andjel

See the Enemy

I watched this film in the cinema and I can say that the sound is excellent and greatly contributes to the tense atmosphere. The film has an interesting premise about a woman with vision problems who is being followed by a person with malicious intentions. However, the plot and especially the final resolution didn’t offer anything particularly original. The film is half thriller and half horror, but unfortunately it doesn’t excel in either genre, even though it has some solid plot moments and jump scares.

The actors are very good and have their own charisma. The scene that impressed me the most was the one with the blind women in the locker room. That was the most exciting moment in the film for me. However, by the end, despite the chaotic plot, I slowly started losing interest. Still, in the lack of newer thrillers, I’m grateful to Korean cinema for giving us this film.

P.S. I had a really brutal nightmare after watching this movie. That means it leaves a strong impression, at least subconsciously.

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Power of Teacher

I watched the first "Idiot Girls and School Ghost" and this sequel over two days. The sequel stays faithful to the original, introducing new characters and new ghosts, while keeping the same satirical comedic horror atmosphere and style. Once again, we follow a group of “not-so-smart” students who try to cheat on their exams by challenging the school ghosts. This time, instead of playing hide-and-seek, they face mini-challenges presented like a video game.

The sequel doesn’t even try to be scary. The ghost elements are mostly symbolic — they represent a theoretical danger to the students and serve as an allegory for the terrifying teachers who pressure and threaten “poor” students preparing for exams. However, not all teachers are scary; some take their duty to care for and protect students very seriously, and the main character is one of them.

I was a bit disappointed with the ghosts. They were funny, sure, but their performance was pretty weak. I’d even switch the words in the title and call this movie School Girls and Idiot Ghosts. Also, why do the students curse so much? Anyway, this is a fun, light watch when you don’t have anything important to do.

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Alien acting

A veteran Korean actor, Lee Dong-hwi, plays a version of himself with the same name Lee Dong-hwi. Interestingly, I recently watched a similar movie about another actor, Jung Woo, and the acting world. This film is a self-reflective comedy about the life of an actor. It shows the main actor’s vulnerability and honesty.

I love Korean movies, but I often struggle with Korean comedies. They usually carry a good message, and this movie is no exception. However, the jokes often didn’t land well for me. I only laughed twice — once at a fart joke and once at a sandwich scene. The rest of the time, it felt overly silly, with too much yelling that was uncomfortably loud on my speakers rather than funny or entertaining. Oh, and I also laughed at the post-credit scene at the end.

The movie uses the analogy of acting as an alien character to represent feeling alien to your own life. It explores what happens when acting becomes your life and your life becomes acting. We all play certain roles in life, and we need the wisdom to stay true to ourselves.

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Let the Children Fight

Physical fighting is common in very young children, but they soon learn how to express their emotions and solve problems with words. It’s usually best to avoid fights, but sometimes fighting it out seems to be the best option, especially for children. In this movie, we follow high schoolers who often use their fists, along with one strange girl who gets involved in the fights and tries to set the record straight. The film contains a bit of drama, comedy and action.

The story wasn’t very convincing. The comedy provided a good refreshment every now and then, but the best part of the movie were the action scenes. Although it wasn’t believable to watch a girl fighting boys — especially since we never see her train — the fight scenes had strong energy and felt satisfying.

I actually don’t know what this movie wanted to achieve. If it was meant to give young actors a chance to act, then I understand. But from a story perspective, I don’t see anything particularly memorable. Or maybe I’m already too old for high school movies.

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Kidnapping Issues

This is the kind of claustrophobic thriller that has only a few characters, all confined to a small space for the entire duration of the movie. You know, like Phone Booth, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Devil, ...

This movie features just three characters, and 99% of it takes place inside a locked apartment. Adding more characters and different settings could have made the film feel more complete, but keeping it limited actually helps maintain the dramatic atmosphere and keeps the focus on the main plot. I really appreciate that the movie only included what was necessary for the story and didn’t waste time on unnecessary extras. It also keeps the budget under control.

Overall, for what it is, this was a great watch. The plot was quite interesting, and the tension kept building throughout the entire movie. It contains quite a bit of violence, especially toward women, so it might be disturbing for some viewers. If you like thrillers and get the chance, I definitely recommend checking this movie out.

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Agents have feelings too

Very nice spy action thriller. The highlights of the movie are the action sequences at the beginning and at the end. The rest of the film is a tense battle of wits, which is perfectly suitable for this kind of movie. I’m glad that the film doesn’t rely on action as its main focus, yet it still delivers the satisfying feel of a proper action movie.

