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A rather thought provoking story of Anna.
Just completed this drama today and I'd say the drama used quite a thought provoking way to tell its story. It's overall a very depressing and gloomy story to the point that I also felt affected as the story progressed... So Lee Yumi played by Suzy actually reflects many moments of our lives under certain circumstances. She came from a very ordinary but loving/supportive family, while she could have also lived a very peaceful and mediocre life but I think what really made her change was in fact meeting Colonel Philips's wife who was hinted as delusional by her husband...The wife had taught her a lot of things and a few of it is how to keep a poker face and not allowing other people to guess what she is thinking or perhaps even lying... All of this had influenced her a lot even though she wasn't aware of it herself. One would be when she was in a ballet school and at that moment she is seen lying very comfortably already. Honestly, she could have been honest about her background and just ignore people's gossip but she couldn't because all along she felt her false/delusional character setup would breakdown...
I could relate to her feelings when she wanted to live up to her parents' anticipations and lied about making it to college which I think I would have also done the same if I was in her shoes. I do think in her own generalisation, she has been thinking how everyone would just look down on her if she had been honest about her situation. For her marriage, I do think it's really the same type of people attracts each other but obviously her husband was even more evil and ambitious, even resorting to locking her in a mental hospital to protect his achievements.
In the last episode, she was seen burning the car and her husband which was a relief where she finally decided to break away from her own shell and go live a quiet life which she yearns.
Overall, a great drama of a rather underrated genre! Yumi did all this because she thought this the only way to get respected in society and able to live a comfortable live which she didn't after living a life of a copied identity.
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something that every viewers might look forward to watch
Anna is something that is too far from any plots in kdrama land. this drama is different based from my expectations. there were no cliches, romance, just focusing on how lee yumi changes her life they way she lived during her high school year, until she grow up being a art professor. portraying what Ripley Syndrome really looks like. the plot was very interesting, to be fact. and this drama is something that other viewers might get some higher expectations, but in the end, it might be something interesting. bae suzy also acted this role very well! I was really impressed by her acting skills and most especially she proves me how she made her acting career very known to other kdrama fans. I think its not really advisable to watch it again, unless if you really would want to deeply know how and were things happened in each episodes, since it was a fast forward paced drama for me.Overall, the plot of the story seems interesting to look forward into. such a masterpiece, I say. But I hope other people might get the chance to watch this drama, because again, this drama has a potential to explain how lee anna's disorder is quite hard to handle. People might have this opportunity to recognize this mini series as this type of cases are very rare and thanks to this drama, I get to know and understand what Ripley Syndrome looks like.
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One of the best drama i have watched in a while
Anna, I will say is one of the best drama i have watched this year, It’s a slow show but with a great story line.I want people should see this show as more than just a korean drama, It teaches a lesson and also shows the realistic part of life.
It’s not a romance drama( Thank God) I like how the plot just focused on the Female lead and everything she has been through.
Like i said before, It’s like a lesson,.
1: Don’t live your life to people’s expectations, Including your family.
2:Lying is bad, No matter how you try to justify it, It will come back to meet you.
3: Don’t be eager to become like someone with the mindset of rich people are living well.
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will a better life make a person happier?
what a suspensful yet poetic ride, following Yumi from child to full grown adult was something I didn't know would be this good.there's heavy moral ambiguity throughout the watch, to what lenght is something okay or too much? Is what Anna did acceptable? Personally she wasn't perfect, could have made better decisions but still rootable throughout.
the perfect antagonist of our story was Hyun Joo, she's neither good nor that bad but is out of touch and can be quite annoying. however she's really smart, it always seems that she says the right things, all encounters with Anna, I find myself agreeing to Hyun Joo more.
throughout I felt the heavy inspiration to Parasite 2019, cinematography points like putting characters on the dark or splitting characters with different status. another one is the use of symbols, you really had to pay attention to get some of them, so it was fascinating when I do get it. lastly is it's nuanced tone, like the film, it doesn't tells you whose wrong or right, shows a situation and lets watchers decide.
I've said this over and over again but watching Suzy act is an honor, pure perfection in giving Anna to life.
Anna despite it's flaws like it's very very slow progression or lack luster character development, is a series that us insightful and thought provoking, builds up a great suspensful story keeping viewers intrigue, highly recommended!
