L'air du temps - The Flow of Time
The movie is Japan-Taiwan co-production that takes us on a journey of Jimmy who after experiencing failures in his adult life embarks on a soul-searching quest to rediscover and meet the love of his youth.While the story itself may not be groundbreaking and unique, the narration is compelling and engaging. From the afterglow of that first love to the monotony of being a 36 year old guy, the movie effectively captures it all.
The movie explores the theme of self discovery and the importance of taking a break. Sometimes taking a break can provide clarity and a fresh perspective on life. Also sometimes detours can lead us to where we need to be!
The color contrast made it easier to differentiate between present and past scenes. The flashback scenes color tones have certain warmth to it reflecting happy memories while the present scenes were more sombre and grey to fit the melancholy vibe.
The cast delivers believable performances. Greg Hsu as Jimmy, a lost soul who evokes sympathy at times and then his energy in the flashbacks to his youth is convincing. Kiyohara Kaya as Ami does a decent job, though she could have been a bit more expressive. Michieda Shunsuke, as Koji, captures the chaotic spirit of an 18-year-old that is both charming and inspiring in his own way!
The cinematography is stunning. Some locations are so beautifully shot that they make me want to take a trip to Japan soon.
While the ending is somewhat predictable, it still has enough engaging elements to keep you sailing through.
Overall, this was a visual treat with few valuable life lessons on the way along .
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a road trip of character development
Perseverance is what is needed for this drama. Just know that everything works out in the end. This is a drama that you will feel pain through angst and toxicity in the moment; but when you reflect back, you realize that it was just realistic. It takes a lot of work from others and self to turn a toxic bottomless pit into a productive/contributing/positive member of society.I would have rated "story" higher (maybe a 9 or 9.5) because of its well constructed character development (also the FL and ML are mature but cute...nothing dumb about their love story), but I had to penalize for the internal pain the toxic characters caused me.
And while the story does live up to the "drama" genre, I don't think anything is exaggerated. If anything, maybe just the concentration of toxicity of several characters seems too coincidental.
As a warning, I wouldn't attempt to binge this drama in one go. You might accidentally punch your computer. But if you have patience and appreciate a realistic drama with believable character development, sit back and enjoy in small doses.
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Sunny Happiness is one of these rare t-dramas, 25 episodes and NOTHING exploded. the last 4 or 5 episodes do get a little "one life to live" but it fits with the plot, which is very entertaining, so it's cool. another thing that really grabbed me was that this is probably the ONLY believeable reason i've ever seen for a contract relationship. there was good reason to pretend and good reason to actually make a contract, so that was refreshing.
Mike and Janine turn in really impressive performances for this type of story. they are emotional w/out being over the top and they are believeable. the supporting cast, like yong yong's family tend to be relegated to traditional t-drama antics and they do thier fair amt of wailing, but it never quite reaches the epicness of say fated to love you or hi my sweet heart.
the one thing (or more specifically four things) that i really just never got into were the two other couples that got a surprising amt of screen time. Wang Lan and her producer were dull to watch. there didnt seem to be any emotion in it and the same for the brother and his chick. little bro is cute as a button, but he just never gets off the ground. it's like he's groggy throughout. in all honesty i'd give their sceenes a minute or two to grab my interest and when it didnt i would fast forward.