The drama is even better than the action. One reviewer here gave this movie a 1/10, describing it as a generic “brain-off” movie, which I strongly disagree with. Yes, the plot is somewhat straightforward, but that’s actually a strength — it keeps the movie from losing balance. I agree that the action follows a somewhat clichéd development, but the true strength of this film lies in the suppressed emotions of the agents. The actors were excellent at portraying the inner struggle between professional duty and personal feelings, and at trying to balance the two. In that sense, the beginning and the final scenes are superb. Not many people understand what it really takes to be an intelligence agent. For action movie lovers, Humint is a must-watch.

♫ Even if we part ways, don’t forget the days we loved... ♫

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Adult Talk

Hm, is this really a Korean movie? It was definitely something different from what we usually get from Korean cinema. The entire film takes place in one apartment and has a lot of dialogue. Almost all the characters do is talk. At the center of the story is a quite ordinary couple who invite their neighbors over for dinner. Since they have a Blessed Virgin Mary statue on the shelf, I assume they are Catholic. It’s just a minor detail, but it carries some meaning given how the conversation heads in a direction that would be completely off-limits for most Catholics.

Let’s just say the movie touches on very adult subjects. Even without any nudity and with almost no profanity, this is definitely an 18+ film. It will probably be appreciated most by married couples with some life experience. The genre is adult drama with a bit of dark and absurd comedy. One particular scene involving food preparation was especially spicy.

There’s also a clear message: sometimes we are more honest with strangers than with the people we live with, and we often search for what we desire outside, forgetting that we already have it at home. Even though I had some objections to the movie, I liked that it also showed the ingredients for a healthy marriage. And it’s always nice to see Gong Hyo-jin on screen.

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Search for Paradise

Stylish but strange. I liked the characters—I mean, they look good, and the producer made sure every shot looks visually appealing—but there is a lot lacking, both in character development and especially in world-building. The movie depicts a fictional, dystopian, broken society that should have been explained better. We just see people without purpose, partying as if there is no tomorrow. What bothered me the most is the lack of sustainability: everyone is simply contributing to the further destruction of the community. It feels somewhat like CHAZ, the self-proclaimed Autonomous Zone, where people occupied a park but soon realized they couldn’t survive on their own, so they returned home and back to normal society.

The movie does well in showing subtle emotions. The dialogue is weak, but the unspoken communication is effective and well done. The two main characters are brothers, and the tension between them is what keeps the movie together.

I can make a comparison to another movie released just one week apart from this one, and that is Project Y. Both movies serve as metaphors for today’s youth, and both show desperate people in a corrupt environment searching for a better life. Project Y is female-centric, focusing on two best friends, while Boy is male-centric, focusing on two brothers. Both try to portray a specific Korean feeling of hopelessness, and I like this one just a little bit more.

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Decision to Divorce

Melancholic and real. All the stories in the "Love: Track" series are just 30 minutes long, and they usually finish sooner than expected. Watching this story was the first time in the series that it didn’t finish in the blink of an eye. There isn’t much plot, but the director uses the time not for action but to let us take in the emotions of the main characters. There are many moments of silence and slow-paced scenes that intensify the melancholic atmosphere of two people who have decided that they don’t love each other anymore and plan to divorce, yet still live together.

But can you really just decide not to love someone? Love must be free, and in the end it is also a decision. If it is only a feeling, then it won’t last long. So this drama felt quite serious and real for many couples going through a marriage crisis. It is encouraging in advising people to show their feelings, even if it means crying it all out and admitting defeat. Still, I must say I hoped for a slightly different ending.

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Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

Just finished the movie, and I’m wondering about the title: Project Y. If “Y” stands for “Youth,” then this movie presents a very bleak portrayal of today’s youth. Unfortunately, there is some truth in that. The younger generation, like the two female protagonists here, often destroys their lives through partying, drinking, gambling, prostitution — all of what we could call nightlife.

I felt conflicted while watching this movie because I couldn’t really care about the girls, as they never showed any kind of sympathy or morality. By the end of the movie, maybe something changed, but for me that was the biggest disappointment — the good guys are basically the same as the bad guys.

There are many elements in the movie, and I also found it confusing at times, especially as a non-native Korean speaker trying to understand what was going on. The subplot about illegal betting on fixed matches was interesting, and there are some really gritty scenes that place this movie in the noir-thriller genre. It is rare to see a female-led crime thriller of this kind in Korean cinema. The girls reminded me of Mel Gibson in his darkest roles, but overall, the plot was uneven and the movie felt messy.

