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one of a kind, romantic and melancholic
Script is a wonderful fusion. Extremely funny, romantic and melancholic. Canada never looked so lovely. Did I say extremely funny? You havent lived until you weep from laughing at a gorgeous Grim Reaper and blindingly handsome Goblin warrior struggle with learning to use cell phones.Kim Go Eun is astounding -- watch this drama for her acting skills.
Her facial control and timing is incredible. You can see that she is a great film actress.
She doesnt overpower the charm of the others, but she rules the room in charisma.
She is absolutely enchanting as a 18 year old (k-reckoning 19) darting here and there -- very comical, unleashed innocence and knowledge all at once.
She is heartbreaking as a grown woman, as brilliant and shining as her Goblin often says she is.
Great physical attitude-visuals from the dashing duo of Lee Dong Wook and Gong Yoo. Yoo In Ah is in beautiful form here. Excellent and consistently funny supporting cast. A good year for fashion, the leads are very chic.
One of those great kdrama soundtracks that tells you with charming dominance what you must feel at every turn of the plot: squeezing out your tears, filling you with melancholy, calming your fears as only kdrama must, so that you will worry, watch so closely that you will drop snacks all over the couch and sigh with satisfaction and relief as lovely resolutions of the plot appear....
Guardian can be watched again and again without any loss of magic. And it is being watched right now, this very minute, by hundreds of viewers around the globe. So join their company and watch well!
A Studio Dragon Show with the composer Nam Hye Seung. Writer Kim Eun Sook.
first posted on viki oct 29th 2024
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amazingly beautiful love story
A brilliant show, Cdrama modern, 2025, 24eps x 45mins ea. = 18hrs watchtime. The two leads, Zhao Jin Mai, as Cherry (Lin Qi Le), and Zhang Ling He, as her true love Jiang Qiao Xi, give the performances of their careers so far. I recommend this whole-heartedly for both its romance and for the nostalgia of its main backstory which mostly runs from '96 through 2000.However you will be as immediately captivated as I was by the first episode in which the child actress who represents the young Cherry dominates the scene and the adult leads do not appear at all. No cutesy first-love-flashback, the anchor for the life-time love of Cherry and Qiao Xi is seen clearly. A perfectly and swiftly established full portrait of childhood, which should have felt sentimental, but stayed close enough to reality to be sincere yet still fun.
The cinematography, from the opening home village section, all the way through the high school scenes, the college scenes and the scenes in Hong Kong, is carefully tailored to each set of episodes; filters, spaces, perspectives all are unique and perfect. I dont know Hong Kong, but I have a sneaking feeling that the elephant in the room for the street scenes is that region's cinematic history/style. Michael Tone and Carmen Lee show up as family in Hong Kong and there are some cute meta-jokes
The soundtrack is full of songs that create a nostalgic feeling; their lyrics often run point-counter-point to the narrative, uplifting action-only sequences to poetry.
Zhao Min Lai comes into her own in this role. Her portrayal of Cherry's courageous fidelity circles back through puppy love to the steadfastness of childhood, as she (Cherry) becomes an adult right in front of our eyes. Working as an actress since the age of 10, ZML has accomplished what many child actors havent, to become an adult artist, flexible, sincere and skilled. May she never be restricted to costume dramas again!
Zhang Ling He also takes risks as he moves into less-stylized roles of moderns. As the youth Qiao Xi, ZLH's portrayal of hesitancy and fear will not surprise you, but his performance of the almost adult QX is powerful and meticulous. Great balance of vulnerability with strength. His work with Zhao is way beyond the Princess Royal (obviously!), they both are courageous with their talents.
To be honest, the saccharine opening credits almost put me off watching, but this drama is so wonderful that I even became fond of them in the end.
ps. Just some amazing things -- What is the gift for a boys maturity?, Cherry asks QiaoXi. A full kitchenware set, says he, in my dreams I cook you countless meals.
Cherry, as a child and the leader of her gang, being hastily pulled back to earth by her buddies when she stands on a high ridge and declares she can fly! There couldnt be a better metaphor (or more beautiful visually) for why her friends are an essential part of Cherry's groundedness.
pps. It is confusing to read reviews referring to Cherry/Lin Qi Le as Ying Tao. The reviewers are confusing a different heroine (Ying Tao) from the novel which is the basis for the drama, with the actual character (Qi Le) in the drama itself.
ppps. Maybe we should have a romance vs. true love label? The ability to accept the childlike part of your lover is a crucial basis for a long-term relationship and part of the fundamental trust that we label as true love.
