Okay, but to be fair, the Korean version isn't exactly the original either. All are based on a manga and before the 2008 Korean movie, there was the 2001 Japanese drama.
When I originally watched it, I was still a student, so a lot of the work-related stuff is weird now that I rewatched it as a working adult. Like, Toko worked a full-time desk job and no one thought of giving her a desk? Why did she continue working at the conference table? Also, what kind of contract did she get that she was surprised at her salary (that she got paid in cash?? Are income taxes not a thing in Japan?) and could quit her job with exactly one day's notice? But that's obviously me being nitpicky. I still LOVED the chemistry between Toko and Nukui and I loved the whole office shenanigans and Kimura was such sweetheart and Yoshitake went from being hilariously evil to hilariously awesome. I rooted so hard for them all to succeed. So all in all, I still like it a lot.
They guy really grew on me over the years. I think he sometimes comes off as having no edge because he has such a clean demeanor and calm way of talking but he can actually act. From nice to creepy to hilarious to being a complete douchebag, he's doing well no matter what role they throw at him.
Totally unrelated to the story but what confused the hell out of me is that they made Okada Masaki look so much taller than Shison Jun. Like, I've seen them both in other stuff before, so I know that Shison isn't exactly short, so I had to look up their height and they're supposed to be similar. And now I'm totally spending the movie looking at Okada's shoes because they walk next to each other a lot, so rather than to make Shison shorter, they must have made Okada taller.
I have to say, Nakamura Tomoya was the perfect choice for a decoy character. 80% of that guy's roles are creepy, so the moment I saw him, I suspected him.
Honestly, I wondered how Jin could possibly redeem himself because he was super creepy in the first couple of…
Age gaps like that are just a huge trigger for me, especially because they would have known each other for a long time in this case, so there's a chance he tried to groom here when she was younger. But yeah, I might just have personally read too much into that. But yes! Like, I think that the scenes where Jin and Xiao Mei fell in love were beautifully shot but narratively I wasn't a fan because he was shown to be pretty awful. Even if he genuinely fell in love, that would not suddenly make him a better person. I think it happens a lot with older movies that they're filled with misogyny but no one says anything about it because they're accepted to be masterpieces and anyway, they're old and back then things were like that. But I think we should reach a point where we can say "look, a lot of this is great but please be mindful of the fact that this pushes a really skewed picture of women and how they should be treated".
I don't think it was perfect by any means. Some parts were drawn out and a little telenovela-ish. But I just really have a thing for this whodunit kind of mystery that's largely set in a big family manor and where almost all the issues are based on messed up unresolved interpersonal relations.
Honestly, I wondered how Jin could possibly redeem himself because he was super creepy in the first couple of…
Yeah, maybe, but imho quasi-historical movies like this don't really strive for historical accuracy or else you'd also see women with hairy legs. It's not a documentary but entertainment made for modern audiences, so to pick a much older actor is a choice, especially one that's still made a lot...and also a huge pet peeve of mine, so that's probably why it bothers me so much haha
I still think it's fucked up that she ended up with the guy who beat and raped her because ugh. But I think that…
Also! I just realized... When Sou pretended to be Ryo, he said that Ryo had temporary amnesia but Ryo himself would not have had the time to tell Sou that according to Sou's timeline, so that possibly was a lie. It makes sense that Sou would lie to Nana to make "Ryo" more sympathetic because, I mean, what does the alternative imply? That Ryo just stood by and watched as Sou hurt Nana. I do think that Ryo probably loved her because that would explain Sou's behavior but the question is how deep that love really ran.
This circles around a very meaningful subject in a very compassionate way, so I think it's important that dramas like these are made. It's a wonderful drama for many reasons. That being said, I dropped it because it accidentally included one of my biggest pet peeves: foreigners shown through the eyes of Japanese people. It can't be helped that Mike was not actually played by a Canadian or any English native speaker because I can imagine that it's hard to find someone with the right look who speaks fluent Japanese. So, as funky as his accent was when he said things in English, I can look past that. But what really bothered me for example was when Mike gave Yaichi a list of places he wanted to visit in bigass Latin letters. The guy spoke very polite and proper Japanese which he had supposedly learned at university. But despite that, we're supposed to believe that he writes Japanese in Romaji and would stumble over words when written down. Sure, there are people who can't read and write Japanese but not at that level and not at university. And idk, it's just small things and let's face it, my country probably isn't so much better at portraying foreigners but that just always triggers me.
I still think it's fucked up that she ended up with the guy who beat and raped her because ugh. But I think that it narratively absolutely made sense. Ryo fell for the frail and shy Nana and I suppose that Sou hated her for that because Ryo loving her meant that Ryo was corrupted by her in a way. To Sou it would have seemed as if she took away the only person he had. I guess that that was why he wanted to punish her. It's not explicitly said when exactly he himself fell for her but I doubt that he loved her for the same reasons Ryo did. Sou loved the person who choked him and put him inside a freezer. And as messed up as all of that is, it's somehow such a compelling love story
It's not awful if you like Fukuda Yuichi and Romance of the three Kingdoms but also not great. I'm not sure if it's works if you don't already have certain expectations of the characters because that's where most of the jokes come from.
Fun fact: as I watched it, I had to think of the movies Ripples of Desire (similar title and from what I remember similar hazy atmosphere) and Drifting Flowers (wlw relationships) and then I found out that they all share she same director. She also directed Gloomy Salad Days and that totally checks out, too. Basically, I think I love this lady. She's great at portraying desire in a very real but uncomfortable way.
So all in all, I still like it a lot.
But yes! Like, I think that the scenes where Jin and Xiao Mei fell in love were beautifully shot but narratively I wasn't a fan because he was shown to be pretty awful. Even if he genuinely fell in love, that would not suddenly make him a better person.
I think it happens a lot with older movies that they're filled with misogyny but no one says anything about it because they're accepted to be masterpieces and anyway, they're old and back then things were like that. But I think we should reach a point where we can say "look, a lot of this is great but please be mindful of the fact that this pushes a really skewed picture of women and how they should be treated".
It can't be helped that Mike was not actually played by a Canadian or any English native speaker because I can imagine that it's hard to find someone with the right look who speaks fluent Japanese. So, as funky as his accent was when he said things in English, I can look past that. But what really bothered me for example was when Mike gave Yaichi a list of places he wanted to visit in bigass Latin letters. The guy spoke very polite and proper Japanese which he had supposedly learned at university. But despite that, we're supposed to believe that he writes Japanese in Romaji and would stumble over words when written down. Sure, there are people who can't read and write Japanese but not at that level and not at university.
And idk, it's just small things and let's face it, my country probably isn't so much better at portraying foreigners but that just always triggers me.