HIFF pts. 6-7

Perhaps it was an omen when we walked out of the Korean restaurant on Tuesday night in the rain. Everything had gone pretty smoothly for Wendy and me until then. The next day, we would be stranded at the airport due to flawed scheduling.

But there are worse places stuck than Honolulu, and we were lucky to have relatives there who would provide us with transportation and lodging. Not only that, Anderson hooked us up with tickets to see the international premiere of KT Kwak's blockbuster, A Love.

We arrived at the historic Hawaii Theater in Chinatown at 5:30 to find a huge line of mostly middle-aged women. Some had arrived for the 7:00 screening at 11:00.


Caught up with the excitement, we decided to put dinner on hold and join the mob. Wendy held our place while I combed the neighborhood for snacks. Lo and behold, I found a cracked seed shop with baggies of dried, preserved, and li hing soaked goodies hanging in the window. To me, the sight was more beautiful than stained glass. Commenting on the commotion nearby, he proprietor asked if a Korean drama was showing. Yup.




The festival's comp tickets arrived just prior to the doors opening, and had to I squeeze my way to the lobby to meet my dealer. There, I had a good view of the hardest-core fans with flowers, glossies, Sharpies, and T-shirts adorned with soap star Ju Jin Mo's likeness. They were awesome.




Inside, the ladies were buzzing but kept at bay by rent-a-cops. The organist may have played a part at soothing them as well.




Onstage, Kwak and Mo received awards to the delight of the screaming fans (mostly for the latter). The two spoke briefly and gave a shaka before the movie started. It packed a lot of action, drama, and melodrama into the 90 minutes, and I'll give more details, etc., in GR51.

Missing our flight allowed Wendy and me to attend the screening but it also caused us to skip a meal. We were starving, so my uncle and aunt took me to Gina's, a plate-lunch style Korean takeaway in Kahala. It's open pretty late and definitely worth checking out. We didn't even order the meat dishes and were still stuffed.






Eventually the trip had to end. Yes, on a bitter note, but not the type you'd expect.




We return to Hawaii in December...