Many people have expressed their dislike of this story, saying that it was not romantic enough for them. There is nothing wrong with a well-choreographed kiss with good music just before the trials and tribulations of a romance show, and hot interactions/glances/quarrels etc early on. I crave that sort of show as much as anyone else, just not all the time.
However, this is not that show, and it is still a wonderful depiction of true love, and I would place the difference squarely in its depiction of trust.
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This review may contain spoilers
Springtime in Seoul; the comedy of soft porn and the dictatorship
A soap-bubble of a story about the beginnings of the erotic film industry in Seoul. 2025, kdrama, 6eps x 50mins ea = 5 hrs watchtime.A young director/scriptwriter (Jo Hyun Chul under a mop of hair) struggles to create a viable commercial script for an erotic movie in a country where erotica was suddenly possible. In 1981 a 20-yr dictatorship (by then) decided to lift a 37yr old curfew, midnight to 4 am, so showing adult-only movies became possible. Chun Doo Hwan, the surviving henchman of Park Chung Hee (assassinated in 1979) was promoting a bread-and-circuses program of sports, sex and the screen.
The process and consequences of producing and shooting the very real 1982 blockbuster movie Madame Aema are the scaffolding of the series. The actual film is refracted in this series rather than fully represented. The director channeling Emmanuelle (french novel and various films) originally lards the script with semi-solitary sex acts. The star actress Jung Hee-ran, played by Honey Lee, comically remarks that the lack of motivation for those acts presents an obstacle to an actress' interpretation. In Su, the director, after their conversation, eventually decides to go with a Japanese surrealism-concept instead (thus getting around the motivation problem) and to use simpler relationships.
Hee-ran's contractual feud with the producer has led to her being cast in only a supporting role. The story of the ingenue actress Shin Ju Ae (played by Bang Hyo Rin, who gets the part of Aema) is the backbone of the series. The central relationship is between these two women. Not director - actress, not producer - actress, but actress to actress. Hee-ran tries to warn off Ju-Ae from the profession, berating and belittling her. But when Ju Ae is nearly pimped out to the dictator, Here-ran has a revelatory moment. She sides with Ju Ae not out of kindness or feminine loyalty or friendship, but because she suddenly realizes how much of herself she has given away -- too much. The two eventually are creative and courageous.
Somehow I was reminded of Springtime for Hitler (Mel Brooks' The Producers) when puzzling over the tone of presenting the Chun Doo Hwan administration comically -- after all the Gwanjiu uprising was in May of 1980, only16 mos. before the successful Olympic bid for the 88 Olympics was announced on Sept 30, 1981, which is where the series' action begins. The regime's persecution didnt feel as funny for me as it should have, but that may be me. I read somewhere that under an oppressive regime cinema can only portray private life so politics becomes metaphor. There were/are plenty of metaphors available in this show. It is my feeling that it will merit a rewatch.
ps. in the comments some seemed not to understand that the regime arrested tortured and killed people at will during most of the 80's. Too young to know, I suppose. Well, sometimes things are so bad it is better to laugh than cry, and that doesn't require age to understand.
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"If we do not give up, anything is possible"
Typhoon Family reads like a well-made, sentimental and mildly patriotic Hollywood movie (only 8+x longer!). I cried happy, proud tears continuously throughout the last half of the last episode. A total paean to small businesses everywhere and the affections and family lives of ordinary people.Koreans are justly proud of their country's revival from the IMF crisis and of the 'Miracle on the Han River' which followed. In a nation full of tragic and painful histories, the resilience of everyday citizens remains a marvel then and now. Ma-Jin, the initial head of sales at Typhoon Trading, says it best. ( in the English translation) " Times may change but I believe there are timeless things...well, it's nothing much: family, love, comradeship, and patriotism. Things like those."
This series follows a business struggling thru the crisis and a family struggling with loss. Businesses often face disasters and either snatch success from the jaws of defeat, or they fail and start again. Businesspeople will tell you nothing different. In fact they will regale you with such tales until your ears turn blue.
I am not quite sure how the creators of this series dared to make history this mundane the subject of a drama, and how they discovered the magic recipe of Typhoon Family. Episode after episode of struggling with the dastardly opposing company who live by the belief that business is a zero-sum game where compassion is weakness, somehow never became boring. The anxiety alone will keep you roiled up and attentive.
