22
24
2
This review may contain spoilers
(I rate vertical dramas on their own sliding scale. General spoilers only.) Okay for one watch if looking for a sweet, gentle romance. Way too much time with the excessively annoying and delusional SML. Who wouldn't give up until 9 minutes before the end!!! Ugh. You could fast-forward his scenes without missing much (he's the same as many other vertical shows; completely predictable). The actor wasn't terrible, but he didn't have the acting skills to squeeze any feelings of pity from me. The leads are very sweet to each other. The FL grows comfortable and then falls in love with the ML at a good pace. The ML is kind, thoughtful, trustful, and encouraging. The FL is thoughtful of him and his feelings as well.
There are couple of good kisses and hugs, though not a lot, even after they profess love to each other. There was something new for their first time sleeping together: the leads held a condom between their lips (together- one on each end) to rip it open. First time I've seen that.
Both leads fit their roles well. But neither had many layers. The ML actor does not have micro facial expressions (I've noticed this in his other dramas too) so he always comes across a little flat.
The subtitles weren't great so I did not understand what business maneuverings made the ML so worried about the FL changing her opinion of him once it was found out. Even so, the couple of tense emotional moments they had because of that in the last 1/4th felt contrived, especially since they were both deeply in love, had professed and showed each other that, and had zero other issues. But it wasn't drawn out or blown out of proportion so it didn't annoy me.
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Too much focus on unhinged antagonists.
(I rate vertical dramas on their own sliding scale. General spoilers only.) I really wanted to like this more than I did. I really liked both leads and loved them together. It was a fun twist that the ML this time around became the air traffic controller because of his secret crush on the FL, while she was a top-tier pilot (there are multiple shows with a similar set-up but with the roles the other way around).BUT there was way too much time spent on thoroughly annoying and deranged people; three of them: the SML, SFL, and the SML's mother. The show is only 2 hours long and the first half is all about the FL learning about her boyfriend's affair and detangling herself from him. Which was fine; the FL is good and got me invested in her.
However, I was looking forward to the focus shifting off of the SML in the second half. As most of the other shows with a somewhat similar set-up put a lot of focus on developing/building the relationship between the leads, I was expecting this to happen again. But nope. The SML's side of the story (and the people related to him) continues to get as much screen time as the "ML" (in quotes because overall the SML definitely got more screen time).
The relationship between the leads suffers depth because of this. There's definitely magnetism, and it's obvious how much the ML respects and cares for the FL. But there's not enough time for the FL to fully heal from her last relationship, and not enough time with the two leads doing everyday things together. Many of their interactions happen arround the antagonists approaching/interfering with the FL.
It felt like the screenwriters thought, "You know, the audience knows the ML has loved the FL for 7-8 years and is a good guy. We all know they will end up together, so we can just take that for granted and not spend so much effort developing their love story. It's more fun to write obsessed and unhinged people anyway."
The writers also decided to overlook common sense, laws, security, hospital privacy, and airport regulations. So many things happen that just defy reality. Nothing stops the antagonists from going anywhere they want to at anytime, and that includes any area of the airport and it's offices. Restraining orders also don't exist in this world, apparently. And it's the first time I've seen an antagonist put many dozens of innocent people in peril just to take out the FL. Yeesh.
My favorite scene was around the middle of the show, early on in the lead's interactions. The SML comes to get the FL to agree to get back together when the ML is dropping her off. The ML stands away, not interfering. He only steps in to force the SML to let go of her hand/arm after the FL has told the SML to let go. Then the ML steps aside again and lets the FL continue to handle things however she wants to. This happens a couple of times in this scene, as the SML doesn't want to listen to reason, and I just really appreciated the respect for her autonomy and mental strength that this kind of back-up support shows (instead of deciding to take over and try to "fix" things for her without being asked).
So far, my favorite show with a pilot and air traffic controller (that is more realistic and focuses on building the romance) is with Wang YiRan and Hou ChengYue:
https://kisskh.at/779096-san-wan-ying-chi-de-an-lian
Personally, I recommend watching that one instead.