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The guilt we carry
I love the 37 and 17 year old Ha Nis. I canbonly imagine the older Ha Ni feels, the guilt that made her punish herself that completely changed her core. The contrast between the younger Ha Ni and the older Ha Ni is so vast that when the two characters start merging into older Ha Nis character it is an event to look forever to.I enjo watching this drama and patiently wait for 2 episodes a week on Netflix. The change in both Anthony and Yu Hyeon is also amazing. I love Yu Hyeons dad, he is a better character than the dad in Protect the Boss whch also stars Choi Kang Hee (Ha Ni). I like Ha Nis mom too and although Ha Nis nephew is still not as good as young Ha Nis acting, I find him cute
Characters I don't like and almost hate are Ha Nis sister and high school friend. I hate the Auntie aka sister in law of the dad. I also don't like the grandmother but can understand her
The ending is a bit rushed but still good. Happy Ending as the 37 Ha Ni finally moved on
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My thoughts on the Heart Killers:
The Heart Killers was an unexpected gem! Initially, I started watching because I was a fan of FirstKhaotung, but I quickly found myself captivated by both couples, especially Dunk. I was genuinely surprised by how much I ended up liking him in this series. At first, I wasn’t sure how well he’d fit the role, but he truly nailed it. Dunk was perfect for his character, and honestly, he quickly became one of my favorites.One of the things I loved about the series was how we saw the characters grow throughout the story. Take Fadel (Joong), for example. He starts off as someone who keeps everyone at arm's length, scared to love because he’s afraid of losing those he lets in due to his painful past. You could really see the emotional toll this had on him, but over the course of the series, we watched him grow, open up, and become more vulnerable. It was a beautiful character arc that added depth to the story.
The chemistry between the couples was undeniable, and the devotion they had for each other was so heartwarming. They literally went to prison for each other😆🤭. The series was truly a rollercoaster of emotions, and it will definitely be missed.
I also have to give a special shoutout to Dunk – you can really see how much his acting has improved. He’s grown so much, and it’s exciting to see how much potential he has for future roles.
Overall, I loved The Heart Killers, and I would recommend watching it. It’s a series filled with great performances, emotional depth, and unforgettable moments. Definitely worth the watch!
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Very Thai Romcom BL
Maybe I am the only one in MDL who enjoyed watching Hidden Agenda. It was nothing extra ordinary in terms of storyline. It was simple, cute, romantic, something that can make you feel giddy. I would say for first time BL watchers this might be a good start. Now why I liked Hidden Agenda so much is definitely JoongDunk. They have such great on screen [and Off screen] chemistry that all their dialogues felt so natural. I enjoyed it a lot. Sure the ending part was quite unreasonable for Zo to behave like that with Joke but other than that I really liked it.Was this review helpful to you?
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Trillion Game is a hidden gem
"Trillion Game," a delightful Japanese drama, promises to deliver the perfect dose of laughter. Stumbling upon this hidden gem was an unexpected delight and undoubtedly one of the highlights of my September. If you're anything like me, someone who often finds themselves numb to typical dramas and only has limited free time, then this drama is a must-watch. It's a captivating series that can be enjoyed from start to finish.While "Trillion Game" isn't without a few minor hiccups in its storyline and editing, I can wholeheartedly assure you that investing 10 hours of your life in this series is a decision you won't regret. Meguro Ren effortlessly captures the charisma and poise of Haru, while Sano Hayato perfectly embodies the timid yet brilliantly Gaku.
The show's female characters each possess their unique brand of beauty and charm, with Torinrin and Kirika-hime standing out as my favorites. "Trillion Game" not only offers a refreshing escape from the mundane but also introduces a cast of characters that will stay with you long after the final credits roll.
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This review may contain spoilers
It was an emotional, beautiful, natural, playful, hilarious and a very sweet drama. I thoroughly enjoyed being with the main leads in their journey, sipping my cuppa leisurely, without skipping a single scene., thereby appreciating the little nuances and details which I would have otherwise missed. It was calming and healing for me.The dialogues, OST, visuals, bgm everything fitted nicely with the story.
The second couple were good too. I'm so pleased that they had a good ending too.
Li Shi Can! As much as I felt annoyed with him in those few episodes in Shenao, in the latter episodes I began to warm up to him😭😭. In fact I enjoyed the comedy he provided with Xu Huaisong.
Editor Chen was a surprise 😂
The cute highschoolers, the Ruan family, Xu family, the lawyer colleagues, Sun Miaohan and the rest of the supporting cast 💖
This drama is simple and delivers what it is supposed to, that is, mutual secret crush transitioning to mutual love through deep understanding , trust, shared vulnerabilities, communication.
No less than 10/10
Will definitely be in my rewatch list and the place to go to when I need that extra tlc
Recommended for romance drama lovers.
