Hello Ghost: A "You'll-Laugh-Then-Cry" Movie (Spoiler Alert!!!)

I can only count with my fingers the movies with ending that really surprised me. One of these movies is HELLO GHOST.

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A South Korean film released in 2010, Hello Ghost is not your typical spooky movie. It is actually a romantic comedy starring Cha Tae-hyun who is also known for his acting prowess in My Sassy Girl.

Photo source: www.dramafans.org

The movie opens with futile attempts of Sang-man (Cha Tae-hyun) to end his life. He tries overdosing on pills and jumping off a bridge but is saved in both instances. He is eventually brought to the hospital and there, he suddenly discovers that he can see ghosts, four of them to be exact - a fat smoker, a crying lady, a hyperactive kid and a pervert old man. Upon his discharge from the hospital, the ghosts follow him back home.

Unable to extract anwer from the ghosts why they would not leave him, Sang-man visits a shaman and is advised that the only way to get rid of the spirits is to help them fulfill their unfinished businesses.

In the course of helping each ghost, Sang-man gets into trouble but he carries on as he badly wants to get rid of them and have his normal lfe back. But the silver lining of it all is that the ghosts inevitably open opportunities for him to get closer with nurse Jung Yun-soo (Kang Ye-won) whom he met back at the hospital and fell in love with.

A subpart of the movie is about Yun-soo and her father who is also a patient in the same hospital where she works. It becomes apparent as the movie progresses that she despises her father for a certain reason. Yun-soo's father eventually dies and he lets himself be seen by Sang-man (so that makes him the 5th ghost that Sang-man encounters in the movie). He asks Sang-man to deliver a message to his daughter and inform her about the gift that he has hidden in one of the hospital's nooks.

Sang-man relays the message to Yun-soo but she reacts negatively towards him. At one point though, Yun-soo discovers her father's gift and then realizes that Sang-man is not merely playing with her emotions.

On the other hand, Sang-man harbors a feeling of rejection and he blames the ghosts for it. He demands them to go away since he is already done helping them fulfill their desires. This time, the ghosts relent and finally disappear. 

With his life now back to normal, Sang-man goes to the hospital and asks Yun-soo to  eat lunch with him. She accepts the invitation.  Over lunch of gimbap, they discuss about a patient who recently died and how he lost his memory due to extreme trauma. Out of the blue, Yun-soo asks Sang-man something about the way he prepared the food  and he remembers his mother who taught him just that.

Suddenly, Sang-man stops eating and this is where the movie transforms into a real tearjerker. Sang-man experiences an intense memory surge and then he reminisces everything that has happened leading to the accident which claimed the lives of his family members. The movie then reveals that he is the sole survivor of a car crash.

The fat smoker is actually his father. The crying lady is his mother. The hyperactive kid is his "hyung", or older brother and the pervert old man is his grandfather. 

Sang-man goes back to his apartment and demands for the ghosts to return. The ghosts reappear and what is then seen onscreen is a moving and  heart tugging reunion of Sang-man with his family. It is made clear in such scene that his family has never left him. They are always present, though unseen, to guide Sang-man in each stage of his life. Alarmed with Sang-man's suicide attempts, it is disclosed in the end that the ones who actually made the move to stop him from meeting death are these ghosts, a.k.a his family.

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Call me crazy but I have seen this movie quite a number of times already and I still feel my heart constrict every time. 

I recommend this movie to everyone especially to those in search for a surprising movie (well not surprising anymore because of this spoiler LOL, but you'll love it still :D) and more importantly, full of life lessons. 

I guarantee that HELLO GHOST will leave viewers appreciative of their families and of love, more than ever.