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Unmemorable age gap romance with rather immature characters.
(I rate vertically filmed micro dramas on their own sliding scale). May be okay for one watch for fans of the actors or the trope premise. I like age gap dramas, but there are other vertical dramas that have done this plotline better. I like these actors too, but prefer other stories they've done.Cute but after the beginning kind of boring. The actors are good but the characters are generic. The FL gets rather annoying; hot-headed, jumps to judgments, and whines and cries A LOT.
Some sexual/romantic tension moments but not much intimacy. Mostly green flag ML but he needed to use his words to communicate instead of trying to force kisses on the FL to express himself.
Found myself a bit annoyed multiple times. Overall unmemorable except for the funny scene at the hospital in the very beginning.
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For fans of the lead couple.
A vertically filmed micro drama (I rate these on their own sliding scale). Okay for one watch for fans of the lead actors, otherwise skipable. I love when these actors are paired together, but the screenplay certainly lets them down. The chemistry and push-pull interaction of the leads was the only thing that kept me going.Neither lead character is very likeable.
At first it seemed that the FL would have an enjoyable strong personality as she states, "I'll take care of my own revenge. That's the fun part." However, everything is so stupidly easy for the FL (awesome at everything and physically invincible) that it's very boring. She also doesn't have much personality unless she's interacting directly with the ML. The character's go-to demeanor is 'resting b*tch face'. She's completely rude to strangers (for no reason) and gets violent quickly.
The ML is very controlling and a little oppressive; some of the things he says rub me the wrong way. Ex: When FL is protesting to intimacy ML says "Don't talk. Be good." Also contemplates not letting the FL see her best female friend so often as he thinks she's a bad influence. But it's slightly balanced out later on as the FL starts saying the ML "had better behave".
Pros:
The romance is hot, the actors are very comfortable and natural with each other, there are multiple suggestive lines, and kisses are very realistic with small to large movements. Definitely more steamy than some of their past collaborations. FL's outfits also show a lot of skin. I'd call it cute-hot-superhero-punk style!
Other cons:
The plot has a lot of arguing with ridiculous people.
The ending is very short.
The use of duck-quack sound effects are copious and annoying, especially since things aren't that funny.
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A decent watch for fans of the actors.
A vertically filmed micro drama (I rate these on their own sliding scale). General spoilers below.This was an okay one-time watch because of the lead actors. It felt a little long and suspension of disbelief is required. The leads do have some fun interactions and there's a good stretch of sweetness before the happy ending, which was nice. An easy watch with nothing that memorable. A couple lip presses, a few sexual tension moments, and some sweetness. Despite misunderstandings, the ML does support, protect, and pursue the FL.
Story includes: mistaken identities, misunderstandings (that go both ways between the leads), amnesia, druggings, attempted rape, kidnapping, 3rd wheel wannabes, and both horrible and loving family members.
Expansion of general synopsis:
The ML is a CEO and has insomnia and psychological erectile dysfunction. The FL is a nutritionist and her family blackmails her with her mother's health to do what they want (the mom is in a coma and under long-term care). Two years ago, the families arranged a marriage but the FL's step-sister had heard negative rumors about the ML and (with her mother and father) made the FL sign the marriage papers instead. The leads did not see each other when submitting the paperwork. In present time, the leads are set up to meet in a hotel room with the ML drugged and they sleep together. The FL recognizes the ML as someone from her past, but the ML doesn't remember her. Afterwards, the ML mistakes the FL as a sex worker and then humorously misinterprets her interactions with nutrition clients and her efforts to land more contracts. Since he can both perform and sleep soundly with her, he ends up offering to hire her himself if she's so desperate for money. Eventually it comes to light that the FL is a nutritionist, and later that she needs money to ensure her mother's care. The ML continues to try to get a divorce from his wife, not realizing she's actually the woman living with him that he feels drawn to.
