Kiruha-Chou

Thanks for the info! I wonder how much of his person has been "built" deliberately to appeal in a certain way—probably a lot, but it's great to see him onscreen regardless. I hope he takes on more heavy or "serious" roles such as Burning's.

To me it is. I thought some scenes were a bit forced at first (for instance, the deliberate exclusion of information that leads to misunderstandings) but characters eventually sort themselves out and learn how to express their feelings clearly. The main couple living in the same house is very sweet, and I'm growing to like them more.

I can relate to Sol Ah... So many people you're attracted to in the world behave like cats and barely communicate!

Hong Jo is a completely different cat, to be honest. I'd love such a cat.

I haven't watched it and I still want to! I'd love to know where if possible :)

No spoiler, as I just watched the beginning. It was very unrealistic and I didn't enjoy the presence of ANY of the characters. The setting (hotel far out in the woods) could be fine, but the starting development was dull and sometimes annoying.
Still, this may be mostly by personal taste. I've read many people love it.

Dramacool! I try to watch it and didn't like it.

The events from the last half hour must've gone by ludicrously fast then.

Thanks a lot for detailing your thoughts!

I agree that the "magical" singing scenes were a bit distracting, particularly the last one. The first one at the theatre she finds by chance fits well, because that's the first time we learn about her calling for music. Maybe it draws her in so much that, when she's in a mood that feels true to her, she sings without noticing. What, as you say, doesn't quite make sense is that scene at the hotel when the staff person asks if she wasn't singing. Wasn't she asleep? And if she WAS singing, why deny it?

On the other hand, I'm sure the goat really was there (it was probably a symbol to indicate that her actions finally worked out right and she had reason to be pleased with them) and the last song probably signified that she had found that happiness without which she felt unable to sing.
I first thought that the story about the soldiers was only meant to tell us about the translator's connection to Japanese culture, but later I saw that this film was co-produced by Japan and Uzbekistan as a commemoration. So the wartime backstory may be more related to that (it's an insight I didn't quite like).

This you've written is what summarises the film's message best!:
"Not that any of this means something bad, it can also mean something good, because in the beginning she was imagining just bad things, always fearful and distrustful. At the end this had changed and she was having much happier thoughts."

As I hinted earlier, the mood in the last minutes was slightly off-putting, but for the rest its pacing was great.

Intrigued by your comment. I also felt the ending was slightly off-place, but likely not for "Lynchian" reasons. What sort of ending did you expect?

I don't know if you've seen Itaewon Class, but there are some very awful haircuts in the last four episodes ;^^

I suppose it's impossible to find where to watch this film, for the film being?

Sugata Riko came across as a lesser Haruka Ayase initially, and it turned out the character is called Haruka as well.

I wonder why so few people have seen this film.

Sorry for taking long! I tend to be slow with responses.

I didn't know about Black, but taking a glimpse I can imagine how you might be left wondering whether it gave you anything worth the time or it was just "entertainment" only as far as a means to waste time.

The analogy of the curtain as you've put it is probably the best definition of how and why Dazzling's twist could be satisfactory :).

I know some of the titles you mentioned, but haven't watched any. I've seen a bit of some, though. One episode of Strong Woman Bong Soon (dropped it because I didn't like the murder storyline, nor the male main character either) and a few minutes of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo.
I didn't go on because the secondary characters seemed silly, but I could try again for the parts of the story about the Olympics, weightlifting and swimming... What do you think makes this one a good drama?

You like Reply 1988, but not 1994? I've been interested in the older one (older chronologically) since I watched Mr. Sunshine, mostly because of Yoo Yeon Seok.

I've seen Big Issue around, it looks fairly humorous (the covers are kind of fun).

My own favourites are few because I mostly watched K-dramas just last year. Arthdal Chronicle and Chicago Typewriter were the best overall, and Sungkyungkwan Scandal for comedy and memorable characters.

Ah, so it was what it looked like (advertising). Those masks looked good and practical, to be honest, so it's not bad advertising haha.

"Actually its mentioned in the start of every jtbc shows and drama that there are direct and indirect adverstising...sorry for bad english."
Is this what appears written in Korean at the beginning of each episode?

And no worries, thanks for responding!

Why does Yi Seo show up randomly wearing a face mask quite a few times? She says the pollution is high in Seoul, which makes perfect sense, but nobody else pays attention to it. Could it be some advertising for that mask type/brand?

Thank you for the support! I was ready for the change when it happened, but it was still a shock when I saw how different my grandmother had become in just a little over a month. Next time, I expect nothing will hint she’s the same person she was before.

I know well that fiction can be more powerful than non-fiction, especially if placed in the right contexts. And you chose a good example with Dazzling, because Hye Ja’s fictional story is definitely more compelling and the characters deeper than what we see of her “real” life.
It’s great that this drama resonated with you so much. I understand why, really. It takes a while to get used to its pace and style, but if you manage that it’s got three whole stories in store: the fiction, the past and the present. Not many stories go for something like that, or are able to pull off three sides to most of the cast, some of them with so much detail.

And Hye Ja’s brother was a whole separate world, haha. His bizarre humour style didn’t seem to fit with anyone else’s but it created a lot of scenes that, as you say, defined him very distinctly.
What I liked the most from this drama is that it DID make its characters grow. It was laborious work because of the point they started in, but by episode 10 I had got to understand them and care for them. Hence the negative effect of the “clean slate” choice, but I understand both views.

Not far from the time I saw Dazzling, I unintendedly watched two other stories related to Alzheimer which were recorded in my memory quite distinctly, for whatever reason. These were 2004 "A Moment to Rememeber" and 2014 "Still Alice", in which Julianne Moore gives a masterful performance. It's just peculiar to me that I saw all these fictional interpretations and now I've got a real, close example...

Since you especially enjoyed Dazzling, are there any shows you loved more than this one? :)

Glad to see someone else thought the pub level environment was better. The huge corporation one is just... fake.
Nobody fits in there, except Yi Seo who always had that inclination. It's especially true for the two old DanBam employees. I don't think they shouldn't be in those high positions or anything like that, but the series could've worked more on why they remained there. As shown, it was just a matter of being first. And their new looks are absolutely awful haha.

They should've also done more cooking. It's an essential part, yet they brush over it with a few tips. And it caught my attention that Saeroyi's cooking skills were supposed to be really special, because they never play a big part because he hires Hyun Yi.

I don't dislike that the drama decided to drive the characters to beat Jangga on a major level. But they way they show IC once it grows international... I don't think it can be that different to Jangga.

And Geun Woo lost all value as a character. What they did with him in the last episodes was ridiculous.
In summary, the more I think about the entirety of the drama, the less I remember what I did like.

I had a haaaard time finding it, and once I did I discovered that it was actually quite accessibly available in Dramacool...

You put together the connections between Hye Ja's past experiences and how she transforms them in the "dream" we see really well!
I don't think it's a bad idea for a plot, to have the main character reshape her life towards something that eased her regrets, whether imaginary or not. What I don't think this drama's plot is well structured for it.
People say there are "hints" throughout which foretell the twist, but I kind of think the opposite—which is that there are a lot of minimal details and side-events that can't be related to anything from Hye Ja's "real" life that invalidate the twist's consistency. It's way too sudden, in any case.

But on the rest, my own grandmother has proved to have Alzheimer's in the time after I watched it, and I now I can say that I much prefer what this story makes of the disease over the actual effects of it :(.

I'd say there was even marriage implied, from the "conversation" with Yi Seo's mother. Not explicitly, but since SRY insisted on "not being just a talker" and taking good care of Yi Seo, it could very well be the case.