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A gangster looking man has a confrontation with a pretty college girl and her boyfriend, basically starts stalking her, sets up a situation where she's forced into his brothel as a sex slave and continues to watch her like a creeper.
This movie was good, don't get me wrong, but I'm left with lingering questions about Han Gi and Sun Hwa. It definitely leaves room for interpretation. It's a gritty movie portraying the dark world of sex slavery. Here's my main question after finishing the movie.....was it love or obsession? It's certainly nowhere near a conventional love and I wouldn't call this a love story by any means, but what were Han Gi's intentions? In his warped sense of thinking did he believe he loved Sun Hwa and wanted her to be near him, or was he just completely obsessed with her? How could he completely ruin her but at the same time be protective over her? I still haven't decided on the answer. And the same goes for Sun Hwa. Did she eventually develop some sort of genuine feelings for Han Gi or was it more like stockholm syndrome? I just don't know.
Overall I liked the movie. I would probably only rewatch this if someone else wanted me to watch it with them. It's not something you would just watch over and over. But for its subject matter, it was a really well made movie and the questions it leaves you with make it that much more intriguing I think. If you're not sure, just watch the trailer first. That sealed the deal for me.
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Very addicting suspense and powerful surprise
The cinematography is extremely brilliant in this one, the suspense and thrill is heavily packed right from the start, pacing is just perfect as it keeps getting more and more addicting while the truth uncovers one over another. The storyline is really well arranged even though it's quite a simple one, but the surprise factor is very strong towards the end, while glossing it with some comedy to keep it stylish. Although this is the first feature film that Kim Seonho acted as the main lead, his performance is so breathtaking, he's charismatic in action and his humor simply steals the show. Everyone else's characters were also thoughtfully designed, the fight is so intense for some very ironic reasons, while the characters strike out with the best they've got.Was this review helpful to you?
The characters are consistent. I like how they are classified into certain types with certain typical character traits. The acting is really superb but the only one who disappointed me was Jung Chae Yeon. I understand her character was special but her acting was way too stiff.
I know that I will miss the characters of this drama the most. The show was not turbulent or dramatic and I will miss that calm atmosphere a lot. It was still interesting enough to watch episode by episode and I didn't really feel bored while watching.
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This review may contain spoilers
GMMTV you are my #1 enemy
I really enjoyed this series so much at the start but as it went on, Lune and Star did so many things that really annoyed me and it just continued getting worse throughout the series. No matter how likable the side characters are, if the main characters are just simply annoying it makes it difficult to watch the series.I'll start with the things I enjoyed first. White & Ivy were such easy characters to root for, individually and together. I started this series because I really like Lookjun so ofc I had to tune in (esp because she's playing a bi character). But I was surprised that I was shipping White and Ivy the most out of every character. Maybe it's because they were both hurt by the same person so seeing them comfort each other was very nice. I also think Lookjun and Dunk played off of each other very well (honestly the whole cast did), and this was some of the best acting I've seen from Dunk. I was disappointed that they teased that they would get together but just ended it off on "we can't date, we are better off as friends."
As the series went on I realized that both Lune and Star really need to mature and become better people. Not even when it comes to their relationship but when it comes to their friendships. The way they treated White and Ivy threw me off, not even just because those two were my favs. They wouldn't have told Ivy about their relationship if she didn't find out on their own and then the way they treated White was just horrible. I don't know if I could have accepted their apology as easy as he did, which just shows how good of a person he is. Also the way Star just completely stopped Ivy from confessing to her was just really odd.
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Inspiring & Heart-Warming
This story reminds me of the story of Malala Yousafzai, a 15 year old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Talibans in 2012 because she was advocating education for all girls. Not that Malala has disguised herself as a boy and gone to school as in this drama, but the stories are similar whereby girls are deprived of the equal opportunity to learn and to work since ancient times to today's world. This drama also reminisces the legendary Butterfly Lovers but without its tragic ending.Wen Xi (played by Ju Jing Yi), a very intelligent girl from an impoverished family, disguises as a boy by adopting her brother’s name Wen Bin and works as a commissioned writer to make a living for her family. Not out of her choice, she’s accidentally enrolled into the most prestigious academy of the land where such graduates would generally enter the palace and work as high-ranking officials for the Emperor. In the academy, she has to navigate precariously so that her feminine identity would not be discovered as girls are banned from attending school especially when such prestigious academy is only meant for aristocrats’ sons. Breaking the law is punishable by death. The drama revolves mainly around school life, not unlike modern day dramas about youth and school, but with ancient wisdom and philosophies.
