I feel so bad for the convenience store clerk. Dealing with drunks and Korean Karens, i'd want to die too.
Promising newcomer this Ha Da-In, she may have almost the same expression but her character calls for it. She actually portrayed how someone who is just sick of being alive looks like. That scene dealing with the lying korean karen was my favorite in this movie. Their acting was so organic, it's like watching real life. Yeah that korean karen actor was also very good.
The subplots about unassuming good people pushed over the edge are my favorite parts about this series— the goshiwon guy, Mrs. Oh, the bullied students, etc. I wish they focused on those kinds of stories more. When they shifted the focus to the gangsters and that cringe american traffickers, I started to lose interest. Also, the english dialogues sound so unnatural and quite silly. Kim Young Kwang speak English well, but I do not believe that his character grew up in the US. He sounds like he's trying his best but he's far from sounding like a native English speaker. He's a great actor but his delivery of english lines here took me out.
It's still a fun watch—the action choreo is great (though KNG's character is almost too OP), the 1st episode had a good hook (Woo Jihyun did a fantastic job playing a decent guy who snapped), and the struggles and psychology of good people pushed to kill were enlightening and heartbreaking. Not among the best series of the year, but still enjoyable.
I've read reviews and I can see why the people who enjoyed it liked it, but I suppose it's not my cup of tea.
I like Korean thrillers so seeing the trailer and the cast, I was excited to watch it, but it turned out to be disappointing.
The plot was initially intriguing. I thought there was gonna be a mystery to solve, but it turned out to be pretty straightforward murders—no whodunnit, no twists.
What put me off are the decisions of the MC, Yeongha, and the incompetence of the police.
Yeongha, man, why would you clean up what you suspect is a crime scene instead of just reporting a potential crime? To protect your dead wife's dream home and keep it from potentially being called a "murder house" by the public? That's so dumb. You're gonna let a child murderer get away just for that? You think your dead wife would be pleased?
And the police, oh boy! On a quiet street in a quiet town, right in front of a police station with several cops as witness, Seong Ah rams her car into Yeongha's with clear intent to harm, and she's not even arrested or taken in for questioning. And that one horny cop, he already knew Seong Ah is suspicious, but because she's stunning, he easily gives in when she asked for a favor and even acted like her guard dog on a leash. Officer Bo Min may be the only competent one and she actually has good intuition but since her subordinates suck, that reflects badly on her too.
Go Min Si played her character so well that her scenes infuriate me. I'm a bit disappointed with the shift in her character though. In the first episode, she was like a quiet, mysterious woman and I found her rather disarming and scary. But when she returned to the rental home, her character became a common murderous spoiled rich brat. She played the annoying shameless character well, but she's no longer scary—at least for me, because the mystery is gone and she just became this regular bully who murders people who won't fight back—like a little boy, or kind or injured middle-aged men. She looked helpless and rather lame when dealing with groups of people or when dealing with people who are ready to fight back like Yeongha's daughter, or her ex-husband.
Overall, it's an ok series, but mainly for the beautiful locations and setting, and the acting of the cast. The pacing drags and there are plenty of what looks like filler scenes to stretch the episodes.
The cast did spectacularly—that's the best part about this movie. Otherwise it's quite forgettable. I thought it was gonna be like a mystery thriller, but it was more heavy drama with some crime. I'm frustrated by many of the characters. The bad cops are one-dimensional—just corrupt and evil. The main character is more complex though. Sometimes his methods are bordering on questionable but he has good principles and he sticks by them. It might be unfair, but I'm most frustrated by the killed grandma's daughter. I get that trauma might mess up one's memories, but she was so uncooperative even when she already has suspicions that the arrested boys were falsely accused. Even though the place was dark when the crime happened, there was still some light and she was woken from sleep so her eyes should still be adjusted to the dark. And the biggest giveaway for the criminals is that they were talking amongst themselves and they sound like adult men. The accused boys clearly sound younger, almost pre-pubescent. Yet she seemed ok to let them get punished while the real criminals are allowed to be free. Fortunately, she redeemed herself later and looked after the boys and fought hard to clear their names. The ending seemed a bit awkward, and also kinda disappointing because apparently the bad cops did not suffer any repercussions for brutality, fabricating forced confession, and making false imprisonment. The boys lost 17 years of their youth just because the corrupt cops wanted to get promoted by closing a case quickly.