The show has several through lines, but episodes are organized by things the company finds to sell. Honestly fascinating as you reflect on korean economic history, the team must locate supply lines, figure out funding problems and transport logistics for the following: surgical-quality rubber gloves, helmets to use on scooters, safety shoes for work using new high-performance materials, finally micro-fans for cooling small electronics (cameras ostensibly but we all know where they are destined). I found the last segment particularly affecting as it highlighted the sort of patented inventions created by regular people in their spare time in other great periods of technological change around the world.
JunHo's best qualities as an actor are showcased: his tenderness, his unabashed idealism and his sturdy, stubborn portrayals of men who lead by protecting others. The script boldly tossed the usual FL roles out the window and the casting of Kim Min Ha as the FL was courageous as well. The character is a diligent, tactful, ambitious person, in short, a normal elder child, an affectionate and responsible girl. The progression of their relationship is almost too gentle, too discreet, too respectful. and once again, only in the ending episode do you realize how strong that relationship can be without any fanfare at all.
Kim Min-Seok (once again!) and Kwon Han Sol will steal your heart, break it into little pieces and put it back together again as the second couple. The street scenes are a joy, the office scenes are lived-in, with that edge that domesticity brings -- utility balanced against order. The scene dressers deserve a special award.
The technical aspects of the show demonstrate absolute professionalism and balance. The soundtrack is of course wonderful, but everything, cinematography, camerawork, choreography, editing supports the story directly and cleanly. I recommend this highly. I watched it on air for six weeks, but I thin k it will be a better bingewatch. And a rewatch for a family party or a long warm evening.
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a dishonorable but admirably stoic heroine and great smalltime crooks
2024 film. A temple holding secrets, a grilled fish and soju by the sea, women drinking whiskey and Ji Chang Wook hopping around, crazed and pantless. with tattooed thighs. These are a few of my favourite things. JCW is still charming even as a "mad dog covered in perfume". He made a very very good villain and I hope he does more such roles. He has a range and energy which should not be confined only to romance.An excellent movie, in the vein of many a british production, situated in the small-time underworld of characters with little compunction or shame who can be very entertaining nevertheless, without entering the world of slapstick
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Jeon Do Yeon is an ultimate action star, here as Ha Su Young, a dishonorable ex-detective who was cheated out of her promised payoff while in jail. JDY plays her as an uncomplicated and unfussy woman who knows what she wants and what her limits are. Admirable for her restraint and focus, she is a tenacious, hardened and powerful fighter whom the villains underestimate.
The lovely and duplicitous Jung Yoon Seon, played by Im Ji Yeon, an ex-lover of HSY's now deceased detective partnerand a peripheral part of the group of gangsters, becomes HSY's fan. When she hops out of the car to do an impromptu victory dance in the middle of a battle royal deep in the forests of Sokcho, you will want to dance in your seat too. When the shady detective sidekick exasperatedly asks JYS what she likes about Ha Su Young, she widens her eyes, laughs a little and says, "Everything!". Me too.
Wait for the monk who claps his hands when Mommy Dearest appears.
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about making movies and the crazy pressures of being a female celebrity.
A great watch, a good binge, lots of fun at 12 eps of 50mins ea. A workplace drama set in the film industry with an ensemble cast of 4 to 9 actresses (depending on where you are in the plot). Not a female-buddy show or a 9-to-5 show. Two main themes are that life is too short to hold grudges against friends or to reject sincere romantic love. As so often in shows placed in the entertainment world (perennial crowd-pleasers), those who work at creating illusions and dreams do not often have an easy time in their private lives.A nuanced script creates 3-dimensional characters, imperfect, often funny, struggling as we all do to balance work and love, to live a human life. The estrangement and reconciliation of the friends who are the two main characters ties the show together. The plot's focus moves through the whole ensemble cast, starting with a coming-of-age story about the youngest actress and ending romantically for another. In between 2 women rescue fading careers, 3 people retire and 1 comes back from retirement, there are 2 or 3 divorces, 2 breakups, 2 affairs, 2 true love stories and, all the actresses learn and grow in their careers and as persons.
The frame is the the intense rhythm and stress of directing and producing two movies in sequence by a husband and wife team. The work ethic of these successful actresses means that their personal lives are put on hold during shooting and once the films wrap they have to deal with whatever problems have arisen meanwhile at home. The movies are plays-within-plays, their plots reflecting these women's lives superficially. The show concentrates on what happens behind the scenes.