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True Hero

As I see from other reviews, fans of the webtoon are not happy with this adaptation because it isn’t true to the source material. But for me, who never read this specific webtoon, the movie was a great introduction to the story, and now I want to read the comic as well—in fact, I just read the first episode. So fans can be glad that this movie will introduce more people to the original ongoing story in the webtoon.

If nothing else, this movie certainly satisfied my fantasy appetite. The director didn’t waste too much time on drama or deep storytelling and instead focused on epic action and fantasy. It is pure fantasy, and I’m happy about that. A movie critic could easily point out all the flaws in the story’s coherence and the somewhat AI-like CGI, but for me, a humble viewer, this was as entertaining as it could be. I felt the adrenaline, the rush, and the suspense, and I witnessed the birth of a new hero that the world needs amidst the chaos caused by the “constellations.”

I also liked the moral questions about human nature and the fight for survival that are implied in the story. All in all, Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy is a movie that fans of the fantasy genre will appreciate. We still exist.

P.S. It's a long way until the scenario 99.

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"Only I" instead of "Nessun dorma"

I know Turandot. It is a famous opera with the even more famous aria “Nessun dorma,” but I actually didn’t know the full story until I watched this musical. The Korean Turandot, even as a movie, lacks the grand orchestration and the exotic, epic staging of the original opera, but in its own way it offers a fresh take on the story, blending pop, rock, and ballad elements in the music.

The acting here is a bit… well, let’s just say theatrical. Since this is a film, I expected more detailed scenes with wide, cinematic shots, but the way it’s presented makes it feel as if we’re watching a stage production rather than a movie.

But the most important thing is the music, and it was very good. All the spoken parts felt a bit slow, but the musical numbers became more and more enjoyable as I listened, and right now I’m also listening to the OST. So, in short: this is not really a movie, and it’s not an opera either, but it’s a very nice musical with some great songs (for example, “Only I – 오직 나만이”) and an emotional touch that celebrates love overcoming tears and curses.

P.S. The OST of this musical is going straight onto my playlist.

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Ah those noisy neighbors

A very well-structured movie with a mix of genres and a nice, heart-warming story. The movie begins as a weird, absurd comedy about a noisy woman with too much time on her hands, who sticks her nose into other people’s business, fighting for order and justice. The main plot follows her as she faces a new challenge in a large apartment complex, where there is a mysterious noise issue of unknown origin. The movie offers plenty of comical moments, but also intense scenes where it almost becomes a thriller. Yet behind it all lies a very pleasant drama.

The character of the noisy woman (An Keo-eul) in a noisy mansion was very interesting, and all the other characters have distinct, anecdotal personalities that give us a lot to enjoy. They remind us of our own issues and prejudices with our neighbors.

I really liked how the movie managed to connect all the details into a convincing and unexpected resolution. So for me, everything worked — the mystery, the comedy, the characters, the whole movie. This is a film I could recommend to everyone.

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Who is the lonely sister?

This is a tale of two sisters that deeply care for each other but ... still feel lonely. The main actress playing Haneul (Heaven) carries the drama all on her self but the big emotional impact is made with all of the characters together. I think this drama touched my heart and the heart of other viewers because it explores the topic of loneliness which is very relatable and also reveals a deep truth about humans and that is that we need to believe that everyone is doing the best he can.

And this is also the finale of Drama Special Season 15, the shortest season to date and I saw every episode so far (all 230 of them). This season was just too short but all the episodes continue to be original and go into new interesting and educative topics. This series is always a refreshing watch and I will continue to support it.

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Money has Toll

The synopsis reveals quite a lot about the plot, perhaps even too much. We have two detectives who, in addition to their police work, earn extra money through a deal with local criminals. However, I watched the film without knowing anything about the plot, and I believe that's the best way to approach it because every detail gradually increases the intrigue and tension. This is an action film, but it contains plenty of drama and thriller elements, and at times even a touch of horror. I can't say the plot is entirely original, as there are many films with similar stories, but this one stands out by successfully bringing the main characters closer to the audience, making us empathize with them. The producers clearly put in a lot of effort to make the film visually impressive, with some shots resembling artistic scenes.

There's a saying that money is a necessary evil. We all need it, but dishonest and dirty money never brings blessings. I think a biblical quote fits this film well: "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." (1 Timothy 6:10).

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