112
398
15
2
5
2
6
7
3
8
1
1
1
1
2
4
7
4
9
"If the sky falls, the tall will hold it up"
I stumbled across Forget You Not and to my utter delight found a hidden gem dealing with the joys and pitfalls of family, friendship, marriage, and work. Hsieh Ying Xuan and Chin Han gave beautifully realistic performances of a daughter and father distanced through their own faults and misunderstandings. Every chapter was meaningful and gave insight into their lives and loves. As only Taiwanese dramas can do, the characters were flawed and real, relatable guides on this journey into aging and life.Cheng Le Le’s life is shaken when her marriage falls into trouble and her “unreliable” father is diagnosed with dementia. Her rocks are her two best friends and her job as a stand-up comedian.
Each chapter in Forget You Not focused on a different aspect of Le Le’s life-her father, the mother who abandoned her, her friendships, her husband, and circled back to her father as his illness progressed and he became completely reliant on her. The episodes wove flashbacks with the present, never wandering afar and always giving insight into everyone involved. Aside from Le Le, we also peer into the stress of Zhang Kai’s privileged life, Cheng Kuang Chi trying to provide for his family working aboard ships, and Hsiao Fang’s pressure to raise a child largely alone.
The writing was thoughtful, showing people’s strengths and foibles. As in real life, marriage was a work of balancing expectations and needs, some not always fulfilled. Friendships were forged with people who were imperfect and faced their own crisis at times. As people aged, they suffered the loss of friends and family, whittling down their social circle we all depend upon. Parents were fallible, some capable of the job, others not. Children, even adult children, focused on themselves often shuttling parents’ needs aside. And ultimately, some children came to be caregivers of aging parents reversing the roles of a lifetime.
Forget You Not never shied away from the difficulties in relationships and caregiving. One of the most thankless and difficult jobs is caring for a loved one, often without any help. Even when done out of love and familial responsibility, it can bring a person to the breaking point physically, mentally, and emotionally. And financially. It is consuming and exhausting with the person always haunted by guilt with the questions of, “Am I doing enough?” Often followed by, “Will this ever end?”
This drama was heartbreaking and heartwarming. Following Le Le on her journey of self-discovery and a new relationship with her father was a deeply emotional journey for her and me. I tend to call out dramas that work too hard to manipulate the audience through cheap tricks and maudlin music. Forget You Not had absolutely gut-wrenching moments earned through authentic storytelling and nuanced acting. It was not all sorrow, for there were moments of levity, joy, and laughter. Sometimes when it seems the rain will never end, all you can do is dance in it.
28 January 2026
❤PSA-If you know a caregiver, please drop off food, ask to run errands, or find a way to relieve them so they can rest, shower, get out of the house/hospital for even a small amount of time. Anything so that they know they aren't alone. Sometimes caregiving takes a terrible toll on people's physical and mental health.
Was this review helpful to you?
"What kind of place this?"
Kyojo 2 had a new crop of recruits studying to become police officers under the watchful eye of Kazama Kimichika. Kimura Takuya returned as the no-nonsense Kazama who seemed to know everything happening in his purview.Once again Kazama had to deal with students who shouldn’t have been able to pass a psych eval or physical fitness test in order to get this far. He ferreted out their secrets and exposed their weaknesses. Some would be allowed to continue, others were shown the door.
Kazama was extra hard on his students because of the death of an unprepared graduate that also resulted in the loss of his eye. This fact alone made it harder for me to understand why certain students were allowed to stay in the program. **Minor spoilers to continue this thought are below the date. **
Kimura Takuya, the silver fox with the worst prosthetic eye since the wooden one from Pirates of the Caribbean, is always compelling to watch. Unfortunately, for me at least, most of the students were completely forgettable or memorable for all the wrong reasons. Kazama’s past had a small reveal, the biggest reason I watched this second part. If you enjoyed the first Kyojo, it’s likely you’ll enjoy this second one as it followed much of the pattern of the first.
17 December 2025
Minor spoilers below:
**
Steal a computer mouse? You’re out! Steal the ingredients to make a bomb? All is forgiven. Lie to a superior? No prob. Can’t tell time? No problem. Sexual harassment? No problem. Bullies are okay. Skittish students are okay. I dropped my score when near graduation a student at the firing range was so delighted at hitting the target they actually looked down the barrel of their loaded gun! To quote Zootopia, "You're dead bunny rabbit!" No wonder they have to have a constant flow of new students!
