Giuca

Thank you AthenaTheStorierX for making us discover these seldom seen or heard of movies which is frankly the shame. We have been drowned under the BL wave but there are gems like this one out there nobody talks about!

This is a story of Por and Jane who have been dating for a while but Por is still in the closet. So one day she decides to come out to her mother (who raised Por alone) but she refuses to hear it. Jane, distraught goes to a club with friend and wakes up in a stranger's bed. Overcome with guilt she cuts off all contact with Por but a month later she discovers she's pregnant and goes back to see Por. In a tearful showdown the three women learn to accept each other.

The Greatest Love is a nice short movie dealing with the difficulties families have in accepting their LGBT kids, the way they are seen by the society and how hard it is to decide what makes their child happy. Is it what society expects of them or what they need really? They are rarely the same thing!

For once, the film is about an established couple who would like to get out of their love bubble and be open with the world but it is a difficult decision to make so the clashes within the couple are frequent. We do not know much about Jane and her family but she seems to be at ease with her life choices. Por is having hard time trying to find a way to come out making Jane unhappy. The main character of this story is Por. It would be interesting to see the same movie but from Jane's perspective. She is present here but not enough explication is given.

The actresses are excellent, the cinematography is a bit colourless, to go with the mood I guess but the music is good especially the thai version of The Greatest Love...

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If I hear Groundhog Day in the same sentence as a film or a drama, I am certain I am going to watch it. And so when I saw a review for this movie, I had to watch it. Yesterday With You is a good film: it ticked all the necessary boxes for it to be a convincing time travel story!

It was a story about childhood friends who meet as adults reconnect and fall in love. But life keeps throwing them lemons until an accident happens. With the help of magic birthday candles they try to fix what went wrong!

The first 10 min is a whole romcom movie: how they meet and fall in love and fight and make up and just love each other. The montage of significant scenes from a relationship is expertly done and we do not need more in order to know what is important here.

Then the tragedy strikes in the form of a white truck of doom (what else?). I was impressed by the creative use of the said truck: he actually pulled a scaffolding down on the victim. After this accident, the time travel groundhog day style starts using some candles. The cinematography changes a bit and from warm brownish tones we get a lot of greys and cold colours as the main characters rush around trying to change the future. There was an impressive scene with a car driving through a forest of huge grey pillars (must be a highway exchange) but it conveyed well the feelings of being lost and distraught.

The film was full of usual drama tropes: the already mentioned truck, stopping in the middle of the road to think, disapproving and abusive parents, quirky best friends. The actors, completely unknown to me, were really good and had decent chemistry.
This was actually a perfect format for this story avoiding thus all the downsides of a drama like length, filler stories and chinese propaganda (see Reset).

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Messed up cute & fluff

On the surface cute and fluffy but if you look behind it, this is full of lies, cruelty and stupidity. And I never found stupid behaviour cute. It definitely is not here.

Bu Xia is a university basketball star, cheerful and superficial. He suddenly needs to share his dorm room with Jiang Chi a smart taciturn law student. BX is not a happy roommate and does everything in his power to kick JC out. Until one day, because of his sister, he starts hearing ghosts' voices. This freaks him out but when he accidentally touches JC, voices disappear. From that day on, he tries to stay close to him, being nice to him, hugging him, holding his hand and saying he liked him. This makes JC think BX is in love with him and kisses him. BX is revolted but still keeps close to JC.

Secrets, lies and misunderstandings is what should have been the title of this drama. The misunderstanding and the subsequent consequences are dragged out for most of the drama. And for most of the drama, I felt really sorry for JC so in love and hated BX for his lies and the way he used JC without telling him. When JC eventually finds the truth(sister spills the beans which is so wrong: her brother's secret is not hers to tell!!!) he is not angry. He is so happy that BX is also in love with him that he is ready to do anything in order to help him. JC is comfortable with his sexuality and makes passes on BX who most of the time does not understand why JC is behaving in that way. Then he starts wondering about the possibility of same sex relationship as if had been living as a hermin in a cave all his life. At one point he asks: "But we are both men?!?" surprised that his friends suggested he dated JC. When BX eventually admits he might like JC he is not sure whether it is love or if he is just imagining himself in love in order to keep JC close and ghost voices at bay.