I quite liked it. It's stacked with great actors. There seems to be a touch of supernatural with the main characters Lee Tang and Jang Nan-gam seemingly having some kind of power. Lee Tang seems to have an extremely good luck with getting away with murder, while Nan-gam seems to have a super sharp intuition, or he may just be a really good detective? But, so often have his hunches gotten it right despite having no evidence or basis for his assumptions that it seems like a power to me.
It may just be a personal interpretation, but they played the earlier episodes almost like a dark comedy. The ways the main guy, Lee Tang, keeps getting away with killing is so hilariously ridiculous. At first I thought the intention was to be subtly slapstick, but turns out it was his power. He's kind of like Domino from Deadpool 2—he's very lucky, but only when it comes to getting away with killing. For the other aspects of his existence, he's down on his luck. Just some of the hilarious ways he gets away with murder—a fly just happened to perfectly obstruct the cctv blocking the image of him holding the murder weapon; the dog of one of the people he killed licked all the objects he touched on the day he came over and committed the crime. It's what actually got me hooked. Whenever he kills someone, I want to see how his extremely good luck will make him get away with it. Unfortunately for me, from episode 4 onwards, they just speed-run his murders and cut them into a montage to focus on other characters because Lee Tang was hiding and laying low. Also, the comedy aspect kind of disappeared. I understand it was because killing and being on the run was taking a toll on the main character, so the mood had to be more serious now, but I liked the slightly comedic tone it had so when it turned serious, I kind of lost a bit of interest. In any case I still want to find out how it ends and it was still good so I kept at it.
Overall, it was an enjoyable watch. Maybe one thing that kind of irked me is the overuse of slow-mo. It reminds me Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon that overuses slow-mo even for the most mundane scenes—as if that will make it epic when it's just annoying and drags the runtime.
I find stories about life in NK intriguing. I know they might be sensationalized for film, but i wonder if they're actually downplayed because real life is much more horrible.
I dont know why but whenever the lifestyle of the rich and powerful in NK is depicted, it always looks try-hard and noveau riche to me, like they try to be classy and sophisticated but it just looks like someone with bad taste desperately trying to copy someone with good taste and failing. Perhaps it's because at the back of my mind, I'm thinking however they try to act superior, they still have nothing to show off when they are puppets and easily-controlled by a gross despicable dictator and running a dirt-poor country. They're comparable to someone wearing diamonds yet living in the gutters and running errands for a foul-stenched angry drunkard—the diamonds are not impressing anyone.
In any case, i see homosexual undertones. There is a clear history of a romantic relationship between Kyo-hwan's and Song Kang's characters. I bet they were lovers in Russia, at a time when children of the upper class are sent abroad for education, but homosexuals are persecuted in NK and i suppose they needed to get back in their closets once they came back to NK to fulfill their duties. I reckon this must be why Kyo-hwan was so persistent in recapturing Je-hoon despite being childhood friends. My theory is that Je-hoon must be his first crush before he became lovers with Song Kang, which is why he seemed to feel conflicted about him. Je-hoon was clearly acting sus in the earlier part of the movie, and Kyo-hwan already seemed on to him but he would always brush it off or make excuses for him. Nevertheless, it seems he hated how someone from lower class or very poor background dare to pursue freedom when he can't—he had to stay in the closet and be a military man instead of be with Song Kang and play the piano. He seems to have that if-i-cant-be-happy-nobody-else-is-allowed-to-be-happy mentality. He may have seemed to change his mind later, but I don't think he did. He stopped only because the SK soldiers came to rescue Je-hoon or maybe I was seeing that differently. In any case, I'm glad Je-hoon was able to live a more promising life in SK. If only more defectors get to have the same successful story of survival.
I've seen Stolen Identity, the Japanese film this one seems to have been inspired by, and I remember really enjoying it. I think they changed a lot with the plot in this one because if I remember correctly, the culprit didn't appear until much later in the Japanese one and they made the people around the lead character seem sus so there was a mystery and it made you guess who the stalker/hacker/killer was. Also, the killer in the Japanese one had a clear motivation. Unlike here where the serial killer reasons that he ruins his victims' lives then kills them because they simply lost their phone (like what?!). In any case, still a fairly decent movie but I suppose not as good as the Japanese one because I remember being more impressed with that.
If i had any takeaway, it's that this and the Japanese one made me more wary of phone or laptop repair shops. I only go to service centers certified by the manufacturer and so far I have NEVER been asked for my password so that small repair shop in a dodgy location with only 1 employee who almost doesn't talk and who covers almost his entire face (the face mask makes sense but the baseball cap worn low indoors? sus.) and demands for the password is already a series of glaring red flags. If I was the protagonist, I'd have walked away even if the service has already been paid for by the stranger who "found" my phone.