Wen Bin is upstanding, kind, chivalrous, determined and courageous. For that, she’s very popular and becomes best friends with 2 roommates from renown aristocratic families. Together with another boy, they form the gang of four which is the pride of the academy. One of the boys is Feng Cheng Jun (played by Song Wei Long) whom she’s very fond of and later he falls in love with her as well. As Wen Bin is petite and seemingly weakly, the boys, unconsciously, rush to her assistance in the first instant.
Ju Jing Yi’s performance as Wen Bin is fabulous. Despite her petiteness, she commands an air of authority which the boys obey to without questions, at the same time, she can be girly to get their compassion, hence her way. I really enjoy watching how the boys love her as a comrade and her determination to do just as good, if not better, as the boys. Ju Jing Yi’s portrayal is so believable. The Feng Cheng Jun character is a studious and uncompromising person. Song Wei Long’s portrayal is amazing as the actor has a natural bookwormish face and a slow-in-realization expression. Such characteristics make Song Wei Long a perfect Feng Cheng Jun. Wen Bin is always the bridge between Feng Cheng Jun and Lei Ze Xin whereas Yu Le Xuan the conduit for all of them. The dynamics between the four friends are precious. Though constantly arguing, they’re inseparable from each other. To show her small size, the production team has even chosen 3 exceptionally tall actors to play the roles of her 3 best friends and I find their choices perfect.
The plot seems to be rather trivial in today’s standard – changing the policies so that all deserving scholars including girls and the poor receive education and serve the Emperor’s court. But it's a taboo in those days as the aristocrats fear losing power and wealth, and in the drama, there are indeed deaths for advocating such ideology and for preventing it.
Though their relationship is cordial and natural from the beginning, Feng Cheng Jun doesn’t find out about Wen Bin being a girl until episode 31. Therefore, before this when he begins to have feelings for her, he’s thinking himself a gay and his reactions are hilarious. Despite there’s not much romance per se, I find all the scenes they have together very romantic and heart-warming.
There’re some minor plot holes here and there and I find the story slightly off script towards the end. I'd have loved to see that Wen Bin fights for her right and equality for all, which has been her father's legacy, but unfortunately she seems to be weak on this and loses her appeal towards the end; all she wants is to live happily ever after with her man. I'm also not very impressed that she transfers her credentials to her brother who becomes a high ranking government official eventually. To me, this is like hiring someone to take your SAT (you know what I mean, wink, wink). As with most Chinese dramas' ending, the brilliant female character becomes common/weak. Nonetheless, I have enjoyed this drama, not so much on the plot but on the comradeship in a learning environment and the humors that come with it. The characters are lovable and their dynamics are adorable. The underlying message is inspiring -- creating oneself in the image for the eyes of others is not being strong, but facing oneself of what one is, is.
A rather enjoyable drama.
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A Mess With Some Good Acting
I only ever wanted to watch this very last minute because it had CHS in an ML role and I was impressed with his acting from 2 previous series. I knew some of the other actors and some did well and others didn't. The plot was decent until the very end when it became a total mess with some good acting.Pros: CHS needs more lead roles but with good scripts. He can act every emotion and his growth is evident. He is the only reason this show got a 6.5 and not way lower. His character was very smart and that's what I liked about him as well as brave and loyal. The making of some zombie drug and finding out who was at fault for him losing his father and also FL's entire family took all of the episodes but the planning that went into his schemes were pretty impressive. His guard was awesome as were the fight scenes. Other characters that were good were SML though obnoxious at first, did mature and at least could fight. HL was alright too. The older characters both protagonists and antagonists were believable. Costumes and OSTs fit.
Cons: I didn't like the FL; she was brave and smart but the pouting and constant hissy fits just didn't land. I think her character could have been written better or another actress cast. The whole blood transfusion in ancient times thing was completely unbelievable. And they did it twice. Somehow just the blood carried the deadly poison and it didn't absorb into organs, didn't make sense at all. The ending was the worst; they killed off his guard for no reason and then he himself disappeared for a year while she thought he was dead. But literally in the last 3 seconds of the last episode you can hear his voice off screen and her eyes widening and that was it. After a decade he couldn't find a cure for the disease but in a year somehow he miraculously did and was back as the lead investigator of the judicial bureau; like under a different name? Make it make sense. It was a poorly executed OE. It destroyed a more or less decent story. It was lower budget but it could have been written way better.
