All in the eye of the beholder...like every kdrama ever watched by a kdrama addict!!!!! I loved it. Yeah there were parts I fast forwarded through. About 2/3 of the way through, I had had enough of that wasted space that was her ex, and his sleazy wife and obnoxious mother, so I just skipped forward through their scenes stopping every now and then to get the gist of it. Also the brainless, empty headed great aunt was annoying, but it was hard to skip much of her scenes since she was always around the grandma and our lead.
The story was actually excellent. I detest 50 episoders with a passion but love Ji Hyun Woo with a greater passion so decided to try to hang on and see how it went. And if you love JHW like I do...wow, he was gorgeous in this. This is also a makjang, cliche ridden drama. Yet, surprisingly, but for certain characters and certain events, not so OTT that you want to pitch something through the tv screen or that your eyeballs will fall out of your head from all the rolling they do. I was very surprised to see Seo Young-Hee as JHW's co-star. She has quite the resume, and I have seen several of her movies (The Chaser, Bedevilled, Rough Play, and Madonna is on my list) She is quite the chameleon. This was out of the ordinary compared to what I have seen her in before. She was quite good within the parameters of what the drama wanted. Being that the main couple had enough obstacles thrown at them that any sane couple would have jumped off the nearest bridge, I think they did a great job of making their characters believable and convincingly in love. I thought they had terrific chemistry.
There was a surprising factor in this drama....the realism of the medical aspects. In most dramas you see medical equipment that looks like it came out of a recycle bin where the hospital dumped it 20 years ago. The nurses in this looked like they were actually real nurses doing real care. I suspect they were and big kudos to the drama for this aspect! Another thing...wardrobe. Amazing wardrobes for both the lead and the psychotic ex girlfriend. Very unusual to see the variety and quality that was on display in this drama. The sets were also excellent with a lot of detail.
The ending was SO typical of these dramas. 50 hours of torture, the obligatory year separation, and 5 seconds of resolution. Yeah...there is where you want to throw things. Still, it was a lovely ending and I loved every minute spent with that couple. My heart ached for them. I also loved the secondary couple played by Ryu Jin and Kim So-Eun... I thought they were adorable together and provided a calm grounding middle for all the garbage going on around them. I cheered for their relationship. So-Eun was absolutely adorable in this.
I loved almost all of the main characters and the actors that portrayed them. WITHIN THE PARAMETERS of this kind of drama, everyone was very believable in their parts and did just a great job! Cha Hwa-Yeon as the poor tortured mom was fantastic. Yes it was OTT what happened to her, but...gotta go with it sometimes. Honestly I could go on...but I better not! I think if you are in the right mood you will really enjoy this. 8.5 for me.
Very quiet movie showing the bravery, desperation, second thoughts, and love of two couples who are trying to save one little girl's life at the cost of their own emotional well being.
Very sweet, happy sad movie about first love, true love. It can happen at any age and the fact that they know their time together is so short makes it all that much more intense. It was great to see Ji Hyun Woo so young and SO full of life. He seems so subdued and quiet in his adult years.
Not a movie for everyone for sure. This is one of those 'character studies'. You know when you are in college and you have to read those short stories or short novels and they don't seem to have any beginning nor any end? It's like you start in the middle of the story and then it just stops when you are finally getting to know and understand the characters? That's this film. Of course, the advantage with film is that you get to have facial expressions and body language to help you and that is what this film excels at. It starts out with 2 people meeting for what seems like a random reason. I spent half the film trying to figure out why she went after him for that money when a whole year had passed. Did she really need the money? Or was there an unresolved issue between these 2, at least as far as she was concerned, that she suddenly decided she had to find an answer for? There was definitely something going on between them...a sense of pain from both of them and a lot of unanswered questions where their relationship and how it ended were concerned. With her iciness and his cheery walls, these are 2 people who find it very difficult to share their thoughts and feelings. I think their feelings for one another were, perhaps. stronger than they thought....at least where she was concerned maybe.
Both performances were so well done. It took me a while after I watched the movie to realize just how good. Looking back, virtually all of the dialogue was useless on the surface. It was the subtle attitude of the conversation, the bottled up frustration of Hee-Su, the carefully presented light heartedness of Byeong-Woon, that gave us hints of something else going on inside these 2. Hee-Su seemed to be constantly on the edge of an explosion, she was so tightly wound. Byeong-Woon was too desperately cheerful and carefree in a seemingly intense need to hide the truly dire circumstances he is living in. He has friends who love him, but cannot help except in these small ways to repay his former kindnesses. He has family who have deserted him. He has no prospects, no future, and invents precarious schemes like a makgeolli bar in Spain as a cover for this. He is the saddest one in this, while on the surface seemingly the one who is happiest.