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This review may contain spoilers
"Anna" tells the story of Yu Mi, who has always been ashamed of being poor, so she created the habit of inventing lies for everyone, creating a fantasy life that is the complete opposite of her real life. When she becomes an adult, Yu Mi starts working as a maid in the house of Hyun Joo, a woman who has everything she wanted but doesn't know the value of it, she is spoiled, selfish, arrogant and rude. One day, Yu Mi can't stand being treated like this anymore and decides to run away, stealing money and Hyun Joo's US passport, assuming the identity of Lee Anna.Yu Mi gains recognition with the name Anna and ends up meeting Ji Hoon, a rich young man with a seemingly good heart. The two get married. The problem is that Ji Hoon is not the person Yu Mi thought he was and to make matters worse, Hyun Joo returns only to blackmail Yu Mi.
Who would have thought that Ji Hoon was a complete psychopath, who knew from the beginning about Yu Mi's lies, but wanted to use her, just as she was using him. Ji Hoon killed Hyun Joo because she was in his way and he did it to his ex-wife too. The final scene of the drama, with Yu Mi burning the car with her purse and killing her husband is simply fantastic. No comments for her expression in that last moment. I don't condemn Yu Mi for what she did, I know that it all started with her lies, but life wasn't fair for her either, it seemed like everything was going wrong for her and let's face it, this Hyun Joo was a bitch and Yu Mi didn't ruin her life at all, in fact she made the name Lee Anna, at least, have some value.
A very surprising drama, there are only six episodes, but they managed to bring a complete story, full of twists and turns and impeccable performances.
We see a totally different side of Suzy, in this drama she finally showed the incredible and serious actress that I always knew she was. Until now Suzy has only done romantic dramas, which are great by the way and all my favorites, but they have never really shown her ability as an actress.
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Best of Bae Suzy
A great show overall! But it was a little short. If it was just a tad bit longer, like maybe 8 episodes, the viewers could get a better understanding of the characters and how the plot plays out.If we just had a little more details in the plot here and there, it could have been a very strong story.But the story itself was pretty basic. I feel like we could have had more plot twists. The plot twists that were there weren't the best in my opinion. It wasn't strong enough to make the viewers feel something. I feel like the writing of the drama could have been a little stronger. They should have added more provoking lines. But either way, it still turned out pretty well. The ending was OK. I would have asked for a better ending. The ending just seems a little bland. It could have been more action-packed and left us with a cliffhanger, maybe.The acting was good, if I may say so myself. I've seen a few dramas that Suzy has acted in, and this is the best. With this drama, you can definitely see how Suzy grew as an actress. I want to see her in dramas to come to see how much she improves! I think Suzy did a great job on playing Yoo Mi. She really brought out the best and worst of Yoo Mi in a great way. The rest of the casting and acting was pretty great as well.
I almost forgot but I just have to comment on the music. It's so good. I really like listening to these kinds of "classical" (?) I'm not really sure like orchestra type of music music and the OST is really giving me those vibes. I find it really enjoyable to listen to!
But if you are bored and looking for something like Inventing Anna but in a K-drama version, I would recommend this. I'm a sucker for these kinds of dramas, so that's probably why my rating is pretty high LOL.
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THEY SHOULD HAD RELEASE THE ORIGINAL
A drama that had great potentionals but was ruined for literally stupid reasons. The fact they cut so many scenes and they create so many plot holes just doesnt make sense to me, i mean i get that some scenes sometimes have to be removed so the length of each episodes is "correct" , but here they just vanished two whole episodes, they left very important information out and they created plot holes, WITHOUT A REASON.The storyline is very interesting, how can a small lie effect everything in you life. I am not a huge fan of poor girl tries everything to become rich, but here i actually enjoyed the plotline. The characters were very interesting, but due to the problem with the cut scenes, some of the backstories werent accurate at this version, and its sad to watch characters like that being wasted. The acting was very good, Suzy didnt disappoint once again, actually all cast was good.
I dont have much to say, unfortunately this drama was ruined for me. While watching the 6 episode version I wasnt very happy about the final product and then it was announced that this drama was meant to have 8 episodes and i realized why i wasnt satisfied, but still having watched the first version, i wasnt very interested to watch the full length after.
Anyway do yourself a favor and forget this version exist, go watch the full length instead, i wish i had watched that first too.