Would I recommend it? No. ML did very well but unless you can stomach a lot of BS, whining, pouting, arrogance and whatnot, this isn't for you. And that ending absolutely destroyed any hope I had for this show.
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This was my ultimate guilty pleasure trash content!
*tsk* my weekly dose of dopamine has come to an end 😮💨I will not be writing a long-in-detail review for this one because I really did while watching the episodes and as a whole I don't have anything much to say. There will be lots of users deconstructing and analyzing every little detail of it, so my review will only be based upon my personal entertainment value.
Other than the MLs, Sorn and Jun, everything faded into a blurry background, and they shined bright, almost blinding my senses. I loved how horny, problematic, possessive Sorn was, and I also loved Jun's sassy ass, bad mouth, self-respect and his sweet side. In total, they were bomb on screen.
If you forget about the entertainment part, they had many questionable things going on and, honestly, I did not let it ruin my watch, because if I started to nitpick, my whole watching experience would go to waste, and I'd be disappointed. So, yes, I had my heart filters in my eyes and brain, and because of that I'm highly biased.
Love me, hate me, judge me, regardless of all agreement and disagreements, cringe fests, and red flag attitudes it was and will be my peak entertainment. I can't forget how much I waited for the unhinged crazy madness every Sunday.
Will I rewatch it? ABSOLUTELY YES! (ONLY ML PARTS) 😂👍 ✨
Do I recommend it? NO.
Be your own radar, decide on your own 💀
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1Solid acting, too many plot lines
Positives:Solid acting across the entire cast. I admit I only watched this movie because of Perth, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the cast too. Bas was really emotive in this movie (which shocked me cos I didnt enjoy his performance in 2moons and Gen Y. The supporting actors were great as well, especially the actor who plays Tai. My heart broke for him.
Despite the title, I don't think it's a BL movie. However, you can sort of feel there's something between Kheng (Bad) and Boang (Perth) that's not explicitly shown. I like their onscreen chemistry.
Con:
There are too many things happening in this movie to the point that it got pretty absurd. If they only focused on the main issue, I'd enjoy it more.
A lot of the issues were also conveniently resolved, which makes it quite unrealistic.
Trigger warnings: lots of assaults, drug dealings and school bullying.
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1When eyes speak more than words
This my first GL series and I am not disappointed .The story is so good and unique with super gorgeous two female leads . May who is a blind girl , tries to take care of her love everyday . And Ai -oon is a badass but soft hearted person who tried to fulfill her sister's wish . She accidently discovered she herself also likes Oom's girlfriend May and then they started a new journey .
I was waiting for a good series and finally I have found it . Don't think second time you should watch it or not . Just try one or two episodes , you will understand . Excellent visuals , cinematography with a bit of mysterious story plotline .
9.5/10 for me . You will not feel regretful .
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the main leads are great, so much so that the 2nd leads just annoyed me. Why were we spending screen time on them when we could have been watching Win and Wan Neung? Their chemistry was amazing. Wan Wan is a truely diabolical villian, even if he is a caricarture and very static. there are some really great supporting actors who did fantastic things with poorly written roles. Lukpit and Tom were really no more than the animal side kicks from a Disney movie, there to show us how we should feel and make us laugh a bit. the actors brought a lot to their respective roles even if the characters did tend to disappear for long stretches only reappearing to make story telling easier.
the only song that sticks out is what i think is the OTP's theme, it's song by a woman and it's lovely with just enough pep to make it stick in your head in a good way.
i will totally rewatch this. maybe tomorrow. it's one of only a handful of thai dramas i've watched and i hear it's actually quite a bit different than your standard Lakorn. if Thailand keeps making such delightful rom coms i will definitely watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
Far too many toxic elements in the story
Spoiler heavy. This could have been so much better. Cinematography and technical aspects were good. The mismatched friendship had promise at the beginning and could have been a good start but only to a completely different story. Ai Di's story could have been great if he'd been allowed to stay away and rebuild a better life.Instead we start with someone barely above the legal age limit but very inexperienced in relationships and an older mafia underling (actors' age gap is 10 years and if the novel made the characters' less it wasn't mentioned in the series) who really should know better. He gives some token resistance on age - enough to show he understands that it is wrong - and then dives in. He doesn't even do that on the risks his criminal family will bring to the kid he repeatedly calls Kiddo.