Was this review helpful to you?
"Let love be your guide!"
I was in the mood for a heartwarming story and the synopsis for Little Q drew me in. That and a beautiful Labrador retriever on the poster was all I needed to watch this film. While it portrayed the value of the guide dog program, it also failed rather spectacularly as well.Temperamental pastry chef and general all around jerk, Li Bao Ting, is losing his sight which makes him even crankier with everyone around him. At the same time, a family agrees to foster a lab puppy, Little Q, for a or the Hong Kong Seeing Eye Dog Organization. Despite the rules, the little girl largely attempts to undo Little Q’s training so that she will fail the stringent training and Chan Tsz Kiu/Chan Yu Qiao will be allowed to keep her. Q prevails and is paired with Li who wants nothing to do with the dog. When not sitting at home drinking he’s berating his apprentices at his pastry shop. He repeatedly tries to rid himself of the dog until he realizes Q’s value and attempts to get his life back on track.
So far, this general synopsis of the first part of the film plays out like many other redemption stories. The only problem is, Q would never have been given to Li in real life. There are far more people in need of guide dogs than there are guide dogs. Even if he had received one due to his family connections, the minute they discovered his mistreatment of the loyal pup, Q would have gone to a deserving person. For the first 49 minutes of this film, I have never hated a movie character more. Li’s 180 in outlook was enough to give him and me whiplash. There was no gradual buildup, just an unearned personality change. And in the final quarter another action happened that had me spitting nails I was so angry**.
I had a friend in college with a guide dog. Dennis was a beautiful black lab that was all business when my friend and I walked about campus as we shared several classes. But when he was off duty, I was able to pet him and give him treats and play with him. In the film there seemed to be a real concern that guide dogs lead a too serious life. When Dennis wasn’t working, he played with his golden retriever sibling and his human parents just like any other dog. The thought of someone treating one of these highly trained dogs so cavalierly was infuriating, even if it was just a film. Especially with a need greater than a supply of these loyal friends.
Yes, there was a nice little middle with happy, bonding moments with Q, but they were bookended by actions that were reprehensible. I appreciated that the film gave a shout out to the importance of guide dogs as it appeared to be a fairly recent program. Yet I was also appalled that Q was left with someone completely unqualified for receiving such a gift despite movie magic turning him into a loving caring person in a matter of minutes.
As a work of art, the writers worked hard to manipulate the viewer into feeling sorry for the little girl and eventually the owner. Due to the callousness and utter stupidity of the humans, my only concern was for the ever faithful yellow lab. If ever there was a film that showed we don’t deserve dogs, Little Q was it.
10 November 2025
**Spoiler comments below! **
When Li prepares to go to the US, he takes Q off the leash and throws the ball down a city sidewalk for Q to chase to distract her. What? He can’t see where he’s throwing putting Q at risk in an urban environment. Then Q chases his van down the road. The driver and Li’s sister see Q but do NOT stop the car and get Q out of harms way. Only when Q was physically blocked from following did she finally give up. Who would let a dog run down the middle of the street in a city?
Another problem was when Li decided to walk into traffic to commit suicide. He caused a multi-car accident which might have injured drivers and passengers as well as the financial cost. If he had succeeded, a driver would have been traumatized for causing a pedestrian’s death. Somehow, right afterwards he was able to smile-about everything. I’m guessing all those people in the cars weren’t smiling much.
I'm not sure what else they could do to try and gain sympathy for Q as they put her through numerous physical ailments. I love organic moments that create sympathy and even sorrow for characters both two-legged and four-legged alike, but the writers used a sledge hammer with little nuance to try and create emotions.
And the less said about the Dog Meat Festival the better.
Was this review helpful to you?
"Sexy food"
A Nation of Tteok was the fourth installment in this delightful franchise. Mimi, Ryu Soo Young, and Heo Young Man returned as our guides, this time walking us through the history of, making of, and variations of tteok.Tteok preceded cooked rice in the diets of the people as cooked rice required more sophisticated milling processes. Having been around since the Bronze Age, this has given people plenty of time to come up with almost endless variations on preparing the rice cakes. At last count South Korea has more than 250 types of tteok.