In this drama we are given the usual seme/uke trope but put on its head: while BX looks like an uke his behaviour is more of a seme. And JC is the opposite: he looks like seme but reacts like uke. Towards the ending of the series he becomes a real doormat: doing everything in his power to please BX and never questioning him about his lies. The character of JC I really liked in the beginning became a demeaning and sad character: I had no respect left for him in the end. On the other hand, I had trouble believing in BX's sincerity when he declared his love: it looked more interested than real because JC's presence chased the voices away! Eventually he started acting like a real cliché girlfri...ooups! boyfriend complete with fanning himself metaphorically and throwing jealous temper tantrums. The relationship is limit toxic and abusive, not cute since JC accepts anything from BX without really asking anything in return.

There were many fluffy moments here/ the roommates' conflict made me think of TharnType: it was fun to watch. Once they were finally open about their feelings there were a lot of kissing scenes. One, on the roof doing laundry made me think of c drama weddings!

The acting was not really good, they gave it an sincere effort and they had decent chemistry.

The music was really nice and probably the highlight of this drama. The rest is just messed up. It is a nice and easy watch if you do not think about what you are watching!

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Doubting Thomas

Original Sin tells a story of a moment in life of a young man who comes to realisation that the church's teachings are not necessarily true but they are too deep seeded inside him that it is difficult though not impossible to break free from them. And once you do, in spite of all the praying in order not to succumb to "sin", you realize that the world keeps on turning and that you are still there, alive and well and praying! But now it is all for show! He still believes but takes the lessons with a grain of salt!

Yohan is a devout christian, spending a lot of time in church and in prayer groups. He is also aware of his own shortcomings, as he is convinced the church considers as such, and tries to make them go away with fervent prayer. One day he meets a new member of the church and is fascinated by him. JooWon notices it and takes advantage of it by making Yohan's deepest desires come to the surface.

Even though this is a short movie, just two scenes were enough to paint the portrait of each of the two characters: one is closed off and fervently praying while the other one is a charming predator! Actors did their job brilliantly! Cinematography is dark and cold, underlying the rigidity of the church!

What I saw in this movie is a slight critique of the church indoctrination and unwillingness to open one's mind to the world. Joo Won points that out, using Bible quotes, during the prayer meeting and the other members are totally confused. Yohan wants to believe but comes to terms with his sin and decides to pray the sin away! Probably until the next time!

Some people here said that the movie supports the church. I do not agree. It is more like "Don't ask, don't tell!" conclusion!
An interesting watch!

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Cuteness overload and nothing more!

I was bored, so bored while watching this! These two being cute and adorable, zero toxicity and no conflict (well a tiny one, blink-and-you-miss-it kind) , was OK for a few episodes and then it went flat going round and round in cute and adorable little circles! And I was bored out of my mind!

Don't misunderstand me, it was really well done, well written and a novel concept, cinematography top notch, and still I was bored! I do not fast forward while watching but I play games on my mobile and I played a lot while this was playing in the background!

What I liked:
- cute and adorable leads
- comic relief provided by band members and not the usual trans/effeminate gay characters
- no toxic mad females
- ballroom dance and ep 5 musical kind of music number
- the first love

What I did not like:
- repetitive plot: teased kisses
- lack of female characters
- most of the music
- the "no relationship while in band" plot device

The first few episodes were the best and though I almost dropped it while watching the first one, I was on board when the final twist came! Gun is a singer in a high school band and the school president, Tinn, has had a crush on him for two years. It is the final year of high school so Tinn decides to do everything in his power to help Gun with his band in order to get to know him and maybe more! The complications arise when Tinn finds out there is a rule of the music club: the members are not allowed to be in a relationship until the singing competition is over. Well this provides plot for about 10 episodes! After 5 episodes they realize they are attracted to each other but because of the rule they restrain themselves for the next five episodes. This is the occasion to place a good number of attempted and avoided kisses! They kisses bottles, notebook, medal but not each other!

While we are on that subject, I wonder if there had been some new guidelines within Thai BL industry because this is the second series in a row I see where the high school kids refrain from kissing until after graduation. Just like in I Will Knock You, they kiss, in spite of numerous attempted and averted kisses, only after graduation!

To make things perfectly clear, you can tell a love story without physical expression of it, but you need to tell it well! I do not look for kissing scenes in the dramas I watch: I look for a tightly woven story that keeps me glued to the screen! Not the case here! I was not glued, if anything, I was really annoyed with the endless repetition of tease kisses!