My favourite out of these 9 equally talented actresses and their characters is Cheryl Yang as Chou Fan, living in semi-retirement in a filthy hotel room. She is brittle and difficult, unfiltered and vulnerable. She was the offender in the wedding debacle that caused the rift with her best friend, she is past-her-prime (maybe) and unknown to a younger generation. My favourite scene? Her, standing in a dumpster, receiving an impulsive confession from a younger guy standing in the adjacent dumpster. Of course.
I feel as if saying that women might enjoy this show more is like saying that The Hunt For Red October is best appreciated by men and enlisted personnel. However there is very little bromance (there is one cute scene though) in the show as opposed to the central group of female friends frequently letting off steam over snacks and drinks. Imagining being the lover of a fabulously beautiful actress but meeting up with a real person instead of the fantasy is an underlying theme which is easily accessible to men, and the mess an affair can make of one's life is of universal interest. In the end this is a very good show about friendship, about making movies, and about the crazy pressures of being a female celebrity. I predict it will be a future classic in this genre.
simultaneously posted on viki
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Powerful performances, powerful script
I forgot where I was, what time it was and when I had last eaten. It was that good. There are other better reviews out there, and I can only concur that the script is extremely intelligent, nuanced and engrossing (Writer -- Song Hye Jin). The actors gave great performances under what looks like inspired directing (Director --Jo Young Min). Kdrama modern, 2025. 15eps x 1hr +- . The excellent production's technical aspects: camerawork, scene dressings, soundtrack (Roy Kim!!!), are all designed not to intrude on a centrally theatrical piece, upon the exposition of the characters' development and interactions with each other.The script is just too big to unpack in a review, so I just want to clarify what I think is the central point. One of the central pair of friends, Sang-Yeon, is essentially an old-fashioned sociopath -- she is unable to love and uses others without compunction or shame. For me the actual string of tension throughout the grownup life of Sang-Yeon and EunJung is whether or not Sang-Yeon is going to let loose into full-blown crazed stalker mode at any given point.
She ruins truehearted EunJung's college romance because she wanted the boy for herself but couldn't make it happen. She ruins EunJung's career in film production, and makes millions in the process.
From the very beginning Sang-Yeon hates her little friend Eun Jung, in a classic match up -- Sang-Yeon has material wealth but lacks human affection, while Eun Jung , although very poor, is loved by not only her own mom and her own friends, but by Sang-Yeon's Mom and Sang-Yeon's older brother. Giving love to get love is an avenue closed to those who are, like SangYeon, afraid to open up.
As others around them excuse or puzzle over SangYeon's behavior the usual 'nature/nurture' theories swirl --was she neglected by her mom for her needier older brother, was she just suffering from a worm of envy and jealousy which deformed her personality, or was that constant and careful manipulation of those closest to her simply how she chose to live her life?
This is what makes the ending of the series work, despite it getting a little preachy about ethically-assisted-suicide. Because Sang-Yeon is dying, and because she is still strong-willed enough to force EunJung to help, they verbally bargain their way into the switzerland trip. SangYeon ends up making a public apology for her worst deeds and EunJUng ends up helping her to find a 'good death'. Is it true friendship? No. But it is a true life spent in each others' pockets, as a part of each others' found-families at least.
Now if only I could be sure that EunJung's true love would come back to her...But one thing is for sure, Kim Go Eun and Park Ji Hyun will be nominated for all the awards shows for this one! They were phenomenal.
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Lee Sung Min and Nam Joo Hyuk are outstanding as an accidental pair: Freddie/Han Pil Ju, an elderly waiter whose family was brutally destroyed in the Occupation, and the student In Gyu, also a waiter, burdened by his fathers hospital bills and loan sharks. The actor Lee Sung Min has some recent and well-deserved successes, and Nam Joo Hyuk is about to finally make his post service comeback, which is why I picked this to watch.
Pil Ju carries out a meticulous plan to murder three Korean collaborators and one Japanese colonial official whose actions caused the deaths of his family. They are also now powerful people in South Korea who profited greatly from their betrayal of innocents. To begin with In Gyu innocently takes on the paid job of zooming Freddy around Seoul in a lovely little red Porsche. Then in increasing agitation as he realizes what Pil Ju is doing he comically tries both to stop his friend and extricate himself all at the same time .
Yes, the Occupation is long over (80 years now). Perhaps one should not encourage the holding of historical grudges. But as long as families still have remembered pain, resolution must be sought. This film justly abhors profiteering from war crimes.
Whether dramatic art actually encourages political violence, or prevents it via catharsis, has long been debated. See what you think. For my part the film is comical enough for sadness to be the dominant emotion rather than anger. The pain, brutality and cruelty of the long World Wars of the 20th century still casts a shadow -- but for those who do not know this history the film may lose some resonance.