What a sad movie. I thought it was gonna be like an action thriller but it's more like a melodrama with a bit of mystery. It was an okay movie, but not good to watch during holidays because it will make you feel down.
The cast did great. Jinyoung is a good dramatic actor, however personally i don't find him believable as an asshole. I mean there are times in this movie where he could act like a douche but it's not consistent, like he sometimes forgets that he's playing an angry delinquent. I think it might be something about his brows and eyes. He has a habit of raising it making him look like a puppy, which is why i like his performance as the poor innocent mentally-challenged twin more than the angry violent delinquent.
Anyway, about the story and the characters..firstly, I'm confused because the teacher read his profile and said he's 28 years old, but why was he sent to a juvenile center when 28 is no longer juvenile? And the other "students" also don't look juvenile. They all look like adults who should've been sent to regular prison.
The SA part is hard to watch, especially when the victim is mentally-challenged. I'm also confused about the motivation of the characters. Why is Il-woo so angry at his twin? He's always shouting and hitting and acting annoyed at him. I dont remember a scene where he was even nice to him so I dont believe in his passion to find out what happened and punish his killers. Based on the horrible way he treated his twin, he seemed like the sort of brother who would feel relieved that his twin is gone. He's not so different from the bullies who tormented others in the facility.
The soft-spoken teacher being a rapist was a surprise for me, but then again I'm bad at guessing twists. I did find it a bit creepy how he caressed Son Hwan's photo when he was looking at his file that time when it was his turn for counseling, but i thought i may have just misread it. I suppose he thought he was in love with his victims because he really seemed like he cared a lot (at least at first when i didn't know he was a rapist yet). At least he killed the bullies because wow, they are fockin horrible. I mean even the bullied are probably bad "kids" (they're in a juvenile correctional center after all) but the bullies seem to be a different level of evil. I didn't feel bad when the teacher killed them. It was concerning though that he only got 4 years for killing 4 "kids", not to mention, he wasn't even tried as a rapist? However, the film seems to suggest that he will be killed soon in prison because one of the bullies he killed has a powerful father and it seemed like he sent an assassin maybe? i dunno, the subtitle wasn't good.
In any case, i'm glad i watched it. If anything, it taught me to be more wary of people. Even those who seem to treat people kindly could be twisted, like that teacher who i thought was a kind and caring man, but turned out to be a rapist.
I hear people comparing this to Nic Cage's Family Man, but i haven't seen that or any plot like this before. It was a great watch and the cast was great—especially the kids who were so natural.
I'm one of those who have decided never to have children because i simply dont want to be a parent or guardian. I'm lucky to have found a partner who feels the same. With that sentiment, I can't help but feel uncomfortable with how the ML's life changed. Though he didn't look full of joy with his original life, he looked like he's managing well. When he was thrust into an alternate life as a family man, he clearly looked unhappy. He looked annoyed at his wife and kids. He's a different person from the man he would've been if he had become a husband and a father. At first I felt like it was unfair that he was forced into this life that he clearly didn't want—at least initially. He was the version of himself who didn't choose that life after all. I was relieved that it was not permanent, like he was just given a chance to experience an alternate life. Having experienced both life as a rich successful bachelor movie star and life as a humble well-loved family man slash minor TV actor, he could decide what truly makes him happy and navigate his life to that goal. It was a nice feel-good ending.
My personal takeaway from the film is that you don't have to give up one dream for another, with enough drive and effort and support from the people who matter to you, you can find the right balance and achieve them all.
Action-packed movie! I know a one-person (man or woman) army isn't realistic but it's a movie meant for entertainment so it's ok to suspend your disbelief. Although one woman fighting a group of men is fairly believable here because she had guns and the men only had knives and metal pipes so it sorta evens out I guess. She doesn't just shoot though, she's good at hand-to-hand combat too and I notice she often uses kicks and grappling because honestly her skinny arms won't very likely deal strong blows so a martial arts that use legs and her whole body weight makes sense on how she could fight evenly against men. Well-choreographed fight scenes and I like the actress. She's a believable badass, like she's so natural unlike in other movies where the "badass" female characters are obviously acting so hard to appear badass—common tropes are chewing gum, doing one-sided smile, monologuing or mocking. She didn't do any of those. It's like she's a normal person who just happens to be a natural badass. It's so satisfying to see her unalive all those loser grapists/abusers/molesters. The police are in their pockets so the vigilante justice kinda makes sense in the movie. It's a simple story but the action well makes up for it.