And of course they ticked off everything that is on the romcom required scenes list: riding a bike together, putting the helmet on a crush, sharing an umbrella, turn your head for an accidental almost kiss, back hugs, piggyback rides, treating a wound etc. etc. It was oh so formulaic but everything was done with those huge, adorable, cute and dreamy smiles! So I guess it is OK?

There was no notable conflict to speak of: bad guys were bad for about 10 seconds, Mom was sick for three minutes and the world was gay unfriendly for about 5 minutes. Parents were proud of their gay kids and worried about their futures for about 1 min. The rest was pure, unadulterated cuteness, adorable fluff, diabetes inducing and boring! So, so boring!

And then of course there were long minutes devoted to the product placement: printer, Nivea, drinks and chicken. HELP! I wanted to scream...

The actors were all really good, cute as hell and adorable like puppies. They have a promising future in acting, adorable and the way they are! And they are all quite good musicians and singers. For young men of that age, they are very, very talented! So I hope to see them in other series and not only BL.

The concept of the series wandered about a bit: is it a BL about and featuring music or a bl musical! Not the same thing! Most of the songs were preformed when plot demanded it: on stage with instruments. Some numbers were illustrated with an imaginary story(club, dance) and one was right out of american musical: people just bursting out in song in weirdest places! I did not like any of the songs: they were so alike I had trouble telling them apart and there were some songs repeating over and over again! But I like the idea of a BL musical so I hope to see one sometimes in the future!

This was a single watch, never to be repeated for me! Cuteness and adorableness are enough for one time watch: I need more conflict and angst, I need more drama in dramas I watch! This one was just cute and boring! Definitely not my cup of tea! Not bad but not for me either!

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Love, escort & revenge

I keep seeing a pattern in these japanese romance dramas: a woman down on her luck, loses job, gets dumped, falls and hurts herself and of course it rains, so she meets someone by accident who changes her life and she finds true love. This is mainly what happens here.

Sumire, the FL, has always been a doormat. One evening, looking like a drowned cat, completely drenched, she meets Yuri, the owner of a lingerie store whose words inspire her to change. The next day, after being rejected at a job interview, she meets Soichi in the rain. Sumire who finally gets a job with Yuri, starts dating Soichi without realizing that he is Yuri's live in escort. All hell breaks loose when a journalist humiliates Yuri during her fashion presentation.

The main characters are all greyish, unpredictable but ultimately they admit to their faults. And all is forgiven.

The drama deals with infidelity which is a topic highly hated on MDL. Even the fansubber hates this drama because of it! Go figure! People are human, we are not perfect or infallible, we make mistakes, we hurt others, we are sometimes unfaithful. I really do not like this puritan mindset: chaste and virtuous but really, are you all such saints? I am digressing! But I agree, adultery is wrong. Still it does not mean we cannot use this plot device in a drama.

In this drama a women had an relationship with a man without realizing he had a family. Why is she getting all the hate and the man (you need two people to tango!) nothing? Was she supposed to hire a detective to investigate the man who says nothing about himself in order to find out if he was married? The FL is also a victim of infidelity: her father abandoned her for another family which caused her a lifelong trauma!
Another character, a childhood friend who's had a crush on the FL for 20 years finally makes a move on her when she's on her lowest. The character was fun and funny but as far as his love life is concerned, I have zero respect for someone who is not brave enough and confess his feelings. For 20 years! I really hoped they would not end up together.
Soichi is the grayest of them all: a charming, handsome pianist, a kept man toying with the women's feelings until he finds the truth out. It is never too late to make amends!

The music is really good and the opening credits with the four main characters lost in a cobweb of relationships is quite eye catching. What is not eye catching is the main actress playing Sumire. She's a good actress and excels in this role of a mouse but because she's a mouse I cannot comprehend the escort's feelings for her. On the other hand, the actress playing Yuri impressed me with her voice: the way she speaks is alluring!

This is not a perfect drama: the episodes are short and the depth and the development of characters are somehow lacking. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it more than I expected and I guess the low ratings are the result of the unpopular MDL topic. But if you are openminded and like dramas who have drama, go for it!

NB This is my 200th review! Pat on my back!!!LOL

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End of innocence

What an amazing short movie! What an incredibly talented couple of actors!

It has been a long time since a movie, short or otherwise, provoked such strong feelings in me. The story is nothing new: two best friends, apparently joined in the hip since forever see their feelings for each other change. Will those feelings bring irreversible changes into their relationship, for better or for worse?

