no talking heads, just people
Four documentaries which flow into each other look at rural life and social issues in the Nang Non river area of Chiang Rai. Each section focuses on the daily life and concerns of an individual. It's not about the 2018 cave rescue, although that is part of the background.As such it's slice of life. There are no talking heads, just people. Some of the conversations between them are probably somewhat staged, others probably not.
I went in not knowing anything about it so it took a while to understand the format. I found it interesting and absorbing in its own quiet way. It's not the kind of documentary where you come away with a list of facts or details. It's more like I spent some time with people I would never meet otherwise and I'm glad I did.
The title is available to stream internationally on Thai PBS with English subtitles baked in. So no CC button like we're used to looking for. Fortunately I was looking for info to add it to the database so I hit play....
(That breakdown of ratings really doesn't work for this, so I just used my overall 7 for the parts as well.)
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Comfort Food for the Soul
Okay, so Little Forest had been sitting in my watchlist for over a year, and last night I finally pressed play because I missed Kim Tae-ri’s “girl next door” vibe. Best decision ever. It’s basically 115 minutes of Tae-ri cooking, eating, wandering around her village, and quietly narrating her thoughts — and somehow, that was exactly what I needed.The plot is super simple: Hye-won comes back to her rural hometown after getting tired of city life. That’s it. No big twists, no villains, no tragic breakup — just one woman rediscovering herself through food and nature. And it’s so peaceful. Every season flows into the next as she learns, heals, and occasionally deep-fries things you didn’t even know were edible (acacia blossoms? who knew!).
The pacing is slow, but intentionally so. It gives you space to breathe — like you’re living alongside her rather than watching from afar. The way the film is divided by the seasons makes it feel like a warm year spent in quiet reflection.
Kim Tae-ri carries the whole thing effortlessly. She’s so natural that it doesn’t even feel like acting. One minute she’s smiling softly at her freshly baked bread, and the next she’s just sitting in silence — but somehow you feel everything. That subtle shift between contentment and melancholy is pure magic.
The cinematography is gorgeous. Every shot could be a Pinterest board for “Korean countryside aesthetic.” There’s something almost meditative about watching her cook — the sizzling, the chopping, the way sunlight hits a bowl of rice. You can almost smell the food through the screen.
And Kim Tae-ri… what can I even say? She’s so naturally expressive. She doesn’t need dramatic crying scenes to make you feel something; a quiet smile or a small sigh does the job. You can tell she gets this character — someone who’s tired but still gentle with herself.
What surprised me most is how healing the movie felt. I expected a slow, maybe even boring story — but instead, it wrapped me up like a warm blanket. There’s something so grounding about watching someone find joy in the simplest things. It makes you want to plant something, cook something, and maybe just take a day to breathe.
By the time it ended, I realized I’d been smiling for most of the movie. It’s rare to find a film that doesn’t need high stakes or grand emotions to move you. Little Forest does it quietly, through food, nature, and self-reflection.
If you’re burnt out, stressed, or just need a reminder that peace can come from small, ordinary moments — this is your movie
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Love over time
I absolutely loved this movie. I also love the actor, Jung Hae In. I have watched most of his movies and series, his face is so innocent in the way he expresses love.It's a slow burn movie, but worth it.
The kid that fell from the roof, he never pushed him though, but seems like he slipped, cause u see him standing with the one glove left in his hands. Like he was trying to catch him?
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Human Touch
A Day With My Son is a beautiful human story about family, relationships, and, above all, the human touch — something we have less and less of today (in 2025), when most of our interactions happen through messages and screens. That’s why family remains the greatest treasure a person can have: to have a mother and a father, a son, a daughter, and to be able to look each other in the eyes and hold each other’s hand.The protagonists in this movie don’t speak much to each other. The lack of spoken words is replaced by inner voice-over narration, through which we can hear their thoughts and feel their emotions. This approach adds an original tone to the movie, along with a few small fantastical elements involving animals. In this sense, the film is more a work for reflection than for pure entertainment.
