An Attempt to Uncover Hidden Messages in the Light of the Background Stories
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In case the name does not ring a bell for someone:
Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, is a Korean solo singer, dancer, and actor. Like many performers around the world, he was also inspired by Michael Jackson to choose a musical career. He debuted as a soloist at the age of twenty in 2002. He is among the most popular and respected artists across Asia, but he was also the first Korean performer to play at Madison Square Garden. Already in 2005, he received a historic Grand Slam shower of awards: he achieved a triple success by winning the most important MTV awards in the South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese/Taiwanese regions. The film-loving audience of the world could get to know him through the Wachowski sisters as the leading actor of Ninja Assassin (or, before that, as Taejo in Speed Racer), as well as the main character of Park Chan-wook's film titled I'm A Cyborg, But That's OK (receiving an MTV Movie Award for the former, while the latter film won the Berlinale Alfred Bauer Prize). Nowadays, several of his series can be seen on streaming services, including Red Swan (Disney Plus) and Bloodhounds 2 (Netflix). His most recent musical release is the track titled Feel It in May 2026.
while the bottom row frames his cinematic journey, juxtaposing his foundational early acting roles with his most recent work (Author's screenshots)
Let's begin our retrospective journey into the 2014 reality of the album's birth:
Rain's last album dated back to 2009, and the path leading up to it was also very interesting. Rain's musical world showed a peculiar transformation after he got out from under JYP's wings. Following his becoming independent—or rather, becoming his own master—already Rainism, but even more so Back To The Basic, was a resolute return to the starting point, which can be identified with the harder musical world of Bad Guy. The newer songs, occasionally already bearing Rain's name as a composer, clearly received a more metallic sound, often with guitar and drum bases characteristic of harder rock, though they preserved their richness in genres and styles. This was much more conspicuous in the sound of the concerts than on the studio albums, where at times the thundering of a serious rock band filled the space. One of the reasons for my curiosity was whether Rain would continue this direction, or if he could continue it at all?
Why? Because during the four years, the trends of K-pop changed as well, and no matter how sovereign a creator Rain is, first and foremost, the reality of the Korean entertainment industry is his lifeblood. And in that, interesting phenomena reared their heads. From the endless sea of cloying pop ballads—which started with the stifled voice of a dying swan and endlessly self-repeated, but without exception culminated in vocal soaring—and songs building on the "jump-around-rap-jump-around" schema that often carried the pulse of local festival music, those were able to stand out who either openly embraced the absolute brainlessness of this mainstream and subverted it in its own inverted way by deploying the full toolkit of Dada (e.g., Big Bang), or, sensing and riding the "rebellion without a cause" of the young beneficiaries of the consumer society, were able to give voice to this mood filled with suppressed, helpless rage in their songs (e.g., B.A.P.). Perhaps I do not need to write down that this polarized and overly generalized characterization does not need to include the top-tier representatives of the genre, since they possess the marks of sovereignty beyond the genre schemas. Along with all this, electro-music influences and artificial autotunes dominated the world of tracks, perfectly reflecting the musical imprint of a technologized society fabricated with electronic devices. It is a particular curiosity that, as a sure sign of the overproduction crisis, younger and younger "idols" dominate the field, which anyway builds on the emotional world of teenagers.
What can a creator do in this world whose entire existence and artistic image was built from the guilt of the bad boy who wants to reform and henceforth wants to serve the good, and from the motifs of "let's perform to the maximum because that is what wins its reward in the end," while his musical taste is rooted in the sensual, playful world of smooth jazz, soul, and R&B? Moreover, the ten years of a magical career now weighed on Rain's shoulders as an oppressive burden in the sense that everyone was watching with eagle eyes to see what this battle-hardened veteran—who is still terribly young, being only thirty-one years old, yet counts as a "grand old man" in the pop scene—would put on the table as a "big hit," especially after a two-year forced hiatus, with a thoroughly tarnished reputation.
The Military Incident and the Media Onslaught: Hero to Zero?
The other reason for my immense curiosity was precisely how Rain would pour out of himself that immense amount of disappointment and bitterness that he gathered completely unexpectedly—and in reality, completely unfairly—during his military service. Because I took it for granted that we would receive some kind of answer to these on the new record, since how else would a musician process the good and bad experiences of their life other than by singing them out of themselves, framed in music and lyrics.