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cool, soon-to-be classic
A gem. 10 episodes at 1hr ea. and the first really brilliant kdrama in the new international streaming formats. A black comedy.Woo Do Hwan was born to play this role: a tragi-comic loner with a big heart and a mordant sensibility. No other current leading drama actor could have carried off this character's combination of sensuality and innocence in the squalid universe in which he lives. In the Korean context his theory of the life of a drifter as an essential micro-organism in the life of society is fundamentally radical. As a runaway from the psychologically unbearable life of a 'good son' in the Korean upper middle class he also has the chameleonic-like ability to insert himself into varying social strata which is necessary to a conman, but he uses these abilities to help others (for big bucks of course).
An original script which combines generic expectations from kdrama (romedy and crime) and from the common international cinematic universe (road movies, riches to rags sociological commentary). These serve to maintain dramatic interest and emotional involvement while still streamlining out some of the more baroque parts of lengthier classic kdrama.
As a road movie, relationships are developed and memories are dissected by two characters at a time, in the intimate space of the two front seats. Theatrically, the setting in the fluid life of the underclass in a time of extreme social stratification, has been an eternally fascinating subject, whether in the cinema of mid-century US and Europe or in 21st century Korean films and drama.
The farce-like stock characters of kdrama (and some less common ones) set up expectations in the viewer which are quietly subverted as their pasts and present are slowly revealed. And some of my favourite stock memes still remain: a funny love triangle, an end-episodes reintegration of the small band and bonds of the main characters, standard and wickedly funny gang involvement, fields of onggi and often a vaguely familiar mysterious character, here John Na, a sunglass-cool bodyguard.
In fact the development of the character arcs is the heart of the drama so I have to stop here to avoid spoilers. GO RIGHT NOW TO THE SHOWPAGE and start watching with a fresh and happy mind open to this wonderful tear-jerker of a romedy-action-road drama.
A Netflix original show, with the composer Kim Taesong. Writer -- Jo Young.
simultaneously posted on viki
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low key and absolutely charming
2025 kdrama sageuk fantasy, 16 eps at 1hr ea. Low-key romedy, absolutely charming; the grudges of ghosts, curses from the past, basic domestic problems and several instances of spirit possession are handled matter-of-factly. The basic work of the reluctant would-not-be-shamaness rests on the compassionate resolution of whatever feelings caused these phenomena in the first place.The setting is divided more or less equally between the homes of the leads in their native village or a humble capital city neighborhood, and the palace of the title. The palace setting is mostly domestic -- the little family of the King, the Queen, the Dowager Queen, and their children is under assault by spirits wishing to wipe out the royal bloodline due to the crimes of past royals. All of us who love Kim Ji Hoon will not be surprised that even at this kind and gentle level of energy he owns every scene he is in.
Kim Ji Yun and Sook Jung Tae start off the show as companiable enemies. She plays Yeo Ri, a craftswoman for whom shamanry is a family business and he plays both her murdered first love Yoon Gap and Kang Cheol, a wonderfully emotional nature spirit of water and wind, an imugi-proto-dragon. Their hatreds arise from the usual misunderstandings and they are companions of a sort because they both perceive the spirit world within the everyday.
The imugi wants the the lenscrafter to accept him as her in-dwelling dominant spirit so as to help him become a dragon. Impulsively possessing the body of her just-murdered first love, he is fated to become her helpmate rather than the other way around, but the road is prickly, fun and happily long (16 eps, remember).
Absolutely amazing supporting actors of the quality without which kdrama would collapse are thick on the ground in this show. My favorite supporting characters, because I adore sweet and sentimental comedy , were the fabulous Kim In Kwon as the head eunuch, "Grilled Abalone", and the great Cha Chung Hwa , as the Mom of the FL's murdered first love.
My favorite things in addition to the above:
The spirit antagonist is a creature of fire and earth, worshipped in an underground cave by a blind sorcerer (!). Water and wind vs. fire and earth!
Kang Cheol's first experience of life in a human body involves the sense of taste -- he goes ecstatic over rice porridge (which look more like hominy grits). Next he discovers the pleasure of nice warm bedsheets. Of course his first kiss as a human is silly and wonderful.
I am not sure this would be a great binge because it was so low-key. Maybe it would be better spaced out for after work and a weekend.