While watching the movie, it wasn’t clear where the story was heading, and since it is quite slow, I began to feel bored in the middle. But the final act revealed what it was truly about, and the film left me with a warmth of love and faith that is hard to describe. I can only say that this movie made my heart grow an inch bigger.
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I have a bone to pick with this movie
Honestly this movie is not that bad. I get that they are trying to make something different because usually with these plots the ghost is the good person and the people they want to seek revenge on is the bad people. They are trying to change that and I do like that uniqueness. But personally, still kinda hate the plot because the good guys are dead and the bad guys live :').I think this is the type of movie that you can watch at night and not be scared. The scares are alright; not that scary and the jumpscares are kind of cheap. But also not that bad as there are scares that I think are unique and creative. Overall, I give this movie a 7/10.
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Underrated and Unfairly Hated!!!!
People started attacking Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy long before it even came out lol, and honestly, it never deserved that hate. Most of the harsh and unnecessary reviews are from readers of the original web novel/manhwa who expected the movie to copy every single detail and blah blah. When it didn’t, they turned against it completely, not just that they started judging it the moment the first trailer was released and would make memes of it or laugh at how the goblins look like 💀 seriously tho wtf!! But that’s the thing!! movies can’t always follow every scene or dialogue from the source. What matters is the essence and this movie captured that beautifully, agree with it or not.The rest of the hate mostly comes from people who never even watched it but got swayed by those same negative reviews. It’s like everyone jumped on the hate train without thinking for themselves, just like that male character who started attacking the old lady, kill the ants not the ajummah.
Once you actually sit down and watch it, you can see the effort and heart the team put into this project. The visuals, the energy, the acting, all of it shows genuine respect for the source material (Actually I don't like something, cgi is not that good lol but still)
Kim Dokja’s portrayal especially felt emotional and grounded.
So yeah, Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy is criminally underrated and unfairly hated. I really hope the cast and crew don’t let the noise get to them and give us a second movie, because this story deserves to continue, and to be appreciated for what it truly is. Many of us are waiting for a second movie.
So again, just give it a try, watch it for the genre, characters, and plot, not for the sake of rating/reviewing, wasting time, or just cause you wanna watch something and then end up lashing at them for no good reason.
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Sweet, funny, and heartfelt — just wish it were longer.
I watched My Best Summer for Arthur Chen, and I’m so glad I did. It’s a humorous, lovable story that perfectly captures that bittersweet mix of youth — the chaos, the laughter, the quiet tenderness that sneaks up when you least expect it. Arthur was absolutely charming in it — effortlessly natural, funny, and grounded. His portrayal had that rare mix of boyish energy and emotional depth that makes you believe every glance, every unspoken feeling.That said, I found myself wishing it were a drama instead of a movie. The runtime just isn’t enough to fully explore the depth of Geng Geng and Yu Huai’s bond. Their high school moments were delightful but felt too fleeting, and the later reunion would’ve landed even harder if we’d spent more time watching their connection slowly grow. As a movie, with just a few more budding romance and deep conversations scenes, it could’ve become one of the most emotionally resonant high school-to-adulthood stories out there. It would make it more believable that they still liked each other after 7 years! That's why I wish it was a drama where we can really explore and feel their connection during high school before their separation and then see how they have feelings again after their reunion and the reconciliation would be more rewarding.
Still — it left me smiling, aching, and nostalgic. My Best Summer may be short, but it captures the essence of first love beautifully. It’s a gem that makes you wish you could go back in time just to feel it all again.
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1Ichiro and his friends Makoto and Kimi enjoy looking through Ichiro’s telescope. Ichiro’s father is in charge of the Maki Institute and developed a special rocket fuel that will enable interplanetary travel. Makoto and Kimi are the wards of shoe shiner Wakao. One night all television sets are taken over by Dr. Eggman, I mean Ambassador Phantom from Planet Silver who addresses Japan from his spaceship. He declares his imminent arrival, gives the address where he will land, and no one had better get in his way. A contingent of police, scientists, and reporters await him. Oh, and also Ichiro and Makoto. After the aliens vaporize a number of police leaving only their helmets, the Prince of Space arrives and drives the Phantom off. Not to be deterred, Ambassador Phantom devises an evil plan to obtain Dr. Maki’s rocket fuel recipe.
