Reviews

The Ethics of Aesthetics: Misbehavior and the Limits of Subtext

Wow, okay. Well. To start, Misbehavior is not a bad film. But it’s also not particularly good. It falls squarely in that frustrating middle space. A story with potential, a mood with bite, and just enough talent on screen to keep you watching… but not enough follow-through to leave any lasting impression.

The premise alone is already a lot to chew on: two female teachers. A senior contract instructor and a newly hired full-time one become entangled in a tense, jealous rivalry over their male high school student. There’s a sexual component. Possibly romantic, although the emotional dynamics are so shallow and confused that it's hard to tell if the film is aiming for erotic tension, predatory power play, or just general mess. Either way, the setup is deeply ethically questionable. But strangely, that’s not the biggest problem here.

Uncomfortable or controversial subject matter can work when it’s handled with nuance and clarity of purpose. Misbehavior doesn’t have that. The film seems more interested in aesthetic discomfort than actual character or thematic development. It wants to be unsettling, but it doesn’t seem to know why. It gestures at taboos, at institutional power imbalances, at buried rage, but only ever in half-measures.

Let’s talk pacing. The first half is slow and vaguely tense. Like the story is winding a spring, waiting to snap. But the second half unravels way too quickly. Critical plot points come in rapid succession without emotional buildup or payoff. It’s jarring, not in an intentional, disorienting way, but more like a writer realizing they’re running out of time and speed-running the climax. By the time the credits roll, you’re still trying to process a shift that didn’t feel earned.

Kim Ha-neul is the saving grace here. Her portrayal of Park Hyo-joo is unnervingly restrained. A woman so tightly wound, so completely at the mercy of her own internalized failure, that even her most violent moments feel like they’re happening from a place of quiet, hollow inevitability. You can see the years of professional frustration, emotional suppression, and self-loathing living just beneath the surface. It’s a nuanced performance trapped in a script that doesn’t give her nearly enough to work with. She deserved a better vehicle.

Lee Won-geun’s character (Shin Jae-ha) is less a person and more a plot device. Painted to be manipulative, but we all know he’s the real victim here. The second teacher, played by Yoo In-young, is equally underwritten, which is a shame because the bones of a compelling rivalry are there. Instead, we get cardboard motivations and stiff confrontations.

One thing I will give the film: it resists the urge to offer a character to "root" for. Everyone here is flawed in different, unappealing ways. It’s the kind of story where you’re not meant to pick sides so much as watch the trainwreck unfold. I usually appreciate that.. narratives where everyone’s just as damaged as the next person, and you’re forced to sit in the discomfort of it all. But even that quality starts to wear thin when the characters are this emotionally undercooked.

The film is painted with a lot of big themes: gendered power dynamics, academic hierarchy, social invisibility, the ways institutions suppress and warp women’s agency. These are all rich, worthy subjects. But Misbehavior handles them like set dressing. You can see the intention in certain scenes. A passing line about job insecurity, a glance during a faculty meeting, the subtle difference in how the school treats the two women… but none of it is interrogated in any meaningful way.

Visually, the film works very well. It’s cold, sparse, and tonally cohesive. The sterile setting of the school complements the emotional emptiness of the characters. There's a kind of quiet, aching bleakness to the whole thing that’s effective in moments. But you can only ride on mood and minimalism for so long before you start to wonder if anything’s actually happening.

Final thoughts? Misbehavior could have been a disturbing, layered portrait of female rage, institutional failure, and manipulative relationships. It had the atmosphere, the actors, and the potential. But it stops just short of doing anything meaningful with them. What’s left is a film that looks serious, acts serious, but never quite earns its seriousness.

Would I recommend it? Only if you're in the mood for a morally ambiguous slow-burn that leaves you mildly frustrated. Otherwise, you’re not missing much.

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Love it

It's late here and I should be in bed but here I am writing this review.

