition, so their sex is more obligatory than anything else.

That changes with the arrival of Jong Ga-heun (Im), the wife of Captain Gyeong U-jin (On Ju-wan), whom had recently sought a transfer to Jin- pyeong's unit just so he can be closer to his idol. Jin-pyeong's encounter with Ga-heun begins when he springs to her rescue after she is held hostage by a mentally unsound soldier while visiting the camp hospital with the rest of the wives' club. The chemistry between them is mutual - both are equally taken at first sight by the other and through subsequent gatherings between their families find their attraction growing for each other - but the titular obsession unfortunately is his alone.

Throwing caution to the wind, Jin-pyeong stops not only at learning the waltz to impress her but goes as far as to arrange assignments for her husband and his wife just so they can spend more alone time together. Needless to say, it all goes downhill for Jin-pyeong very quickly, especially when in a drunken stupor, he loses control and flies into a rage at both Ga-heun and her husband U-jin in front of all the other men and women - including his wife Suk-jin - in his very own home. It is as much of a climax as you're going to get, as if the restraint of the rest of the movie were ultimately building up to that moment of his outburst.

And yet even though it is a slow burn, you'll find the romance surprisingly engaging from start to finish. Kim is no stranger to such tales of love that defies social boundaries - he was the scriptwriter of a similarly racy period romance 'Untold Scandal' in 2003, and wrote and directed 'Forbidden Quest' in 2006 and 'The Servant' in 2010 - and with sensitivity and nuance observes how a carefully controlled character like Jin-pyeong would unravel by the mere act of falling in love with a woman that he loves but cannot own. Right from the start, one recognises how his attraction for Ga-heun would ultimately end in tragedy, no matter of course the moral implications of their extra-marital affair.

The fact that their love story is so engrossing is also a testament to the chemistry between Song and Im. There is hardly any doubt at any point that their attraction is mutual, or that the sex between them is really an act of love on both their parts - as opposed to just being borne out of lust. Kim carefully details every glance, stare and smile that passes between the two actors, and his astute choice of close-ups at every turn brings his audience closer to his two lead characters.

What is also worthy to note is how Kim fleshes out the artificial world in which his characters play out their dalliance. In particular, the strict social hierarchy that exists as an unspoken rule among the army wives (what with Suk-jin being the camp commandant's daughter) and their subsequent disdain towards Ga-heun who is not just prettier but refuses to stoop to their level of engaging in gossip is especially engrossing - and on that same note, it is admirable that Kim doesn't make Suk-jin out to be some spiteful lady but rather the only one among the rest of the ladies to actually behave friendly towards Ga-heun.

Yes, 'Obsessed' may have caught your attention for being the rare Korean drama that has a major star engage in explicit sex scenes on screen, but that should remain an inadvertent selling point rather than its only one. It's not often that you get a classy period romance from Korea, especially one that chooses as its setting the Vietnam War of the late 1960s and 1970s, and 'Obsessed' will have you in its rapture about how love can both consume and destroy at the same time.

The movie will grab your attention and the romantic scenes are passionate. The couple is good looking but the end is not worth watching.

I am a big fan of Korean romance movies and this one is good, but not great, depending on what your looking for. This is a romantic drama and not comedy. The actors do a great job of showing emotions and connecting and as usual with Korean movies like this, it pulls at your emotions. What makes this movie impressive is the time period and the choices the main characters make, given the way Korean society looks at those decisions. Overall, a good movie and well worth the watch if your into these type of movies.

The emotional is on point, the acts is not like hollywood perfect but you still can feel the feeling. Even I am truely impressed by the sex scene. I can say 9.5/10 for it.

The problem is the ending. The ending is too cliche, like every desperate romance movies. There's a lot choices of ending outhere but why pick that one ?. But explained why the movie titled "obsessed".

And for you people who feel empty in your life for little bit. I think you will feel relate-able to this movie. (sorry for my bad english, not my native) thanks.

I saw half of this movie.i loved it....but the movie is very slow like dead slow......might watch the rest some other day ...the actress is great and song sung hyeon as usual did awesome.