Side note: this has most of the same plot as another vertical drama with different actors, but I can't currently remember or find which one. In that one, the FL is an architect and the leads do not have a past history.
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Sweet and Fun
A vertically filmed micro drama (I rate these on their own sliding scale). This is a fun, sweet, lighthearted watch with a couple laugh-out-loud moments. Definitely good for one watch in this category, though I doubt I'll rewatch. Story is slightly different than many.The scum and his fiance are also on the dating show, which leads to some fun drama, especially as the leads work together against them. There is also a third couple on the show who become friends with the leads (they are very likeable and have some great reactions). The ML's friend is the director of the show and helps the ML set up scenarios to further his wooing of the FL.
The leads are very sweet and cute together and have a healthy relationship. It is a gentle love story, not a steamy one. Kisses are mostly head-blocked and they never become fully comfortable with each other's bodies (space when hugging even after the characters are together for a while). Still, the acting is quite good by both and it is believable that the characters love each other and are very happy to be together.
No totally crazy shenanigans, low violence, and there is a nice extended happy ending.
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Sweet and easy, not a lot of shenanigans.
A vertically filmed mini drama (I rate these on their own sliding scale). Good for one watch. It's a sweet story that focuses on the interactions between the leads. There was nothing really annoying or crazy with the plot or characters, and there were a couple things I liked that were unexpected in this genre. Some suspension of disbelief is needed, but I found it easy to roll with. The ML is a bit domineering, but is overall very caring and supportive. His stiff indifference melts in a believable manner. The FL is a young and timid "rabbit", but she has her own goals and does grow in character strength by the end.General Spoilers below.
There is good chemistry between the leads and a few lip presses, also multiple pins to the bed. The ML's desire is evident and he is a little insistent multiple times, but never pushes her too far.
Unexpected things I liked:
- The FL has grown up in an abusive family and is very timid and insecure, but over time the ML and his mother help her heal her emotional wounds and at the end she is strong enough to stand up for herself and has growing confidence in her own abilities.
- The FL actually talks to the ML about her problems early on (instead of hiding it, trying to take care of it alone, and getting herself in trouble).
- There is a 3rd wheel wanna-be, but she doesn't get much screen time and doesn't do anything super crazy.
Things that didn't quite work for me:
- I didn't like how violence was the answer to some things, but there were really only two scenes of it.
- It was odd that the ML never officially proposed even though he fairly early placed the FL in the position of being his wife. I didn't understand why they didn't have a marriage ceremony before the FL gave birth either. It's possible something was missing in the translation.
Other notes: Only one scene of drug-induced intimacy at the beginning that sets up the story. No attempted rape or kidnappings of the FL. There is some school (university) bullying near the beginning. The ending is cute.
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Made me laugh. Only the idea is interesting.
Made me laugh... because it was terribly done. It's kind of an interesting idea for the premise, but you can probably imagine it better than this film shows it. 14 minutes long yet with some slow filler shots that don't add anything. Obviously low budget. Nothing good to say but it didn't mentally scar me, so it gets a 1.5.SPOILERS:
........
The "sex" is very awkward bunny bumping, the classical music chosen doesn't fit at all, the stalker walks around so blatently creepy there's no way people *wouldn't* notice him, the "pervert" acts like another stalker actually who wants to be in a relationship and gets upset when the other guy doesn't want to, the non-consent & rape struggle goes on for a bit before it's interupted, and what exactly is keeping the cloth in the perverts mouth at the end- he could just spit it out, but doesn't because that would mess up the end tableau!
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Laughable Attempt At Both Realism Or Fantasy.
General Spoilers about the first 33min only.Not much substance, the dialogue is corny, and the acting is wooden. The club setting is dark and grimy so I was, appropriately, expecting more gritty physical transactions rather than romance. Even so, I got to the first sex scene and... burst out laughing! That's just... so unrealistic it was awkward to watch; it's not how anal sex goes at all, especially for someone's first time receiving (stradle and down immediately with no prep and no lube).