Add in (fake) amnesia, (not fake) short term memory loss (which they keep saying is temporary but show no signs of that), time jump for prison cause the kid was coerced by the mafia to take the blame for a murder he didn't commit*, another young man who gets free from the mafia but is carried back in literally kicking and screaming but it's all fantastic because the man who dicked him around for years finally decided to kiss him.
Seriously? All for an absolute kitchen sink mess of a plot which says EVERYTHING will be forgiven for a first love.
The fandom really will ignore any red flag situation or behaviour if there are cute boys kissing.
*Don't give me that BS that this was somehow ok, or it justified the character's age - he was literally too young to be given a full adult sentence. Stop and think that through.
He wasn't old enough for the rest of it either.
And going to jail in the name of "love"? That's not romantic, it's part of an abuse dynamic. Oh but cute boys kiss. Swoon.
Now add in that the murder rap will follow this kid for the ENTIRE REST OF HIS LIFE. It's not just a few years lost, or his university and career plans.
I get that many fans like a lot of Drama and Tension to heighten the effect of the resolution. And yes, abuse dynamics are an easy way of increasing drama and tension within a relationship. But are those the narratives we really want to be embracing wholeheartedly when there are so many more ways to make compelling drama?
Like I said at the beginning, both the mismatched friendship and Ai Di's story had a lot of potential. They could have taken other paths, ones without abuse dynamics, to create better story and you would have loved it just as much.
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harmless first love
At first I didn’t think this would really be that good, and it’s not amazing or anything.. but man.. the chemistry in this makes it so good and makes it A LOT better than other BL’s today. The leads actually have chemistry and play off saboteur, they aren’t afraid to get close to each other. I’m so glad that I am not baited with them. This show is a lot better than people give it credit forThe editing of the first episode can be confusing, but I’m pretty good at finding things out so I am good with that. I honestly really like the editing, it’s not too campy and it has a balance with its tender moments and easy going moments. So the confession scene was chronologically at the end of the episode and then they got together, that’s all good there. If you end up being confused by it then that would only frustrate me if you say the drama is bad because of it. I will say it a million times, I rate dramas with what the drama is trying to accomplish in mind. This is a high school romance, and it has a lot of things that make it interesting so the rating is higher than the others here.
Amagi is so likeable. He is by far the cutest BL character I’ve seen, even more than Aoki in Keith Hatsukoi (which says a lot). He is just genuinely a fun loving character and is an optimist. Takara on the other hand I didn’t think I’d like, and to the shows credit they are supposed to be opposites. At the end I came to understand his character and overall the both of theirs. They are opposites, foils to each other. Amagi keep inside his social boundary and isn’t ‘popular’, he is optimistic and not afraid to share his feelings. Takara is the extrovert but to me they switch with that, as Takara is put in the role of being popular but keeps to himself inside of his circle where Amagi talks to his friends more and seems to have more fun. Takara keeps his feelings back because he doesn’t want to overwhelm others. They really are opposites and I like how the dialouge showcased that.
This show is so much better than people are saying it is. You have to take in what’s there, face value it seems less than it is. But for the story it’s telling it does it so so well, and it doesn’t waste time. Now for the chemistry, I am wonderfully surprised here. Both of the leads are natural with each other and I swear, when I say them holding hands I really thought they were a real couple in real like. Again I didn’t think I’d buy into it, I thought that the confession scene was too dramatic- but looking back onto everything as a whole their storyline is going very nicely. Takara was the one to be down bad first and I LOVE that, I really thought that was a nice plot twist and getting through the first episode it made it better and better. I
Finishing up the show was very enjoyable. Don’t expect a heavy plot, this show is full of sweet moments. The fact that the leads get together early on is great to see. You can see their relationship for the duration of the show. I do see people complaining about how it seems to not do anything, but there is a genre for that. This show is a slice of life and goes about their days as a couple together, it’s not outstanding and doesn’t overstep its boundaries. No- it isn’t perfect, but it is fun and sweet.
