Am I the only one who finds Ahn Nae Sang absolutely fantastic in this show? Well, it's a great drama overall but…
could not agree more. He has played so many creepy type characters and supporting characters over the years, he is a staple who now blends into the background of most dramas and films I see him in. Here he was brilliant...as was every single thing in this drama.
on Viki now. Cute funny show with either some sloppy writing or bad editing. Laughed until I actually snorted! Some lapses of logic and a choppy story line made for an incoherent story, Still I think the last 5 minutes totally made up for it and I'd love to see it in slow mo a few times. KJH's makeup and costumes were gasp worthy! Wow, how makeup and styling can change a person! Stellar co-stars and some walk on's from some of Korea's most famous models including Kim Woo Bin and I think I saw Stephanie Lee!
Jim Kyung-surprising to me how many dramas I have seen that she is in! She blends in too well sometimes and becomes that character that I go..Oh Yeah...now I remember! Pinocchio was a great role for her.
Oh Hyun Kyung-I recognize her and think I have seen her in more dramas than I remember, but she is also one of those actresses I have to look at the drama cast and figure out who she was. Then go...Oh Yeah, I remember her! But She is Wow!, which may be the weirdest drama EVER in Kdrama is what I remember her for.
Shin Eun Kyung-now she really is WOW!!! She has played some of the oddest and scariest roles ever! (in light of recent news one wonders if her drama life is bleeding into her private life...or visa versa?). I first remember her in Shark where she was beautiful and tragic. But, her other roles are what makes her stand out for me. She and Yum Jung Ah in Your Neighbor's Wife (surely one of the most unique dramas in K) were amazing, eye-opening, and Eun Kyung Mad as a Hatter and great! She enhances that character in The Village Achiara brilliantly and painfully. She was dark and odd in Love, In Between also.
Jeon Do Yeon-I've only seen one of her few dramas and don't remember her in it at all. But it's her films she is noted for and it's her selection of dark and powerful roles that clash with conservative Korean societal standards that she stands out for. You'd think she would be looked down on for her choices, given that nudity and adultery are fairly common in the roles she chooses, but she is highly respected and admired. I have either seen or have on my list to see virtually every one of her films.
Lee Mi Yeon is a beauty and my head thinks I have seen her in more films than I actually have. I barely remember her in Harmonium. Addicted, she was overwhelmed by Lee Byung Hyun's performance and the story itself, and the same in Company Man with So Ji Sub.
Yum Jung Ah I will always remember for Your Neighbor's Wife. The other 2 I have seen her in were outstanding and unforgettable roles also...Royal Family and Two Sisters.
Go Hyun Jung I have not seen much. I did watch Whats Up Fox, but for Chun Jung Myung and liked it okay...but for him mostly. I'm trying to get through QSD (as you know) but, so far, am not seeing what everyone else did. SOOOORRRY!!!! :( I liked her in Actresses, a semi-documentary. It made me wonder about her and the difficulties in her life so I did quite a bit of research on her. Her private life could be a blockbuster drama! I really want to see Queen's Classroom and Daemul.
Kim Hye Soo-what a variety of roles I have seen her in. Only one drama, which I didn't like much (Style). Her movies, that I've seen, are quite diverse: Kick the Moon (2001) was terrific and funny... just to see Cha Seung Won and Lee Sung Jae and her as veritable babies it's more than worth watching. Hypnotized was dark and disturbing. And 11th Mom-brilliant...loved her in this. The movie itself was melo as all get out but her performance was amazing. I am looking forward to Coin Locker Girl, Queen of Office, and Signal.
Kim Sun Kyung-another actress whose face is familiar and on checking her resume I find numerous dramas I've seen where she was listed as supporting actress in.
Jang Young Nam-seen her in so many things-she is currently one of the few saving graces of Glamorous/Glorious Temptation in a terrific role. Her career is made up of supporting/guest roles. I used to remember her for Dal Ja's Spring as the crazy pie baking ex-wife and stalker of the Guy-Who-Doesn't-Get-the-Girl 2nd lead. But G-Temptation has reset her bar.
