Good but boring...
When I started watching Navillera, I was touched by the idea of an elderly man pursuing his childhood dream of learning ballet and that's why I decided to give this drama a chance, but I wouldn't re-watch it.It 's heartwarming and inspirational, but I don't think that it's special.
Although I loved the acting and the story, I thought about dropping it many times.
This drama is so slow and boring I had to speed up the playback of each episode up to 1,5 times.
I mean, there are better dramas to spend time with.
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Most heartwarming drama I’ve ever watched
I have never been the one to write reviews but this deserves a review. When I tell you this is the most heartwarming story, it makes my heart ache with happiness but also sadness. This drama goes through deep messages of life and accurately depicts family in various scenarios. I cried so much because of how relatable and down to reality it was. Because it depicted reality, I was also scared of how accurate it was. I loved the cast. There is nothing about it that I didn’t like except for that it ended. Definitely worth a watch as you will definitely get something out of it. You will not regret it!Was this review helpful to you?
Wholesome and Heartwarming
There aren't many slice of life, heartwarming dramas out lately. Navillera stirs warm emotions and does it well. You can't help but root for everyone in this show - even the supporting cast members and their side stories. I appreciate this show. It's a hidden gem. The actors do a wonderful job. Grandpa Sim's character is somewhat motivational. He makes everyone want to strive for the best and not settle for a satisfactory life. I feel great watching every episode of Navillera thus far. I am recommending this drama to everyone who asks.Was this review helpful to you?
Weaker than expected
It's good enough but not that good! It's highly rated so it's only natural to get into it with high expectations, unfortunately, it became quickly evident what kind of show I'll be getting. As a life drama, it lacked the essence of genuine human connection and eventually dipped in mediocrity trying to achieve that artificially by adopting quick, dry and cutthroat life cliches lacking nuances, depth, relevant characterization and thematic attachment. Aside from the 2 main characters, none of the side cast was interesting the slightest and clearly had the absolute minimal amount of effort put into them which is why the drama may come off as boring sometimes. Speaking of effort, the soundtrack was abysmal if you are watching it from Netflix! They clearly didn't give any attention to it and slapped in some royalty free default tracks because it's easier for Netflix to distribute it world wide. The TV version had real music and songs which is really important for a drama of this theme. Stupid Netflix as always. One more thing, the drama has this habits of sprinkling in a handful of random mini stories for the side characters that doesn't get attention for more than 2 scenes or contribute to the overall narrative in a desperate attempt to buff up the drama. The only noteworthy thing about this drama is having an elderly cast getting the spotlight which we don't see often, otherwise, it's a bland collection of life drama cliches with the occasional nice moments.Was this review helpful to you?
A Rather Disappointing Adaptation of the original Webcomic
So I'm a reader of the original Navillera webcomic. When i heard they were adapting it, I was absolutely thrilled! I couldn't wait!So while there were *some* things I absolutely didn't mind being changed (one change was to give one of DukChul's granddaughters more focus); too much was removed and changed from the webcomic to the point it was very jarring and just overall disappointing. Unlike the inspiration and warmth of the comic, all i felt was something hollow and empty in the drama.
I personally suggest reading the webcomic over watching the drama.
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The most beautiful drama I've ever watched
I usually don't like writting reviews, nevetheless it's story deserves it. The main point is about the relationship between the family of Mr.Shim like how they act in face of him chases his dreams after 70 years don't doing anything at all about it. Morover, the plot itself doesn't have a big evil or romance, just humans being humans, nobody is only evil nor all good, everyone make mistakes, the difference is what you do after that, to change yourself to be a better person and properly ask for forgiveness.The young boy Chae-rok is so damn complex he has his flaws that made him perfect.
Just watch, I cried a lot, it really toched deep in my soul.
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Charming, Honest and Heart Centred
One of the few dramas with no romance, just an intriguing story that our household enjoyed to the end. I also recommended this series to friends. There are not enough drama with seniors and middle aged people, in my opinion, so this one was refreshing in its focus on a long retired man with a surprising dream. His whole family are absolutely against it. But others support him in his quest. It's also a show about friendship between generations. Just watch it.. I know you will enjoy it immensely. Thank you for reading! Feel free to Follow me for more reviews. ~FW
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Heartwarming and different but little boring
Sorry, English isn't my first language, but I'll try to write some thoughts.First of all I liked the idea of having older cast, the ML reminds me of my grandpa<3. I also liked the moral of the story - to never give up and how you are not too old to dream and make your dreams come true.
However I found this drama a little too boring. I even started watching another drama but still decided to come back this one. Maybe this was too slow- paced for my liking. Like I get they want to show everyday life but at some points of this drama it felt like the story wasn't really going anywhere.
If you're looking for something nice and touching to watch and don't mind the story being slow and the lack of romance this could be the one for you.
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Amazing
This show was by far one of the most touching and inspirational shows I have ever seen. Giving you everything you need in a few hour long sessions. They had sports, and yes dance of any kind is a sport. At least it is for those that are dancer, not for those that can dance. This story is a true testament that it is never too late to follow your dreams, but it will not be easy.Lee on his own, has his own daemons to deal with but it never seemed to break him, however, his heart does get broken because of Sim. This well paced and well written relation development, touched my heart. Showing all you really need is one person to support you and you can achieve anything. No dream is impossible, and they both had dreams that they were fighting for. Sim's family honestly made me sad, for they (especially the eldest son) were so absorbed in their own image, that they didn't realise that they can only be held accountable for what they do. Also, no two person's happiness are brought by the same thing.