It is also no secret that the release of the record can be compared to the turning points of the most exciting dramas: the moment arrived where the fate of the protagonist stands or falls. Therefore, with bated breath, I awaited the release time of four o'clock in the morning in our country, naturally as a "fan" who worries for Rain's fate, loves and respects him very much, but is not without criticism.
I must also recall the image we preserve of Rain from his last active days, back in the fall of 2011, before the military machine swallowed him up. We saw a performer standing at the pinnacle of a dizzying, decade-long career that started from the very bottom; fully aware of the value of his achievements, he occupied his literally manifested regal place at the top of the genre’s hierarchy during his final concert, burning this image deeply into the consciousness of the audience. At the same time, Rain, as always, unintentionally revealed his more vulnerable feelings as well—his fear that the two-year forced hiatus could destroy the results of all his struggles up to that point. And because he is a person blessed with extremely sensitive instruments, it was as if all his other senses beyond the five physical ones suggested some ominous foreboding, which provided an explanation for his hypersensitive state before his enlistment.
Unfortunately, his premonitions did not deceive him. After a year-long series of military achievements performed like a superhero, trouble struck, and a massive one at that, making it doubtful whether it would be possible to stand back up. Fate wove the threads in such a way that, precisely due to his prominent public role, Rain became the subject of a surreal story. In this story, political infighting, the ambivalent feelings of the Korean people regarding mandatory military service, the overheated patriotic expectations due to the de jure state of war, and the ineffective criticism of the incompetent, corruptible leadership of military affairs that gave cause for attacks all materialized in an incredible hype.
At the origin of this hype, the media positioned the most well-known subject possible, Rain, regardless of whether he could have had any role at all in the current aspects of the hype—yet they turned his name into a trigger word for the scent of scandal in the media. Yet, his offense was merely that during a few seconds of transferring from a car to a taxi, he did not properly wear the cap that goes with the military uniform, which paparazzi—constantly breathing down his neck even during his military time—captured and then presented as a tabloid sensation in the press. While this is indeed mandatory according to the rulebook, it is not so on the heads of private soldiers and their superiors in everyday reality.
They even spread a false accusation claiming that Rain met with his famous actress girlfriend during his official leaves, but this did not prove to be true during the subsequent investigation, which, of course, no longer interested anyone. However, the rumor alone was enough to incite public anger. Since celebrities serving in the military are completely defenseless against the attacks that hit them during their service time (as even public verbal statements are forbidden for them), the ultimate result was the discharge of a star brought into bad repute with a tarnished renown, and personally, a young man who honorably withstood the pressure weighing on him, but was nevertheless spiritually tormented, living under the pressure of terrible stress for long months, and who had lost weight because of it.
After the torture of the last half-year of military service, another half-year of silence followed, without a single statement. No one knew what was happening with Rain, how he was processing what had happened to him, and whether he would pick up the gauntlet thrown down at him, or if, becoming disillusioned, he would rather retreat and become a monk. The latter was also a quite likely scenario.
My first impressions
Since one could sample the songs of the record fastest on the iTunes Store page—literally, because as a purchasing incentive, they provide a 1-1.5 minute listening opportunity for the songs—I tackled this immediately, naturally along with many thousands of others.
And then... I thought I wasn’t hearing right. The musical samples revealed a strong electro-sound, strange high-pitched singing, rap inserts, and some unmistakable K-pop feeling. The familiar Rain-voice—that husky, yet velvet-brown, stroking voice—was simply nowhere to be found. My first feeling was immense disappointment; somehow, I felt that Rain and his new agency had made a poor decision because they forcedly wanted to race against the currently trendy artists of the K-pop mainstream, specifically by striking a sound similar to theirs—of course, as a sort of declaration of war, showing that they could easily do such a thing too. I found this to be a complete mistake, and I don't even need to mention that there was no trace anywhere of the hard sound flirting with rock. However, I saw the titles of the tracks: Baby, Marilyn Monroe, Superman... and I thought, why must everything be done to win the favor of America? Furthermore, I also thought that it is certainly impossible to win over there in this manner, if that were the goal. Having gotten over the first shock, of course, I waited for the album to download and started listening to Rain Effect in its entirety—and from track to track, a strange, brand-new, yet very familiar realm opened up before me, which minute by minute revealed its values and brought my entire being under its influence. I hereby apologize to Rain for forgetting for a moment that in his person, I am dealing with a sovereign creator of exceptional quality.