This was so refreshing to watch. I started it with the thought I would catch a few episodes here and there in between my Currently Running dramas and ended up dropping everything and marathoning it over 2 days. It had its moments of 'what?', but over all it was just what I needed to see right now. A lovely, heartwarming story with a lovely lovely romance. I had a massive case of 2nd Leaditis on this one! Oddly, for me, the premise of this show that made it as well known as it is, and done as well as it was, was also the thing that drove me nuts with the inconsistencies and misinformation. For a drama that was supposed to expose the prejudices and misinformation and ignorance of the population about AIDS, this program did try, but ended up doing a pretty half-assed job of it. They started out saying the child has HIV via a blood transfusion that was not properly screened apparently, but by the end, all of a sudden the HIV diagnosis disappeared and all we heard was AIDS. Now the HIV diagnosis makes perfect sense, since that is a way you could get it...though in this day and age, unless you are living in a 3rd world country or one with massively substandard medical care NOT much chance! The chances she had progressed to AIDS was about nil and it was perfectly obvious the child had none of the symptoms of AIDS. The fact is HIV hardly ever progresses to AIDS anymore as long as she is taking her meds (which I saw none of btw...also odd). So, for me, though it was a good try, it was also a huge fail in the education/reality department. This drama could have done much more. Still, it had tremendous heart and I loved watching it. Oh...and the so called medical procedures!! Awful! So Awkward and fake looking. They should have just not gone there.
A highlight was the grandfather (Shin Goo in a fantastic role). He was a shining star in this drama...beyond wonderful. This was Jang Hyuk's comeback drama after he left the military service. He probably owes his success today to this drama as he was pretty low in the popularity polls after he and Son Seung-Heon were caught in a draft dodging scandal. He was pretty subdued in this role, which only helped Shin Sung-Rok shine even brighter. He was absolutely gorgeous in this! And finally, the little girl...what an amazing young actress. She carried a huge load in this drama,with many lines and a lot of emotional scenes and did so brilliantly. It will be very interesting to see her in her new movie Wonderful Nightmare. She has grown up so much now...17 years old! 8/10
Cute. Fun seeing Lee Sung-jae and Cha Seung Won so young and beautiful...not that they still aren't! Sung-Jae is hardly recognizable to me. Comedy gangster movie that was so popular during that time period. But not so over the top slapstick that you roll your eyes and dump it. Just a fun movie.
Good movie. It suffers from its dated filming techniques and I tried several sites before I found one that wasn't quite so blurry or dark on DramaCool. I don't like movies that use extreme closeups to mask action and this one used that method constantly throughout the entire movie. There were numerous action scenes which virtually took over the story, unfortunately. I would have liked more story, less fire, myself. The fact that in numerous shots these guys were not even wearing basic fire fighting equipment (no helmets or helmets unfastened, no face masks yet tanks on their backs, etc) was pretty distracting to me too (SMH). The extreme closeups also made what they were trying to do almost impossible to see and, in the final fight scene, resulted in some 'what the?' moments...like one second he's hanging off the side of the building and the next second he's standing up and trying to fight the guy. The sudden and inexplicable change in the antagonist at the height of the fight was so out of the blue I had to rewind to try to figure out what the heck happened?
My reading on the background of this movie indicates it is also basically a PSA for Korean firefighters. At the time (or maybe still?) firefighters' injuries or deaths were not covered by the government and firefighters had to pay their own hospital and doctor bills.
While on one hand I found what the director was trying to say in this movie admirable, I think he got lost. The pyrotechnics became the story and the actual story just got slipped in in between the fire scenes, to the detriment of what has the makings of a fascinating psychological study of a pyromaniac serial killer. It was an opportunity lost, for me. I would have preferred they dump all the fire and fight scenes...but that's just me. The chance to explore the physical and psychological repercussions of being a firefighter, as well as developing the story of the killer became second and third fiddle to the gorgeous flames that occupied almost half of the viewers' time. While I am hugely in love with action type movies, this one had huge possibilities for a much heavier film and the actors who could have brought that kind of film to us.