I loved the movie and it's been a while since I've seen my baby Raul on screen so i was I was a bit excited.
But what surprised me the most was Tao and Ano, tbh I didn't check the cast, I just saw Raul and I was instantly on board, but Tao was amazing, her character is my favourite and I wish she had some kind of happy end despite being a side character. As for Ano, just seeing her is enough for me to smile ❣️ she is the cutest ever.

Now the story is based on manga which is why we can't expect anything to make sense, nevertheless I found it interesting, it's always fun to watch Japanese highschool romance every now and then ~

The cast was so good!! A full list of young talents some of them are my favourites it was fun to watch them all together, some characters also were very funny, Raul's reactions and facial expressions were on point and very adorable, my cutie baby Raul is so grown up now still he is as cute and lovely as he ever was.

It's one of those very light, silly and totally crazy type of movies that you can watch after a heavy drama/movie to freshen up.

Just don't expect too much, just sit there and enjoy the ride.

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A person I want to be

At first, I didn’t like Hong Sang-soo’s movies because I didn’t understand them, but now I enjoy them—even though I still don’t quite understand them. His films seem as if he simply invents a character and tells the actors to improvise a conversation while the camera is rolling. Yet, each of his movies gives us a chance to pause and reflect on life, while giving us the sensation that we’re sitting and chatting with the characters.

In that sense, while watching this movie, I was immersed in the conversations and the theme. At times, it felt strange to watch people do unusual things, but it also felt authentic. They are people who are free to live in their own way while also supporting each other. A few beautiful scenes by the river serve as a frame in which the director and actors create their art. Especially interesting was the dynamic between students and teachers, as each seeks inspiration from the other: the teachers from the life they have lived, and the students from the life they wish to live.

I think I owe this movie my poem about THE PERSON I WANT TO BE, so here it is:

In the echoes of my memory
I see that person,
the person I want to be,
the person I lost.

Through the eyes of faith
I see who I should be,
or who I truly am,
or maybe just the reflection of my dreams.

In the weariness of daily life
I don't know what to hope for,
or if there is more of me,
a potential that could be achieved.

So my wish is simply
to live near the river,
to feel the water,
and remind myself that I am real.

P.S. Here are all the Hong Sang-soo movies I’ve seen so far: Right Now, Wrong Then / Ha Ha Ha / Woman on the Beach / Grass / Yourself and Yours / The Novelist's Film / Oki’s Movie / Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors / The Woman Who Ran / The Day He Arrives / A Traveler's Needs / In Another Country / Woman Is the Future of Man

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An Unraveling of Identity and Obsession on Stage and Off

What drew me into Method wasn’t the promise of a romantic slow burn. It was the casting. The film centers around Yongwoo, a member of a popular boy group, and Jaeha, a seasoned stage veteran with decades of gravitas under his belt. It’s a curious pairing at first glance. Youth and idol fame clashing with age and theatrical prestige. That tension alone was reason enough to watch. What I didn’t expect was to be pulled into a psychological drama that defies genre expectations and left me questioning where the character ended and the performance began.

One of the most immediate things that sets Method apart is its chemistry. It didn’t feel rushed, superficial, or shoehorned in for fanservice. It crafts an almost unsettling tension. Every glance, every line read in rehearsal feels loaded. At times tender, at others unnerving. The chemistry between Yongwoo and Jaeha is electric, but not in a romanticized way. It’s raw, uncomfortable, and, most crucially, earned.

The dynamic between the two characters is built on an intentional imbalance. Jaeha doesn’t take Yongwoo seriously.. and why should he? Yongwoo enters the world of theater as a detached idol with no passion for the play they're rehearsing. Jaeha is a man who has bled for his craft, and he sees Yongwoo as little more than a shallow pretty face. That perception begins to shift as Yongwoo becomes entranced. Not just by Jaeha as a person, but by Jaeha’s unwavering devotion to acting. The first screenplay read-through scene is burned into my memory.

It’s reductive to call Method just a BL. If anything, it weaponizes the genre’s conventions to lure viewers in, only to dismantle them scene by scene. This isn’t a love story. It’s a tragic character study about obsession, artistic dissolution, and the dangers of identity blurring between role and reality.