Finally: the album itself
So, let’s see the album, which I have since been able to hold in my hands in its physical release as well. Although I treat it as a single album due to the near-total identity of the musical material, we can actually speak of two releases: the original CD-sized edition and the deluxe box set special edition.
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Its title: RAIN EFFECT. This is straight talk; there is no need to analyze its confidence. Rain has an effect—this is the voice of self-confidence. The packaging of the album seems modest compared to the over-designed K-pop albums, and it reflects well on Rain’s current verbal message: "I have eliminated all greed within myself." At the same time, its appearance is extremely elegant, and it has a surprising visual element: the case is a double CD case, and by opening the front, we can perceive that the cover is not just a metallic, 3D-effect photo, but a plastically formed translucent element has been placed over the silver print; this provides the special, radiant effect. The embossed cover of the accompanying photo book plays further with the image of silvery rainwater, and the typography of the lettering is also a perfect hit. The Special Edition carries these design elements further. The front element of the transparent plastic case refracts the light like a prism, while the separate CD holder inside shapes a water droplet over the disc. But my favorite is the tiny detail that even the barcode is shaped like a raindrop. The photo book is, of course, much richer, and it is also accompanied by a notebook.
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The graphic design of the first double page of the photo book is very beautiful, the way it evokes the feeling of trickling rain by arranging the titles of the tracks into vertical lines. Inside, from all the photos, a young man with a smileless, extremely serious, and pure face looks at us, who, although visibly freshly kissed by a woman, wears the mark of the lipsticked lips on his face with the exact same naturalness as the tons of jewelry on his fingers.
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There is something aristocratic about his appearance; the pictures evoke paintings depicting the highly self-respecting, jeweled, fur-wrapped male nobles of old times. Yet the man is ultra-modern, along with the fact that the retro feeling of the eighties somehow echoes back from the photos as well. This man, although seemingly a self-contradiction, is understatedly provocative, and because of this, his charisma is certainly extremely powerful. It is clear that he has a secret he does not want to share, and his attraction lies precisely in this mystery, which calls forth female principles: for just like in the story of Duke Bluebeard, every woman wants to open that certain seventh door.
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In the strongly icy-feeling silver-white dominance of the packaging, the "heart" of the CD box, the disc containing the songs, is a fresh blood-red color, and this same color echoes back in the word "effect" as well, which, knowing the precedents, offers opportunities for an extreme number of associations.
For the design of the packaging of Rain Effect, +1 point goes to Rain.
Without exception, the lyrics of the songs are credited to Rain, and let’s look at the composers... well, look at that, we find his name at every single song as well, and JR Groove is indicated as co-composer. Therefore, we can hear an author’s album in every sense. This is a novelty, though not without precedents, since Rainism, or the two leading tracks from four years ago, Hip Song and Love Song, are also Rain’s own music.
1. Rain Effect π§
Just like on Rain’s previous records, the album begins with an opening salvo. Up until now, the sounds of either whispering rain or thunder served as atmospheric intros, but these are nowhere to be found now. Instead, we power up as if we were embarking on a mission aboard a super-spaceship emerging from an ocean, with a vehicle powered by some kind of fuel called Rain Effect. I remembered a meme circulating on the net, according to which the image of rain brings the word 'rain' to the mind of every English speaker, except for the admirers of our current performer, who immediately associate it with 'Rain.' Well, on this album, there is no longer any need for the sounds of nature’s rain, because the person in question is THE RAIN himself. A powerful opening salvo. By the way, we could already know the music as the musical accompaniment to one of the music video teasers.
It also belongs to the sphere of preliminary knowledge that the record has two 'title songs,' though neither of their titles is identical to the title of the record. Since Rain’s private personality, and consequently his stage persona as well, cannot be described as one-dimensional, they probably decided on this solution due to the presentation of the two dominant image elements with equal strength.
As the entrance to the album, in the definitive place of the first track, following the 'Thirty sexy, thirty, thirty, Thirty sexy, thirty, thirty' acapella introduction, we launch with eight massive drum beats that hit all the way to the viscera, which thud all the way through in the background, but the main musical motif is dominated by some kind of voluptuous elongation. This is dance music at its finest, which is erotically provocative. Not a teen disco, but the tingling (exciting) game of mature sexualities, specifically drawing attention to the fact that maturity stemming from age hides deeper and more extraordinary excitements.