The acting is great... but unless you enjoy watching literal porn scenes in your movies, porn scenes in which the woman dramatically high-pitched squeals and squeaks over and over, then you might want to skip this one. Disturbing, annoying, not sexy.

hope i could write a short review but that does not how things work in IMDb so lets have a kick off word, great! the movie was great though not excellent, only those people who falls in love like crazy can super relate to this.

you could say this movie was bland if you didn't sincerely watch the movie, probably skipping/missing the essential parts.

sometimes movies isn't just about trying hard to get an applaud from an audience, sometimes it just have to target the feelings of the viewer so this movie is more like it. i could say this movie have caught me off guard of the struggling feelings of getting crazy over a woman. because basically i know that kind of feeling, the uneasy and always out of your mind, always thinking.

anyways, this movie isn't your typical interesting movie because this is more like a drama with conflict, the movie plainly revolves in two person, inspite of the fact that this movie lacks character build up and predictable and obviously plotted scenario. its still able to surprise you somehow at the end.

as for me, i love this movie, not because of the sensual scenes but because of how passionate and daring you become when you fall crazy in love at the wrong time. the temptation of self dictating heart that drives you crazy.

Oh by the way, this review is purely out of my personal feelings based on experience, this may seem bias but its not because i just felt the movie so im just telling what i felt about it.

So go ahead, watch this movie, its not like you will waste time for this, just think of it that your in the middle of traffic and stuck there for over two hours, you will enjoy this somehow and you will enjoy this even more if you experienced to be in love. i had to tell that i must be weird because i laugh out loud on how the guy have gone miserable because of a woman, i felt like i might end up like that too if i were on his shoe, I've done crazy stuff once when i fall in love.

So far the ending thoughts, may the temptation of thinking twice on whether to decide on watching this movie lead you on actually watching this,hehehe

My first Korean movie! A friend suggested, and I finally decided to take her up on her offer. To be honest, I had absolutely no faith in going forward with the movie choice but surprisingly ended up loving it. I think the two main characters did more than enough justice to the movie. Not the best Korean movie out there I suppose, but very much watchable and entertaining. I thought Ji-yeon Lim was very pretty in the movie, and so did the the guy actor, Seung-heon Song. In my personal opinion, guys shouldn't be pretty and doll like as these Korean actors are. The only thing manly about them is the smoking and shaving, if there was anything to shave at all. (maybe I failed to see the stubble) More than anything, I liked the 'The Rose', sung by Aoi Teshima at the ending credits. What seemed to be like Korean lyrics, ended up being her accent.

This is got to be one of the most self-indulgent movie I have ever seen. Well self-indulgent for the actor Song Seung-hun. It's pretty much that "oh I can't live without you girl" premise to elevate his popularity with the female audiences. The story is straightforward, I don't even think there needed to be a military background or anything like that. Everything is very predictable for the most part. It's sad when the protagonists are more dis-likable than the side characters. As a matter of fact, the actor and actress that had the side or supporting characters roles did a much better job than the primary. Overall, this is a forgettable flick. And I can see only one reason this movie could sell tickets, it's to see Song Seung-hun with his shirt off. There is little to almost nothing in it for the guys to enjoy.

2.5/10

Both of the actors did great in this movie but the writer failed us in many ways ,the story is typical but somehow different , for me the ending was the best part in this movie if only they showed more of the wife's sadness and also more of the fl backstory .

There's a lot of sex scenes that should have been replaced with more shots showing instead of physical intimacy an emotional /spiritual intimacy bc to me i cant undrestand why he's so obsessed with her and why he did what he did at the gathering? Was it really worth it?the love that they've showed us in the movie is so shallow to the point that in my opinion i think i undrestand why she didnt love him as much but thanks to the actor i felt ( idk how should i describe this ) the amount of pain he was going through and for the actress she was good but the character is not well written bc her discisions and trauma does not align and for the wife i hoped that they will show us how angry she is after the gathering , she was the kindest character in the whole movie so i wanted to see that other side of her (the betrayal, the sadness , the wrath), this movie had toooooo many potential like the cast was so good and everything was in point but the dialogue and the lack of communication made it so simple and a lil shalllow.