In episode 1, our guides went to a Buddhist temple in the mountains of Cheongdo to see how they prepared their vegetarian rice cake soup. The First Full Moon Fest came next with a huge bamboo bonfire. From there they explored the different kinds of tteok made with seasonal ingredients from different regions.
Episode 2 visited the historical and current use of tteok for the Mid-Autumn Harvest Festivals. Early royal banquet tteok recipes were shown. Provinces that had little access to rice found ways to make tteok out of potato starch or pine tree bark. And last but not least, the famous tteokbokki shown in so many school dramas was explored with many of its varieties.
During the 2 episodes the guides helped knead, pound, and form different kinds of tteok. They also sampled tteok made with chestnuts, pumpkin, kudzu, ginko nuts, jujubes, seaweed, different kinds of leaves, and just about anything else you could think of. It turns out tteok is quite versatile. Soups, “burgers”, wraps, treats, side dishes, and a host of other forms were showcased.
Tteok was said to bind the people together and eaten in happiness. Used for celebrations and milestones, it’s a food that historically was meant to be kneaded, pounded, and shared together with neighbors and family. Enfolded in the beloved food were the blessings and good wishes of the preparers and givers. Each version had its own form, texture, aroma, color, and taste whether rustically made or artistically created by fine dining chefs. For the most part, ajummas were the stars as they foraged for ingredients and then lovingly made the specialties from their regions. These special rice cakes showed the patience, persistence, and resourcefulness of the Korean people who discovered ways of making delicious food, even when it was scarce. If you have enjoyed the other three installments of this show, I could easily recommend this one. Sweet, comforting, and informative, this tteok went down easily.
3 November 2025
Was this review helpful to you?
Nine-year-old Eun Hee is preparing for her recorder exam. She’s using her brother’s hand me down recorder and wishes for a new one. More than a new recorder she desperately wishes for affection and attention from her family. Both parents are checked out emotionally. Big sis is seeing a boy behind their backs and staying out late. Her brother is doted on and orders her around, unafraid to hit her. As the youngest and a girl, there’s not much leftover for her from her stressed out mother and a father who is seeing another woman. When Eun Hee hears him whisper “I love you" to the mistress, how she longs to hear those words for herself. Her sister having realized she will never hear those words has sent her searching for acceptance elsewhere.
This film will make you want to give Eun Hee the hug she needs. It will also make you want to shake her disconnected parents. Much like HoH’s Eun Hee, this girl was trying to find a way to feel wanted by her family, loved. The shock she exhibited when a friend’s mom treated her kindly spoke volumes. Eun Hee also had a stubborn, defiant streak that broke through when she was being treated poorly which usually only led to more punishment but must have felt powerful in the moment.
The Recorder Exam focused on Eun Hee as the exam approached, her strained relationship with her family, her friendship with a classmate, and a need to feel like she belonged and was cared about in her own family. Even a few crumbs of kindness could set her free to soar if only for a few moments, if her parents could look outside themselves and see her. This film was well-written, well-directed, and well-acted with young Hwang Jeongone giving a heartbreaking and compelling performance. Definitely worth 28 minutes of your time.
8 September 2025
Was this review helpful to you?
"It seems a bit vague, your face"
I Love Camping aka Do You Like Camping was a short film by and starring Kim Kkot Bi. The film had little dialogue and was more of a relaxing vibe than plot driven story.Kim joyfully rides her motorcycle on Jeju Island, having to deal with rude sightseers and influencers. Setting up her tent and chair, she’s more into her book and camera as the wind whips her hair around than the man filming next to her. Rebuffing the influencer, her interest lies in the woman whose tent is next to hers--another seasoned camper who enjoys hiking and reading. What’s a girl have to do to get her neighbor’s attention instead of the influencer and his followers?
I Love Camping was a gentle campers crossing in the night story. The rough setting with the sea in the background, the nimble efficiency of pitching a tent, happy sighing while riding a motorcycle, all lent to the authentic feel of a woman enjoying her time on the road and perhaps wistfully wishing she didn’t always have to travel alone.
26 August 2025
Note: Listen to the closing tune for a deeper insight into the motorcyclist's feelings
Was this review helpful to you?