If we pay attention to the lyrics, it turns out that we also get an underlying meaning: the eccentric male character’s mating dance, which entices women yet places his own erotic charisma at the center, takes place on stage, in the light of the spotlights, and the object of seduction might not even be a single woman, but THE WOMAN, all of them who dance together with THE MAN in the space dominated by pheromones. This is a surprising and playful confession about the efficacy of the individual experiencing the fulfillment of their gender, and of the stage persona keeping the audience under the spell of a somewhat narcissistic version of this same power.
Rain takes advantage of the English linguistic playing field to the fullest extent with the help of a tiny slip: he continuously pronounces the word 'thirty' audibly as 'dirty.' Whether intentionally? His English is much too good for us to blame this on his accent. The music is once again a double game, because although it is a powerfully rhythmic party music that induces contemporary pop-music ears to dance, it nevertheless also blends the world of what is by now retro-pop into itself; the falsettos of the refrains especially conjure up the sounds of Earth, Wind & Fire, even specifically September, which Rain sang with such great love as the encore surprise of his last concert tour.
As a sharp shift, to the sounds of a brass band, we drop into a Latin carnival atmosphere, into which exciting Afro-rhythms blend in a matter of moments. If I wrote about the drum beats of 30 Sexy that they are massive, then I don't even know what adjective fits the heavily cracking deep sounds of the brass instruments here. Their continuous pulsation creates the atmosphere of a street party, into which, like a musical orgy, the chorus of the crowd singing together blends alongside the rap, as well as the asymmetrical game conjured up by the rhythm section with percussion and the sounds of the beatbox. The dynamics of the track delight with rich variety; it is exciting how during the 'dance time' he can suppress the loudness of the basic atmosphere for the sake of the masterly interplay of the guitar-percussion-beatbox, which we find as if peeking into a side street, so that turning back, the flowing mainstream of the carnival hits us with even greater force.
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If the protagonist of 30 Sexy is the sophisticated and somewhat mysterious man, then here as a counterpoint we find the heartbreakingly charming street rascal who survives even on the back of ice, who has no idea about sophisticated pleasures because he looks for the primary joys of life in everything—and finds them. He is certainly not lonely; buddies, women, and stuff thought to be good surround him and accompany his every step. Wherever he goes, good cheer follows, to the greatest joy of all of us. Let’s just remember: director Park Chan-wook also mentioned as a fundamental characteristic of Rain that he is "mischievous" at every possible moment. In La Song, Rain shows another thousand kinds of possibilities of his slightly husky but powerfully ringing, natural timbre, with which he also smuggles numerous acting performances into the song. Naturally, rap does not pose too great a challenge for him either. Fitting for the song, the lyrics are direct, they do not try to say more than necessary, but they do so in the appropriate language of slang.
After the title songs, the record serves up another surprise, because it seems that there remained an unprocessed problem in the topic of the male-female relationship.
4. Oppa (feat.HYUN A) (μ΄λ κ°μ. μ€λΉ / Where Are You Going, Oppa?) π§
We have arrived at perhaps the most extraordinary track on the record, a duet sung with HyunA, in which the tension between the trivial textual content and the arrangement of the song hides the key to the solution. Of course, only if I am well mistaken. For those who are just getting acquainted with K-pop: girls address both their beloved and their famous favorites as 'oppa' (older brother), and they are capable of repeating this with some spine-chillingly affected whining. In the song, a girl is "oppa-ing" in its most annoying form, asking the boy to hang out with her instead of going about his own business again. Interestingly, the boy answers the girl in the plural ("Play by yourselves, oppa has a lot of things to do").
Why on earth? Perhaps because the song revolves around the fact that all girl fans want the exact same thing from the star of their hearts: continuous 'entertainment,' just as girls in love want exclusive 'care.' Although the boy knows that the girl is right when she warns him that his life will pass by if he only cares about his profession as a performer, he nevertheless flees to the stage, where he can fall in love with all those women whom he is incapable of loving outside the stage. The text is a simple lovers' tiff, in which the girl demandingly affects airs and the boy answers the woman/women, who are slightly a burden to him, with affectionate patience, but the music lifts this dialogue away from primary reality from the very first moment. The eerie vibration playing in the background reinterprets the text and makes it a game of internal, spiritual force fields. The boy is only present in his words, because it is as if he carries the vibration within himself, which keeps him captive in another world.