I was happy to see all the characters development that took place during the series. Telling the story of family, friends and strangers that become family, like no other. The last few episodes broke my heart when he got on that plan but the anxiety I felt was at peak when I studied how it may be if they returned but everything is forgotten. Lee and Sim had the best chemistry between them, setting the stage for their teacher student relationship to grow into something more like family.
These men acted their everything off, I believed every moment of their performances, not to mention Lee (Song Kang) is drop dead handsome, but I am so glad that he is an exceptional actor also. Everyone did an amazing job here and I was happy to be taken along for this emotional roller-coaster ride.
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Master piece
I meaaaan. This show made me realize I also have dreams of my own. I want to accomplish some things before I die. That’s how you know the acting and writing combined with everything is just that good. I’m on the second to last episode and like woooooowwwww. Kdrama never disappoints. Thanks fir filling most if my youth time 🤓I would recommend this to anyone who is everyone. By the time you’re looking at reviews if this show like I was, that means it moved you too. Masterpiece. No disappointments here. Loads of love to that old man pursuing what he wants.
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This review may contain spoilers
Intergenerational Friendship
The drama has deuteragonists 23 year old aspiring ballerino Chae Rok and 70 year old Deok Chul whose love for ballet was re-ignited when he saw the former practice, but it's mostly centered around the journey of the latter. Song Kang's 6 months training really shows in the scenes that fully show his face while gracefully dancing. The dance teacher Ki Seung Joo was smart to assign Deok Chul as Chae Rok's manager exchange for Chae Rok teaching Deok Chul to dance. It intermingles their dynamic which is already complicated by the very age hierarchical culture even more so. Even the teacher had to stop yelling at the students when the newest student of the studio, but the eldest Deok Chul asks him to. Deok Chul is at once a sunbae/teacher and a grandson like figure, even more so after he meets Deok Chul's wife Hae Nam who will always have him sit down for dinner with them and sweetly includes him in the yearly family citron tea gifting. We see Deok Chul as a young man looking upon the aged, hunched back back of his elderly father that he then scrubs in the bath house as his own is being scrubbed by Chae Rok. He's able to give a lot of perspective for Chae Rok as well as Ho Beom, both of whom had suffered misguided abusive punishment from Chae Rok's father who was their soccer coach, a mis step that he had been jailed for. They were both able to make peace with what had happened and the changed person their former coach had become in order to move on with their own life and ambitions. I love that at no point do they push a romance on Chae Rok with Deok Chul's granddaughter Eun Ho who was previously his co-worker at the cafe before she was let go and he quit to focus on ballet. They rather learn from each other how to cope with the difficulties and their shared love for Deok Chul instead. I hope he had saved up enough money to live on because it didn't make any sense for the his teacher Li to get angry for him holding down a part time job when even though he waived any school fees for Chae Rok, he's not housing or feeding him. The guy has been having to pay his own bills since his dad went to jail and his mom passed while he was still in high school.Both Chae Rok and Deok Chul are outrunning time in their respective points in life. Chae Rok needs to get into a professional ballet company as soon as he can as he already started 10 years later than most ballet dancers, despite being pretty much a natural prodigy quickly picking up ballet in 1 year, he's already 3 years in and ballet dancers retire very early for various reasons. His own teacher was forced to retire early due to a career ending injury. Deok Chul is outrunning his deteriorating mind from Alzheimer's. He had watched his friend decline and die and have attended many funerals of his peers. One of his episodes led him to Chae Rok, which lit the spark in him to finally soar like he had seen his first ballerino when he was a child. Chae Rok refers to Deok Chul as grandfather, which is a way to refer to an elderly man, but he has absolutely taken on the responsibility of a grandson to care for Deok Chul as best as he can once he tearfully finds out through Deok Chul's notebook, even if it breaks him a bit as taking care of a person who suffers from Alzheimer's is intense for anyone. He tries to respect Deok Chul keeping the information to himself until the symptoms become too severe and he reveals it to Deok Chul's youngest, the 40 year old doctor who hasn't recovered from his ptsd from a patient death. All of the adult children's issues are tied back to and resolved with Deok Chul well, strengthening their understanding and relationship with each other and each other. Although his wife and two eldest children were emotionally violent in their refusal to accept his ballet dream, his youngest, his children in-law, and his granddaughter thought were impressed, and everyone else eventually came around to supporting him, especially after his symptoms could not be kept from the others any longer. Deok Chul was able to realize his dream with the support of his entire family and Chae Rok right beside him and Chae Rok is able to leave the airport towards his own dreams with the love of his father, his best friend, his ballet teachers, and Deok Chul plus the family members that tagged along.
The ending is very touching as 3 years later, Chae Rok made top dancer within a year as teacher Ki predicted returns to visit Deok Chul who is fully in Alzheimer's state and Deok Chul remembers ballet through muscle memory as he sees him. It's kind of sad his wish to be living in a nursing home while he was still lucid wasn't respected as he's at home under the care of his also elderly wife who has a hard time keeping an eye on him at all times. His daughter and son in law offered to care for him too, but they're not around. Deok Chul wanders the streets delivering what he thinks are letters to the consternation of the people around the area and it looks dangerous as he walks to a train crossing where he runs into Chae Rok. The writing of the various friendships and familial relationships are good, but the pacing can feel pretty slow and Chae Rok didn't get as much focus, but all the ballet focused sections were fascinating.
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