Jaeha doesn’t fall in love, he falls into his character. Walter consumes him. He withers under the weight of his own method acting, and in doing so, drags Yongwoo down with him. But Yongwoo’s downfall is more chaotic. He doesn’t become someone else; he loses himself in Jaeha. His affection metastasizes into fixation. It culminates in a harrowing moment where he breaks into Jaeha’s home and stands silently over him and his wife as they sleep. There's no romantic justification, no tragic poetry.. just a haunting display of emotional possession.

There’s no love here, only consumption. The kind that gnaws away at your sense of self until all that’s left is the performance.

What makes Method remarkable is its refusal to play to expectations. It’s not romantic, but it is intimate. It’s not erotic, but it simmers with tension. And above all, it’s an exploration of what happens when the line between who we are and who we pretend to be collapses entirely.

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Love was never there

The movie is psychologically phenomenal.
It is horror — but not in the way you might expect.
The most horrifying part isn’t gore or violence — it’s the realism of the characters.

Wine is a deeply lonely character.
He clings to anyone who fills that void.
If someone says they love him, he simply mirrors it — not because he truly loves them, but because he doesn’t know how to.
Love, to him, is whatever makes the loneliness stop — even briefly.

The men around him ,Tee and Boy are no better.
They take advantage of Wine’s need for affection.
And Wine lets them, because even if it's hollow, they still say they love him.
Nobody sees him as a person.
Only a body, a vessel for their desires.

Even Night — the quietest of them all — isn't a perfect contrast.
He’s passive. Emotionally distant.
His mere existence in Wine’s space is enough for Wine to cling to him too.
It’s not about connection — it’s about survival.

The story is devastating in a right way.
And the ending broke me.

The final scene — with Wine clinging to the guitar in jail — says everything about who he is.
Still waiting. Still holding on.
Still believing someone might come back for him if he just stays there long enough.

Sorry for spoiling but movie is damn good, not enough people appreciate it.

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Rebel without a Cause only with boats

Nakahira Ko’s sexually provocative film Crazed Fruit was the brother of all love triangles. Back in the days when Hollywood’s Desi and Lucy had to be shown sleeping in separate beds, Natsuhisa, Eri, and Haruji broke through societal norms and carried on torrid affairs with each other in the same bed, boat or on the sandy beaches.

The Sun Tribe led by Natsuhisa and Frank was a group of bored well-to-do young people always looking for fun or trouble, whichever one they ran into first. They aimlessly killed time while railing against the establishment and rigid societal traditions. Natsuhisa’s little brother Haruji was more strait laced and gentler in temperament. Haru bumps into a beautiful girl in the train station and falls instantly in love. After they meet again by accident, his heart is sealed. Trouble arises when Natsuhisa discovers Eri’s secret and blackmails her into sleeping with him.

Though tame by modern standards there was no doubt that this film pushed the envelope for 1956. No bare bits were shown but the camera lingered suggestively over areas often considered off-limits. Characters discussed their sexual escapades as the men rated women. Post-coital moments left little to the imagination. And I’ve never seen a Japanese film with so many scenes with characters in swimsuits either.

I had no issue with the sexual content. My concerns were more about character development or the lack thereof. The brothers were close and one would have been labeled ‘the good one’ with the other one labeled ‘troubled’. That shorthand was about all that was given. Both men were obsessed with one woman and dangerously jealous. Eri, the femme fatale juggling three men, was the most thinly drawn. She supposedly loved Haru, was sexually attracted to Natsuhisa, and for some reason at the age of 20 was married to a man twice or three times her age. The volatile mix led to a suspenseful and violent conclusion.

Women may have been more sexually liberal but it was still a film written by a man which lent itself to certain biases. Consent was the male interpretation that “no” meant “yes” which was troubling. The Sun Tribe spent much time rating women and figuring out ways to meet new flesh. They may have rebelled against tradition but that didn’t mean they were any more evolved.