Expected it would be cheesy & corny. And it is indeed. Fortunately not as unbearable as thought. Is it a love movie? Only lust between the two.

Synopsis: Obsessed is a 2014 South Korean erotic romance film written and directed by Kim Dae-woo, about a couple having a passionate affair in a military camp under tight surveillance in 1969.

Obsessed is a 2014 South Korean erotic romance film written and directed by Kim Dae-woo, about a couple having a passionate affair in a military camp under tight surveillance in 1969.

Obsessed is a 2014 South Korean erotic romance film written and directed by Kim Dae-woo, about a couple having a passionate affair in a military camp under tight surveillance in 1969.

This movie is predictable but from a romance movie perspective, it did touched my heart. Personally I think both actings are great. Especially the 'can't live without you' kinda feeling of SSH towards LJY. SSH brought the title of 'obsessed' to live. As an audience, I can feel the bitter and sweet of love in a couple. At the same time, the guilt, struggles and confusion in love affair. Initially I decided to watch this because of SSH hence, not much expectation as the rating in IMDB is rather low. However, after watching it, I would recommend this! And if you are a sentimental person, you would probably appreciate this even more. ^^

This movie, years after its release still tops my list for the must watch Korean movies. I am not fond of movies belonging to this genre but I must say that the plot is well written despite being a bit predictable. Kudos to Seung Heon who was at first try into this kind of genre for pulling off a wonderful acting. Ji Yeon was marvelous as well as she perfectly embraced her character!

A soldier who has a bright future, has a beautiful wife and son-in-law of an influential general, what else is lacking?

This film shows that love sometimes comes at the most unexpected times, with unexpected people and in unexpected places. And sometimes love is so strong that we become obsessed with it.

If you don't have a problem with adult scenes, or to rule out such scenes, then this film will really impress you. Song Seung Heun and Lim Ji Yeon's appearance was stunning with their eyes falling in love. And kudos to the director and screenwriter of this film, who managed to capture the Korean atmosphere in the late 1960s.

Loved this movie,story was so amazing & Direction,Script was solide as most of korean movies have,Lead male Actor (Song)Acting was too good,i watched many Hollywood Erotic Movies but was not good as this movie(Obsessed)felt excited, emotional,Drained & heartbroken, A must watch movie

Not sure why this movie has such low ratings. There is so much drama in this romantic Korean Movie I felt it was really worth watching. Loved seeing the Vietnam War from a different prospective - a married Korean's Officer's prospective - when he falls in love with his subordinate's wife. His whole life hangs on the edge with this forbidden love - his own wife, his promotion for General, his reputation as he is already getting secret medical advice about life's issues, and his subordinate who he has known for many years that he is deceiving. The only thing I just couldn't take really was the ending - it just was too much for me and I noticed that other's didn't like it either. I think the reason for the dislike for the ending is that it is not the typical K-Drama type of an ending that we usually expect and get - something totally unexpected.

Heart breaking movie , every scene is well shot , every scene has a nuance it never raises a question why they put what they put The character Arc of both the characters towards their love is so well choreographed,when they first meet ,when they start having conversation in hospital ...the scene when girl asks him to put the earing over her ear that was the point things started to cooked up ... The protagonist have everything ,he was ace at his field ,a respectable commander as well as also traumatised as due to war ..but inside he was just alone .. ,the arrival of the girl make him realised his whole life was nothing,loved this movie.

This movie may be a bit slow at first. But it perfectly develops the drama of war survivors and the complexity of feelings under those circumstances. It deserves to be seen!

No pun intended - and be aware, this may go places that you have issues with watching. There are scenes here ... well it is not just the nudity that may offend you, but also ... let's call it hand rubbing. You'll know once you see it. The contact that seems to exist at times - makes it seem real. And I think the movie got into hot water (no pun intended) for its erotic scenes and their depiction.

That all being said, the movie is not just that. There is strong core of the story, of the romance ... of the love that should not be or exist. Married man and all that - there is the side that is another issue. Depending on your morals and your ability to suspend disbelief ... very good acting and pacing.