And the cringey "love confession" in the middle that's based on nothing, especially since there is basically no foreplay, was weird (even for the lust-at-first-sight angle they were going for).
Also, no condom with the guy who says he's had sex with 2-3,000 guys? Yes, thousands. I shudder in horror at the thought.
The film already felt like it was probably a waste of time but that sex scene clinched it and I dropped it at 33 minutes. It didn't leave a mental scar though, so 1.5/10.
Perhaps the movie gets better because the average MDL rating is a 5.4, but the first 33min didn't make me interested to find out.
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2 parts. Review for One Night only.
2 parts! Night Bug and One Night. I watched One Night. *My rating is for that only. Watched on GagaOOLala (Dec 2023).General Spoilers below.
The theme of expectations vs reality came up repeatedly throughout, in big and little things, though in a way that was intrinsically part of the storytelling (not hit over the head with it). It was a well done 35min film. It is not a happy ending but it's not tragic either, and it IS a realistic young adult gay experience. The feelings can be relatable for others too- the ease and naivete of young crushes, especially when sex is involved, and disappointments from realities.
The bond and playfulness between the three young friends is great and often humorous. I loved them. For two of them, their experiences from their visit to Seoul will leave an emotional wound but they will continue on with their lives. The acting felt natural, especially from the three boys, as did the intimate scene between Geun Ho and Joon.
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Toxic Adaptation Removes The Fun.
An unsettling adaptation from both the manga or the Japanese movie. The comedic elements that make the manga and movie work, get twisted oddly in this melodramatic re-imagining. The plot and characters (especially the secondary and tertiary characters) are all over the place and poorly written. I only got through these 10 episodes by watching at 2x the speed and fast-forwarding in addition to that.General Spoilers below.
There is so much toxicity in this series. Everyone treats Anda like sh*t and emotionally manipulates him. He's always made to feel like he should say sorry when other people are the ones out of line. Parents are abusive (forcing him to do entertainment work when his stage fright is so bad that he can faint or get fevers) and his brother is massively controlling and secretly installs a gps tracker on his phone. Ryou does become supportive eventually but before then his actions are disturbing.
The way Ryou forcibly removes Anda's shirt to make him "prove" he isn't a girl is so wrong. And he NEVER apologizes, instead turns what happens in that scene into a way to coerce Anda into doing a photoshoot with him- knowing it's going to trigger his anxiety but wanting to make him "conquer" it, which is also the wrong way to go about that (and Ryou doesn't apologize for that either). Ryou non-consentualy kissing Anda repeatedly when he's sleeping is uncomfortable enough in the Japanese movie but at least they try to keep the tone light and only do quick pecks on the lips; though it's tasteless, it's kept as a joke. In the series, Ryou very seriously fully makes out with Anda's lips while he's dead asleep and it is flat out creepy.
The makeout scene in Ep 6 part 4 and love scene in Ep 7 part 3 are passionate (though the characters have drunk a lot for the first one). Sadly, that's the best thing to say about this series.
There's more that is uncomfortable/unsettling, silly, or frusterating with this series, but I don’t want to waste any more time on it so I'm ending my review here.
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Realistic And Quietly Touching.
Spoiler only at end of review. A beautiful, somber yet hopeful film. Thoughtful, touching, and deeply resonating. Addresses multiple thoughts and internal struggles in a realistic way. I really appreciated how the film explored the relationship between a gay man and a heteroflexible man. The story shows how insecurities from past experiences, societal expectations, and different gender identities can influence someone to hold themselves back from happiness out of fears that are often warrented in the real world.I found on YouTube (in The USA Jan 2024). In the comments I learned that the word written on the cigarette box means "forbidden". This is really helpful to know because it has a symbolic tie-in with the characters.
The physical intimacy was a little stilted but part of that could have been the editing. It ultimately didn't detract from the film.