The cinematography was a mixed bag. Some of the shots were beautiful and thrilling. The characters spent a great deal of time either in cars, boats, or on water skis. The backgrounds for all three were laughably bad. Hawaii and Hawaii themed films were popular during the mid-1950s through the 1960s which Crazed Fruit reflected. While not set in Hawaii, the gang routinely wore Hawaiian shirts and played the ukelele. There were numerous scenes of the characters skiing which also seemed to be a popular theme from this time period.

Crazed Fruit explored the lives of (wealthy) children who had been born during WWII, lived through the bombings, and rebelled against the status quo as the country sought to find its own footing. While I could appreciate what the director was seeking to accomplish, I didn’t consider any of the characters particularly appealing. Natsuhisa was reprehensible, Haru was a blank page defined primarily by his desire for Eri, and Eri was only a vessel for the men in her life. The biggest lesson I took away from this film was to watch out for the quiet ones, still waters may run deep, but so does jealousy.

28 June 2025

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Not bad

It was not bad at all, I can even say I enjoyed watching to some degree.
I don't get the insane hate around this movie, while the way they went about some stuff could be considered cringy and cliche. It still, in my opinion, doesn't take that much from the fact that the movie was actually not that bad.

I do think it would be much better if it had more horror stuff. I got really excited when I read that this movie is a horror movie, but it was nothing close to what I expected. It was more of just mystery, I guess.
I enjoyed the acting and the story was pretty good, sadly the way they executed it wasn't the best.
I really dislike the fact how they never explained to us why exactly does Rawee had to move in with their family. That felt like a really important piece of information that was never shown to us.

The thing that I disliked the most is the way Rawee was portrayed as pretty much stereotypical “uke” from some dubious bl manga. The way he would always accidentally cut himself on everything and stumble on nothing, and of course his knight in shinning armour was always there to save him. While it could rarely be seen as cute if it happens once throughout the whole movie, the amount of times it had happened here made it genuinely annoying.

I would say that overall this movie is worth watching it, it's just the fact that while watching it don't try too hard to find some logic in it. Because it's definitely lacking in that department. It's a nice movie to watch when you don't really want to think. While I know that this is definitely not the way it was intended, it is the way it turned out to be.

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This movie is a K-TRAUMA!!! ?

Most of the people have heard about it but doesn't watch it because IT HAS A SAD ENDING 😭 But trust me this one is good like the chemistry and type of vintage movie from my opinion. Watch it trust me i know it will make you cry but in life not only happy things happened sad also happened so why not try this one? Let's review it now

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

This is a school drama. So there was this boy in the school who likes the girl but she likes his best friend. After some time she also started to like him. Girl's best friend also like the man lead and the female lead and her best friend argued on this thing. Before when this happened between female lead and her best friend, female lead , main lead, main lead's best friend and female lead's best friend went to amusement park. There the female lead and main lead sat together on roller coaster and main lead was scared of heights he only sat there because of the female lead there he also confesses his love and from there female lead start to develop feelings for him. They also used to do photography projects together because they were assigned together.


After some days, the male lead has to go abroad and both of them made promise to meet at the female lead's dad book shop at night but the female lead didn't came but the male lead waited whole night for her but she didn't came. Next day when he was going to catch his train the female lead came running towards him and said come back soon i love you and many more things.
After that she never heard from him after 40 years she found out that he was catching a flight back to Korea he died in a tragic accident 😭.

WHY DID I CUT MARKS IN WHICH THINGS?
LET'S TALK ABOUT IT.

1. STORY: I gave it a 9/10 because they both looked so good together and if you will watch the movie you will see how great their chemistry is!!!!!!! The moments they had in like it was just soo wholesomeeeeee!!!!!! I have no words now they are just soo cuteee!!!!! But...... i cuted 1 mark because of the sad ending 😭 okay don't let us remember that calm down.

2. ACTING/CASTING: I gave it 10/10 because every actors nailed and played their role so well FRR. The casting is also good like the pair of kim you jung and byeon woo seok. I NEVER IMAGINED THAT THEY WILL THAT GOOD!!!!!!!!!