Not for people who like intense stories, complicated plots, multiple plot twists, toxic relationships.
Definitely not for those who critically appraise C dramas like a research paper 🤣🤣
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The story line is very unique, both in subject matter and tone. We follow a group of normal people following the dream of orchestral performance together, under the direction of a conductor who is as rude and arrogant as he is famous and talented. The experience and accompanying tribulations change their lives, as you might expect, but the difference can be genuinely felt. There may be unbelievable circumstances that bring these people together, but the way they progress and transform is realistic and subtle. Some may complain the final episodes are bittersweet and somewhat open-ended, but I feel they composed the perfect ending for a story such as this. Any other result would have felt too saccharine, especially with the heavy emotions this drama evoked. We pursued a dream with these characters, but it's really not the result that matters...it's the path we took and what we choose to do after.
This is also the first drama where I've felt I would actually miss the characters after completion--in particular, abrasive conductor Kang Mae as played by Kim Myung Min. His acting really is as outstanding as everyone says it is. It's a rare gift to see a character spring to life as vibrantly as this; he felt like a real person separate from the actor, no doubt thanks to his extensive preparation. I mean, Myung Min was actually even able to conduct an actual orchestra at a press conference for this drama...something he'd learned how to do in five months. Another favorable mention must go to Jang Geun Suk, who was still in the early stages of rising fame (and looked nothing like he does now). I'm not sure he's played a part like this since, but I'm hoping he will soon. His Gun Woo was an earnest, hardworking, genuinely good kid...but with very human failings and no sob story to excuse them. Geun Suk was a joy to watch too, and stood competently alongside the great Myung Min as his foil.
As to music, as one might expect, there's a ton of classical used in Beethoven Virus. The performance sequences utilize elegant and meaningful pieces, looking as good as they sound. Other works serve to fit scenes as background tracks, and add a delicious feeling of high drama without also becoming cheesy. Fans of instrumental music and classic in general will love it, while others might find a spark of interest growing in them after watching! Vocal tracks are also great, with Insooni's inspirational number "A Goose's Dream" basically summing up everything Beethoven Virus stands for.
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Need to love and feel loved - A bitter reality
Honestly, I was not sure if I should watch this drama or not, as the provided summary doesn't appropriately describe the true plot of this series.CHARACTERS
In the drama we are following the story of 5 woman that seem to be related in a way. Yuki (portrayed by Yoshikawa Ai) is a 19 year old university student who is working as a Rental Girlfriend in order to make ends meet. When she is working and meeting with clients, she seems like a sweet, cheerful, and kind girlfriend; however, we get to know that in reality she has been through a lot and she carries a secret from her childhood that holds her back. Rina (played by Yokota Mayuu), who is Yuki's university friend, is a colourful, smiley, and cheerful girl that everyone likes and wants to be with her. In addition to her cheerful outside looks, Rina is a rather lonely girl that seeks attention and confirmation from people around her.
Ayano (played by Ugaki Misato) is working with Yuki at the same agency as a Rental Girlfriend and is mainly focusing on the outside looks of the people around her. This obsession with looks came from her bitter past when the people around her made fun of her due to her outside looks. The fourth protagonist is Moe Maya (played by Yanai Yumena) who is classmate with Rina, with low self-esteem and self-confidence. People around her call her ugly and she can't seem to belong anywhere, even though she is trying. Lastly, Yua (played by Saito Nagisa) is a cute girl that is a regular in a host club and is only visiting a specific host. Later on, Yua takes Moe to the host club that she is regularly going.
PLOT
The main plot of this series is to show how every person needs to feel loved and appreciated, in any way, from their peers. However, for me, the plot focuses not only the need to feel loved by others and love other people, but how important it is to love themselves. It is a rather bitter series which shows how shallow our society is, what are the expectations for women, and how easily women can be manipulated into doing things they don't want in order to fulfil the needs of their partners.
