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  • Join Date: March 27, 2023
  • Awards Received: Flower Award1
Completed
May 14th
1 people found this review helpful
Jul 7, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 6.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 6.0
Rewatch Value 8.0

생일 축하합니다!

I haven't had my birthday celebrated for so many years. I can totally understand how you wait for that day to feel appreciated, and it turns out just like any other day that brings you closer to death and updates the count of "friends" who forgot about you.

🔸️As for the movie, one major issue, in my opinion, is that the rhythm doesn't really change making it hard to feel where is the beginning, climax, and the end. The movie is too shy, too quiet, just like the main character, and I would like it to stir me up a little bit more. Otherwise, it's still bottled up and not resolved. Yet I like this short a lot for its beautiful picture, vibrant environment, and good acting. 응원합니다, 감독님!

If you want to watch this short film, contact the director through email and request the link politely. The email address is [email protected]. (It took about a couple of weeks to get a response on mine)

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Completed
A Single Spark
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 30, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 7.5
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.5

아름다운 청년 전태일 편히 쉬세요.

🔸️Can you imagine what level of despair one has to reach to set themselves alight and die the most horrible death publicly? Will their sacrifice change anything at all? In 5 years? And in 50 years?

🔸️Jeon Tae Il used his last resort by the end of the Third Republic of Korea. Two more Republics would change before the democracy is established, and many more bloody years were ahead. Self-immolation is not an effective form of protest but the most shocking one. It does leave an indelible impression on witnesses, making them question their situation. It is only up to the living if the horrible act of sacrifice has a real impact later. In case of Jeon Tae Il, it wasn't forgotten.

The camerawork in the movie is absolutely fantastic. The depth of shadows and light gives sometimes dramatic feel or sometimes the feeling of being trapped. The leading actor Hong Gyeong-In is perfect. It would easily go to my favorites if not for the slightly undercooked screenplay that made me stray in between the two story lines with the newest one less clear.

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Completed
Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 28, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 3.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 6.5
Music 2.5
Rewatch Value 1.5

'김영화'는 아니고 '김용화'란 다행이군. 영화는 너무 섭섭하겠다.

I haven't seen a director with such terrible sense of space as Kim Yong Hwa in a while. On the shelf of nauseous editing, ridiculous costumes and CGI, weak world building, non-existent emotional bond with characters, another one is Choi Dong Hoon with his Alienoid.

If you show me a dude who saves someone's life and then dies and acts dumb all along just because he's "saint", I will wish for him to die again. All the trials are so dumb, the Kings don't even follow their own rules skipping the defending part. And each time the trial ends with discovering a piece of information that makes an excuse for the main character's actions. Even if it's a murder attempt. Ridiculous.

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Completed
Real:Time:Love Season 2
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 3, 2023
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 7.0
Acting/Cast 8.5
Music 5.5
Rewatch Value 6.5

"대한독립 만세!" ??

WOOOOOW I didn't expect this to be so hilarious, having seen the first part. The key of success is definitely the casting. I love the actors, they are so charming and cute. I can see they had a lot of fun while filming. Choi Hyeon Wook is amazing, he looks like a kid of Gong Yoo and Park Seo Joon😄

I can't say the story is something extraordinary, or even original, but I like how well the teenage awkwardness works here. I'm dying of laughter finishing the last episode. The jokes and gags are silly but passionate.
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Completed
The Way Home
1 people found this review helpful
Apr 2, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 8.0
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 7.5

"죽기 전에 또 봐."

🔸️I've been hearing a lot of complaints that a little brat like Sang Woo is not a realistic portrayal of a naughty kid. Well. I grew up with my grandmother who is currently 83 years old. I was spending the holidays at her house with no hot water and a toilet outdoors. I can't compare that to the rural Korea of 2000s, but as I watched the movie I felt so strangely familiar with its world.