That said, don't get me wrong. This movie is still really good and I recommend it. The message is powerful and what there is of the story, very thought provoking. It is also great to see the young versions of some of today's most famous actors that we know and love. I just wish more screen time had been give to the characters they were portraying.
sadly...one word. Pretentious. I wanted to like this way more than this. I like him a lot. I know he has a ways to go on his acting but he's just starting out really and he's not horrible. He just needs more time. He doesn't have the luxury of being able to test himself in small parts because they are always going to give him bigger parts because of who he is. So he is going to be under a microscope until he can gain the necessary experience to make him better. But honestly...in this case, it was the drama/writing/directing more than him. This thing tried WAY to hard to be oh so artsy and just got boring...which should have been hard to do considering how short it is.
lovely story. Enjoyed it. Though the speech she gives him about how wrong he is to covet his brother's place and want to be the son of the household was a bit self-righteous considering she wanted to dump her mom and little sister and become a gisaeng to escape her life.
Dark, frank, and fairly brutal look at a very ugly bunch of people and a marriage in the midst of implosion. A day of heavy drinking brings out many ugly hidden secrets and exposes the insecurities, the anger, the hatred, the lust, the jealousies, the false pride, the envy this group of 'friends' kept hidden for too long. A facile ending and a bit melodramatic, but I was thankful for it. The violence was needed to break open the ugliness and cleanse these people. It's probably the only thing that would wake them up.
Spoiler Ahead so wait until you watch the movie. It's a tough movie to watch. No easy answers. Really no answers. None of the adults in this movie have any business thinking they are doing anything great. The foster parents are not cruel, per se, but it is obvious they pay lip service to the 'job' they are doing. There is no great love for these kids. The father in particular seems to be very jaded and full of mistrust. Of course, this could be from years of having kids betray him. Teenagers are never easy to deal with. But, with at risk kids like these, kids who already feel like life is betraying them, who live every moment on a tightrope of anxiety and lack of love, that kind of mistrust just breeds more fear and fear leads them to act out in ways unpredictable and damaging...to themselves mostly. I spent the entire movie feeling like I was walking the tightrope with Yongjae. To the bitter end his life seems to be bleak and gray with no sign of any future...and what little future he is grabbing at is slipping through his fingers right in front of his eyes. This child is fighting for his very existence and that existence seems very threatened at the end of the movie. It is never a good sign when an at risk person, who has threatened suicide previously, divests himself of his only possessions. I have a terrible feeling he just said goodbye to his brother for the last time. I want to think there is a chance for him at the new 'residence', but the fact remains they are probably sending him to a facility for troubled youths...which means he is heading into a cesspool of violence and intimidation and depression. Dear God the cruelty visited on the children! It literally breaks my heart every time I watch one of these and takes me days to recover. Why do I keep doing this to myself? It is very apparent why this film won Best Director for Kim Tae-Yong and Best NewActor for Choi Woo-Sik at the 2015 (35th) Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. 9/10 for me as an extremely well done slice of life movie.
DEFINITE SPOILERS IN THIS!!!! Don't read unless you don't care if you know the ending ahead of time. Not that you can't figure it out yourself in the first 5 minutes of the film!
All through this movie I kept thinking, I've seen this before. Yet I don't think I have. Still, in virtually every scene, including the ending, I knew what was coming, including the fire. It was all as if I had seen it before..it left an odd feeling and somewhat intruded on watching it.