"Happiness is always remembered"
Show Me Your Love showed how poor communication and even poorer choices can lead to years of unnecessary unhappiness and resentment.As a child, Nin and his mom move from Hong Kong into her father’s house in Selangor, Malaysia. Sze Nga works long hours at odd jobs trying to pay off debt. One day she leaves for work abroad, giving Nin to her sister, and doesn’t return for 10 years. Upon her return, Nin is readying for university in Hong Kong. This time he is the one who leaves without a goodbye or forwarding address. Years later, married and with a child, Nin is told his aunt has died. His mother who has become a stranger and who is in deteriorating health becomes his unwanted responsibility. Mother and son struggle to bridge the chasm of misunderstandings lying between them.
The strength of this film lies in the performances. Pau Hei Ching was given a role that older actresses salivate over. Sze Nga was a complicated character with a wide range of emotions, all of which Pau covered admirably. Raymond Wong kept Nin’s emotions tucked close to his chest like the perfect hole card while holding a royal flush. All of the supporting characters added to the story without detracting from it. I honestly thought I was going to hate Nin’s wife after her opening scene but she ended up coming through for Nin and her mother-in-law like a real trooper. The biggest faux pas was Sze Nga’s return after 10 years but looking 34 years older as they swapped out the actresses too soon. Michelle Wai should have had those crucial and painful reunion scenes.
*****Depending on your idea of spoilers, this paragraph might hold one. Skip to the next paragraph if you are super sensitive to any plot elements. *****
My problem with this film was the basic premise. Sze Nga left her son to be raised by her sister which crushed him. The film implied there was very little, if any, communication between mother and son through the years, even after she returned. Did they not have mail service where she was working? No postmen in Malaysia or Hong Kong? Nin felt abandoned and deeply hurt and rightly so. It was only at the point of being too late he came to understand her behavior. Her cruel disappearance was all in service of fabricating a false memory of his father—who in reality was a deadbeat dad who had buried his family in debt. Her decision cost her time with her precious son. Losing his beloved mother for the majority of his childhood and adult life hurt Nin far worse than finding out his father was a jerk. Dude never showed up or contacted him once, pretty obvious he was not worth all this effort.
Show Me Your Love pulled all the strings available to manipulate tearful responses from the audience. None of the overtly sentimental tropes worked on me. My heart was broken for Nin who had been a happy child until he lost both parents for all practical purposes. Sze Nga’s actions deprived her of seeing her son marry, hold her newborn grandchild, and revel in her son’s adoration of her. Words matter, words children need to hear-often. The synopsis says that mother and son patched up their differences, a broken heart can be mended but the cracks, especially those created by regret, will always show and be felt. To quote an old saying, "Time wasted, is time lost, never to be regained."
23 August 2025
Trigger: Noble idiocy
Was this review helpful to you?
"Where is she?"
Shanghai attempted to be a noir murder mystery set against the turbulent time leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film boasted famous international stars and faces that would become more familiar. Shifting alliances and spies behind every door made finding a killer when thousands were being killed difficult if not meaningless.Intelligence officer Paul Soames arrives undercover in Shanghai to meet up with his best friend who is also an agent only to discover that he was recently murdered in the Japanese quarter. He goes to work as a Nazi sympathizing journalist in order to keep his German contacts. Within a short time he makes the acquaintance of a Chinese resistance member who is married to the head of the Shanghai triad who have a tenuous relationship with a Japanese officer. Soames becomes embroiled with all of them and their various activities while searching for the killer.
The murder mystery was honestly hard to care about. The Chinese were suffering astronomical losses due to the Japanese occupation. It didn’t help that John Cusack’s character was bland and uninteresting. His acting was equally uninspiring and lacking in depth. Gong Li was another story. She gave a strong and more nuanced performance as Anna Lan Ting. Her role as a resistance member was far more compelling and the movie would have benefited from focusing on her more instead of forcing the viewer to see nearly everything through Soames’ bored eyes. Chow Yun Fat played a supporting role as Anna’s husband. He did the best with what he could but was sidelined most of the time. Watanabe Ken’s Tanaka walked a fine line between nemesis and sympathetic character. Benedict Wong (Dr. Strange’s Wong!) played a Japanese informant and Hugh Bonneville (Knotting Hill and Downtown Abbey) took on the role of a newspaper editor.