How did Rain put it? When he steps onto the stage, he still shivers, he becomes electrified. This moment indeed occurs in the song when the force field, which until then was only vibrating, almost explodes, and this is the moment when the synchronization of man and woman occurs in the shared rhythm of the heartbeat. Yet, the conceptual duality still remains in the lyrics: the girl thinks that the boy is finally vibrating on the same wavelength as her, while the boy speaks about the ecstatic experience of virtual lovemaking with every woman born on the stage.
Rain has already formulated several times that he has arrived at that threshold of his life when he longs for a real relationship, and he knows how much he lost in his twenties that counts as a naturally lived experience for his contemporaries (of course, he gained plenty of other things instead of these, he is aware of this too). The problem is nonetheless latently there in the text and the music: can such a virtual relationship experience substitute for reality? The song somewhat modifies Karinthy's summation about the futility of love relationships, according to which the mission is impossible because the woman wants the man, while the man wants the woman. In Rain's case, the situation seems even more hopeless: the woman here too wants the man entirely, while the man wants his own life, in which a woman would nonetheless come in handy. The female performer of the duet, HyunA, is an excellent partner for Rain in this masterly little piece.
5. Marilyn Monroe π§
Upon reading the title, after the previous ones, I really did not know what to prepare for. However, from the plucking of the very first guitar sound of the song, golden Californian sunshine flooded everything in the room, and the opening word of the song, 'Beautiful,' resounded with such warmth and innocent wonderment that the essence of Rain’s unparalleled performing ability and the purest traits of his being were condensed into it. The song of intimately simple beauty beautifully refutes the previous one, or rather, perhaps much more pushes the problem contained within it into place: there is no trouble here, since if the real, grand emotion comes, it conjures a playful and innocent youth out of all of us again. We know that the core experience of Rain's past year was a new love, and the lady happens to be a beautiful actress. Of course, everyone immediately started questioning him, so this song is a love confession, right? Rain, with his stoic smile, only answered that well, last year he watched the movie titled Marilyn Monroe released in theaters, and he was fascinated by the star's beauty. And we believe him. Why shouldn't we? Though, of course, we would love to be this much in love...
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6. Baby (μ°¨μ νλ΄/ Get in the Car) π§
If the previous opus belonged to love, then here is its most bitter concomitant right away: jealousy. And what do we hear? The fleeing oppa of the third track already wants to possess the lady of his heart entirely, and it even completely unhinges him that he sensed a foreign scent on her. What sorrow, shame, self-torment, and desire for retaliation resound in this song! And although it hurts a lot, the whole thing is still soft, like Rain, who fundamentally could not hurt a fly. But be careful anyway, because because of this, he can still land a heavy blow on someone.
7. SUPERMAN π§
First of all: like this, in all capital letters. A top-tier, playful track, one of the highlights of the record. Electro sound and a rhythm orgy at its finest. Rain makes three characters speak: the girl and Superman, in his dual form. Sounds never heard before burst out of him, and this cheerfulness suits him terribly well. The text is also humorous, launching with an acrostic: from the starting letters of the lines of the first stanza, the word SUPER can be read. This is the song of the man who wants to and can dazzle a woman, who is indeed a super Superman capable of miracles—if this is called forth from him. Because the one and true woman capable of doing so is nonetheless needed for this.
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8. I Know (μμλ²λ Έμ΄ / I Found Out) π§
It is as if the line of love songs continues with the memory of a painful breakup. As if. Yet this is the text during whose translation the feeling grew stronger and stronger within me that this might not be the case after all. The in medias res, heart-wrenching, suffocating "keep keep keep keep you stand up" piercing into the silence—which is a desperate self-encouragement to "stay standing, endure" all of this, do not collapse under the pressure of what happened—already offered a strong double meaning. Throughout the text, there are lines that can be interpreted in two ways, which can equally be the imprints of a romantic disappointment or, in a roundabout way, tell the story of the past year’s disillusionment.
It wasn’t even a minute, perhaps, while you left me,
how could I forgive you?
It’s too late anyway, I’ve already seen through
your treacherous pretense and too many lies.How on earth did the two of us end up here like this? Ah…
I will really erase you, and I will forget you!It is time already that I can leave you, erase you.
I am drifting, just like the wind and the clouds,
I love you, but still, I might not be able to see you anymore.