I know it was 1959 and this was a children’s film, albeit with a number of redshirt deaths, but the scientists said that Planet Silver was 305,000km from the moon. The moon is only 385,000 km from the Earth. A planet orbiting so close to Earth sounds like a doomsday film all by itself. Setting that small tidbit aside, if you look at this film from the eyes of children 10 years before the Apollo 11 landing, and in a much less connected world, it’s not that bad. The costumes, special effects, and acting were low budget enough to be hilarious for today’s kids and adults. But this film wasn’t created for us. I found the kids being around dangerous situations unthinkable, but remember equally implausible films/tv shows from my childhood. This film could have benefited from fewer military personnel, reporters, policemen--basically fewer stuffed shirt adults.
Having argued for leniency, Prince of Space wasn’t a measurably good film by any metric, but it was a capsule from a different time before CGI, where a superhero in a baggy costume could point a baton at an alien with a giant beak and utter the words, “Your weapons can’t hurt me!” unironically.
24 October 2025
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Great Actors, Terrible Movie — What Went Wrong?
I went into this movie with low expectations, but I still hoped the amazing cast could save it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a complete disappointment. The CGI was sloppy, the script felt amateurish, and the whole production looked like the work of someone with money but no real filmmaking experience, just desperate for fame and recognition. What a waste of such talented actors. It’s hard to believe Ahn Hyo Seop and Lee Min Ho’s agencies didn’t see how bad this script was before signing on. Maybe the webtoon was popular, but this adaptation is nothing short of a disaster.Was this review helpful to you?
When xio ma finally hears
I just finished watching the movie today and i absolutely loved it. Every scene from the movie touched my heart at a level i hoped that it would. Especially the scene where mumu parts from the mahjong family while all of them waved her tearful goodbyes. The story very accurately depicts the life of the deaf community in the society where they almost feel paralyzed due to people's inability to understand them. The sad part of the movie is just how much a hearing impaired individual has to rely on external help to survive in day to day life that we live in a blink of an eye without any problems.Lay did an amazing job at acting out the father role oozing with pure and innocent love for his daughter wanting to give his all to her. The naive want of making his daughter stay by hiring top class lawyers without any money to give and the problems in getting a normal job to fulfill basic wants and requirememts of his life was sad yet very understandable.
All in all, the whole movie was absolutely beautiful and a must watch for people who might want to watch something with a deep topic and heart-touching story.
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Tepid documentary, worthwhile topic
A documentary about anti-racist counter-protesters, or more precisely the slightly more combative internal section of the Counters, the Otokogumi. It's interesting, and the figures featured are somewhat reminiscent of the kind of personalities we saw among the yellow jackets.Overall, however, it feels like both the director and the people on screen are fairly apolitical, which leads, on the one hand, to a somewhat silly presentation reminiscent of a YouTube video, which dilutes the importance of the subject matter, and, on the other hand, to a parallel being drawn between the ultra-racist leader and the noble struggle of the Counters, as if the two were equally valid.
This is all the more so because we have to dissect the powerful contradictions of Takahashi, who is very repugnant in certain respects (the gift he gives to his friend's daughter, his visits to the Yasukuni shrine); the substance of the message can become a little murky at times. The moment of gathering and sharing that we see towards the end, with a left-wing woman (one of the few female characters in the film), intrigued me and I would have liked to know more about these meetings with this lady. I found that there was very little diversity in this group, particularly the absence of women and people of color, the latter being completely absent. That said, I believe that the protests and counter-protests are aimed more at Japanese-Koreans and Japanese-Chinese.
There is also something of a feel-good drama happy ending with the enactment of the new law at the end, which rings a little hollow when you consider how little use this law is. That said, I'm certainly not throwing stones, as I wouldn't have the courage of any of these people and I applaud any social struggle. It's mainly the cinematic aspect that I'm commenting on. This makes me want to explore these topics a little more.
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Waste of time.