Kim Ji-hoon is so good as a creepy villain. He does evil so well, I understand why he's almost typecasted as a bad guy. Jun Jong-seo has already proven many times that she's got range as an actor, but badass roles like this seem to fit her best. I want to see her do more action. Overall, very enjoyable movie.
Santa's Visit The mum character is winding me up. She claims to be very worried about a potential intruder with her daughter she left alone at home, but she texts instead of calls and when she asked her boss to let her go home early, she walks so slowly and leisurely and even pauses and just stands there while talking to her daughter on the phone—like, run home b!tch! you saw someone filming your daughter, why aren't you in a hurry?!
Couple Management What a toxic relationship! The girlfriend who lies and cheats—only staying with boyfriend until she finds someone better and more successful, having an affair to secure a "better" boyfriend before she breaks up. The boyfriend who is so obsessed about marrying her, he refuses to use a condom, tries to baby-trap her and when that doesn't work, he lets someone break her legs so she will be "less appealing" to other men and become dependent on him; then he eventually finds her less appealing so he starts to cheat too. They deserve each other. Go get married and be miserable.
Please Throw Away A customer gets obsessed with a handsome delivery rider. She's not subtle with her advances and he rejects her. She thinks it's because she's fat and that his ideal type must be skinny girls, but personally I think it's because she's a creep and hella demanding. Whenever he delivers to her door, she forces him to drink or eat and when he finally refused (because the water she offered didnt taste right so it's only fair to be sus and not take any more food from a stranger), she offered him money as tip instead. One time later she asked him to get inside and suggested to do something sexual, which is fockin creepy! He responded more harshly this time and outright rejected her telling her dont expect him to come again. She falsely reports him for sexual harassment to the delivery company and they had to block all delivery requests going to him until investigation is over. He goes to her apartment and demands that she withdraws the claim of harassment because it's not true (if anything, she harassed him by trying to solicit sexual favors) and also this is his livelihood. She initially refuses until he promises to deliver to her house every day. She relented and hands him over a money tip with a bloody trashbag to throw away for her. They did this for several days until curiosity overtook him on why the bags are always smelly and bloody. He finds a fresh slab of flesh when he opens it but he couldnt tell if it was animal or human meat. On the day he thought about finally confronting the girl about the bags of flesh, he found her door open and goes inside. Turned out the pieces of flesh are actually hers. She's been cutting off pieces of her own flesh to become "skinny". She captures him with a bear trap. She says since she sacrificed this much to become his ideal type, he must also sacrifice to be her ideal type (her ideal type is a quiet man btw). It seems she cut off or damaged his vocal cords and sew his lips shut. Apparently this is the lead actor's (Dex) debut into acting. How he got to be the lead is surprising. I'm not saying he's a bad actor, he's actually decent and promising. I'm just surprised they gave someone with no experience in professional acting yet the lead role. Normally, even the good ones only get supporting character roles then they work their way up. Anyway, he was great and i won't be surprised if he gets more projects soon.
Rent Mom I didn't fully understand this story. It starts with the trope of rich vs poor. A rich mum becomes friends with a poor mum because the poor mum's daughter saved the rich mum's daughter from a dog attack. It doesn't seem like a genuine friendship. It seems like rich mum just feels indebted or she just likes being seen as humble and kind(?) I dunno but she used the expression "it's nice to eat junk food once in a while". In any case, the poor mum's daughter seem to have 6th sense, there was a female ghost that falls down head first in the middle of the room but it wasnt really explored further like what was up with that? In the end, real feelings come out—rich mum belittle poor mum telling her to know her place, turns into an altercation then death. it turned out that the dog attack was orchestrated by the poor mum's daughter so her mum can befriend the mum of the child she'll fake-save, and in the end the daughter was petting her mum like a pet, like what is going on??
Going Home A cheating husband committing a series of murders that started with an affair. I dont know if he's lucky or unlucky. he kept getting into bad circumstances and he also keeps getting away by killing. I wanted him to get caught because he's kinda stupid, it's embarassing to be overpowered by a doofus. For example, why would a cop sit beside the suspect (no handcuffs) in the backseat just to question him? Why didn't they check his pockets for potential weapons?