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Competence
You know, I love this platform. There’s so much limitations everywhere else it’s ridiculous. So glad me and my fellow cofounders put in the time and effort to create something much needed for our community. A congruity of fans,writers, critics. A union if you will, vast creativity expl-Anna shows us the upbringing of a young woman that trapped herself in an entirely different life from what started as a single lie back in her teens to a web of lies,theft,bribery, and manipulation. A woman who was brought up in lower class but aced in everything she put her mind to, putting her in schools and extracurricular activities as the rich. But what could happen when someone who was once seen as this prodigy suddenly falls flat and experience repeated failure for the first time? Someone that received attention from everyone now becomes humiliation, suddenly is taken off her high horse. Finances begin to become a barrier that keeps her a level under others. How does a compulsive liar begin? What surroundings could’ve shaped them into someone that effortlessly takes on a background that was never theirs? How far can they go before it all comes crashing down, if ever?
This drama is a very compact short series that showcases extremely flawed efforts at perfection leading towards putting on a face to make it further towards your goal, to fulfill the expectations of those that are counting on you, to obtain stability and a foothold that’ll support what you truly wish to do that’ll be impactful instead of looked over or stepped on. A very grounded story showing us the darker outcomes of constant failure instead of the usual upbeats of “get up, try again!” or moping around with constant misfortunes on the hardworking innocent to grab sympathy.
In case you need to see this from me specifically(for crying out loud you’re talking to yourself) or for the 30th time, this drama is severely underrated. It may not look as such from my overall score but that’s only because we are used to the general rubric here. Sevens now look like they’re a waste of time , eights look like there’s still ALOT of room for improvement, so on. A unique spin of character roles that hits as hard as you can relate. Sharp cinematography with, i admit, choppy edits at times. Well detailed production with i must say very fitting castings. I don’t know nor will i pretend to know anything about the Bae Suzy controversy but luckily i know great quality performances when i see it. Yes, take a breath of relief or shout at others “As i FUCKING said?!”, you will get that from her here.
This doesn’t deliver us the typical protagonists nor the typical anti hero/antagonists. Simply ordinary people that sometimes succumb to screwed temptations. Surroundings that don’t always work in your favor but you have to push forward. Injustice in an unfair world to begin with. Backgrounds one can only accept and work towards new and refreshing beginnings. Inherited cruelty , favored benefactions. Ironically enough it’s a breath of fresh air into reality, see it as people that are thrown dirt and told to make something out of it. An attest to morality, there are shameful yet humane acts on every end of the spectrum.
This series requires both your full attention and a rewind button at your fingertips. There are many small details that even i have to still go back and look out for, not every action or decision has it’s reasoning or hints handed to you. There are hiccups every now and then where there’s just no natural build up at all and at times just feel like there’s key moments still missing to get the full picture of what’s happening. Mirrored reactions and weirdly relatable characters thrown in abruptly to bring out self reflections.
Would i say Anna deserves everyone’s attention? No. Those who have watched, see what i did there? Not intended but I’ll take the credit. See what i did there? Listen, if you’re going to give this drama a go, watch how it was intended to be released. There’s literally no reason to skip out on the director’s cut that provides alot more context no matter if it holds any interest of yours, it’s the original. It’s not for everyone. Beauty in the mundane doesn’t appeal to everyone. All I’ll say is if the synopsis alone interests you at all, you’d be doing yourself disservice by missing out on the ride this drama takes you on. Just watch out for deers. See wh-
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Started Strong, but Fizzled out.
ANNA, for me, was a missed target. A real let down, to be honest. It really could have been great, but completely missed the mark. Now the confusing thing is there were things about the show that were actually pretty great, for example an intriguing premise with endless possibilities and a lot of room for suspense, and the cinematography and artistic eye behind the camera made the show eye-catching and great to watch. Quality.Starting the series I felt for sure it would turn out to be a real gem, a wonderful suspensful and dramatic show, full of twists and turns. Why? Because it just looks so good, like you can feel right off the bat that a lot of care went into it. It's quality and has high production value, great visuals, great music, intriguing premise, a big actress starring in it, strong supporting cast. What could go wrong?
First of all, for me this wasn't actually a suspense, mystery, thriller drama. The pacing was almost incredibly slow. And listen, I love a good slow burn mystery drama. Intellectual, political, psychological. Those can be great, some of the greatest really. So I don't even think that the fact the marketing misled me on the genre description as the fault of this show failing in my view...