The thing that frustrated me was how many wide-angle shots there were. Even though it was beautiful cinematography, it was emotionally distancing. Watching scenes from half a room away meant that I often couldn't see the actor's faces clearly (and sometimes not at all). I think the film could have been even more emotionally powerful had I been able to tune into the character's emotions playing across their faces as they talked and looked at each other. This did impact my satisfaction and my rating.
Otherwise, the cinematography and lightning is gorgeous and had a beautiful lonely feel to it that underscored the long-standing psychological state of the characters. The composition of frames and the contrast of light/dark and colors was masterful, especially in the longer still shots. The instrumental music was understated and complimented all the scenes well.
Side note: I also like Yuan's review on MDL.
SPOILER ON THE ENDING:
While the technicalities of how the two will proceed when they work in different cities is left up in the air, the reunion and reconciliation is successful. The ending is mostly satisfying. The end shot felt like an add for Marlboro cigarettes though, which wasn't to my taste (and it wasn't like that in the manga). Update: However, after learning that the translation of the word on the cigarette box is "forbidden", the ending tableau makes a lot more sense.
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Cute & Fluffy With Manga-style Acting & Humor.
An easy 84 min watch; low plot and low angst fun with a happy ending. As it's based on a manga, it's not surprising that they employ a purposeful silliness in telling the story. The exaggerated situations and acting are not everyone's cup of tea, but it's done fairly well here even though it's a low budget production. It succeeded in making me smile and quietly chuckle multiple times. (The slippery sock chase around the sofa was my favorite bit.)Mahiro (as Izumi) is the strongest actor. Even within the acting style chosen he shows range and some nuance. The others are flatter in their abilities but no one really drags the story down.
The camerawork needed work. Everything seemed hand-held (even still shots) and any panning movements were slightly jerky/stuttering. I was able to ignore it most of the time but I would not have wanted to watch a full series of this as too much of it would give me a headache (but my eyes are sensitive to this kind of thing).
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Cute And Mostly Realistic.
29min and enjoyable. Believable attraction and love, lots of cuteness, and an amazingly realistic heavy make-out scene. Also realistic hyper-awareness of interactions and pda around others.FYI there is a tiny scene after the credits.
General Spoilers below.
There was one spot where the cinematography was very memorable; the mom and the boys along the fence after she finds out about their true relationship. Very striking and emotional.
What didn't work for me:
-The disturbly weird thing the mom says about her chest and her son. Just, why??? What parent would say that?
-What was the point of the guy sleeping outside his boyfriend's home if he wasn't going to stick around to talk to the mom?
-Seok Yi didn't cry at all believably in the scene with the girl drinking. But it's a very short moment.
-Cuts between scenes were always abrupt.
-The song montage at the end. Apart from the fact that the version I found didn't have subtitles for the song, it was still weird; it felt like a completely different film all of a sudden. It went from a realistic slice-of-life feel to a surreal symbolic feel.
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Disappointing In Every Aspect, But Not The Worst.
Every aspect is disappointing (it's hard to believe it's the same director as HIStory4), but it’s not the worst, and I did manage to watch the whole thing though I started to think about dropping it by episode 5. I hung in to see what happened with the secondary couple.I wouldn't recommend this series, but you may enjoy it if you're in the mood for something kind of silly with a lot of angst and a happy ending that doesn't require a lot of brain power to watch. If you're craving skinship and physical romance/intimacy, I suggest looking elsewhere because there's not much here.
The plot is all over the place, repetative, cliche, and with a ton of contrived, unrealistic, and unnecessary miscommunication and angst. To the point that it's ridiculous. And the main couple become annoying idiots who go around in endless hot/cold circles yet are somehow in love with each other.
The dialogue, camera work, and music were all basic. The acting was okay (I preferred the two secondary male leads who were more natural), but the chemistry... just didn't have the same feel or believability as previous series of this franchise. I felt the most pull of attraction and longing between the secondary couple. Anson Chen as Liang Wen Hsen was good; he had a calm, focused intensity that was believable as actual physical attraction for the character Lin Huai En. Everyone else came off as actors attempting to pretend attraction, in my opinion.
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