Ah… there is no air… air… here, I am suffocating…
Though my heart is breaking, I will leave you nonetheless,
Memory, if you are a thorn, I will simply cast you out!
Could one speak more clearly than this about the disappointment that Rain must have experienced due to the public mood that suddenly became hostile toward him? Due to the baseless persecution? Due to the fact that with his ten years of efforts and stunning results, he did not earn the slightest credit with many people? In the arrangement of the track, the musical vibration of Where Are You Going, Oppa? returns; a similarly agitated vibration dominates here as well, making the alarm of the lonely soul quite terrifying.
If the previous track was the highlight of playfulness, then now we have arrived at the musical climax of the album. Although it will not be a disco hit, Rain nevertheless included all the pain and bitterness that he experienced in the previous year. What he sings in it is not least an exceptional performing achievement either.
My suspicion regarding the interpretation is turned almost into a certainty by the place the song occupies on the album, because what follows after it, I Found Out is a clear prelude to it.
9. Dear Mama Don't Cry π§
Judging by the title, we have arrived at the most concerning song on the record. We know the backstory, the fact that Rain carries deep within himself a trauma that can perhaps never be processed. Yet, it was strange to see that we encounter such a song on the record of a man specifically appealing to his adulthood. But like almost every track throughout the entire album, this one caused a surprise too. Because there is no question of crying over old pain again. There is no question of trying to win back the sympathy of the audience by deploying cheap tricks. There is a much more brutal reckoning in this immensely pure song.
Why on earth must it be endlessly proven to the mother, who has been dead for fourteen years, repeating incessantly that she does not need to cry? In fact, why is the mother crying, watching her son’s fate from somewhere in another existence? Rain did not write a single word stating that what happened to him last year was a tragedy. He did not write a single word stating that what happened hurt him very much. He did not write a single word stating that he might have doubts about whether it was worth spending ten years of his youth in the service of the audience that he placed before everything else and loved, yet which treacherously betrayed him. A mother can feel these doubts. A mother who made her son promise that he would do everything to live this life. And life granted everything she wished for her son. Except that at this moment, the meaning of every sacrifice became doubtful. That of the mother, who died in the struggle for a livelihood, and that of the boy, who performing beyond his strength turned the maternal dream into reality, which was naturally his own as well.
This is the song of a reckoning, and specifically of a very tough, manly reckoning, in which it is stated that "But I made it. I fulfilled what you wanted for me." This is the cornerstone of self-evaluation, which is the most important point of alignment. The rest is the whimsical game of fate. Thus, it also gains meaning why there is nothing to cry about over what happened. And most importantly, from here, one can stand back up, and with dignity at that, for the continuation. Or one can close the accounting with the past.
The repetitive structure of the song, Rain’s infinitely gentle pleading, and the pulsation of the drums accompanying the singing—imitating a heartbeat—create immense tension. The most important sentence of the text is delivered almost hidden, as a line of rap spoken in a faded, tapping voice, which on the one hand testifies to an infinitely tasteful moderation, and on the other hand is a solution that speaks for itself. That the song nonetheless culminates in suffocating crying is something we owe to the bitter runs of the saxophone.
10. μ¬λν΄ (I Love You) π§
It was released exclusively on the Special Edition. The song is an earlier composition that Rain recorded as a special gift for the Rain Effect Special Edition. The lyrics can once again be interpreted in two ways: they can be read as a personal confession to a single individual, but equally as a message to the fans.
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The record ends with the double-tempo mix of 30 Sexy, which on the one hand makes the track much more danceable, and on the other hand gives a peculiar, more nervous atmosphere to the original song, conjuring up again the two aforementioned precedents, and looking toward the future with an excited, restless vibration.
In summary: in his first author's album, Rain performs a surprising thing. He put on the table a string of songs that is pop music to the core, has a contemporary soundscape, is playful and varied, and is largely suitable for dancing as well, and these songs carry the heavy messages packed into them in such a way that they do not become weighed down by them for a single moment.
How did the already quoted film director Park Chan-wook put it regarding Rain?
"What is truly surprising about Ji-hoon is that a sort of rage, a desire for revenge, and sadness—all the shades of darkness—materialize in his case in an extremely optimistic and cheerful way." [1]
He was right to a vast extent.
. . .
[1]
Park Chan-wook made this remark at the press conference for the film *I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK* in May 2006.
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