3. OST: I don't much notice OSTs but there were only 1-2 OSTs because it was a movie i think but they were great that why is is a 10/10.

4. REWATCH VALUE: It was super good and amazing but making me cry also 😭 it's fine it's okay. But i prefer that i will not rewatch it because i don't wanna make myself cry again only imaging it make me cryyy.

But it is a MUST WATCH go watch it now. I know it has a sad ending but still there cute and funny moments also!!!!!!

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Honestly, I just watched the movie and created this account only to write this review.

Let me start by saying: this film is the best in its category — dark, psychological, black flag, emotionally complex — and definitely not for everyone.
There’s no fluff, no healing romance, no happy ending. Just brutal realism.

Ryuji (the doctor) isn’t a manipulator — he’s broken, emotionally unstable. His actions are abhorrent, no doubt, but his guilt over not being able to save his previous lover pushes him to "save" Makoto.
But calling him a savior isn’t accurate either — because yes, maybe he helped Makoto exist... but at what cost?

Makoto was already broken before he met Ryuji. He was on his way to self-destruction, walking the line between numbness and death.
Ryuji interrupted that process — but in doing so, created a new trauma-bonded dependency unconsciously.

Even after being set free, Makoto returns. Not out of love, but because he doesn’t know how to exist anymore without this pain. He choose to be with Ryuji even after everything (you'll know why only after watching the movie)

There’s so much more I could say, but I’ll stop here to avoid major spoilers.
Just know: this is not a love story.
It’s a story of survival, where two unstable people cling to each other not because they should… but because they have no one else.

One is coping with guilt.
The other is clinging to the only thing that made him feel alive.
They don't deserve each other, they need each other.

Would definitely recommend but if you want fluff, cutesy, happy ending, can't handle real stuff then back off. Just because people don't understand or accept the story they give bad reviews.
LET ME SAY AGAIN: THIS IS NO LOVE STORY, IT IS MORE THAN THAT.
Hope this convince you to watch the movie.

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Cool side of Tsuchiya Tao. Have 2 seiyuu also act!

Watched it for 5 minutes & straight read the manga till finished. I don't recognized Tao Tsuchiya at first, she the scene stealer here. (It's been long time I watched drama/j-movie) Tbh, Mc looks like surrounding by Main characters XD. I mean lot support role actually mc & they really cool. Only know Raul after watching this LA. Idk someone like him read this website or not, imo Raul isn't really bad but he need learn really a loooooooot. Like don't frowning so much or only pouting his mouth to be deliquent brat. I found he can't really act nervous or shocked. Sometimes I thought do they on purpose doing that for comedic scene. Perhaps, he can be Naruto because he have cool looks when doing talking no jutsu. Tbh in manga Arakuni resembles Thyme/Tsukasa (F4) but with more brain.

If agency (or himself) want pursue acting career, I hope he improve so much after meet lot actors especially Tao Tsuchiya in this movie, or taking acting class for several months. Should he meet Kentaro kaku? I mean he were acting as yankee before. Also for me, coolest movie by japanese group still High&Low series (I'm sorry but I hope they can improve because I'm want to support Raul and his groupmates especially their dorama project from now)

Disappointed they change plot even though with same goal. Well, for like 3 arcs in 1 movie ofc isn't enough to make audiance satisfied. They should make this trilogy LA. So if u don't like the LA just read the manga, and sumihiko cool af there (he still cool in LA but more cool on manga). If LA have Masachika carry the show then Arakuni carrying them for real alongside with Sumihiko (Masachika still the best Waifu too) I'm rooting for new era with other cast as well, maybe I'll watch their future series and loving it. Still disappointed with the plot and how everyone appear. It might be good as if have 8 eps too. I was hoping at least like 3 nen A gumi where everyone shine by their own with a girl as center of their goal.

For music, hmm I'm not sure almost all current dorama that I want to finished seems using these type of music (that's why i rarely watch dorama now) Also we have seiyuu acting in this movie. I wasn't sure but it's really him lmao (not Tsuda Kenjiro, but the other one)

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