Perhaps Shanghai was trying to do too much or maybe not enough. The film showed another angle of how vital strategic information that could have foreshadowed Pearl Harbor was not forwarded though it was more of an Easter egg than key plot point. The characters’ lives came to coalesce around a Japanese mistress and spy, that ended up being all but irrelevant. The implied chemistry between Anna and Paul simply did not work. Gong Li was believable but John Cusack sucked the life out of every scene he was in.
Shanghai had potential but failed in nearly everything it tried to do. The story and direction weren’t taut enough to be thrilling. The Shanghai matches had more sizzle than the sexual chemistry. And the murder mystery wasn’t much of a mystery. What was worth watching was Gong Li. She was gorgeous and mesmerizing as the mysterious and unwavering Anna. Chow Yun Fat and Watanabe Ken also pulled focus when they were onscreen. And it was fun to see Benedict Wong in an earlier role with that deep gravelly voice of his. Overall, Shanghai was watchable yet equally forgettable.
6 July 2025
Was this review helpful to you?
Yun Jie takes the news that her parents are leaving their small village to work far away in Guangzhou in stride, scarcely saying good-bye to them. She will remain in their village with her two younger sisters and grandmother. Along with going to school and doing her homework, she babysits, cooks the meals, cleans, helps an aunt garden, and aids her uncle when it’s time to harvest the rice crop. Jie is scolded for her grades dropping, but the tired child struggles to stay away during class and exams. Other grandparents and elders are having a difficult time raising their grandsons, the lack of fathers around causes the boys to act out and even put themselves in dangerous situations. Because teacher pay is extremely low, the turnover rate is high, with the kids receiving a subpar education. Yun Jie has much to do but little to look forward to in her life.
Most of the children in Jie’s village had no parents at home. Any child over 12 was weighing whether to quit school and go to work. The left behind children often felt left adrift. Jie may have spent time with others her age yet she never played and only once cracked a faint smile. Farming was not a sustainable model to feed a family yet still the villagers persisted. The time required to farm and the physical effort put a stress on the young girl already shouldering most of the household duties. Moving to the city didn’t guarantee success for those seeking a better life either. Factories were closing at an alarming rate, reducing job opportunities for the villagers. Lacking a solid education and other skills limited their employment opportunities. At one point, the family attempted to live together in the city. However, the sisters lacked the connections and proper thick red envelopes needed to go to school in Guangzhou. Yun Jie saw her life choices rapidly disappearing.
My heart broke for Yun Jie, the child forced to act like an adult. There were never any comforting cuddles or words and when it rained, she couldn’t even count on a dry bed. None of the grown-ups in her life were cruel, but neither were they a soft place to land when life got hard.
26 May 2025
Trigger warning: A dog being beaten to death, not graphically shown but implied
Was this review helpful to you?
Ajummas Assemble!
Could there be anything more fearsome than three ajummas uniting for vengeance? Maybe, but for the self-absorbed and abusive men that had run afoul of our lovely ladies and one teen boy, the Avengers Social Club would strike fear into their hearts before the drama was over.Through a series of events connected to the local school, Kim Jeong Hye collects two other women in need of vengeance along with herself. The women agree to not physically hurt anyone or do anything (too) illegal. Jeong Hye’s husband is determined to become his father’s heir and brings home his 19-year-old illegitimate son, Lee Su Gyeom, to sweeten the deal. After all, mere girls can’t be in line for running a company. Gyeom isn’t thrilled with the father and mother who abandoned him leaving him to be raised by grandparents. It’s not long before Gyeom joins the Avengers group. Hong Do Hui is at the mercy of a wealthy con artist who wants to shake her down for money when the annoying woman’s bully of a son is “injured” after Do Hui’s son hits him. Lee Mi Suk’s husband has become physically and verbally abusive. He is running for school superintendent and is in bed with Byeong Su and the perverted principal Hong Sang Man. The ladies and Gyeom may be up against an abuser, the school system, the class system, and two major corporations, but they are about to learn just how strong they are.