🔸️Moving from the small apartments with almost sterile cleanliness that my mom maintained to the house with mosquitoes, bugs and mice running around always required an adaptation period. Old people can't put as much effort into cleaning, and their eyesight and memory are bad. I would often ask grandma to cook something, and when she put the salt in twice or even trice I would push the dishes aside and say they are disgusting. When grandma didn't understand what I said I would call her deaf and not repeat my words on purpose. I would sometimes refuse to thread a needle for her. She didn't kick me out of her house, and she wasn't saint nor very patient. She just new I was a silly kid. After a couple of days of being squeamish I started washing the dishes and dusting by myself, and even eat the soup with a drown midge in it. In the end of the summer I didn't want to come back home.

🔸️집으로... is everything but manipulative. The kid in the story isn't coming over the grandmother's house voluntarily like me. He has problems in his family, he feels abandoned for a weird person he doesn't really know. If you look into your childhood you could probably find the moments you acted like Sang Woo even if you didn't admit it to yourself. There are many moments when the boy does good things, he's not plain evil. It's insincere to call him a piece of sht because most of us were the same and have forgotten that.

As I looked at Kim Eul Boon I couldn't stop thinking how much has she lived through. She saw the Japanese occupation and all the Six Republics of Korea. And how many more old people lived off their gardens in the same conditions as the main character in 2000s?

🔸️The movie might not be the most subtle or "intellectual", but it has a strong core. I see now, Minari was definitely inspired by The Way Home. There is nothing extraordinary in its cinematography, or acting, or the screenplay, but all of them are very organic. That's what makes people love the movie.

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Completed
The Flatterer
1 people found this review helpful
Mar 27, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 5.0
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 6.0
Music 3.5
Rewatch Value 3.5

I not gonna wipe up!!!

🔸️I've just found a gem in the trash mini drama genre. It's so ridiculous that it's fun. At the beginning your brain is unsettled by the disastrous behavior of the characters but then you gradually accept the rules and play by them. I can even tell this drama is secretly gay because of the intense gay scene in the 2nd episode hehehe...

🔸️What captivates me here is the unusual story of the bullies and their victim. The victim is not written from the position of the weak but from the position of an average-confidence person who actively seeks for the way out.

🔸️The exploration of friendship is pretty decent here. People from the same criminal background are gathered in one high school but they act differently, e.g. TaeSan who "never beats anyone up with no reason" on the contrary to the red haired guy who lies in wait for the person to be in the most vulnerable position to attack him. Some only need money to communicate, some need understanding.

🔸️The actors... Oh, well. Kwak DongYeon pulls it off very well as usual even though this is one of his very first roles. The cast of the hooligans falls into the scope of the uncanny valley effect when they try to play comedy, but still it's so silly that it's fun itself. The Teddy Bear guy is damn awesome.

🔸️The love line of the teachers is absolutely pathetic, predictable, boring, and unnecessary. It weighs literally zero bytes of new information. The ending slipped a lot. We never got a single focus on the relationship between those three but there is suddenly a kiss. (But I tend to think he's secretly a gay) The new challenge for TaeSan is stated right at the end. It feels like they were going to make a hook for the season two which will never be there.

🔸️I don't get it, what kind of high school is it. Why there are 28 yo bearded students, why do they study together with teenagers, what about girls, and why do they do anything but studying there? Those contact-free battles were enough.

My first reaction to this drama was to cut it out, but I actually noticed the originality the creators tried to bring into the drama. I appreciate it.

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Completed
Dok Go Bin Is Updating
1 people found this review helpful
Mar 27, 2023
12 of 12 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 4.0
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 4.5
Music 2.5
Rewatch Value 2.5

이제 막 스무 살 된 애기... 혹시 집안에 러시아 사람 있니?

🔸️Another great discovery among the trash minidramas. Watched that somewhere in the backrooms of the internet. I've got many funny quotes written down. What is different in this drama, is that it doesn't reiterate how the naive robot is exploring the new environment but concentrates on the emotional attachment of people and existential crisis of the AI who doesn't even know it's not a human. The pace is gentle, and the soft sunny picture fits well the community atmosphere.

