PrettyCarEye

Edinaa, long time no hear. What's up? You good?
I'm alright. A little behind on work & feeling guilty about it, but otherwise everything is everything.

I'm a movie person so I've watched a couple in the last days. Just completed Why Did You Come To My House? Weird movie, but for once I wasn't annoyed by the lead actress's performance (saw her in Rules of Dating & Old Boy and I couldn't stand her). Also been trying to finish Devil Beside You. I don't really like it, but I don't hate it either. I just want it to be over soon because it feels like I'm watching a bad live action manga. lol

After Devil I'm planning to pick up Salaryman again after putting it on ice a couple weeks ago.

What about yourself? What have you been up?

What are you talking about? Ha Jeong Woo is plenty eye candy! :-)

LOL, just read your review of Pride. Your problem with everything revolving around the male lead is the exact problem I have with Devil Beside You! It's like Ahmon can do no wrong. All the girls love & want him & all the guys want to be like him. It's clawing. But with that said, I actually don't agree with your review at all, except the part about the lollipop and him saying 'maybe' all the time. It WAS silly & I don't know why they made him do those things! haha

Anyway, Halu in Pride is the focal point of the story, but there were other central characters who got their own story line. Halu also wasn't a perfect guy (like Ahmon in Devil). He was a very flawed character & he certainly didn't act honourably toward Aki all the time.

Anyway, it's all good! :-)
It's interesting how dramas affect people in different ways! :)

I didn't see a review for the PP or OD.

Pride, Padam Padam, Orange Days.

I have actually come across Boku before, but I hesitated to add it to my list because I figured it would be a tearjerker. I'll check it out one day when I'm in the mood to shed a few tears.

Yes, definitely check out Happily Ever After! It's wonderful & shockingly it has a beautiful, happy ending. So did Love & Honor.

There are a couple Japanese movies with happy endings, but they are few and far between! You really have to search for them.

Yup, you rated 3 of my all time fav dramas below 6! :-)

And you dropped Devil Beside You ... actually I can understand this one. I'm currently watching it & I should probably drop it too. This drama is so crazy and not in a good way, but I can't bring myself to drop it.

I'm also very picky about what I watch, but once I start something I almost always finish it.

I hope you enjoy the movies. Let me know how you find them. Drama wise, I don't have much recs for you since you've clearly seen a lot more than I.

He he he ... my pleasure.

Oh I see. What's wrong with the romance in Dong Yi in your opinion? What makes it cheesy?

I see you've given some of my favourite dramas really low scores so I hesitate to recommend anything as it would appear we have differing tastes! :-)

But check out these movies, Happily Ever After, Love and Honor & In the Mood for Love. I quite liked them. They featured a mature type of romance that's less campy/cheesy & more true to life.

Hey, been struggling through Devil Beside You for the past few weeks. It's gonna be a hard one to rate because story wise, I neither love it nor hate it. On the technical side, which I don't normally comment on unless it's really bad, I hate how the drama is shot. It's like a bad live action manga. I also hate when the characters' internal dialogue tell the audience what's happening like they're commentating a ball game. It's just bad filmmaking, you know. Like all other visual art form, it's all about showing, not telling. Somehow, though I can't bring myself to drop it. I usually have a hard time dropping dramas. I have just 5 eps left & then I'm done!

After Devil I'm going to resume watching Salaryman before starting It Started with a Kiss. What's on your watchlist these days? Any standouts? If I remember correctly weren't you also watching Salaryman? How is it for you?

I'm way too impatient to watch airing dramas, especially if they're really good! I have to wait until they're finished airing so I can marathon the hell out of 'em, if need be. hehehe

I'll wait for the reviews on Last Cinderella before I make up my mind to see it or not. Even if it's not too much like S&TC; I generally don't like older woman/younger guy romances. I personally just don't find them believable. But that's just me. I know they're a lot of pedonoonas on here who love them! :)

Yes, I understand perfectly what you're trying to convey about Japanese cinema. The Japanese seem to be a very sober, pragmatic people & that comes across very well in their cinema. Sometimes I think they're too pessimistic in their world views though. Like you pointed out very few Japanese movies end on a positive, upbeat note. Actually when I do come across a happy ending Japanese movie, esp romance, I'm shocked! lol But I know there are a few. I've seen some of them. Have you for eg seen Happily Ever After? I loved that movie. So simple, and yet so powerful.