The story is told with no dialogue to speak of. English or any subs for that matter are unnecessary!

Everything is told by looks, gestures, emotions...The actors are extraordinary. The showed us how the feelings change, their reactions, the gap between them closing and then widening, emotions overflowing, things done that cannot be taken back, the courage needed to stand up for your feelings....

If you are looking for butterflies: they are here!

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Greed & honesty

After Tracer which had as main characters accountants working for the state tax service, I decided to watch another accounting drama this time taking place inside an accounting firm. Numbers was just as incomprehensible as Tracer but that did not take anything away from the suspense. It is just like with a medical dramas: you don't get most of the professional gibberish the actors utter but ultimately it is the overall story that matters and this pro talk just takes the necessary space to make the story credible. And I am ok with that.

The story follows Ho Woo who enters as a trainee inside a huge and influential accounting firm in order to discover why his adoptive father's company was ruined by them. Thereupon ensues a string of cases, underhand dealings, betrayals, secrets but also friendship, bromance and love. And of course, lots of corruption! What would a korean drama be without it?

The most fascinating character is of course the big baddie: from the first moment he appears his menacing smooth presence and his tinted glasses promise a lot of evil doing. The actors micro expressions particularly the slight movements of mouth were creepy and scary as hell. And we are not left disappointed. The character's long standing greed, for over 20 years, and patient building of plots and people networks are fascinating and repulsive. He was just like a cat with nine lives and always landing on his feet. It has been a long time since I watched such a completely evil character: he has not one single redeeming quality!

The rest are more classical good guys, banding together as the drama unfolded in order to stop the bad guy.

The production was good, nice cinematography, subdued colours, average music, excellent acting and writing. No obvious plot holes unless you consider accounting superpowers all characters seem to have: apparently unsolvable problem, everyone is worried, they start talking about something else which provokes revelation of the solution for the worried main character. Very often it did look like Deus ex machina kind of solution but what do I know? Maybe all accountants know tax and finances laws inside out!

All in all, it was a rollercoaster ride I quite enjoyed!

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Flowers & betrayal

This short web drama is a surprisingly well made chinese GL: the relationship between two women cannot in any case be mistaken for friendship like they are forced to do for BLs. There are no kisses and that speaks volumes about the skilled storytelling!

The title is fairly self explanatory: it is a love story spanning three lifetimes. A courtesan is betrayed and killed by her lover so with the help of her flower fairy she comes back to seek revenge and dies a second time. In the third life she is a flower fairy to but with a limited lifespan.

Story is a bit messy to begin with but as it is a short episodes' web drama that is to be expected. The actresses have good chemistry, the guy looks as creepy as the role demands, the special effects are quite good and the cinematography is excellent. All in all a very good short web drama....

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Healing long vacation

For me, a relative newbie drama watcher, this drama is ancient history relic. And if it had not been for the Drama Discovery Challenge (perfect title!) I would have never had the idea to consider watching this let alone watch it. And I would have missed a real gem of a drama.

The plot is fairly basic: two lonely people get to share an apartment. This forced cohabitation makes them grow and change as individuals and discover real love and affection. Nothing new under the drama sun but this one was excellently written and produced, the cast is perfect and the plot moves forward smoothly without a hitch!

The characters are all too human. Minami, the FL hides behind her cheerfulness the frustration and unhappiness as life seems to pass her by. At the beginning her forcefulness and brazen behaviour are very annoying but in contact with Sena she mellows down a little bit, just enough to become likable and still remain a strong woman and a force of nature. Sena is a pianist, looks like a lost puppy, who wants to become a professional player but has hit the wall which inhibits him from expressing emotion through music that would give him that special something to lift him above the rest. Seta, in contact with a talented but robotic and emotionless student realizes the flaws in his piano playing but still does not know how to remedy it. Minami finds cracks in that wall and breaks it without him ever being aware of it!

The support characters are equally interesting. Minami's brother, a happy-go-lucky Shouji falls for Sena's fellow straight laced pianist. Their relationship is on the lines of extremes opposites attract but can they stay together or will they just bounce off of each other. And then there is this minor character, Sena's piano teacher who has a way with words and uses them to poetically describe piano playing. Beautifully written!

The relationship between Sena and Minami goes through all phases: from acquaintances to reluctant friends to lovers . Since Minami is older, she never really considers Sena a boyfriend material until it is too late and they are deeply in love. They try dating other people only to realize that it is too late for that! They had found the missing part of themselves in each other.
The writers managed to avoid those pesky drama tropes that last for too long: misunderstandings, break ups etc. They are there, otherwise there would be no drama, but they do not take up too much time.