🔸️Now to the flaws. The acting of the loser guy is just disastrous. He's got the passion but not the balance. He either jumping around with inhuman expressions on his face or stands still like a statue from Rapa Nui. Special Korean slowmo makes it look even more ridiculous. Talking about GoBin, his role is just to be handsome in the frame, and he does it well.

The villain here is just helpless. It is a general K-drama key to write about rich evil guys with pocket gangs, and we know nothing about their goals.

🔸️I wish the storyline was exploring how the guys start to depend on the new generation of robots without even knowing it, or how the developer guy was feeling ownership over his newly created "nephew". However everything resolves in the exact way you expected, in the kdrama way. It ends up with nothing except for that humans took the benefit from machines again.

'로봇들은 보통 가장 약한 사람을 돕도록 프로그래밍 되어 있습니다. 독고빈은 현재 하덕호라는 인간을 가장 나약하다고 판단하고 친구라고 생각하는 것 같습니다.'

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Completed
Moving
5 people found this review helpful
Sep 22, 2023
20 of 20 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 9.0

To protect my kid, I'm ready to become a monster anytime.

🔸️Do you sometimes have that dream where your body is weightless and you can fly and jump effortlessly? And can you easily manage your movements there? The ability to fly is Kim Bong Seok's secret, and keeping your mind and body under control during puberty is no easy job, especially if there is cute and kind Hee Joo around.

On the furtile soil of North and South Korea's confrontation and secret agencies, engenders and flourishes this inspiring enthralling drama about people with superpowers.

🔸️Althouth the North Korean agents are, as usual, murderous terrorists, they have backstories too. Some of them were regular people before the dictatorship grabbed them in its claws. E.g. the North flying agent merely wanted to earn enough money in the special forces to put food on his family's table, while some North Koreans were threatened to use their powers to "serve the great republic", and "The Big Clap" guy Lim Jae Seok was nurtured into the borderline animal state in a North concentration camp for 20 years. The tall tough North Korean guy breaking down in front of Hee Joo was a beautiful scene too. My only complaint: the captain of the North team suddenly becoming sentimental and sacrificial is too sweet of a tale.

Another great thing about the story, South Korean special forces aren't angels either. They may have climbed up to a high spacious sunshine-lit glass building on the mountain, but they still stayed the way they were founded during the military rule of president Park Jeong Hee "and Co". "We work in the dark to serve the light" - but at what cost? Army and special forces naturally attract more agressive individuals, and that's the fact. The only young person in the drama who came to work for the intelligence agency is Kang Hoon who wanted his dad's criminal records erased in exchange.

You can easily see the writer Kang Full's attitude towards the big government structures and political rivalries between countries: all the "glory" comes at the expense of regular people whose talents and lives are used to destroy, not create.

Most of the episodes are the stories of the parents, and I'd rather like the drama to be more present. Because I can hardly believe two untrained highschoolers can suddenly take out a veteran merciless North Korean agent.

🔸️Moving doesn't create some unearthly different world for superpowers but allows them to exist, gently wraps the non-scented Korean city around them creating a very unique authentic feeling. The cinematography leaves enough space for the light to come through to shape the voluminous world. The numerous stunts and graphics are great (over 7000 CGI shots). No wonder it took 2 years and the record-breaking budget to make.

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Completed
Death's Game Part 2
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 19, 2024
4 of 4 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

"내 죽음이 참을 수 없이 부끄러웠다".

Are there ANY lives not worth living? Any at all?
🔸️In comparison to Tomorrow that could only offer the cliche "tomorrow will be better" and more or less noticable victim blaming for giving up on your life, Death's Game, on the other hand, acknowledges the personal struggle and responsibility while encouraging you to continue fighting, to win this horrible game and rise from the ashes. Because while you continue living, you are already winning each minute of your life.

It's interesting to watch one actor playing several characters in one show, but to watch several actors playing one character together? All the Yi Jae cast had to layer Yi Jae's nature and behavior on the host personality, the owner of the new body. This task is exciting on its own, and the acting turned out phenomenal. Kim Jae Wook playing psychopath rival? That scene gave me chills, let alone the brilliantly adapted screenplay.