The ending will leave us with questions. Their story is not over. The fact that she keeps the new IOU tells us that. We just dropped in for a day in their story. There is more to come. I guess we have to write that part ourselves.
Absolutely loved it. Minimal cliche crap. Stunning chemistry between our 2 leads. I could have done without her snarky exgirlfriend, and without her exboyfriend being such a loser...and could have done with a lot less of them screen time wise too...though I love both of them as actors. For just pure enjoyment, it's the best I've seen in I can't remember when. This is the happiest I've seen Ji Sub ever I think...even though there is always that underlying sadness about him.
got sick of mom crying all the time...but just finished watching this Drama Special on YT. Dark Twisty cautionary tale of how a parent's attempts to provide the 'best' education for her kid twisted him to the dark side. Good job by the 2 kids.
More terrific choices. You will LOVE 1988 and GKP in it! KHN is amazing. What a talent. He's a standout in everything he is in. And I think I have seen darn near everything he has been in drama wise anyway! I really liked Im Je Yeon in High Society and have a couple of her movies on the list. Seo Ye Ji is a beauty. I only really remember her from Last and look forward to Moorim. Byul I know I have seen, but I have no recollection of her. I'm really enjoying this series of posts. So many terrifically talented young actors!
Enjoyable. Good story, really good performances and a great cast. Nothing great or bad. Some dark humor. A nice couple hours and don't regret it. I needed something to watch at the end of the day that wouldn't get me all worked up and this fit the bill perfectly. Loved the cameo by Lee Jang Woo as he is a big favorite of mine. Dong Ho from UKiss does a cameo also and there were other familiar faces. Pretty great that there were so many well known faces in this little known movie.
There is a review of this movie done by Beyond Hollywood that pretty much sums it up for me. http://www.beyondhollywood.com/the-old-garden-2006-movie-review/…
How I wish I could express my thoughts and feelings like that. Loved how the reviewer was able to express feelings and thoughts I was completely unable to. The sign of a great writer. Thanks.
pure melo makjang-violins playing at max volume-evil rich literally getting away with murder and the innocent being vindicated in the last moments of the show. The cornball Godfather wanna-be scene with the evil father/chairman in the last episode had my eyes rolling. Immensely predictable and highly manipulative with the ever predictable episode after episode of good being stymied by evil at every turn until the highly predictable ending where the truth finally outs...albeit with a dose of bitter medicine mixed in. Standard by the book melodrama, it was highly popular with viewers with ratings reaching over 20%. Just not my kind of thing any more. After hundreds of dramas, even as good as the acting was in this, the story was just too much of seen-it-all-before.... for me.
absolutely awful Useless random movie. terrible writing, terrible acting, not a single redeeming thing in it. Ji Jin Hee was the only one actually acting in this thing I swear and it was useless. The rest were doing some kind of drug induced performance 'art'. What a total waste of time.
Loved it Loved it! Absolutely adorable. The chemistry between the 2 leads was off the charts. They missed out on extending this into a longer drama. It would have been a killer in the ratings. If they don't put these 2 into another drama together they are nuts. Both of them did great...no matter what, any project they are in, I want to watch.
It is a very quiet film. Some might find it boring, but I loved it. Wonderful character studies. The flashback scenes were nostalgic, frustrating, sad, beautiful, and heartbreaking. From Beyond Hollywood: " The visuals are gorgeous throughout, with Lim paying great attention to small personal details to bring the story to convincing life and to evoke a strong sense of time and place. The countryside is depicted with a picturesque stillness which contrasts sharply with the confusion and violence of the bloody riot scenes, making them all the more brutal and shocking. This again works to underline the deep rooted conflict at the heart of the film and to highlight the physical as well as emotional suffering undergone by so many in the name of revolution." ...
Towards the end I kept feeling and remembering the lines from Macbeth...the sadness and frustration and seemingly futile-ness of their life struggles when looked at so closely and on an individual basis like this was rather overwhelming me.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
This is not a completely sad movie though, so I don't want to leave that impression. It's just a story about some people who lived lives trying to fight for something and succeeding or not succeeding, or living with some combination of both. I did not leave it feeling depressed nor uplifted. But maybe more with some understanding and appreciation and a sort of satisfaction or contentment at being able to share their story for a couple hours.