ASC was a fun wish fulfillment drama. If you live long enough, you’ll be gleefully screwed over by someone and oh how satisfying it would be to have vengeance. As much as I love a good revenge story, ASC was far more about how the women grew as individuals and as friends. All three needed to find their confidence and courage to be their best selves. They also found that three is better than two, and four is better than three. Just like a pack of lionesses (+1 cub) they discovered strength in numbers. The three actresses were all quite good, especially, Ra Mi Ran, as ASC’s resident Unnie.
“Why are they doing this to us?” Rarely has there ever been a group of men less self-aware and more self-absorbed. The women were seen as either property, tools, or impediments. They would learn that it’s very dangerous to underestimate women. Even when it looks like all they do is wear pretty clothes and drink tea.
The biggest drawback to the drama for me was the length of the episodes. Several episodes in the middle could have been shorter with the conflicts and resolutions integrated into one episode instead of two, and the last episode almost felt like a long epilogue due to numerous flashback recaps.
What I learned from ASC:
Don’t anger the woman who cooks your food.
Friends teach friends to cuss and give them a safe place to let loose
Shin kicks are vile but in certain circumstances are well deserved
Korea has children’s books about rabbits who poo on other animals
Do not call women Stodgy Extra Ajummas (especially if any of them are going to cook your food)
The writers could not do math, a 17-year age gap is not small
Mangas can be research material for revenge
Despite the enormous earrings, the drama was set in 2017, not 1985
Never underestimate a woman in a chicken fight!
Some families are made, not born
And most importantly--Sometimes you can feel stronger just knowing that you’re not alone.
24 April 2025
Was this review helpful to you?
"Now is now"
Perfect Days was a beautiful meditation on life. Hirayama had more in common with the Buddhist monk he greeted than any of the other characters. Every day was thoughtfully prepared and acted out, most often with a gentle smile and nod of gratefulness.Hirayama faces each task of his day with a thorough meticulousness, whether it is caring for his plants, cleaning the toilets for his job, or bathing in the bath house. Every morning he greets the day with a smile of gratitude. Instead of chants, he listens to an outstanding soundtrack of bluesy hits from the 70s and 80s on his cassette tapes. He’s no hipster and thinks Spotify is a brick and mortar store. That’s not a knock, the people intrigued by his music have no idea how to load an audio cassette either. He rarely speaks as if he’d taken a vow of silence. Only when necessary does he converse. Every night he reads a few pages from a book before dreaming in black and white as his mind frames the day in light and shadow.
Yakusho Koji won Best Actor for his role in this film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. He is certainly one of the best actors in the world. He conveyed a wealth of emotions with few words as Hirayama practiced his contemplative life. Hirayama’s world wasn’t perfect. Different people bolted into it and jostled him about. Was he running from a past or simply finding a way to heal the wounds from it? Whatever the reasons for his solitude, he seemed at peace, refusing to give into anxiety. “Now is now.” Spoken like a zen master. When he scrubbed toilets he performed the task like a soulful meditation. He communed with the trees and called them friends, delighting in the leaves scattering the sunlight about. An old film camera helped him capture poetic moments.
If you are looking for a film with a beginning, middle, and end, this is not it. This was more like a Buddhist walking meditation with each step intentionally caressing the earth and each breath deeply felt. Every moment was a gift of wonder. Hirayama’s days may not have always been perfect but they were special.
“Birds flying high, you know how I feel
Sun in the sky, you know how I feel
Breeze driftin' on by, you know how I feel
It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me, yeah”
-Nina Simone
22 April 2025
Trigger warning: Bare old man butts in a bath house.
Was this review helpful to you?
"I may be the last friend you'll make in this life"
Director Park Hoon Jung’s The Childe played out like a live action version of a Looney Tune’s chase scene, albeit with more realistic gore and blood. Some place buried under the bodies might have been a cautionary tale about the haves and have nots, but you’d have to dig pretty deep.Marco fights in illegal boxing matches in the Philippines. His Filipino mother is sick and needs an expensive operation leading Marco to hunt for his Korean father. One of many children abandoned after their Korean fathers went home, Marco’s search has done nothing but cost him money he doesn’t have. One day out of the blue, a Korean lawyer appears with all the papers Marco will need to travel to Korea. His wealthy father is ill and he must go there now. Dear papa has been searching for him! Yeah, because life is just that fair. On the flight over, a strange man offers his friendship and warns him that all is not as it seems. Oh, if only Marco knew the half of it. The young boxer is traded off from one killer to the next until a final battle that will sort out the intricacies of the dysfunctional family and killers.