🔺️Watching the drama won't help severely depressed and suicidal people. And of course it's not meant to do that. If you're in such condition, please, try seeking help from mental health professionals.
But it can and does help those who are struggling. It killed me and put me back together piece by piece, just like Yi Jae, in the final. Immersive af.

Did you know? The name Yi Jae sounds identical to "right now" in Korean. I enjoy so much the wordplay in character names in K-dramas.

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Completed
Weak Hero Class 1
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 10, 2024
8 of 8 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

WE NEED s2 NOW!!!

🔸A bloody poem of unspoken problems, unborn friendships, and untold concerns. Weak Hero is not any kind of a manifest against violence, unlike Boyhood. It's a clear statement of what everyone could have had and what has lost to domestic and school violence. Friendship, trust, love, happiness, - all of them were wiped out with blood and boiling rage. It's been 1.5 years since the release of this drama, and I attest that the story gets better on the rewatch when you can closely examine the exquisite psychology behind it.

🔸The show proves that warlike personal relationships never bring any profit to anybody. Oh Beom Seok, aka the most hated villain, was adopted for his congressman dad's political influence. In psychology, bad relationship with parents can predict lower friendship quality, and it's exactly what happens in the drama with Beom Seok. His dad doesn't recognize him as an individual and physically abuses him on a daily basis, which results in Beom Seok struggling with social life. He is anxious even around his new friends and expects betrayal from them.

Beom Seok is so traumatized and broken that he can't navigate a regular relationship anymore. His new friends technically do nothing wrong, but they are no psychiatrists and they don't know how to treat Beom Seok in his condition. While therapy isn't going his way, and he reserves to violence as the only way to relieve his mental pressure. Hong Gyeong's performance as Beom Seok gave me chills. It is absolutely stellar.

🔸"Keep on pushin" says the slogan on Ahn Soo Ho's jacket, but, honestly, does he have a choice not to? He is all alone, without parents, working part time and sleeping at school. This life made him independent, taught not to expect anything in return and not to risk recklessly. But despite that, Soo Ho is loyal in good relationships. He trusts his friends enough to keep his phone unlocked. He is a little bit insensitive, but able to admit his fault and give someone a second chance. Exactly this attitude makes Ahn Soo Ho the best character in the show - and the one who's hurt the most.

🔸"You did nothing wrong", says Yeon Shi Eun's dad after his son causes major injuries to the three bullies who hurt his friend. Shi Eun is reluctant to form any relationship since his parents take little interest in his life, but he is considerate and caring in a friendship that accidentally came his way. He found his escape in keeping his brain busy by solving math problems, but math books will protect his friends only if used as weapons. As his rage grows he seeks justice in violence, too.

🔺Be careful when watching Weak Hero. You may find yourself falling for that violence when you start wishing some of the characters to be hit - this is exactly what the drama warns you about. After all the terrible things Beom Seok has done, you may start feeling satisfaction from seeing him being physically abused by his father, forgetting that abuse shaped him that way in the first place. There are many viewers who are angry for justifying Beom Seok's behavior, but there is no justification there, just as there is no justification for Shi Eun's aggression. It's just the way the society works. We cannot stop bullying and abuse if it's a regular part of our life.

That said, can you name Shi Eun the hero of this story? Or antihero? Or maybe this title belongs to Ahn Soo Ho? Or is it all a big irony? The drama wants you to decide yourself, and it doesn't offer a solution to the world peace. This brutality and honesty, in my opinion, along with the brilliant production is the root of its success worldwide.

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Twinkling Watermelon
1 people found this review helpful
Nov 15, 2023
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

"빛나게 해주고 싶어요. 일단은 무대 위에서. 그 다음은 인생에서."

Reenact Back To The Future, fall in love with the young version of your aunt, teach your nonchalant 18 y.o. dad guitar, try to prevent a major tragedy, play matchmaker for your future parents, take over the Jinsung empire, and accidentally become an international idol - be like Ha Eun Gyeol! The drama explores so many relatable themes, and it deserves way more than roughly 3% rating on Korean TV. Ryeo Woon and Choi Hyeon Wook have amazing chemistry, both humorous and dramatic, and their acting is outstanding till the end.