Phishing Sunja, a bait video content creator, baits men and humiliates them. Horrible woman who says she hates ugly men trying to have a one-night stand with beautiful women so she pretends to be consenting to seggs to guys she meets online, she hides while she watches them arrive, and when they're "ugly", she sets up a trap where she makes them do nasty and embarassing things while she streams them live, then she doxes them afterward. Both sides are supposed to be consenting adults so I kinda feel sorry for the men she victimizes. She got her comeuppance with the last having a violent streak. I understand that he'd want to take revenge because Sunja is honestly a very awful person, but he's actually the same or worse because he's a killer. No likeable characters, even the police is useless. She reports potentially having an intruder and they just walked around her apateu apateu to check, didn't even open cabinets or check under tables.
One-person Storage I'm a happy loner so I'm confused with the character of Jae-yoon. He's a handsome guy who's frequently approached by women, but he mopes around and claims to be very lonely. It's confusing because women approach him all the time but he doesn't talk much and just stares into space; his friend often invites him to hang-out but he always tries to refuse—it's like he doesn't want to be around people, but he complains about always being alone and feeling lonely. I get that he's shy and nervous but if he wants companions, he should make more of an effort with the people he meets. I suppose with the ending of him being literally alone stuck in the backrooms would help him realize he wasn't truly alone when he was in normal world since he was surrounded by people and often approached by people. in a way, by acting distant, he chose to be alone. in the backrooms, he has no choice because he's really stuck there by himself.
Overall, the series was great. Not outstanding but still very enjoyable. I dont really have a favorite story, but if i had to pick one, I suppose "Please Throw Away" was the most engaging, only because I was curious about the glimpses of the day in the life of delivery people. The least engaging is probably One-Person Storage because it seems the most dramatic in the sense that it tries to make the viewers sad with the characters, and I don't understand why a character who doesn't want to be alone and lonely doesn't talk to the people who are actively reaching out to him, like make an effort man! It seems he doesnt want to be friends with outgoing people, what he wants is someone who is equally or more miserably alone and lonely and i didnt feel bad for him about his tragic fate. I hope they make more. there are still a lot of tarot cards that remain unused and would make great premises of stories.
Promising newcomer this Ha Da-In, she may have almost the same expression but her character calls for it. She actually portrayed how someone who is just sick of being alive looks like. That scene dealing with the lying korean karen was my favorite in this movie. Their acting was so organic, it's like watching real life. Yeah that korean karen actor was also very good.
It's still a fun watch—the action choreo is great (though KNG's character is almost too OP), the 1st episode had a good hook (Woo Jihyun did a fantastic job playing a decent guy who snapped), and the struggles and psychology of good people pushed to kill were enlightening and heartbreaking. Not among the best series of the year, but still enjoyable.
I like Korean thrillers so seeing the trailer and the cast, I was excited to watch it, but it turned out to be disappointing.
The plot was initially intriguing. I thought there was gonna be a mystery to solve, but it turned out to be pretty straightforward murders—no whodunnit, no twists.
What put me off are the decisions of the MC, Yeongha, and the incompetence of the police.
Yeongha, man, why would you clean up what you suspect is a crime scene instead of just reporting a potential crime? To protect your dead wife's dream home and keep it from potentially being called a "murder house" by the public? That's so dumb. You're gonna let a child murderer get away just for that? You think your dead wife would be pleased?
And the police, oh boy! On a quiet street in a quiet town, right in front of a police station with several cops as witness, Seong Ah rams her car into Yeongha's with clear intent to harm, and she's not even arrested or taken in for questioning. And that one horny cop, he already knew Seong Ah is suspicious, but because she's stunning, he easily gives in when she asked for a favor and even acted like her guard dog on a leash. Officer Bo Min may be the only competent one and she actually has good intuition but since her subordinates suck, that reflects badly on her too.
Go Min Si played her character so well that her scenes infuriate me. I'm a bit disappointed with the shift in her character though. In the first episode, she was like a quiet, mysterious woman and I found her rather disarming and scary. But when she returned to the rental home, her character became a common murderous spoiled rich brat. She played the annoying shameless character well, but she's no longer scary—at least for me, because the mystery is gone and she just became this regular bully who murders people who won't fight back—like a little boy, or kind or injured middle-aged men. She looked helpless and rather lame when dealing with groups of people or when dealing with people who are ready to fight back like Yeongha's daughter, or her ex-husband.