This drama is 27 years old and it shows on a technical plane: the format, the cinematography, the fashion (poor guy and his oversized suits! Awful!), the habits (everyone's smoking everywhere!) and no mobile phones (trying to reach someone on the phone was not easy!). I watched it in poor quality but it was worth it!

The problem that I have with j-dramas in general is the music: too loud, too much of it, sudden changes of tune, wrong music which does not correspond the mood of the scene. I found all of it here. There were some nice original piano pieces as background music. And then there was this tune (which turned out to be a song in the last episode) which played repeatedly in the background with different arrangements (harp, piano, violin, flute). The thing with that tune is that it sounds like a mash up of Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton and Blowing In The Wind by Bob Dylan. The resemblance to these songs made it very distracting and I found myself listening to the music instead of following the story.

Anyway, this has been a great watch and a beautiful story of facing challenges, deciding what you really want to do with your life and going for it!

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What goes around, comes around!

This movie was made in 2013 and it shows: the Thai BL industry was only starting to explore the market and the budgets were limited but creativity was there.

There are three seemingly independent stories: the first one about a high school couple exploring their burgeoning feelings for each other, the second is a story of a gay influencer couple who are being stalked and the third one is about a small hotel owner falling for one of his guests. The ending surprisingly connects all three stories together. And therefore explains the title because I must admit I could not figure out why the movie had this title while I was watching it! All comes to those who wait!

They were directed by three different directors and you can tell. The first story looks like a high school project, badly filmed and acted, all over the place. The story about discovering one's own sexuality and acting upon it, is told well and though it looks messy, there are no red flags!
The second story is somewhere between a comedy and a horror, not really knowing what it wants to be. It also briefly touches upon the ugly side of intensive social media presence. What goes around....The filming is ugly though smoother than the first film.
The third story was the best in terms of storytelling as well as filming. It was polished, flowed naturally and there were more feeling involved. It is a story of a hotel owner looking after his bedridden boyfriend who suffers from an unknown sickness and is feeling miserable. One day a guest comes to stay in his hotel bringing back the laughter, joy and happiness in his life. He is so sorely tempted.

The quality of the movie grows as it progresses: if you manage to watch the first story without dropping it, you will end up loving this movie in spite of all its flaws. Keep in mind it is a low budget movie made 10 years ago and you should forgive them for some amateurish looking scenes!

I wanted to add cast and crew but they are not known to MDL so you can find them here:
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/362535-timeline?language=en-US

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Fan guy and his soulmate: a bromance!

DISCLAIMER: I have never seen a wuxia(I think it's what it is called) before so this is a review by someone who has ZERO knowledge of the genre and its rules! Since this is going to be drowned in the sea of reviews, I shall be painfully frank!

I did not hate it! I did not like it either. I was mostly bored. But I finished it nevertheless. And without fast forwarding!

The story is messy: there are a few sects and a prince trying to get their hands on a mythical weapon called Glazed Armor. There are a lot of underhand alliances, betrayals, deals, lying, duels and endless talking!

This is based on a widely popular danmei novel which had to be toned down because of chinese censorship. Well this is where the first surprise came from: the bromance was more romance than I expected: there was so much double entendres in their conversation that I was really surprised with things the producers managed to get away with.

The fighting scenes were rather spectacular. At first I did not like the constant changing of action scenes filming speed: FFW/slo mo/FFW. I ended up getting used to it because the choreography was spectacular!

What else was good? Let me think....costumes and certain sets (palaces, plum trees, mountains etc.). And the cute young couple, too cute to survive this ordeal, unfortunately! And that is about it!

On with the rest!
The pacing was a major problem with this series.( I was told it was because of filming during COVID! I don't know!). Stop-and-go! It was never constant: mostly slow. So slow! Lots of time was wasted on endless static conversations. So endless that I usually started playing games because I lost attention and the conversations were not interesting. They would drone on for ages like that, change settings and have an extremely important conversation all of a sudden ; I had to rewind a few times because I missed some important facts. The passage of time was not clear: slow than jump forward than a bit of reminiscing etc... The plot was complex but they never resolved the main problem (the prince!) instead of which they introduced a bunch of new useless characters and killed a cute young couple! That did tug on my heartstrings and I did not like though I should have expected it! The useless characters were the most ridiculous in a scene towards the ending when the serious guy goes for a quest and they just stand there solemnly and seriously watching him disappear into distance! I was bent over laughing at that scene!The villain was obvious from the get go: the creepy, slimy fake kindness was a dead giveaway! And the "best" was a heart transplant! In the past, a wife wanted to save her husband like that?!?!? Wuxia magic!