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absurd, wonderful and heartbreaking
The Korean Odyssey/Hwayugi is the 11th script of the Hong sisters. 2018; 20 eps at 1hr20 mins ea. Hwayugi (HW) was one of the first few kdramas I ever watched. It is absurd, wonderful and heartbreaking; an indelible memory. The comedy/romance/supernatural fusion combined with sophisticated filmmaking and an absurdist/surreal panache was enchanting but difficult to ease into; it made me an instant fan, obsessive and curious about the Korean industry and its history.And yes, I bawled buckets the first time... and the second....and...
Please, please give it a try and become a Hong Sisters fan too!
I was amazed at this remake of/take on the chinese buddhist novel Journey to the West (one of the six classic pre-modern chinese novels), whose characters permeate pan-asian cultural products of all kinds.
That premise is essentially a comic set-up. The 3 companions from the novel, the monkey King, the pig, and the fish king are like Homer Simpson -- they are driven by human appetites to constantly get into trouble. It is the job of this motley crew to protect the Monk, Sam Jang (Tang Zang/Xuansang), on his journey to the West, but even he cannot save them from their own idiocy.
But in Hwayugi, Son Oh Gong (SOG) tricks a little girl who sees spirits into releasing him from heaven's punishment of imprisonment. So heaven punishes her by forcing her to take on the dharma of the Monk in modern times. Is this fair, no. Is this a tale of the supernatural, yes, so fairness does not pertain.
The monk in the novel is looking for texts, but in Hwayugi she/he has become a sort of "sin-eater" who has to bear the burden of human evil. Her flesh still has the monk's fragrance of lotus flowers and even a tiny bite of it grants immortality. Meanwhile she grows up plucky and resourceful and turns her spirit-seeing ability to good commercial use as a real estate agent.
The Bull (Demon) King, Ma Wang (MW), who had sent her on the original errand and gotten her into the situation with the Monkey King, ends up remorseful when they all meet later on, He is no longer the novel's villain, but a more ambiguous figure, a media mogul, a celebrity show host. The group moves into his house, SOG (the monkey king), PK (the pig) and the elusive CEO (the fish king). They all pity her but also cannot stay away from her fragrance. Thus the comedy.
Even SOG is uneasy at what they have done; he refuses to admit it but has probably kept an eye on her all along eve,r since she was a child when he tricked her and lied to her. Deities are fundamentally different from us -- but the Monkey King is a demideity; in an ambiguous position, he can fall in love and he does so unwillingly.
There are some cool props: the slave-love bracelet the Geumgango; the Onggi of prophecy in the little shop--as soon as the FL lifts the lid out of curiousity, a pandora's box situation occurs; the Doom Bell and the Love Bell. Spoiler alert, there is no HEA.
ps. The scriptwriting duo of the Hong sisters set the bar if not the entire tone for the kdrama industry renaissance overseas -- not primarily in the West, mind you, but across South, East and West Asia. They are famous for being consistently commercially successful.
Each HS drama stands on its own, rarely repeating genres. The HS use literary tropes and texts with abandon, reinventing them, combining them, with a mastery that is hard to describe. Not only do they always catch the wave of audience interest with their creative wildness, but they also appeal to all different sorts of viewers who can tune into the dramas at differing levels of meaning and complexity.
A Studio Dragon Show with the composer unknown. Writers -- the Hong Sisters.
first posted july 31st 2024 on Viki
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beautiful
A great, delicate movie. 2019. Gong Yoo as a very worried husband trying to do his best for his wife and daughter. A very beautiful Jung Yu Mi, made up to not look as if she were made-up, as a woman worn out from the wild 24 hr effort it takes to be a baby's main caretaker and the main housecleaner.The character Kim Ji Young, whom JYM plays, begins occasionally when very tired or stressed to speak in the voices of other women in her family, articulating the lives they have led as they connected to hers. Her memories in her dreams and while she is awake slide into these dissociative states, which are realistically seen from the outside by her confused husband and/or family. The beauty of the film is that KJY makes a powerful unconscious connection with that community via familial memories. What she cannot articulate for herself consciously is communicated as she enacts the perspectives of others.
She is not alone -- she sees friends occasionally and slowly begins to wonder if she can return to work. Everything seems to conspire to make it so hard for her, for mothers, to work, to take leave, to come back to work. Everywhere all over the world this is a long slow hard change to make, and it is individual people in every family who slowly one by one make those incremental steps happen.
There is nothing, nothing like the masterful way emotion is handled in Korean cinema. She suffers from postpartum depression, but the focus of the film is not clinical, but on the delicate shifts of relationships. I wept when her brother turned and said, next time I will bring you cream buns. You will know why if you watch the film.