Overall, it's an ok series, but mainly for the beautiful locations and setting, and the acting of the cast. The pacing drags and there are plenty of what looks like filler scenes to stretch the episodes.
It may just be a personal interpretation, but they played the earlier episodes almost like a dark comedy. The ways the main guy, Lee Tang, keeps getting away with killing is so hilariously ridiculous. At first I thought the intention was to be subtly slapstick, but turns out it was his power. He's kind of like Domino from Deadpool 2—he's very lucky, but only when it comes to getting away with killing. For the other aspects of his existence, he's down on his luck. Just some of the hilarious ways he gets away with murder—a fly just happened to perfectly obstruct the cctv blocking the image of him holding the murder weapon; the dog of one of the people he killed licked all the objects he touched on the day he came over and committed the crime. It's what actually got me hooked. Whenever he kills someone, I want to see how his extremely good luck will make him get away with it. Unfortunately for me, from episode 4 onwards, they just speed-run his murders and cut them into a montage to focus on other characters because Lee Tang was hiding and laying low. Also, the comedy aspect kind of disappeared. I understand it was because killing and being on the run was taking a toll on the main character, so the mood had to be more serious now, but I liked the slightly comedic tone it had so when it turned serious, I kind of lost a bit of interest. In any case I still want to find out how it ends and it was still good so I kept at it.
Overall, it was an enjoyable watch. Maybe one thing that kind of irked me is the overuse of slow-mo. It reminds me Zack Snyder's Rebel Moon that overuses slow-mo even for the most mundane scenes—as if that will make it epic when it's just annoying and drags the runtime.
I dont know why but whenever the lifestyle of the rich and powerful in NK is depicted, it always looks try-hard and noveau riche to me, like they try to be classy and sophisticated but it just looks like someone with bad taste desperately trying to copy someone with good taste and failing. Perhaps it's because at the back of my mind, I'm thinking however they try to act superior, they still have nothing to show off when they are puppets and easily-controlled by a gross despicable dictator and running a dirt-poor country. They're comparable to someone wearing diamonds yet living in the gutters and running errands for a foul-stenched angry drunkard—the diamonds are not impressing anyone.
In any case, i see homosexual undertones. There is a clear history of a romantic relationship between Kyo-hwan's and Song Kang's characters. I bet they were lovers in Russia, at a time when children of the upper class are sent abroad for education, but homosexuals are persecuted in NK and i suppose they needed to get back in their closets once they came back to NK to fulfill their duties. I reckon this must be why Kyo-hwan was so persistent in recapturing Je-hoon despite being childhood friends. My theory is that Je-hoon must be his first crush before he became lovers with Song Kang, which is why he seemed to feel conflicted about him. Je-hoon was clearly acting sus in the earlier part of the movie, and Kyo-hwan already seemed on to him but he would always brush it off or make excuses for him. Nevertheless, it seems he hated how someone from lower class or very poor background dare to pursue freedom when he can't—he had to stay in the closet and be a military man instead of be with Song Kang and play the piano. He seems to have that if-i-cant-be-happy-nobody-else-is-allowed-to-be-happy mentality. He may have seemed to change his mind later, but I don't think he did. He stopped only because the SK soldiers came to rescue Je-hoon or maybe I was seeing that differently. In any case, I'm glad Je-hoon was able to live a more promising life in SK. If only more defectors get to have the same successful story of survival.
If i had any takeaway, it's that this and the Japanese one made me more wary of phone or laptop repair shops. I only go to service centers certified by the manufacturer and so far I have NEVER been asked for my password so that small repair shop in a dodgy location with only 1 employee who almost doesn't talk and who covers almost his entire face (the face mask makes sense but the baseball cap worn low indoors? sus.) and demands for the password is already a series of glaring red flags. If I was the protagonist, I'd have walked away even if the service has already been paid for by the stranger who "found" my phone.
The cast did great. Jinyoung is a good dramatic actor, however personally i don't find him believable as an asshole. I mean there are times in this movie where he could act like a douche but it's not consistent, like he sometimes forgets that he's playing an angry delinquent. I think it might be something about his brows and eyes. He has a habit of raising it making him look like a puppy, which is why i like his performance as the poor innocent mentally-challenged twin more than the angry violent delinquent.
Anyway, about the story and the characters..firstly, I'm confused because the teacher read his profile and said he's 28 years old, but why was he sent to a juvenile center when 28 is no longer juvenile? And the other "students" also don't look juvenile. They all look like adults who should've been sent to regular prison.
