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The unlikely love story between a blackmailer and his victim
A couple on social media blackmailed by their false love relationship, famous influencers and photographers, a well-kept secret, an indecent proposal by a blackmailer, and an unexpected romantic relationship are the center of the plot of 'Influencer Lover', the South Korean BL series directed by Jeong Dami (정다미), a specialist in sweetening compromised situations with great stylistic coherence.
Filmed in vertical format, that is, produced specifically for mobile, the Shortime series has all the characteristics of "Vertical Dramas": each episode lasts less than five minutes, so the action happens as quickly as possible.
Understood more as a genre and not as a simple format, since the length of the episodes requires them to be even faster, 'Influencer Lover' is a series aimed at a young audience, so its chapters can be viewed when the potential audience to which it is directed is traveling on transport or enjoying a break from school. Even the audience will use their hands to watch the episode, hence the content is kept short.
With its fragmented visual language, the narrative of 'Influencer Lover' is full of quick cuts, screens that slide or split to offer two different perspectives of the story, managing to increase the number of shots that the viewer consumes, and at the same time offering more information in less time.
On this technological and creative terrain that is constantly changing and growing within BL production, the South Korean series tells the unlikely love story between a blackmailer and his victim.
We will soon meet Cha Eun Seong (Lee Ro Woom), a famous influencer and university photography student who pretends on screen to be dating Ji Yeong, his ex-girlfriend, with whom he broke up six months ago.
The perfect relationship of the couple known as EunJi has attracted many followers, causing the number of subscribers to increase to 800 thousand. But the romance did not last long: after three months of dating they separated. After the breakup, in order not to lose the audience, she suggests pretending that they are still dating. And he, not sure of himself, undecided in the face of this and other dilemmas, accepts.
Just when everything seemed stable, a character appears on the scene that leaves Eun Seong divided between his life as an influencer and true love.
With subtle and nuanced performances, the series adds drama, humor, romance, and a youth, university, and social media environment. The performance of Shin Yun Je (known for playing Jun Ho, a gay character in 'Bitter Sweet Hell'), as Gang Woo, is remarkable and convincing. I enjoy the full characterization of gestures and inflections with which he gives his character. He is given an adequate response by Lee Ro Woom, who demonstrates his talent for highly dramatic roles.
The trigger and motive for the action come from the blackmail of which Eun Seong is the victim by Choi Gang Woo, a third-year photography student, presumably bitter at having obtained second place in a photography contest whose winner is our fake boyfriend. Gang Woo is a specialist in photography of the human body, especially facial expression, and is looking for a model for an upcoming photography contest.
The dramatic twist leads to Gang Woo accidentally discovering the secret of the fake courtship and threatening Eun Seong with exposing him if he does not agree to pose as a model for an artistic photo shoot that does not have an erotic intention. Afraid that the truth about the fake relationship will come to light, causing him to lose the hearing, Eun Seong reluctantly agrees to obey the blackmailer's demands.
As I viewed the first images I asked myself: "Can the victim fall in love with their attacker?". I immediately responded: "If Stockholm Syndrome exists... anything is possible". And then I questioned: what is necessary for someone to fall in love with another person? Will our two protagonists be people who love themselves, who trust themselves, who appreciate themselves?
There are those who will say that if a person receives bullying it is because very deeply they feel unworthy of being loved, of being trusted, or appreciated... so they would not be able to love.
In mathematics there is the famous "less for less is more." In my opinion, it wouldn't work here: "not being able to love for the sake of not being able to love would never mean loving".
But since human relationships are not governed by mathematics... I insist... anything would be possible. Especially if we take into account that Gang Woo was already in love with Eun Seong when he proposed the agreement... otherwise, the need to attract the attention of his victim would not be understood.
Many will be bothered by the idea of presenting a blackmailer as the protagonist. Listing all the variations and permutations of the trope of this type of character here would be a lesson in insanity. Blackmail is such a key plot device, so intrinsic to the art of storytelling and human nature, that it is used in almost every show and movie at one point or another.
However, Shin Yun Je embodies a handsome "villain" and at the same time very human who will soon forget the blackmail to show himself as a being concerned for Eun Seong in the face of the professor's sexual harassment, or simply to get to know him as a person, paying attention to his noble human attributes, asking him about his life, his culinary tastes, his family...
What's more, the blackmailer ends up being "attacked" with a kiss by his "victim" on two occasions, before the romance begins.
Everything gets complicated when Eun Seong's ex-girlfriend asks him to go out again. In this scenario, will Eun Seong resume his relationship with Ji Yeong? Will she stop the fake courtship and start a romance with Gang Woo?
I really liked how Eun Seong managed to abandon his mercurial character to confront both the bullying teacher and acknowledge his feelings to the person he loved.
I would have liked the series to explore in more depth themes such as the fleeting nature of fame, the search for influence online, or the deception behind public personas.
Likewise, I would like to explore more rigorously the universe of photography of facial expressions or artistic nudes, a discipline that always generates a lot of controversy due to the diversity of opinions about it, something quite normal if we take into account the variety of cultural, social, and even religious factors that can affect how each person interprets the image of a person without clothes.
