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!!
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.
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.
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.