The SA part is hard to watch, especially when the victim is mentally-challenged. I'm also confused about the motivation of the characters. Why is Il-woo so angry at his twin? He's always shouting and hitting and acting annoyed at him. I dont remember a scene where he was even nice to him so I dont believe in his passion to find out what happened and punish his killers. Based on the horrible way he treated his twin, he seemed like the sort of brother who would feel relieved that his twin is gone. He's not so different from the bullies who tormented others in the facility.
The soft-spoken teacher being a rapist was a surprise for me, but then again I'm bad at guessing twists. I did find it a bit creepy how he caressed Son Hwan's photo when he was looking at his file that time when it was his turn for counseling, but i thought i may have just misread it. I suppose he thought he was in love with his victims because he really seemed like he cared a lot (at least at first when i didn't know he was a rapist yet). At least he killed the bullies because wow, they are fockin horrible. I mean even the bullied are probably bad "kids" (they're in a juvenile correctional center after all) but the bullies seem to be a different level of evil. I didn't feel bad when the teacher killed them. It was concerning though that he only got 4 years for killing 4 "kids", not to mention, he wasn't even tried as a rapist? However, the film seems to suggest that he will be killed soon in prison because one of the bullies he killed has a powerful father and it seemed like he sent an assassin maybe? i dunno, the subtitle wasn't good.
In any case, i'm glad i watched it. If anything, it taught me to be more wary of people. Even those who seem to treat people kindly could be twisted, like that teacher who i thought was a kind and caring man, but turned out to be a rapist.
I'm one of those who have decided never to have children because i simply dont want to be a parent or guardian. I'm lucky to have found a partner who feels the same. With that sentiment, I can't help but feel uncomfortable with how the ML's life changed. Though he didn't look full of joy with his original life, he looked like he's managing well. When he was thrust into an alternate life as a family man, he clearly looked unhappy. He looked annoyed at his wife and kids. He's a different person from the man he would've been if he had become a husband and a father. At first I felt like it was unfair that he was forced into this life that he clearly didn't want—at least initially. He was the version of himself who didn't choose that life after all. I was relieved that it was not permanent, like he was just given a chance to experience an alternate life. Having experienced both life as a rich successful bachelor movie star and life as a humble well-loved family man slash minor TV actor, he could decide what truly makes him happy and navigate his life to that goal. It was a nice feel-good ending.
My personal takeaway from the film is that you don't have to give up one dream for another, with enough drive and effort and support from the people who matter to you, you can find the right balance and achieve them all.
Kim Ji-hoon is so good as a creepy villain. He does evil so well, I understand why he's almost typecasted as a bad guy. Jun Jong-seo has already proven many times that she's got range as an actor, but badass roles like this seem to fit her best. I want to see her do more action. Overall, very enjoyable movie.
The mum character is winding me up. She claims to be very worried about a potential intruder with her daughter she left alone at home, but she texts instead of calls and when she asked her boss to let her go home early, she walks so slowly and leisurely and even pauses and just stands there while talking to her daughter on the phone—like, run home b!tch! you saw someone filming your daughter, why aren't you in a hurry?!
Couple Management
What a toxic relationship! The girlfriend who lies and cheats—only staying with boyfriend until she finds someone better and more successful, having an affair to secure a "better" boyfriend before she breaks up. The boyfriend who is so obsessed about marrying her, he refuses to use a condom, tries to baby-trap her and when that doesn't work, he lets someone break her legs so she will be "less appealing" to other men and become dependent on him; then he eventually finds her less appealing so he starts to cheat too. They deserve each other. Go get married and be miserable.