KRW is definitely the shining star of this movie. The scenario is nothing new, bad guy trying to be good, failing, fighting a horrific fight against monumental odds and dying in the end. But with KRW behind the character, what could be mundane takes on a whole different level. His portrayal of Taesik is touching and heartfelt. You feel his struggle, his internal battle to reclaim a life and a future for himself and his made family. A life he has never had before. But. It's forewarned from the first that Taesik will fall at the end, forced to take up arms one last time to defeat the villains who refuse to let him live. What is it about those segments of society, the scum of the earth, who see one of their own crawling out of the gutter they live in that makes them grab them by the ankles and drag them back down into the depths with them? Like I said, definitely a scene replayed in many movies ...and without fail these movies end this way....that once you go bad, you are forever trapped in that world. It's a terrible message.
The movie itself is slow and not new in concept, but KRW's performance changes everything. The final segment's fight scene is bloody and riveting, guaranteed to make your heart pound. Even to the last moment you pray for it not to end the way you know it will...but it's not to be. Definitely worth the watch for the performance value.
SPOILER!!! It's a Good movie. Worth watching for an example of the genre of the time period. But...SPOLERS AHEAD!!: Suffers from its dated look and writing. The blurry camera during all the fights made me wonder what the director was trying to hide...actors who couldn't carry fight scenes or just trying to make the audience think it's too artsy for it's own good. Either way, it was grossly overused. Predictable ending. All the movies and dramas from this time period also suffer from an overload of this kind of ending...Tragedy with a capital T. Of course now everyone wins so there is no happy medium. :( I didn't really feel the ending where Min says that Tae soo was all he really had. That made no sense to me. Tae Soo was never there for him. He only wanted Min for what he could do for him. Min comes off as a tragic figure. Looking for love and friendship in all the wrong places and paying the price for it in the end. 7
A good movie. Certainly not up there with the greats (Broken, Bedevilled, I Saw the Devil, Man from NoWhere, and the Old Boy movies). But it was very nice to see Kim Sun-ah do such a good job of stretching herself as an actress. This was a difficult part and I thought she did it well. Oh Joo-wan was suitably menacing as the bad guy. He does a terrific bad guy, but his role in the Kdrama Punch this last year was a benchmark for him, I think. I liked the movie for what it was. The director/writer chose to concentrate the story on the efforts of the protagonist and her journey. Handled by a different director/writer we would have seen the story more from the antagonist's view and it would have been a much darker and more violent and depressing film. (like those above) Those have their place and I do enjoy the tension created by those kind of psychological thrillers. But this type of killer has been done before, so I can understand the decision to change the focus. Still, there were some developments that weren't fully fleshed out and we had to take on faith...like, how did the doctor get permission to do transplants on JUST those patients? What about others on the transplant list? They could hardly say "she said her organs were just going to these people!" Still, a good movie.
Just finished this drama and loved it. It may not be that way for everyone who watches it, but life experiences dictate a lot of our emotional responses to what goes on in many dramas. This one deals with cheating...but cheating by everyone, so we don't have the angst of any one person being the victim per se. Yet everyone is also a victim...but just as much, they are also guilty of being the perpetrators. So it removes a lot of the angst that a typical melo/makjang cheating drama displays. It's also a very adult drama...in other words, language and actions are much, much more realistic than typical kdrama. Sex is directly referred to without being salacious. It was a VERY refreshing change. These are older people with teenage children. They've been married for 17-18 years and grown to take each other for granted.
The script/story was so good. There was a Tim Burtonesque tone to the humor and behavior, in particular with Shin Eun Gyeong's role. She was great...and hilarious! Her facial expressions had me in stitches. The balance of humor against the very real crash and burn of these 2 marriages helped keep the tone of the drama from becoming too dark. I think they did a fantastic job of it. I loved all the characters. There wasn't a one I didn't enjoy the time I spent with them. Everyone's story arc fed into the overall movement of the drama.
Be patient and try not to judge the characters. Especially if you are young or young in your marriage, these things may not have happened to you, nor may ever happen to you. But for those of us who have been around the block for more than a few years, learned that blame runs on 2 tracks, learned that right and wrong have gray areas even when they shouldn't, know that secrets between a couple can be kept for many years and fester, this drama does a great job of trying to show how 2 couples, one in particular, learn how to get back on the right track and rebuild what was lost as well as correct those things that had been kept hidden for far too long.
