About This DVD

Bungee Jumping of Their Own is an ingenious title for a film about reincarnation.

To depict the human soul as bungee jumping from one incarnation to the next may be the most apt metaphor for reincarnation. Modern metaphors and colloquialisms are always the most profound means of expressing age-old concepts.

The story begins with So In-wu (Lee Byeong-Heon, star of Joint Security Area) meeting In Tae-hui (Lee Eun-Ju) by chance at a bus stop and offering her shelter under his umbrella until her bus comes. Unable to forget her, he returns to the same spot the next day hoping to find her. The sequence is handled poetically with time exposures and slow motion shots showing passersby fading into stills and vanishing like so many phantoms.

In one amusing scene, In-wu meets two of his college friends for drinks.

Having received a lighter from Tae-hui as a gift, he's anxious to try it out with his first smoke. When his first attempt at inhaling leaves him wheezing and coughing, one of his friends instructs him on the finer points of inhaling. Having learned of In-wu's romantic attachment, his friend asks him if he's deflowered her yet. Offended by the remark, In-wu refuses to discuss it. In the next scene, we see Tae-hui walking away from In-woo in the rain, a scowl clearly visible on her lovely face. In-wu has naively let the subject of the previous night's discussion slip and Tae-hui is angry that he would sexually objectify her in this way.

Angry both with himself and the situation, In-woo subjects his umbrella to a sound beating and marches off, leaving Tae-hui standing in the pouring rain with clenched fists. But when In-wu reappears sometime later, they each reveal they have been testing each other. He promises to respect her wishes if he finds her waiting for him and she decides to give him what he wants if he returns. He returns to find her standing in the same spot. He then takes off his jacket and offers it to her. When he expresses his wish to make love to her, she surprises him by revealing that she has the same wish. They depart in search of a hotel, but In-wu is too clumsy and inexperienced to handle the situation and spends the night leaning against the wall without the comfort of her warm body.

One day, In-wu waits for Tae-hui at Yongsan Station, but she fails to appear. He waits and waits, but still she doesn't come. Finally, he ascends the stairs to the subway entrance dejectedly, scarcely believing she would stand him up like this.

We then flash forward to the year 2000. In-wu is now teaching in a high school. He clearly has the respect and admiration of his students, especially Im Hyon-bin (Yeo Hyeon-Su), who practically worships him, shouting out answers to his questions with great enthusiasm in class. But the answers are not always what In-woo wants to hear, especially when Hyon-bin comes out with remarks that echo those Tae-hui made to him in the past, as when Hyon-bin expresses his disbelief in true love, while looking passionately at his teacher. Seeing that his remark has failed to win approval from his teacher, he then apologizes.

One day, In-wu discovers that Hyon-bin has received a message on his cellular phone from his girlfriend. This arouses jealousy in In-wu. He decides to call Hyon-bin later that evening but finds that he's on the phone. When he finally gets through, he scolds him for being on the phone for an hour when he should be doing his work.

The next day, In-wu humiliates Hyon-bin's girlfriend by correcting her incessantly as she reads a passage from a book. That night, In-wu confesses his feelings for the boy to his wife. He confides that he has come to question his sexuality. The next day, In-wu feels a powerful impulse to touch Hyon-bin. We can see him struggling with himself, attempting to restrain his desire, his hand trembling, but he cannot resist. Placing his hand on Hyon-bin's shoulder, he pretends to be showing natural affection for a student.

Later, Hyon-bin and his girlfriend are out shopping, when Hyon-bin suddenly shows interest in a display of lighters. Drawn inexplicably to one lighter in particular, he is suddenly seized by the impulse to buy it. He seems transfixed by the face etched on the surface of the lighter. It seems familiar to him somehow. The next day, In-wu is walking around the classroom, when he discovers Hyon-bin sketching in class.

Glancing down to see what it is, he is shocked to discover Tae-hui's exact likeness. He grabs Hyon-bin by the collar and demands to know who it is. He then glances down at the desk and spots the lighter Tae-hui had given him so many years before. Bewildered and confused, and haunted by bitter memories, In-wu breaks down in class to the shock and disappointment of his impressionable students.

Rumors begin circulating that In-wu and Hyon-bin are lovers. Overhearing two students talking about them both in disparaging terms, Hyon-bin starts a fight in the washroom. The students are later called in for disciplining.

In-wu lines them up for a caning, but Hyon-bin receives the brunt of In- wu's rage. The next day, In-wu visits Hyon-bin on the basketball court and they have it out in front of the students. Hyon-bin screams at In-wu and then walks out on him, leaving In-wu standing there with clenched fists.

This is a clever dramatic reversal of the fight In-wu had had with Tae-hui so many years before.

Finding Hyon-bin's desk empty the next day, In-woo decides to sit in his desk and await his return. When Hyon-bin finally appears, In-wu grabs him by the collar and demands, "I know who you are! Why don't you know who I am?"

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