I'll have a look at the one you mentioned, Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu. Does it have a happy or sad ending? Thx for the rec! :)

Yeah, I read a review that really honed in on how extreme some of the characters are. I'm like you, I don't care for over the top characters, but I was planning to give this a go because someone rec'ed it to me. I wanted to watch a sæguk that's also romantic and the person said Dong Yi was a good choice. Would you agree? What else are you watching? Any standouts?

Yeah, for me that was totally unbelievable too! And so unKorean! lol

They're usually very good at portraying things realistically. While I'm of course glad he didn't die, walking away without a scratch after a freakin' building just collapsed on you is just way too far-fetched. They could've given him a concussion. AT LEAST!

Anyway, I'm not gonna complain anymore either. I loved the movie & I loved the couple ... they were so cute together, their chemistry was wicked ... and yeah, Go Soo, I want him! Hahaha

Hey, please rec more movies like these if you know of any! :-)

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter ... and Spring.

Yup, one of my favs. Castle Orgies is actually just a play on words as there was hardly any orgies in the entire movie as far as I can remember (granted, I did watch it a long time ago). What I do remember is that it's a fairly short movie & most of it was focused on the romance between the hero & heroine which is way I loved it. Their romance was very sweet & they had some pretty hot encounters.

You can rent pink films from Blockbuster, but you probably won't find them at every one so you have to ask around until you hit pay dirt. In the meantime Woman in the Dunes might be easier to find online. This isn't necessarily a pink film, but close.

Anyway, now that I've corrupted you a little further with an introduction to Japanese erotica, watch that Kim Ki-duk film I mentioned earlier. It's a pretty spiritual film, 1 of Kim's best. I'll give Bad Guy a go 1 day. Thx for the rec.

You're so on the money about that insecurity they feel. Many Norwegians feel threatened by better qualified foreigners, esp if you're American. I've met so many other expats - Americans, Australians, Canadians - who've encountered the same BS. That's how I know my experiences weren't unique. But I've been here so long that it no longer fazes me & not everyone's journey is as strait. BF's been having it good since he landed here. Great, well paying job & a good mixed bag of colleagues, but he works in oil & gas which is very international. In that environment you'll meet Norwegians who think their own culture is weird bcuz they've spent time abroad & see how 'normal' people behave. Hehe.

Anyway, yeah, definitely check out Always! You'll love it. Also check out Love 911 while you're at. It's another cute, romantic dramedy with a VERY hot firefighter male lead! ;-)

Technically, no since 'pink' film refers to Japanese movies. And like I said if you really want to see an authentic 'pink' film watch some of the older ones from the '60s & the '70s. If you can find it I can recommend Castle Orgies. It's one of my favs ... and it's not as wild as the name sounds. :-)

Nikkatsu is the name of the production company that commissioned the films. They are, or were (I think they've gone out of business), the largest producer of pink films in Japan. Pink film is a Japanese term used to describe Japanese films with sexually explicit content. But yeah, I guess you could call SSL a 'pink' film.

Older Nikkatsu pink films were just like any other films. You find them in every genre & character, story & plot are the driving forces of the film (not sex), BUT they must have at least 3 sex scenes. The sex shouldn't be pornographic, but they should be fairly explicit, like what you saw in Sweet Sex and Love. I don't really like the pink films that are being made nowadays because most of them watch like porn. The stories are horrible, the characters aren't well developed & the production values are pretty tacky. So I tend to watch only older Nikkatsu pink films. They're pretty hard to find online though.