I struggled between an 8 and a 9 on this one. I ended up with a 9 because it was so different and, like I said, touched on life experience of my own that I could relate to. I also liked the honesty of the portrayal...bad and good were shown equally. I leaned towards the 8 for the typical kdrama forgive and forget ending, but decided to not think about that and concentrate on the journey the drama took me on.
oh ...and the music! Loved it.
If you haven't watched her in 11th Mom, do.
Oh Hyun Kyung-I recognize her and think I have seen her in more dramas than I remember, but she is also one of those actresses I have to look at the drama cast and figure out who she was. Then go...Oh Yeah, I remember her! But She is Wow!, which may be the weirdest drama EVER in Kdrama is what I remember her for.
Shin Eun Kyung-now she really is WOW!!! She has played some of the oddest and scariest roles ever! (in light of recent news one wonders if her drama life is bleeding into her private life...or visa versa?). I first remember her in Shark where she was beautiful and tragic. But, her other roles are what makes her stand out for me. She and Yum Jung Ah in Your Neighbor's Wife (surely one of the most unique dramas in K) were amazing, eye-opening, and Eun Kyung Mad as a Hatter and great! She enhances that character in The Village Achiara brilliantly and painfully. She was dark and odd in Love, In Between also.
Jeon Do Yeon-I've only seen one of her few dramas and don't remember her in it at all. But it's her films she is noted for and it's her selection of dark and powerful roles that clash with conservative Korean societal standards that she stands out for. You'd think she would be looked down on for her choices, given that nudity and adultery are fairly common in the roles she chooses, but she is highly respected and admired. I have either seen or have on my list to see virtually every one of her films.
Lee Mi Yeon is a beauty and my head thinks I have seen her in more films than I actually have. I barely remember her in Harmonium. Addicted, she was overwhelmed by Lee Byung Hyun's performance and the story itself, and the same in Company Man with So Ji Sub.
Yum Jung Ah I will always remember for Your Neighbor's Wife. The other 2 I have seen her in were outstanding and unforgettable roles also...Royal Family and Two Sisters.
Go Hyun Jung I have not seen much. I did watch Whats Up Fox, but for Chun Jung Myung and liked it okay...but for him mostly. I'm trying to get through QSD (as you know) but, so far, am not seeing what everyone else did. SOOOORRRY!!!! :( I liked her in Actresses, a semi-documentary. It made me wonder about her and the difficulties in her life so I did quite a bit of research on her. Her private life could be a blockbuster drama! I really want to see Queen's Classroom and Daemul.
Kim Hye Soo-what a variety of roles I have seen her in. Only one drama, which I didn't like much (Style). Her movies, that I've seen, are quite diverse: Kick the Moon (2001) was terrific and funny... just to see Cha Seung Won and Lee Sung Jae and her as veritable babies it's more than worth watching. Hypnotized was dark and disturbing. And 11th Mom-brilliant...loved her in this. The movie itself was melo as all get out but her performance was amazing. I am looking forward to Coin Locker Girl, Queen of Office, and Signal.
Kim Sun Kyung-another actress whose face is familiar and on checking her resume I find numerous dramas I've seen where she was listed as supporting actress in.
Jang Young Nam-seen her in so many things-she is currently one of the few saving graces of Glamorous/Glorious Temptation in a terrific role. Her career is made up of supporting/guest roles. I used to remember her for Dal Ja's Spring as the crazy pie baking ex-wife and stalker of the Guy-Who-Doesn't-Get-the-Girl 2nd lead. But G-Temptation has reset her bar.