I often say that what I love about SK cinema is its absurdist edge, but the surrealistic european heritage which is drawn on was never just about absurdity, it was always about art's journey through the subconscious of society to rescue the strengths of dreams and nightmares. The sheaves of our daily life are always interleaved with our dreams and only the very best cinema can come this close to depicting that.
The MDL list has everyone there, for once, from the cinematographer to the writer. So, take a look; the director is Kim Do Yung, the composer is Kim Tae Seong, and the writer is Yoo Young Ah.
Dont be afraid to watch this film. There was a lot of interesting fuss in Korea about it and about the book it was made from, but the film stands on its own.
ps. I try hard not to say this sort of thing but SK is no better or worse objectively in the treatment of women than the west or anywhere else in asia; its just a shock to see men so entitled as to publically try to shame women back into the Stone Age. In SK women fight and dream just as we all do; everywhere it's 2 steps forward,1 back.
Cinema has the power to shock simply by the enactment of fact. Because This Is My First Life was very first show where I had ever seen the fact that women are given less to eat as children enacted. I knew it was real, a fact, an historical fact, perhaps in the past for developed societies but definitely part of demographic data about childhood mortality, but it was a still a silent shock to see it on screen in front of me. I dont know why. Anyway, just saying...
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Unique, edgy and brilliant
One of my top ten favourite kdramas from the past few years. Unforgettably sad, unforgettably funny. A fusion fantasy/scifi/healing drama about an understaffed, experimental and not very gentle team of Grim Reapers tasked with easing the pressure that Korea's high suicide rate is putting on an overcrowded Hell.A Korean Hell just for Koreans, by the way -- one of my favourite scenes has the head of the Grim Reaper Escort Team, Park Joong Gil (played by Lee Soo Hyuk), rescuing a group of Korean souls during WWII who were being stolen off to a Japanese Hell by a pair of Japanese Reapers!
The Team Manager of the euphemistically named Risk Management Team of the Jumadeung Corporation is a parolee from Hell. Koo Ryeon (played by Kim Hee Sun) has a tough love approach to her work. For example, scaring silly a van full of would-be suicides who are using online instructions, by driving the wrong way through traffic. They beg to be allowed to live. In other cases she uses her supernatural powers when scare tactics dont work.
Her only employee is Lim Ryung Gu (played by Yun Ji On) who refuses to work more than his 8 hr shift (so rebellious in SK context!). The Jade Emperor(ess), the CEO of the squeakily antiseptic white-walled corporate Jumadeung skyscraper, decides to add a recently comatose soul wandering freely as a temporary worker to the team. Choi Jun Woong (played by Kim Seok Woo a.k.a. Rowoon) had just begged the heavens to give him an employee ID card by any means, when he fell off a Han River bridge trying to stop a suicide jumper.
The Team is alerted to each case by a 'negative energy' alert monitor app and they use a variety of scifi methods to investigate each one: entering the subject's dreams or their memories (with very Matrix-like FX), observations of their work environments along with persuasion on a personal level.
Jun Woong slowly transforms Koo Ryeon's approach to suicide prevention as he matures from a bumbling and irrepressible newbie into a hugely compassionate and effective intervention agent. The absolute and pure warmth of Rowoon's performance elevates what would have been a grittily comic Reaper story into something only Korea could have produced, a full length (16 eps at 1hr ea.) clear-eyed depiction of the cascade of forces which drive a person to fear tomorrow more than death.
I stopped at over two dozen listing all of the misfortunes woven into the stories of the dozen or so individual cases the Team handles, Each crisis is developed in original ways, often with an interesting point of view. An excellent compilation of the pressures of life in Korea, some of which are universal but some of which are unique to the history and sociological culture of the peninsula.
One woman feels so guilty over not believing the stories of the suffering of the Korean 'comfort women' enslaved into prostitution by the Japanese Army of WWII because her best friend was taken by them, that she contemplates taking her life. The Team asks her to meet with another sufferer who wanted to see someone who had known their mutual friend before she passed away, and so their pain is sweetly dissolved through tears.
The IMF crisis which deprived so many families of their livelihoods is seen through the eyes of a little child who only remembers a miraculous birthday, and the fried chicken event staged by the team helps to save him as an adult struggling with exam failure. The threads connecting the past with the present have seldom been so delicately indicated,
The show balances the unchanged penalty for suicide in the afterworld as a crime, with deeply moving episodes portraying individual suffering which elicits compassion from the viewer. The joy of Tomorrow is two-fold; it is exhilarating to watch Koo Ryeon stomping the bejeezus out of all the cruel and thoughtless people who torment others to make themselves feel better, and Rowoon's unique ability to project sincere love and care is as always a pleasure. Compassion is the true message of this beautiful show.