It's difficult to explain why it missed the mark exactly, except maybe that it was lacking in some key ingredient that make for an excellent drama recipe. Namely character development and character acting. After watching the show, I can honestly say I still didn't really feel any attachment to Lee Yu Mi, the main character, played by Kpop idol Bae Suzy. By no means do I mean to bash on her acting ability, but to me her portrayal of her role felt so bland and dry. Boring, unmemorable and somewhat irritating. Sterile, unemotional, robotic. I don't think this was her best work, though certainly not her wirst either.
I felt like the director maybe should have guided her more, encouraged a better performance or at least a different variety expressions and reactions. Often it felt to me that she was just not invested in her role at all, or maybe she thought the same expression would carry her through the show. And truly that fact itself, that it didn't carry her is saying something too, because she's quite lovely to look at, but that certainly doesn't mean she was suited to the role and in my opinion, she definitely wasn't.
Now, in Bae Suzy's defense, a weak character can also happen in series as short as this one (6-8ep), given much less time to develop onscreen and hence less time to connect with the audience, especially given there are other characters, other moving pieces and plotlines also needing sufficient screen time, so perhaps the short length was partly the reason why. And while I admit, I haven't seen many series with this lead Actress, Bae Suzy, in it, I am certainly well aware of her high status and reknown, especially in Korea. And I'm sure she's great in other shows, and certainly as a singer, which is how she started and gained her popularity and fans. So no hate, truly.
However, this series just didn't endear me to her. I'm not trying to criticize her, personally. I'm sure she's a great actress in other things. I'm thinking the writers here didn't do her character justice or perhaps they encouraged a more subdued, muted performance for whatever reason, which definitely wasn't the course to go. For me, I rarely felt attachment or concern for the characters, but least of all for her, which is definitely not a good thing for a drama. The Main Lead is someone the viewer needs to bond to, connect with, vibe with and root for. The supporting cast made her character appear even weaker, by how strong they all were. Also, another thing of note was that the two younger actors for the same character (both the child and adolescent) were more memorable than she was in their respective roles.
The character of Yoo Mi felt often like a passive doormat and then at random intervals more like a sly manipulator, someone you can pity but not admire or relate to. And there didn't seem to be any given reason for this behavior or growth from it, no redemptive path. It was a pity, because this could have been a stronge feminist character with morally ambiguous motives and vast range of character development. Instead, I felt myself rooting for the moral secondary character, the political journalist, Han Ji Won and more interested in the charasmatic and selfish character of Lee Hyun Joo. At least they both felt more dynamic and more dimensional.
I must also add before closing, the premise was indeed quite intriguing and I admire dramas that offer social commentary and make room for deeper intellectual discourse. This series was definitely good in that way. There is much to be said and to analize here about human behavior, human nature, tendancies that can worsen, the evolution of a lie, how ego and hubris can effect identidy, how one lie can turn to many, and eventually spark an all consuming fire that inevitably destroys. The ripple effect, the consequences of that one lie. The reality that sinks in. Really some good ideas to chew on...
Anyway, all this to say this good show felt weighted down by weaker acting, a weak lead character that never had the chance to develope onscreen, perhaps poor casting choices, poor character development/writing and honestly a pretty weak ending. A beautiful face does not equate to a powerful or skillful actor. A great famous singer does not equate to a great actress. Great acting can be hindered by poor direction and writing. A great show or work of art can be hindered by poor editing. Perhaps this show would have been superb with different circumstances. Overall, this was more of a dissapointing watch for me and didn't live up to what I felt it could have been. Very conflicted about this drama.
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Too unrealistic
So many questions … first off, the first 3 episodes are good but too many questions popped into my mind. Why was she unrecognizable given she became a public figure? She could NOT have walked from West coast to East coast on foot! She will not survive unless she has money to spend for hotels, food and clothing. It would take months to walk across the US! Does the Korean writer know this? How did she enter Canada without visas, without anything? The climate changes up in the North, how did she cross the wilderness without getting attacked by some wild animal? It is too unrealistic. It would have been better if she stayed in the west coast and became an illegal alien. So disappointed with the ending. I thought the ending was hilarious.Was this review helpful to you?