"이곳에 와서 알게 됐다. 내 아빠 엄마에게도 아픈 청춘이 있었다는 것을."

🔸Do you want to escape your problems somewhere far away where nobody would be able to find you..? For example, in the year 1995! You'd get to befriend your yet-young parents and hopefully find out why do they act so confusingly as adults. However, time traveling still won't provide you with a safe playground to explore the world because growing up has never been easy for anyone. And if it wasn't, why do adults forget about their own teenage experience while building a relationship with their teenage kid?

"나는 아주아주 반짝이게 빛나야 한다는 말이지. 할 수 있는 건 다 해볼 거다. 사랑이든 벤드든 내가 반짝일 수 있는 거라면 모두 다."

There aren't many thoughtful shows and movies that explore teenagers and their parents together as equal human beings. Twinkling Watermelon achieves this by literally putting them all side by side through time travel. Not only do the highschoolers start to understand their parents better, but the adults in the future change too. The way the drama was written, I was confident from the very beginning that all the characters and their lives are in the hands of a skilled screenwriter. The drama transitions between sentimental exploration and genuine humor so seamlessly that I simply cannot put an episode on pause. There is no intrigue who ends up with whom, and because everything is predetermined we get a chance to feel this fleeting moment of happiness and enjoy it while it lasts.

"내가 사는 세상엔 소리가 없어. 그래서 이렇게 눈을 감으면 세상이 사라져."

🔸I'm sure every viewer has caught on to a couple of KSL (Korean Sign Language) words just by watching this drama. It contributes well to the awareness of people with hearing impairments and subtly educates about the challenges they face in society. Deaf character Cheong Ah still enjoys listening to music vibrations, and many deaf people still enjoy going to loud energetic concerts. Moreover, there is a scene where Yi Chan interprets the legendary song '마법의 성' into KSL and performs it for Cheong Ah - this is what deaf performers do. I suggest you check out Justina Miles interpreting to ASL (American Sign Language) at Rihanna's Super Bowl show this year to get an idea of how you can communicate a song to those who can't hear it.

"수화야. 손으로 만들어내는 소리."

Sign language is an incredible dimension of human expression, and it's not hard to learn. It should be more widespread in today's society, and good thing someone is popularizing it. I personally started learning ASL and KSL, and even though there is no one around me to talk to, sign language has improved my acting (surprisingly!) and communication in general.

🔸Deaf experiences can vary. Some people are Deaf and mute like Cheong Ah, who lost the ability to hear before she learned to speak; some people are partially deaf, and others, like Yi Chan, lost their hearing later. In Yi Chan's case, he is probably mute by choice, either for Cheong Ah or to not give in to an ignorant society, since he could talk normally after getting the trauma.

"음악은 귀로만 듣는 게 아니야. 음악은 눈으로, 마음으로, 심장으로 느끼는 거야."

🔸Twinkling Watermelon is simply magical and now one of my top K-dramas. Its ethereal plot allows me to rediscover other aspects of life that we usually miss in today's hustle culture, like creating music, art together, building strong friendship - all those overlooked human expressions that are essential for human happiness, just like sign language. But overall, it's also a blissful reminder to stay strong and try living my only youth to the fullest. 나도 '반짝이는 워터멜론'처럼 반짝반짝하게 빛나고 싶다.

Learn sign language, you guys! Sign language changes the world. ✨

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Completed
20th Century Girl
1 people found this review helpful
Mar 27, 2023
Completed 0
Overall 2.0
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 2.5
Music 1.5
Rewatch Value 1.0

I only have one question here. HOW DARE YOU TO WASTE SUCH A TALENT AS ROH YOON SEO?

🔸️For two hours I've been watching good actresses playing fake friendship, fake love, and the most unconvincing crying ever. If it's unconvincing, it has to be a comedy, but it's far from that. Even the male characters were hopelessly bland, targeting the female audience. And I know, that this is not the actors' fault but the screenwriter's because in Our Blues Roh YoonSeo had a really great performance.