The Childe was entertaining but hardly suspenseful. The story and character development were painfully thin propped up by numerous car chases on empty highways and streets and foot chases that led to nowhere. Marco seemed to have a homing beacon that caused him to run straight into the arms or car of the enemy. In a country with strict gun laws, everyone seemed to have one, including a school child. There was the overt gore showing that chaebols can get away with literally murder and killers can walk down the street armed with no one noticing. Most of the humor came at Kim Seon Ho’s Nobleman’s expense. A proud “professional”, he suffered numerous humiliations at the hand of the man he’d named a “friend”.
The Childe was superficially entertaining in a maladjusted world with a family no sane person would want to be a member of and a professional killer that didn’t seem quite sane. Marco found that a nebulous brotherhood might be more valuable to him than being a wealthy half-brother.
20 April 2025
Was this review helpful to you?
"I'm only interested in finding what I've lost and restoring it"
Memory is a hidden gem of a drama. Perhaps the subject matter or age of the cast doesn’t appeal to younger viewers but it’s a shame. This was a well-made drama with a brilliant performance by Lee Sung Min. While there was a murder mystery and the oft used systemic corruption, this was a drama focusing on reconciliation, restoring justice, and healing the searing pain of grief and guilt.“Life’s misfortunes come suddenly” as do “heaven’s gifts”.
After the death of his young son, lawyer Park Tae Suk went to work for the prestigious law firm Taesun. He remarried and had two children with his new wife, Young Joo. At Taesun, Park was not afraid to get his hands dirty for his clients and earned a ruthless reputation. The firm hires Jung Jin, a young idealistic lawyer who is taken aback by Park’s methods. Coinciding with Jung's arrival, Park discovers he has early onset Alzheimer’s. Interlocking cases and buried memories break to the surface. The ghosts of the past lead Park back to where he started in order to discover the truth behind the lies of his life.
“My heart remembers the stuff I want to forget.”
Lee Sung Min gave the performance of a lifetime as Park Tae Suk. He played every key on the piano of emotions knowing when to hit them with subtlety or a great crescendo. Park was a complex character with a complicated past. He and his ex-wife, Na Eun Sun, dealt with their grief in different manners which drove them apart. They had to discover the courage to face their pain and when to let go of it. Jun Ho played the young lawyer Jung Jin who came to be a loyal ally when he wasn’t flirting with the equally loyal, Bong Sun Hwa.
Park had contentious relationships with numerous characters, but what I enjoyed was that his family was a safe place. Both for him and for me as the viewer. There was no yelling and berating as in many family dramas. They may have been overly simplistic but I found their support and unconditional love a relief. There were eardrum piercing characters elsewhere.
It was 2016 so there were a few dated elements. The dreaded wrist grabs made multiple appearances, something I never found remotely romantic. Awful lip fillers were also on display. Two of the more frustrating rules of the script seemed to be, Trust No One and Tell No One, which led to multiple problems.
I cannot stress how remarkable Lee Sung Min’s performance was and for it alone the drama is worth watching. Park’s disease brought people together and propelled him to right the wrongs of the past. As he said, “Every minute is like ten years for me.” Admittedly, this type of story is my jam. I love reconciliation and redemption stories and this drama delivered on both. While it was heartwarming, best to have a box of tissues nearby as well.
“I’m only interested in finding what I’ve lost and restoring it.”
7 April 2025
Was this review helpful to you?
"The night is full of weirdos"
Fallen Angels was the film negative of Chungking Express. Both films dealt with lonely, disaffected people but Fallen Angels didn’t even pretend the characters had a shot at true love. Instead of police officers there were murderers and a slightly mad entrepreneur. Wong Kar Wai brought back the devastating canned pineapple and expiration dates, only this time the expiration dates were for relationships and lifespans.“I’m a lazy person, I like for people to arrange things for me.”
