Apart from the movies mentioned below, the Gwangju uprising is also covered in several episodes of Sandglass, made in 1995 but still one of the best Korean dramas ever. Thank you for this article and I'm looking forward to watching this.
Two episodes and I've had enough. The male lead is only capable of a deadpan face: even when he tries to smile, his eyes don't light up. The female lead overacts every moment. I don't think there was a single beat that drew me in.
Very interesting article. I haven't studied film, so thanks for passing on your knowledge. After this one, I looked up your previous article on lighting. Keep writing on this theme! But leave out your apologetic and self-deprecating comments; there's no need for them.
Don't be fooled by all the smiling faces in the posters. This is a dark story about a love triangle, and one of the women has a series flashbacks of being physically abused as a child. The story seemed muddled and unfocussed. The vertiginous views from a Shanghai skyscraper kept me clutching my armchair, and waiting for one of them to fall or jump off (they didn't).
The FL Luo Zhi is so confident in dealing with every person and situation, it's hard to believe she hasn't already…
The final couple of episodes were fragmented and unsatisfying, after a rather enjoyable series. Huainan behaved like a total dick, making a unilateral decision to cut off their relationship without respecting Luo Zhi's right to make her own decision, and then stealing her diary. He deserved more than a light thump from her. In the last episode, a lot of happy endings thrown in that had nothing to do with the story and were like those incredibly sweet Indian sweets after a curry meal, especially the wedding costumes at the end.
Half of the third episode hinges on three separate and extremely unlikely plot coincidences. Fourth episode, the…
10 out of 20 episodes watched and I'm going to drop it; I've given it a fair chance. The newspaper office feels like a bunch of teenagers running around on a treasure hunt run by capricious teachers. The LF and LM both act like teenagers, in fact most of the characters do, despite being adults. The plot is driven by extraordinary coincidences and unbelievable miscommunications explained by improbable events. The scriptwriter doesn't know how to write a believable story with real character development.
Well I think Zhu Dong Yu is shaping into a fine actress in her recent serious movies (Soul Mate, Better Days), and she's good in comedy too, but I'm not keen on fairy stories, so I don't think this one is going to work for me. Maybe I'll give it a try.
Totally different than the movie (a cheap horror movie I disliked), this is a drama of multi-generational trauma and the long struggle for healing. At the heart of the story are a pair of male teacher-female student relationships, one clearly exploitative and abusive, the other presented as noble, and I have a problem with that. The setting is the period in Taiwanese history of the harshly repressive Kuomintang dictatorship, and within that the patriarchal corruption of teachers, and the irresponsibility and selfishness of parents. You could take either as a metaphor for the other. The two female students help each other to find freedom and empowerment, but that this happens in the context of a ghost story, and that justice and revenge are obtained through horror-story acts of violence, suggests that true redemption is not possible in reality.
Half of the third episode hinges on three separate and extremely unlikely plot coincidences. Fourth episode, the ML promises to the dominating and possessive father that he will never reveal his feelings for the daughter, and later overhears her guiltily pretending to deny her feelings. I don't know if I'm going to be able to stay for much longer. Is this how relationships work in Korea, or just tired drama cliches?
They made a drama about journalists, why for heaven's sake won't they consult a journalist while writing it?
I haven't got to the journalism parts yet, but your comment reminds me of my comments on Hospital Playlist (consult with a hospital surgeon?) and It's OK if You're Not OK (consult with a psychiatrist?). Looks like Korean writers don't research their setting.
This looks interesting, at least in terms of the period of the setting, especially since it doesn't appear to be a drama about spies working for the CCP. It seems to be about food too! It's completely available with subtitles on youtube.
Set in a Taiwanese army brothel on an island near the mainland, but the central story is the harsh coming of age of a young soldier assigned there to mind the women, because he couldn't handle the physical discipine of the combat unit. Needless to say, the women have led tragic lives, at least the little that of their stories that are revealed to us.
One of my favorite movies of all time, but mainly because Han Hyo Joo in this movie is so natural, beautiful and radiant. So I watched most of her other movies and dramas and was disappointed, except for Cold Eyes, where she brilliantly plays a completely different character, a sort-of autistic savant.
(And now to try the anime and the series)
Thank you for this article and I'm looking forward to watching this.