Stunning, Brilliant, all the adjectives you can think of. This drama just took my breath away. Words cannot begin to express how outstanding this show was for me. Everything about it, acting, cinematography, direction, but most of all the mind blowing writing. I want to be able to quote Ahn Nae Sang's speeches when he talked to the workers. There were so many times the lines in this drama just shook me...mentally and emotionally. I will be watching it again and again I know. Never has any film since Maundy Tuesday affected me like this drama has. Film (and literature) has the ability to entertain, to affect us emotionally and mentally, and, in its finest moments (like this one), to educate us and change us. Awl did all of these for me. My ignorance and prejudice regarding unions was fundamentally changed forever after watching this show. I am forever in Awe of Awl!!
The story was actually excellent. I detest 50 episoders with a passion but love Ji Hyun Woo with a greater passion so decided to try to hang on and see how it went. And if you love JHW like I do...wow, he was gorgeous in this. This is also a makjang, cliche ridden drama. Yet, surprisingly, but for certain characters and certain events, not so OTT that you want to pitch something through the tv screen or that your eyeballs will fall out of your head from all the rolling they do. I was very surprised to see Seo Young-Hee as JHW's co-star. She has quite the resume, and I have seen several of her movies (The Chaser, Bedevilled, Rough Play, and Madonna is on my list) She is quite the chameleon. This was out of the ordinary compared to what I have seen her in before. She was quite good within the parameters of what the drama wanted. Being that the main couple had enough obstacles thrown at them that any sane couple would have jumped off the nearest bridge, I think they did a great job of making their characters believable and convincingly in love. I thought they had terrific chemistry.
There was a surprising factor in this drama....the realism of the medical aspects. In most dramas you see medical equipment that looks like it came out of a recycle bin where the hospital dumped it 20 years ago. The nurses in this looked like they were actually real nurses doing real care. I suspect they were and big kudos to the drama for this aspect! Another thing...wardrobe. Amazing wardrobes for both the lead and the psychotic ex girlfriend. Very unusual to see the variety and quality that was on display in this drama. The sets were also excellent with a lot of detail.
The ending was SO typical of these dramas. 50 hours of torture, the obligatory year separation, and 5 seconds of resolution. Yeah...there is where you want to throw things. Still, it was a lovely ending and I loved every minute spent with that couple. My heart ached for them. I also loved the secondary couple played by Ryu Jin and Kim So-Eun... I thought they were adorable together and provided a calm grounding middle for all the garbage going on around them. I cheered for their relationship. So-Eun was absolutely adorable in this.
I loved almost all of the main characters and the actors that portrayed them. WITHIN THE PARAMETERS of this kind of drama, everyone was very believable in their parts and did just a great job! Cha Hwa-Yeon as the poor tortured mom was fantastic. Yes it was OTT what happened to her, but...gotta go with it sometimes. Honestly I could go on...but I better not! I think if you are in the right mood you will really enjoy this. 8.5 for me.
Both performances were so well done. It took me a while after I watched the movie to realize just how good. Looking back, virtually all of the dialogue was useless on the surface. It was the subtle attitude of the conversation, the bottled up frustration of Hee-Su, the carefully presented light heartedness of Byeong-Woon, that gave us hints of something else going on inside these 2. Hee-Su seemed to be constantly on the edge of an explosion, she was so tightly wound. Byeong-Woon was too desperately cheerful and carefree in a seemingly intense need to hide the truly dire circumstances he is living in. He has friends who love him, but cannot help except in these small ways to repay his former kindnesses. He has family who have deserted him. He has no prospects, no future, and invents precarious schemes like a makgeolli bar in Spain as a cover for this. He is the saddest one in this, while on the surface seemingly the one who is happiest.
The ending will leave us with questions. Their story is not over. The fact that she keeps the new IOU tells us that. We just dropped in for a day in their story. There is more to come. I guess we have to write that part ourselves.
It is a very quiet film. Some might find it boring, but I loved it. Wonderful character studies. The flashback scenes were nostalgic, frustrating, sad, beautiful, and heartbreaking. From Beyond Hollywood: " The visuals are gorgeous throughout, with Lim paying great attention to small personal details to bring the story to convincing life and to evoke a strong sense of time and place. The countryside is depicted with a picturesque stillness which contrasts sharply with the confusion and violence of the bloody riot scenes, making them all the more brutal and shocking. This again works to underline the deep rooted conflict at the heart of the film and to highlight the physical as well as emotional suffering undergone by so many in the name of revolution." ...
Towards the end I kept feeling and remembering the lines from Macbeth...the sadness and frustration and seemingly futile-ness of their life struggles when looked at so closely and on an individual basis like this was rather overwhelming me.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
This is not a completely sad movie though, so I don't want to leave that impression. It's just a story about some people who lived lives trying to fight for something and succeeding or not succeeding, or living with some combination of both. I did not leave it feeling depressed nor uplifted. But maybe more with some understanding and appreciation and a sort of satisfaction or contentment at being able to share their story for a couple hours.