It's not a great movie. But the acting was not bad. They say's it's a horror movie but it's not scary at all for me.The story is also not that great. A below average movie. The sound effects were okay not that bad. There is no more to say about the movie.
Just don't waste time on this one. It's not for first time watch too.
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_
Mansuang is a visual treat and Apo looks spectacular, just the most beautiful human to exist, dances gracefully and his acting deserves all the awards. The title track is haunting and beautiful, tong and bas did a great job too. The plot could have been stronger but looking at it overall nothing to complain.Was this review helpful to you?
Δυνατή ταινία
Βαθιά, σπαραχτική ταινία που πραγματεύεται την αγάπη, την ασθένεια και τον θάνατο.Υπόθεση: Ο Jong-woo πάσχει από τη νόσο Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) – που είναι γνωστή και ως νόσος του Λου Γκέριγκ – και η Ji-soo εργάζεται ως υπεύθυνη σε γραφείο τελετών. Ανανεώνουν μια παλιά γνωριμία, ερωτεύονται και παντρεύονται, όμως η υγεία του Jong-woo επιδεινώνεται με τραγικές συνέπειες.
💬 Η γνώμη μου: Υπέροχη, δύσκολη και δραματική με εξαίσιες ερμηνείες από τους δύο πρωταγωνιστές. Ο Kim Myung-min έχασε περίπου 20 κιλά για να ερμηνεύσει τον ρόλο του ασθενή με ALS.
✔️Μόνο για ‘δυνατούς λύτες’.
Βραβεία & διακρίσεις
Η ταινία κυκλοφόρησε στη Νότια Κορέα στις 24 Σεπτεμβρίου 2009.
Στην πρώτη της προβολή κατέκτησε την πρώτη θέση στο box office για 3 συνεχόμενες εβδομάδες.
Κατέγραψε συνολικές εισιτήριες πωλήσεις περίπου 2.150.000 εισιτήρια, καθιστώντας την τη 10η πιο εμπορική ταινία του 2009 στη Ν. Κορέα
* Στα 30th Blue Dragon Film Awards (2009): ο Kim Myung-min κέρδισε «Καλύτερος Ηθοποιός» και η Ha Ji-won «Καλύτερη Ηθοποιός».
* Στα 46th Grand Bell Awards (2009): ο Kim Myung-min κέρδισε επίσης «Καλύτερος Ηθοποιός».
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Yosaku and his mentor Shigetomo, have trekked into the snow covered mountain forest and find the perfect tree they can use to sculpt a Kannon. When a blizzard hits, they take shelter in an empty hut. That night a figure in white enters and freezes everything including Shigetomo. She spares Yosaku’s life as long as he never mentions having seen her. The day he recounts what he saw to anyone is the day she will kill him. After Yosaku recovers, a young woman named Yuki seeks shelter at his home during a rain storm. His mentor’s wife invites her to stay not knowing the shadow she has let in. Yuki and Yosaku fall in love, but can two lovers from different worlds have a happy ending, especially when human demons lurk in their village?
The Snow Woman was adapted from a tale in Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by Lafcadio Hearn. The 1964 film Kwaidan contained a well-made short film about the Yuki Onna starring Nakadai Tatsuya and Kishi Keiko. This film expands upon it without losing any tension or the emotional punch of the tragic love story.
Fujimura Shiho was mesmerizing whether playing the ice-cold Snow Woman or warmhearted Yuki. Ishihama Akira’s naïve sculptor Yosaku didn’t have as much to do, nor did his character develop much. Murase Sachiko as the shaman who perceived Yuki’s true form set the scenes she was in on fire. The special effects were limited yet effective. Ifukube Akira (Godzilla) provided his own special brand of music which echoed the characters' moods. While there were outdoor scenes most of the film was indoors and felt almost like a play. The judicious use of lighting added to both the eerie otherworldly elements and the ordinary household setting as a Yuki Onna learned about love and family.
The Snow Woman was a product of its time in terms of acting and film and yet was still captivating largely due to Fujimura’s loving eyes that could grow icy when threatened. If you enjoy older films or you liked Kwaidan, this is one to try.
23 October 2025
Triggers: Attempted sexual assault
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