For example, in order Yua to help her favourite host (Haruki) in the host club, she is working in the adult world and she is meeting with clients that she can't refuse. She does that in order to help her favourite to rise through the rank and keep his sales high. Moe follows a similar story. Moe was a full time university student who after she started talking with a host she decided to drop out from her university, and in order to request for the host (Kaede) during her visits, she decides to also enter the adult world and do things that she doesn't want to.
MY OPINION
Honestly, this is a drama that is worth watching. Just a heads up: this is not a typical Romance series. Don't expect to find cute and colourful moments among the couples. This is a close to reality type of series. Unfortunately, there are many people who belittle other people's feelings and take advantage of them, and there are other people that are trying to survive in this world with noone beside them. I don't understand why the rating is relatively low. The rating here is not representative of how good the drama is (in my opinion!).
As an individual, I related mostly with Moe, as she and I share some common things. Since the moment that she answered Kaede's phone call, I knew that this is not going to have a happy ending. I was really routing for Kaede's feelings to be true towards her, but as we show in the end Moe was just a client to him. Even though, seeing her being depressed over him was sad, I was clad that in the end she was able to overcome her obsession and she took her life back to her hands.
Anyway, this is a good drama to watch, SO WATCH IT! BYE!
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Story:
The story is about 5 teenagers and their family problems and addiction. Each character is very complex and had difficult backgrounds. It amazes me how detailed each storyline was. I don't think there were any plot holes. This series is one of those series that shows the reality of life and examples of a dysfunctional and unhappy family. It also really shows the effects of unhealthy addictions and drugs.
The series is straightforward but so complex at the same time. I'm not too sure how to explain it. In my eyes how the series played out from start to end was written so realistically. I don't want to say the ending is a happy ending, but I really liked how it ended off.
Cast:
The casting was absolute perfection. If you have never seen any of the main characters before, you have been living under a rock. Like always, their acting just blows you away. If you have seen any of the cast's past works, you'll understand what I mean. Plus I feel like most people came here for Fluke, but I came because of Ploy. I just love her acting.
Overall:
This drama is different from all the ones right now. This drama got me coming back for more because it was so good. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I have some type of connection to the characters of this series. Maybe because I relate or know people that have been through similar situations. If you think you can handle it, I REALLY recommend this series, but I will give you a trigger warning. I give it a 10/10.
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Season 1 was fun and engaging, this one is just a snoozefest - i cant remember how many times i dozed off while watching the entire season. This whole season is a continuation of season 1 which could have been done in 1 or 2 episodes. Scenes in each episodes are stretched far too long, just boys trying to be cute, with zero sense to what they were saying and doing.
There were so many things to hate:
1) almost all students in this boys school are gay with very few straight characters who dont even matter;
2) gay teacher who engages in online chat with student;
3) forced coupling (lukmo and yok);
4) oversexed high school student (book and frame);
5) i thought the jean issue would never end;
6) inconsistent characters (Nine, Rodtang, Fing)
7) absent parents who allow high school kids to live on their own with almost no supervision, parents who let other people care for their kid in the hospital, and those parents who are present but were mostly annoyance;
8) did i say the whole season was stretched far too long, the pacing was so slow, there were so many filler moments and just boys staring and sweettalking to each other that doest add to the whole story. By the end of this series, im also almost annoyed with the 2 main leads.
Just run away, skip this series. Just read the plot summary and be done with it, no need to torture yourself by watching this.
Im only giving this an overall 5.5 just because Ohm and Boom are so cute.
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1This review may contain spoilers
Summary of Seasons 1 and 2, as well as the 2 movies!
For those who are incredibly confused about the difference between Season 1 and 2, as well as the 2 movies in-between, let me lay it out.In Season 1, a student named Liang Weiwei accidentally transmigrates into a historical drama starring an idol named Jing Qing. In that drama, her character is doomed to die within the first three episodes as a result of assassination. Throughout the season, she finds ways to avoid death, and eventually overturns the Emperor Jing Qing’s mistrust of her. They then end up in a happy marriage, which was cut short because she’s suddenly brought back to her own time where she meets a version of Jing Qing who seems to remember her from within the drama because they immediately embrace once they set eyes on each other. I don't know if this is the idol Jing Qing, but I suppose it has to be.