🔸️Seriously, guys, for how long are you going to make budget-safe and nostalgia-selling movies? I see you were influenced by 25 21, but the screenplay there was originally crafted. 20th Century didn't even bother to shoot a couple of frames on a real film camera.

You can't fake nostalgia. Periodt.

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Completed
My Mister
0 people found this review helpful
Nov 23, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 7.5
Rewatch Value 9.0

"나 좀 싫어해줄래요? 엄청나게 끝간데없이. 아주아주 열심히."

It'll soon be a whole year since Lee Seon Gyun's tragic suicide. He is a great loss for the Korean and global film industries. As I watched the drama I couldn't help but realise that a person completely rotten from the inside, as he was portrayed by the journalists and haters, would never be able to emit that warmth and kindness he put into his most memorable role. I long hesitated to write any review at all for this drama because it didn't seem like it would be any kind of revelation to the viewers and its fans. But it just feels so unfair that the death of such a great actor is now forgotten and the world has moved on with all the horrible things that happen all the time. I am going to remember Lee Seon Gyun through this drama and I will have to rewatch it again someday because I feel like I should grow into it a bit.

Recently I've met a person whose warmth and character reminds me a lot of "ajeossi" Park Dong Hoon, and my mind returned to this drama again. May he overcome his struggles and live a happy and fulfilling life.

Also, a sunny summer is probably a bad time to watch this K-drama. It's not easy on you, so avoid watching it in distress, but the late fall approaching Thanksgiving will do.

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Queen of Tears
0 people found this review helpful
Apr 30, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.5
Rewatch Value 6.5

진짜 이상하지? 사랑해서 결혼하는데, 결혼하면 왜 사랑은 안 하지?

Here goes the most viewed tvN drama in history, and I still can't take it seriously because I just watched Kim Soo Hyeon dance in trash bags in Dream High. Whatever way you look at it, the drama was bound to succeed because of the stellar cast, the two fantastic Kims who acted their souls out, the top crew, and the huge budget of ₩56 billion that allowed shooting in actual Germany and detailed portrayal of the luxurious life of the elite.

I find it curious that this type of K-dramas about millionaires and their inconceivable affairs seem to dominate the viewership ratings, e.g. Sky Castle, The Heirs, The World of the Married, Reborn Rich, Sandglass. It's obvious that tired working class people on weekends want to immerse themselves in the lives of those who knock on no doors. That explains why Twinkling Watermelon and Lovely Runner struggle on cable TV. But compared to the 2022 Reborn Rich, Queen of Tears is also a hundred times better in writing and production quality.

The most memorable character for me is Hong Soo Cheol. Not usually found in dramas, a big character transformation is assigned once again to the actor Kwak Dong Yeon by the director Kim Hee Won (as was Jang Han Seo in Vincenzo). His character is a vivid and adorable illustration to the change of mindset that the Hong family goes through in the story. This is the best part of the drama made with good humor and inventive situations that place the spoiled Hong heirs in a challenging unfamiliar setting. Kwak Dong Yeon is an amazing actor and needs to be protected at all costs!

Many viewers complain about the uninspired ending, but I think due to the genre and popularity it had to end this way and play safe. The story is also filled with sentimental distractions that bear no significance, e.g. Hyeon Woo saving Hae In in the water when they were kids. She might as well have been saved by anyone else and nothing would've change between them.

Of course I couldn't miss the light homage to the Cassano family and THE VINCENZO CAMEO HOLY SHIT. Thank you Kim Hee Won for letting us know he's doing well!

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Sandglass
0 people found this review helpful
Jan 27, 2024
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 7.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 6.5
Rewatch Value 8.0

Marking The Milestones In History

In the scenes of military violence towards peaceful Gwangju citizens, people who are being brutally beaten do not scream. They're filmed dancing. These disoriented civilians are waltzing to the dizzy dance of panic and agony. The drama Sandglass is uniquely lyrical in its approach to cinematography. With chunky old cameras and 4:3 aspect ratio, it seamlessly exercises dramatic hard shadows, Dutch angles, daring close-ups, insertions of archival footage, camera circling around the characters, overall rather bold moves for an old TV production. But it's only one of its merits. Stay with me here.