But as I said at the beginning of the review: we are facing a "Vertical Dramas". And here the action happens as quickly as possible, the duration of the episodes requires being even faster, and the content is brief... That is, fictions in vertical format have a series of their own narrative characteristics, and 'Influencer Lover' cannot ignore them.
Filmed in vertical format, that is, produced specifically for mobile, the Shortime series has all the characteristics of "Vertical Dramas": each episode lasts less than five minutes, so the action happens as quickly as possible.
Understood more as a genre and not as a simple format, since the length of the episodes requires them to be even faster, 'Influencer Lover' is a series aimed at a young audience, so its chapters can be viewed when the potential audience to which it is directed is traveling on transport or enjoying a break from school. Even the audience will use their hands to watch the episode, hence the content is kept short.
With its fragmented visual language, the narrative of 'Influencer Lover' is full of quick cuts, screens that slide or split to offer two different perspectives of the story, managing to increase the number of shots that the viewer consumes, and at the same time offering more information in less time.
On this technological and creative terrain that is constantly changing and growing within BL production, the South Korean series tells the unlikely love story between a blackmailer and his victim.
We will soon meet Cha Eun Seong (Lee Ro Woom), a famous influencer and university photography student who pretends on screen to be dating Ji Yeong, his ex-girlfriend, with whom he broke up six months ago.
The perfect relationship of the couple known as EunJi has attracted many followers, causing the number of subscribers to increase to 800 thousand. But the romance did not last long: after three months of dating they separated. After the breakup, in order not to lose the audience, she suggests pretending that they are still dating. And he, not sure of himself, undecided in the face of this and other dilemmas, accepts.
Just when everything seemed stable, a character appears on the scene that leaves Eun Seong divided between his life as an influencer and true love.
With subtle and nuanced performances, the series adds drama, humor, romance, and a youth, university, and social media environment. The performance of Shin Yun Je (known for playing Jun Ho, a gay character in 'Bitter Sweet Hell'), as Gang Woo, is remarkable and convincing. I enjoy the full characterization of gestures and inflections with which he gives his character. He is given an adequate response by Lee Ro Woom, who demonstrates his talent for highly dramatic roles.
The trigger and motive for the action come from the blackmail of which Eun Seong is the victim by Choi Gang Woo, a third-year photography student, presumably bitter at having obtained second place in a photography contest whose winner is our fake boyfriend. Gang Woo is a specialist in photography of the human body, especially facial expression, and is looking for a model for an upcoming photography contest.
The dramatic twist leads to Gang Woo accidentally discovering the secret of the fake courtship and threatening Eun Seong with exposing him if he does not agree to pose as a model for an artistic photo shoot that does not have an erotic intention. Afraid that the truth about the fake relationship will come to light, causing him to lose the hearing, Eun Seong reluctantly agrees to obey the blackmailer's demands.
As I viewed the first images I asked myself: "Can the victim fall in love with their attacker?". I immediately responded: "If Stockholm Syndrome exists... anything is possible". And then I questioned: what is necessary for someone to fall in love with another person? Will our two protagonists be people who love themselves, who trust themselves, who appreciate themselves?
There are those who will say that if a person receives bullying it is because very deeply they feel unworthy of being loved, of being trusted, or appreciated... so they would not be able to love.
In mathematics there is the famous "less for less is more." In my opinion, it wouldn't work here: "not being able to love for the sake of not being able to love would never mean loving".
But since human relationships are not governed by mathematics... I insist... anything would be possible. Especially if we take into account that Gang Woo was already in love with Eun Seong when he proposed the agreement... otherwise, the need to attract the attention of his victim would not be understood.
Many will be bothered by the idea of presenting a blackmailer as the protagonist. Listing all the variations and permutations of the trope of this type of character here would be a lesson in insanity. Blackmail is such a key plot device, so intrinsic to the art of storytelling and human nature, that it is used in almost every show and movie at one point or another.
However, Shin Yun Je embodies a handsome "villain" and at the same time very human who will soon forget the blackmail to show himself as a being concerned for Eun Seong in the face of the professor's sexual harassment, or simply to get to know him as a person, paying attention to his noble human attributes, asking him about his life, his culinary tastes, his family...
What's more, the blackmailer ends up being "attacked" with a kiss by his "victim" on two occasions, before the romance begins.
Everything gets complicated when Eun Seong's ex-girlfriend asks him to go out again. In this scenario, will Eun Seong resume his relationship with Ji Yeong? Will she stop the fake courtship and start a romance with Gang Woo?
I really liked how Eun Seong managed to abandon his mercurial character to confront both the bullying teacher and acknowledge his feelings to the person he loved.
I would have liked the series to explore in more depth themes such as the fleeting nature of fame, the search for influence online, or the deception behind public personas.
Likewise, I would like to explore more rigorously the universe of photography of facial expressions or artistic nudes, a discipline that always generates a lot of controversy due to the diversity of opinions about it, something quite normal if we take into account the variety of cultural, social, and even religious factors that can affect how each person interprets the image of a person without clothes.
But as I said at the beginning of the review: we are facing a "Vertical Dramas". And here the action happens as quickly as possible, the duration of the episodes requires being even faster, and the content is brief... That is, fictions in vertical format have a series of their own narrative characteristics, and 'Influencer Lover' cannot ignore them.
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