Next big problem was the main couple. Basically, they meet and fall in love within 3 seconds and start immediately addressing each other as soulmates?!?!? That was quick! But they seemed to live in different time zones: there was something terribly off about their relationship. One problem was the characters! The first one sports expressionless face practically throughout the whole series. He manages to crack a smile three times and that changes the character completely, giving him warmth and humanity. In any case he is very superficial. The fan guy, on the other hand, talks and behaves as a clown, forever smiling quixotically, evidently hiding something behind his laconic answers and jokes! We find out about it eventually so he gains a certain depth more than his soulmate, in any case! Their relationship lacked chemistry! At least for me: I could not believe them to be soulmates. And even though the fan guy was very expressive, doe eyed and all touchy feely, the other guy was nowhere near so open or welcoming of a prospect of staying together forever. Eventually he accepted. Towards the end, there was a subplot in which the fan guy enlisted help of everyone except for his soulmate who then barges in the middle of the plot execution and almost ruins it. Afterwards he is visibly hurt by being left out but the fan guy never apologizes or explains and the other guy just moves on without questioning anything! I felt enraged for the poor neglected soulmate!

The acting was average, at the best! Because of dubbing; the voices were hushed mostly: this breathless speaking is really annoying. The writing is boring and lacks humour: the banters are not funny and those long conversations are not interesting. When the actors speak, they often have long monologues which sound as if they are being read out in a monotonous voice. Sleep inducing! Actually, I managed to fall asleep regularly during 7 first episodes. It is then that the fan guy became interesting!
Music was boring. And editing is a chinese drama's way: episode is 42min long so we cut it at that mark! So what if it is mid sentence! They have no knowledge how to make a cliffhanger!

Anyhow, this was an experience I do not wish to repeat! Moreover, the last episode (37!) is a joke! It is 11min long compilation of scenes from the series with one single new scene: them living happily ever after on top of the mountain, forever and ever. How romantic! Bah, humbug!

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Korean parents or How To Ruin Your Kids' Lives!

If we are to draw conclusions about the korean society from their dramas, I'd say it is the parents who are destroying it by controlling kids under the guise of "it's for YOUR own good (and for MY reputation in the neighbourhood)!" Korea has a very big problem with birth rate which is amongst ,if not THE lowest in the world! Why? Just look how Korean parents suffocate and try to control their children making them utterly miserable and unwilling to procreate by trying hard not to merry or/and have children.

This drama is one glaring testimony of it. The kids are miserable and are forced to suffer and pay for their parents' sins. And why is that? Because the society won't let them do otherwise: everyone is busibody, making judgements on other people's lives and being afraid to be free and live their life the way they want it in order to be happy. In all these dramas, kids are forced to live up to demands and ambitions of the parents. Resulting in a lot of unhappiness and misery. But the appearances are saved and that is what seems to be the most important to parents. The appearances and not their own children's happiness. So sad!

Call It Love talks about three such families.
One is destroyed by a father abandoning them following an affair. The three children were left to fend for themselves and protect their mother. The person really left in charge was the middle child when she was 17, ruining her life, sports career and any feelings of happiness.
The second one is the pharmacist under constant scrutiny from his parents who are demanding of him to get married which he finds more and more difficult to avoid.
The third is a CEO of fair organizers' company whose mother's philandering ways have made him miserable, taciturn and withdrawn.
Their interactions make for the most of this wonderful and beautiful drama.

This is my favourite kind of drama, slow burn, slice of life. While I was watching it, I was constantly reminded of My Mister not because of the plot but because of the overall feeling and the pace of both dramas which are identical. Here the misery overflows. Both main characters are poster children for unhappy, miserable, unsmiling people. Being with each other, gives them an inkling of what happiness might look like. If only, as one of them says so at one point, they were all alone in the world!

But there were not only parents working hard in ruining the kids' lives. There was also an older sister who did her best to ruin further her younger sister's already miserable existence with her jealousy and envy. That one drove me mad: she took out her own insecurities and pounced on her sister when she was the most vulnerable instead of supporting her, she decided, all of a sudden, to act as adult she never was before! And of course she failed miserably but she achieved her goal of making her sister even more unhappy. She tried to make amends later but it was too little to late!