A StudioN/MBC show, with the composers Jo Seung Woo and Won Ho Kyung. The creators of the show, the writers,-- Park Ran, Park Ja Kyung and Kim Yu Jin, and the directors, Kim Tae Yoon and Sung Chi Wook, deserve enormous credit. Hoping to see more of their work.
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Sizzling Tang romance
Beautiful and warm. The Tang Dynasty, southern weather, beautiful colors and amazing actors. 32eps x 45mins ea = 24 hrs watch time. ( the part 2 has only 24 eps = 18 hrs) This was originally scripted and mostly produced as a grand drama of 56 eps., but as a result of new rules limiting dramas to no more than 40 episodes it was broken into two and renamed. I would advise chunking it up into a few large sections for bingeing which bridge that break (20/20/16 would do it).Watching on air, I thought fondly about The Floral Envoy and Madam He, the plucky floriculturist (played by the talented actors Li Xian and Yang Zi, respectively) throughout the week as if they were flesh and blood. I watched the opening and closing credits all the way through each time, I loved the show so much.
Yang Zi's beauty puts all the bubbly-girls' looks to shame and, unlike in some of the recent female-centric Cdramas, her portrayal of female strength is professionally centered in the character itself. The plot so realistically depicts the fragility of the space in which any woman then and even now can/could flourish that dramatic tension is created by this alone. One worried constantly about all the ways in which jealous or threatened men (and one very jealous princess) could destroy her life or her business enterprise.
In Will Love in Spring, Li Xian seemed to have an innate fierceness, which here in the character of Jiang Changyang is transmuted into mischievousness. It enables ChangYang to reach out to Madam He at the same time as he steps back. He is completely smitten with her and it makes him so attractive in a movie-star sort of way. I havent read the novel but it sounds like Li Xian has improved the character he plays.
Musicality and pure emotion are the secret greedy pleasures of Kdrama, while in Cdrama it is ethics and antiquarian concerns. The costuming and makeup in this show are so authentic that even scholars got their knickers in twists. The pleasure houses and gardens are great and the many sorts of performances, dancers, singers, puppeteers. Super interesting.
I dont want to say more about all of the four main actors' amazing skills and their characters, because, once again, mdl has published a great interview with the writer, who has said anything I might have wanted to, but better.
However, However. I was incredibly ridiculously disappointed by the lack of clear signals of intimacy at the very end. I really wanted these two lovers to be more serious, to look each other in the eyes and give us at least one lovely kiss.. I even actually contemplated a non-romantic ending where two good friends grow old together (Nah. Not these two.)..I D ID NOT KNOW THERE WAS A PART TWO COMING!!!
Slow burn, sizzling, the strength of their attraction is there, and all the ways in which they physically and emotionally trust each other, from the beginnWng. She grills him dinner in her courtyard every night, he regularly shows up to save her just when all is lost, they put on a fake concubine-marriage for which they happily hang out several times in their pajamas together in a bridal suite in his mansion. He and she have drunk long-buried wedding wine...and now we have to wait . Urgh. Looking for other shows of theirs to watch, I guess...
ps. My take on mme. Wei Fang's interactions with Changyang so far is that she is not willfully obtuse at all. She really enjoys the attention and the flirting. This isnt an annoying juvenile and or damaged FL at all. Remember she is still a virgin, so protective and practical of her own value. And, obviously, a businesswoman whose enterprise is not at the stage where a child would not complicate her attention and energy. I think she balances her needs and responsibilities well. She cares for him, is attentive to his needs and his past wounds, but definitely creates a safe and clear boundary...soon to dissolve!!!
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ultimate cool
Spiritfingers is perfect in itself. The stuff of a thousand rewatches because it is in a category of its own, sui generis, and inimitable. Brightly colored story about imagination and young lovers. A careful and loving adaptation of a popular webtoon.Shot in 2023, many of the up-and-coming younger actors are in this show, looking their very best and being well-directed. Im Chul Soo and Noh Min Woo in minor benevolent roles are always a sign of a high cool quotient.
Good soundtrack, a highschool-er mainly, with lots of good advice but not preachy. The usual dark moments of family drama. Above all, sharply drawn characters who you will not forget.
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