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Not too bad a series but some sub-plots are quite ridiculous
2 out of 5 reviewers on Douban gave “Weaving a Tale of Love” (WToL) rating 1 out of 5. That is harsh because essentially nearly half of the reviewers felt that this show is absolute trash. However, during its TV run, this series is ranked 3rd among the TV viewers behind only Douluo Continent and Fighting Youth. Granted, Hunan TV always attract higher viewership but that shows this historical costume drama has its share of fanbase, and those who enjoy this drama despite all the negative reviews and disjointed logic and common-sense in its plots and storyline.How did I get into this c-drama. I was searching for a 2nd c-drama to fill-up the gap left by Douluo Continent, and checked out all the newly premiered costume c-dramas. Dropped Blessed Girl, the Rebel Princess, The Wolf, and A Girl Like Me after a few episodes. This series intrigued me, and kept me watching the next episodes. It is entertaining even though at times, some plots could be downright idiotic. More later on this.
Now, to the positives. Beautiful costumes, props, settings, and color-palette. Watching this c-drama, you can’t but admire the color palette that stimulates you visual enjoyment. It is bright, vibrant, and very discerning and easy on the eyes. The color-palette and visual stimulation was much better than that in Douluo Continent. Incidentally, I was re-watching Nirvana in Fire at the same time and could not help but notice the huge gap between 2015 production and WToL. While Nirvana in Fire is better than WToL in almost all aspects, it pales in comparison in color hue and palette post production aspect. The costume is simple yet beautiful especially on the Female Lead. Then again anything would look good on Gulinazha whether she is dressed as a female or crossed-dressed as a very effeminate young physician. The series setting is also beautiful, even though it was filmed primarily at Hengdian World Studio. At least the Director/Producer did not use the shot of the Qin Shi Huang palace as the backdrop for this drama as this is set during the Tang Dynasty. Nevertheless, it is refreshing to see lesser known buildings at Hengdian WS because they are just as beautiful as the main attractions of Imperial Palace, Forbidden City, Palace of Ming & Qing Dynasties, the capitol of Song Dynasty – Bianliang, etc.
The only CGI in this drama was the opening overhead shot showing the capital, but it looks kind of fake especially those city folks roaming the streets. This shot was replayed time and time again throughout the 40-episode series. On the action front, there are not much fighting scenes in this series because the storyline is geared more towards revenge and palace politics rather than wuxia and adventures in the jianghu.
I especially enjoyed the closing track by Zhou Shen – Moon Legend. This is a guy with a girl’s voice. There are just a few c-dramas which I really enjoyed the sound tracks like Chi Sheng Wei Ni in the Heavenly Sword & Dragon Slaying Sabre, Yisheng Deng Ni in Bloody Romance or Mo Wang in Ever Night 2. But the rendering of Moon Legend By Zhou Shen is hauntingly beautiful. When you like the song, ultimately you will love the series as well.
Now to the negatives. While the story line is generally your typical palace politics coupled with revenge and past injustice subplots, some of the story details are just plaindumb. This is probably why many viewers gave it a bad review. Some of the “idiot sub-plots” are :-
- Nobody knew that the FL was a girl even though while cross-dressing, she looked more beautiful than 99% of women on this planet;
- Despite the need to remain low-profile, the FL time and again showed her embroidering skill to the public which linked her to her disgraced mother;
- Despite jumping off the cliff into bottomless void to survive an assassination attempt, the two fellas entered the palace hours later without as much as a scratch;
- Having a Mei Chang Su like character in Concubine Wu assisting the Crown Prince at every opportunity against 14th Prince scheming and dealing;
- FL surviving an attempted fatal poisoning in jail because the guard was too hungry, and could not take his hands off free food;
- ML saved FL from death by hanging by shooting on the rope. FL would have been dead if the ML was a second late and the assassin conveniently left his badge for ease of identification;
- The Emperor easily believing in a quack who predicted Concubine Wu would be a female emperor of the Tang Dynasty after 3 generations;
- Crown Prince bringing a hired help in the form of a single person knowing that the 14th Prince would try to assassinate him;
And the list goes on and on and on…..
I had seen Guli Nazha in previous c-drama, so her acting has never been an issue – she is a terrific and talented actress. However, for some reasons, her acting here is a bit out of place especially when she is portraying an innocent and naïve FL.
Nevertheless, despite many shortcoming of this series, I managed to complete all 40 episodes. 7.0/10.0 score from me.
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