"Remember what they teach you at school? Our country is a democratic state and belongs to our people. But such illiterate people like me can't even protect themselves."

🔸Why was it named Sandglass? An hourglass is sometimes associated with impermanence of life and inevitability of death. The drama does talk about death and fate, particularly in the perspective of the people who remained alive. It talks about the survivors, the witnesses, the participants of one terrible period in South Korean history - the authoritarian rule and the Gwangju Uprising of 1980 - and their collective trauma. While the bloody suppression of the uprising is one of the focal points that changes the life of the main character Woo Seok, who was ordered as a soldier to shoot at civilians, it only acts as an attempt to release the tension between the regular citizens and the controlling state. The plot of the drama describes the continuing struggles of the main characters with the dehumanizing government institutions - the indoctrinating concentration camp that Tae Soo had to go through (similar has remained in North Korea to this day), and torturing in jail that Hye Rin was subjected to for not naming other students in opposition. After witnessing all that terror, the lives of the characters could never remain the way they were before.

"그 다음은 문제야. 그 다음 어떻게 사는지 잊지 마라."

🔸The key success element of Sandglass, as I see it, was the perfect timing of its release. 1995 was an extraordinary year for South Korea full of political scandals exposing the structural corruption that had long flourished in the country. The year was marked with the unprecedented arrests of two former presidents: Noh Tae Woo, following the scandal about his giant slush fund, and Jeon Doo Hwan who was responsible for the violent suppression in Gwangju. It was the year of a significant leap in SK's transition to democracy, and, to move forward, historical reflection was needed. Addressing the old political issues helped the Korean society come to terms with its authoritarian past and move on.

South Koreans were eager for justice after the long decades of censorship and oppression, and Sandglass provided them with that unconditional justice. But the story is not a dream come true - its honesty is brutal. Justice comes for everyone in all forms, even for those characters you wish were left in peace at last. It comes for the mafia leader Lee Jeong Do, it comes for the corrupted officials, it comes for Hye Rin who lost her people to keep her father's casinos, and, finally, justice comes for Tae Soo who "had many chances to turn his life around but always chose the easy way". The ending of Sandglass is very grounding, and it encourages you to rethink your life choices you had the liberty to make. "It only matters what was after. Don't forget how you chose to live".

Sandglass processes the collective trauma in detail. However, it fails in tackling the trauma on a personal level. When Hye Rin was released out of prison she spends several days in her room in deep shock, not eating anything, not responding to anyone. But the next episode she is shown completely fine, and soon you forget that she was actually tortured in there. Another problem is the tedious filling episodes in the middle about the gangs and shady business that aren't emotionally impactful. What I also found weird is the Soviet song "Cranes" being most often played in the scenes with the criminals negotiating their business. The translation of that song tells how the souls of soldiers killed in WW2 fly away as white cranes. Putting the song on during those moments doesn't feel very appropriate. That's why, for me, Sandglass is far from perfection despite all of its brilliance in other parts.

The story of the drama gets even more dark if you take into account the tragic life of its director Kim Jong Hak. After the financial losses from his late projects he was placed under the investigation and commited suicide in 2013. In his honor, Sandglass was rerun on SBS Plus on its original broadcasting schedule - two episodes per night four days a week.

🔸So, in the end, why should you watch this old-time drama existing exclusively in low quality somewhere off streaming platforms?

Because young Lee Jung Jae is hot AF.

Or...

Because it will give you the idea of how vast the impact of politics can be, through the example from modern SK history, and how little control an individual can have of their own life. For those viewers interested in exploring historical Korean identify and shared suffering, often called "Han", it provides a unique lens into the struggles faced by past generations. In its times, the drama also challenged the taboo of criticizing the government and portraying the tragic and unsightly aspects of Korean history. All in all, watch it at least to see how K-dramas developed and what they looked like before.

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