In Season 2, we realise that following the end of Season 1, she started dating Jing Qing back in her time. We are also led to believe that Jing Qing actually remembered her from when they were both in some alternate universe within the drama from Season 1. However, one fine day, Jing Qing just vanishes into thin air, and so Liang Weiwei finds her way back into the drama to meet him again, and ends up in another story where the characters are all largely the same, but the plot is different. This time, Liang Weiwei is the daughter of the previous Emperor and is now a villainous Empress destined to be usurped by her General Jing Qing. This General Jing Qing isn't the same as the Emperor from Season 1, but eventually, he does regain his memories of her in Season 1, and also falls in love with her anew in this new storyline. In the end, the General Jing Qing takes on the role of the villain in the story so Liang Weiwei can be spared countless deaths. When he dies, she vanishes and is transported back to her own universe. Compared to Season 1, I felt that this story was less exciting, although thanks to the ML and FL's good acting, I did shed tears when it came time for them to part again. The ending was left open, with the timeline fast-forwarding to 1 year on, when Liang Weiwei finds herself transmigrated into the same drama again, this time, slightly earlier in the storyline, as a princess while her father the Emperor is still alive. Presumably, this will then lead to a Season 3, which will hopefully be more exciting than Season 2.
The 2 movies in-between are actually just 1 movie split into 2 parts. It somewhat continues on from Season 1, but with a slightly different premise, so the entire continuity arc can be confusing. Just know that technically, it occurs in an alternate universe from Seasons 1 and 2. For the movie, a novelist named Liang Weiwei is dating an up-and-coming actor named Jing Qing. However, because she's always neglecting him in favour of writing, he eventually breaks up with her. While she's busy being devastated by the break-up, she gets forcefully pulled into a historical drama with a premise similar to Season 1, except this time, she isn't the Empress, just someone who looks exactly like the Empress Liang Weiluo, who is a woman scorned and has set her eyes on the throne. The Emperor here is the Jing Qing from Season 1, who has been searching all this time for his Empress Liang Weiwei. However, it's important to note that the Liang Weiwei from Season 1 is different from the one in the movie, so while she has some affection towards the Emperor because he looks like her ex-boyfriend Jing Qing, she doesn't love him. Because the main attraction of the entire series is the romance, I felt that the movie wasn't as much of a draw as Season 1 because it's almost like a one-sided love between Season 1's Emperor Jing Qing and the movie's Liang Weiwei. When the movie's Liang Weiwei returns to her own universe, she finds that the novel has written itself, and the Emperor Jing Qing never fell in love with anyone else for all 56 years of the rest of his life, as he promised her. To prevent that from happening, she rewrites the story and reunites Emperor Jing Qing with Empress Liang Weiwei starting from the day of their wedding. As for the novelist Liang Weiwei, she goes to find her actor ex-boyfriend Jing Qing, who welcomes her back with open arms.
So that's about it! I love how tiny and adorable the FL is, and the ML's acting isn't shabby either even though he isn't quite as eye-catching as the FL. Would definitely recommend a watch especially because the episodes are all so short. Hopefully a version with English and other subs will appear on YouTube's MGTV channel soon. Enjoy!
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A Fun Action-Noir Film
Watched it in expectations of a really dark and gory film…While I got a comedy film instead ? not complaining tho bcs I really love it!!
I always prefer a simple and fun action movies rather than the dark and serious ones. The Childre brands the film “action noir”, but in fact it is not really that much “noir” for me, more like “action noir-comedy”. If you love a fun movie without any stressful thoughts this one will be best for you. But if you prefer darker movies and difficult plot, you might be bored with this movie in their first half hours.
Kim Seonho really delivered the character of Childe/Nobleman well! His action scenes are so cool and scary but at the same time her micro expression while saying and doing random funny things also worth to wait. I would love to see more of Nobleman, he is so fun to watch (eventho he’s evil lol)
Really recommended!
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