A highlight was the grandfather (Shin Goo in a fantastic role). He was a shining star in this drama...beyond wonderful. This was Jang Hyuk's comeback drama after he left the military service. He probably owes his success today to this drama as he was pretty low in the popularity polls after he and Son Seung-Heon were caught in a draft dodging scandal. He was pretty subdued in this role, which only helped Shin Sung-Rok shine even brighter. He was absolutely gorgeous in this! And finally, the little girl...what an amazing young actress. She carried a huge load in this drama,with many lines and a lot of emotional scenes and did so brilliantly. It will be very interesting to see her in her new movie Wonderful Nightmare. She has grown up so much now...17 years old! 8/10
My reading on the background of this movie indicates it is also basically a PSA for Korean firefighters. At the time (or maybe still?) firefighters' injuries or deaths were not covered by the government and firefighters had to pay their own hospital and doctor bills.
While on one hand I found what the director was trying to say in this movie admirable, I think he got lost. The pyrotechnics became the story and the actual story just got slipped in in between the fire scenes, to the detriment of what has the makings of a fascinating psychological study of a pyromaniac serial killer. It was an opportunity lost, for me. I would have preferred they dump all the fire and fight scenes...but that's just me. The chance to explore the physical and psychological repercussions of being a firefighter, as well as developing the story of the killer became second and third fiddle to the gorgeous flames that occupied almost half of the viewers' time. While I am hugely in love with action type movies, this one had huge possibilities for a much heavier film and the actors who could have brought that kind of film to us.
That said, don't get me wrong. This movie is still really good and I recommend it. The message is powerful and what there is of the story, very thought provoking. It is also great to see the young versions of some of today's most famous actors that we know and love. I just wish more screen time had been give to the characters they were portraying.
All through this movie I kept thinking, I've seen this before. Yet I don't think I have. Still, in virtually every scene, including the ending, I knew what was coming, including the fire. It was all as if I had seen it before..it left an odd feeling and somewhat intruded on watching it.
KRW is definitely the shining star of this movie. The scenario is nothing new, bad guy trying to be good, failing, fighting a horrific fight against monumental odds and dying in the end. But with KRW behind the character, what could be mundane takes on a whole different level. His portrayal of Taesik is touching and heartfelt. You feel his struggle, his internal battle to reclaim a life and a future for himself and his made family. A life he has never had before. But. It's forewarned from the first that Taesik will fall at the end, forced to take up arms one last time to defeat the villains who refuse to let him live. What is it about those segments of society, the scum of the earth, who see one of their own crawling out of the gutter they live in that makes them grab them by the ankles and drag them back down into the depths with them? Like I said, definitely a scene replayed in many movies ...and without fail these movies end this way....that once you go bad, you are forever trapped in that world. It's a terrible message.
The movie itself is slow and not new in concept, but KRW's performance changes everything. The final segment's fight scene is bloody and riveting, guaranteed to make your heart pound. Even to the last moment you pray for it not to end the way you know it will...but it's not to be. Definitely worth the watch for the performance value.
The script/story was so good. There was a Tim Burtonesque tone to the humor and behavior, in particular with Shin Eun Gyeong's role. She was great...and hilarious! Her facial expressions had me in stitches. The balance of humor against the very real crash and burn of these 2 marriages helped keep the tone of the drama from becoming too dark. I think they did a fantastic job of it. I loved all the characters. There wasn't a one I didn't enjoy the time I spent with them. Everyone's story arc fed into the overall movement of the drama.
Be patient and try not to judge the characters. Especially if you are young or young in your marriage, these things may not have happened to you, nor may ever happen to you. But for those of us who have been around the block for more than a few years, learned that blame runs on 2 tracks, learned that right and wrong have gray areas even when they shouldn't, know that secrets between a couple can be kept for many years and fester, this drama does a great job of trying to show how 2 couples, one in particular, learn how to get back on the right track and rebuild what was lost as well as correct those things that had been kept hidden for far too long.
I struggled between an 8 and a 9 on this one. I ended up with a 9 because it was so different and, like I said, touched on life experience of my own that I could relate to. I also liked the honesty of the portrayal...bad and good were shown equally. I leaned towards the 8 for the typical kdrama forgive and forget ending, but decided to not think about that and concentrate on the journey the drama took me on.