Please Throw Away
A customer gets obsessed with a handsome delivery rider. She's not subtle with her advances and he rejects her. She thinks it's because she's fat and that his ideal type must be skinny girls, but personally I think it's because she's a creep and hella demanding. Whenever he delivers to her door, she forces him to drink or eat and when he finally refused (because the water she offered didnt taste right so it's only fair to be sus and not take any more food from a stranger), she offered him money as tip instead. One time later she asked him to get inside and suggested to do something sexual, which is fockin creepy! He responded more harshly this time and outright rejected her telling her dont expect him to come again. She falsely reports him for sexual harassment to the delivery company and they had to block all delivery requests going to him until investigation is over. He goes to her apartment and demands that she withdraws the claim of harassment because it's not true (if anything, she harassed him by trying to solicit sexual favors) and also this is his livelihood. She initially refuses until he promises to deliver to her house every day. She relented and hands him over a money tip with a bloody trashbag to throw away for her. They did this for several days until curiosity overtook him on why the bags are always smelly and bloody. He finds a fresh slab of flesh when he opens it but he couldnt tell if it was animal or human meat. On the day he thought about finally confronting the girl about the bags of flesh, he found her door open and goes inside. Turned out the pieces of flesh are actually hers. She's been cutting off pieces of her own flesh to become "skinny". She captures him with a bear trap. She says since she sacrificed this much to become his ideal type, he must also sacrifice to be her ideal type (her ideal type is a quiet man btw). It seems she cut off or damaged his vocal cords and sew his lips shut. Apparently this is the lead actor's (Dex) debut into acting. How he got to be the lead is surprising. I'm not saying he's a bad actor, he's actually decent and promising. I'm just surprised they gave someone with no experience in professional acting yet the lead role. Normally, even the good ones only get supporting character roles then they work their way up. Anyway, he was great and i won't be surprised if he gets more projects soon.
Rent Mom
I didn't fully understand this story. It starts with the trope of rich vs poor. A rich mum becomes friends with a poor mum because the poor mum's daughter saved the rich mum's daughter from a dog attack. It doesn't seem like a genuine friendship. It seems like rich mum just feels indebted or she just likes being seen as humble and kind(?) I dunno but she used the expression "it's nice to eat junk food once in a while". In any case, the poor mum's daughter seem to have 6th sense, there was a female ghost that falls down head first in the middle of the room but it wasnt really explored further like what was up with that? In the end, real feelings come out—rich mum belittle poor mum telling her to know her place, turns into an altercation then death. it turned out that the dog attack was orchestrated by the poor mum's daughter so her mum can befriend the mum of the child she'll fake-save, and in the end the daughter was petting her mum like a pet, like what is going on??
Going Home
A cheating husband committing a series of murders that started with an affair. I dont know if he's lucky or unlucky. he kept getting into bad circumstances and he also keeps getting away by killing. I wanted him to get caught because he's kinda stupid, it's embarassing to be overpowered by a doofus. For example, why would a cop sit beside the suspect (no handcuffs) in the backseat just to question him? Why didn't they check his pockets for potential weapons?
Phishing
Sunja, a bait video content creator, baits men and humiliates them. Horrible woman who says she hates ugly men trying to have a one-night stand with beautiful women so she pretends to be consenting to seggs to guys she meets online, she hides while she watches them arrive, and when they're "ugly", she sets up a trap where she makes them do nasty and embarassing things while she streams them live, then she doxes them afterward. Both sides are supposed to be consenting adults so I kinda feel sorry for the men she victimizes. She got her comeuppance with the last having a violent streak. I understand that he'd want to take revenge because Sunja is honestly a very awful person, but he's actually the same or worse because he's a killer. No likeable characters, even the police is useless. She reports potentially having an intruder and they just walked around her apateu apateu to check, didn't even open cabinets or check under tables.
One-person Storage
I'm a happy loner so I'm confused with the character of Jae-yoon. He's a handsome guy who's frequently approached by women, but he mopes around and claims to be very lonely. It's confusing because women approach him all the time but he doesn't talk much and just stares into space; his friend often invites him to hang-out but he always tries to refuse—it's like he doesn't want to be around people, but he complains about always being alone and feeling lonely. I get that he's shy and nervous but if he wants companions, he should make more of an effort with the people he meets. I suppose with the ending of him being literally alone stuck in the backrooms would help him realize he wasn't truly alone when he was in normal world since he was surrounded by people and often approached by people. in a way, by acting distant, he chose to be alone. in the backrooms, he has no choice because he's really stuck there by himself.
Overall, the series was great. Not outstanding but still very enjoyable. I dont really have a favorite story, but if i had to pick one, I suppose "Please Throw Away" was the most engaging, only because I was curious about the glimpses of the day in the life of delivery people. The least engaging is probably One-Person Storage because it seems the most dramatic in the sense that it tries to make the viewers sad with the characters, and I don't understand why a character who doesn't want to be alone and lonely doesn't talk to the people who are actively reaching out to him, like make an effort man! It seems he doesnt want to be friends with outgoing people, what he wants is someone who is equally or more miserably alone and lonely and i didnt feel bad for him about his tragic fate. I hope they make more. there are still a lot of tarot cards that remain unused and would make great premises of stories.