The pace is extremely slow but not for a minute, I found it boring! It flowed, slowly but it moved on forward. This slow pace, made me take notice and really admire cinematography. It was stunning. The colours were all dull, subdued, just like the feeling of the drama. The amazing part was framing of scenes both in technical aspect and literal one. There were some very interesting camera angles: from above and as well cutting the actors practicall off, making them very small and low on the screen and therefore making them almost disappear in the surroundings. There were many travelling shots: camera moving at a constant speed straight left to right to left or zooming in and out. And mostly there were real frames around actors in scenes: windows, walls etc. creating a photo frame !

I know absolutely nothing about cinematography and camera work but I notice things. And this drama is worth watching for this!

The actors were perfect. The music sad as prescribed! It was a perfect slow burn melodrama /slice of life. I was debating with myself whether to give it 9.5 or 10 which almost never happens with me! Since I consider that nothing is ever perfect though this was approaching it!

And then they went on and ruined a perfect slow burn drama with a trope filled last episode. The writers decided to go down the well trodden path of break up and time skip which were both completely unnecessary with the awful sister adding another layer of contempt for her sister by trying to make amends a year too late! Thank god for the youngest brother who seemed to be less affected by grown ups' (i.e. parents'!) problems and decided to act as Cupid.

Misery loves company! And this drama kept me company!

One more word of wisdom from the main character: When I feel down, I look up other people's lives on line and realize I am not that bad off, that there are people much more unhappy than myself.

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BL & Makjang

As I was skipping through the last episode, (actually FFW a drama for the very first time EVER!) while trying to avoid the ultimate cringe that episode is, I was just trying to comfort myself justifying watching this by its relative shortness. There were some good things about this drama and then there was the plot.

Good things: actors, cinematography.

The plot: BAD! Nonsensical and cringy. The story follows some mobsters who are ALL gay of course: from the Boss in a a happy 30 years old relationship with his secretary down to the minor players. What kind of mob is that? The criminals themselves were extremely unconvincing, unnatural! They just looked like a bunch of PC schoolkids putting on a show in which they imagine what real criminals might look like,behave and dress! Ridiculous!
The characters are not really explained: we do get to hear a kind of a back story but it does not explain their situation at the beginning of the series! Why does he have to work three jobs in order to put himself through high school? Why is the other guy a member of the mob? They all talk about killing people but look like they'd apologize and start crying if they accidentally crush an ant? Apart from the four main characters, everyone else either cannot act or they got unclear direction?
The second half plunges deep into a makjang with rich families, paying off the unsuitable lover, amnesia...classic!

It is still watchable under one serious condition: turn your brain off. Then you can enjoy the two love stories with decent skinship and a lot of cringe. Especially in the last episode. A lot!!!!!
All in all, this was bad. Barely watchable short drama: its saving grace being the short duration. LOL To watch only when there's nothing else!

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Guilty pleasure

And another short c drama under my belt. They are something else, these short c dramas! As someone who resolutely refused to watch c dramas (length, language, dubbing, censorship) I am feeling my resolve weakening. These short dramas are to blame. I think they found a perfect format for today's drama viewing audience fed up with endless drama filled with unnecessary side characters and with a lot of time to fill so they end up losing the plot. With these short dramas, they are forced to give us a solid, logical plot without fillers and straight forward.

Circle of Love had all of this and every single revenge melodrama trope was in evidence. Soulmate lovers torn apart by a revenge meet again but then there are a lot of mind games and amnesias (3 I think: every time she hits her head she gets amnesia and the plot restarts! Brilliant!) involved, crazy ex and her even crazier brother pulling the strings from behind until the final showdown where the main triangle kill each other. And then they meet each other two years later: I guess they had been reincarnated, or their souls like ghosts possessing other people looking like their twins. Completely illogical and incomprehensible but we do kind of get a happy ending or a promise of one!

It is messy, hot, convoluted, ridiculous, a lot of fun to watch and full of toxicity. But that is what makes it a great watch when you do not want to be aware or correct or care but are just looking for some mindless fun.

The drama is a well made product: writing, cinematography, music, acting- everything is top notch. It is not realistic or woke but it is a drama full of drama made for our viewing pleasure. And on that account it delivers as promised.

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