Wong Chi Ming is a hired killer. He calls himself lazy and enjoys having someone else tell him where to be and what to do. After finishing a job, he grabs a bus just like any other salary worker. When an old classmate on the bus asks about his life, he drags out pics and a story created for just such encounters. His partner, whom he never interacts with, cleans his apartment and gives him his assignments. She fancies herself in love with him and he, her. Wong runs into an old lover he doesn’t recognize, hooking up with her for a time. He Qi Wu lost his voice as a child after eating expired canned pineapples. His father is the caretaker of the Chungking Mansions Hotel where the secretive partner lives as well. At night Qi Wu breaks into businesses and runs them for himself. Too often he forces his services on customers who end up paying him to leave them alone. Qi Wu becomes involved with a woman whose boyfriend dumped her to marry another woman. Too soon he discovers that pineapples aren’t the only things with expiration dates.
“There are some things you can’t escape.”
Wong Kar Wai utilized his iconic green, yellow, and red palette once again. The characters and backgrounds flew frenetically about, always in motion as if they were trying to outrun their fates. The characters’ sun was the moon as they lived in a world constantly at night, lit by streetlamps and neon lights echoed on damp pavements. Obsession and desire replaced anything resembling true love as they grasped at any form of connection to break their loneliness and isolation no matter how temporary. Chungking had one blonde in a wig, the Hong Kong of Fallen Angels was overpopulated with women and men named Blondie. These blondes didn’t have more fun, they were always on the precipice of loss or brawls.
“We rub elbows with a lot of people every day. Some of them might become your friends or confidants.”
The acting was superb whether in action scenes, comedic situations, or characters sorrowfully scouring bars and streets for a glance at love. There was little to no plot, this was Wong Kar Wai. Style and mood ruled over narrative. The characters weren’t highly developed more like notes in a song too sad for words, played out in garish, muted tones. There are times with WKW that I’m not sure if his work is bold or self-indulgent like a video collage of dark emotions set on fire. I enjoyed Fallen Angels more than Chungking Express though I did miss Tony Leung’s presence. This film’s mood hit with me, swaying the balance to a bold, creative effort.
“The road wasn’t that long and I knew I’d be getting off soon. But at that moment I felt such warmth.”
9 December 2024
Trigger warnings: Self-pleasuring scenes and bathroom humor. For vegans, butcher scenes.
Was this review helpful to you?
"Only mold grows in the shade"
The Secret Scandal was infuriating and discouraging. Loosely based on actress Jang Ja Yeon’s maltreatment and suicide, it caused this film to be even more painful because behind this sordid fictional story of abuse of power was a real woman who was let down by everyone. If you have triggers, please read the tags carefully.“Why is one actress so important to you?”
Lee Jang Ho has become an internet reporter after being fired from his television job. He’s diligently covering the trial of men accused of “coercion” and “abetting coercion” for an incident that happened in a club one night. Actress Jung Ji Hee committed suicide after being repeatedly coerced into sexual acts by her manager for himself and other men in power. Bound by a punitive contract, she was unable to get out of it unless she repaid 30 TIMES what the agency had spent on her. A new prosecutor’s mettle is tested when the good old boys draw ranks in order to thwart justice.
“Why would I remember your name?
Ma Dong Seok played Lee Jang Ho in a role where the only thing he fought was injustice. The famous ahjussi hitter did a good job as the reporter fighting to find and reveal the truth, one of the only positive male roles in the film. Lee Seung Yeon felt out of place as the tenacious prosecutor with a baby voice. I would have preferred an actress with a more dynamic screen presence. The film’s execution wasn’t as taut as it could have been. Jumping from character to character and also with numerous flashbacks, it had a tendency to feel disjointed which reduced its emotional punch.
“She’s just a girl”
The Secret Scandal’s story is an important one because 11 years later, the #MeToo movement has petered out against the solid wall erected by authoritative men. A 2010 report claimed that 62.8% of Korean actresses had been asked to perform sexual favors. Since this film came out there's been the Burning Sun scandal and now female acquaintances, co-workers, even family members are being turned into AI porn with few consequences. Men’s reputations and careers are too often valued over the careers and well-being of women’s as this film painfully pointed out. One particularly disturbing scene reminded me of a real-life rape that occurred on camera during the filming of Fatal Vacation (1990). Maybe when there are more women lawmakers, judges, film directors and producers, etc. something will change. It’s just taking too damn long. RIP Jang Ja Yeon, your suffering and life are still inspiring people to fight for the right to be safe and not be treated as a sexual commodity.
12 September 2024
Was this review helpful to you?
