Reviews

Extremely emotional

I rarely post reviews but this movie totally deserved one. It was a great extremely emotional movie that got me by surprise. Life is so unfair to some and very generous to others. It is a masterpiece that left me crying so much. Those of you who have lost a brother would know how sad this kind of movies can be. Especially if the actors are playing their part so well. I read comments about the movie being disgusting and such- well these people are not mature enough to understand the great work that has been put in this movie. Oscar performance on all accounts. It would be really hard for me to watch it again but may be later on i will definitely do. I was not able to warm up to the ML but the brother got all my attention. I really wanted her to choose him.

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Heartwarming.

I re-watched this after years yesterday (with English subtitles) thus I gave it a higher rewatch value.

Personally, I don't think this film is the type where people could give much expectations. The first thing that might come to mind would be : boring and plain.

Yes, I had the same exact thought, too ー despite casting my favorite actress.

Birthday Card starts off in an interview where Noriko (Hashimoto Ai) narrates her life from her childhood, and the story goes from there. We see Noriko growing up until her 20s, with her encounters, her struggles, and her relationship as she gets to know both herself and her mom through the letters she receives every year on her birthday.

The film doesn't have a glamorous cinematography, in my opinion, but instead it gives a little bit of a plain imagery and colors that really lives up to its genre of "Slice-of-life", like any Japanese Human drama.

Honestly, there isn't much to say except to give it a try! (Currently available on HBO GO app)

Watching the film gives a sense of comfortー like a warm hot chocolate or soup in a cold weather, or a sense of nostalgiaーsimilar to when you open up an old album or a box from your childhood. At the same time, it gives you a sense of growing up with our main character, Noriko, that you would want to pat yourself at the back and say, "You've done well"
by the end of the film. Truly heartwarming, so I recommend it on days you're unsure what to watch !

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I think the story was really limited, the setting was small (as apposed to My First Client for example) and the progress though uneventful, the ending was not what they wanted it to be.
Park Ha Sun and Ha Yoon Kyung did an amazing job though the little kid didn't have enough force (the kids in Pawn and My First Client were so amazing I was mesmerized by their performance) and I couldn't get that invested.


this is a big issue and a current event in korea, idk if laws are different in each country regarding child abuse, but in beyond the truth they said the law can take away your child even if there was a rumor of mistreatment then you need to prove that you're a good parent, which also seems like a horrible law but here in these korean movies even if there are huge sings of abuse they let them keep the kids! and in the end it results in 2 things, they die or they kill. that's why I didn't think the ending had the impact they wanted. at some scenes the kid seems to be exhibiting psychopathic behavior, even bigger than their line "kids who are abused turn around and abuse other's"

so overall even if the message was heartbreaking and the performance was good, it still felt basic. I couldn't feel the emotinal depth of each fl, or the connection with the kid, so I felt like it was slow but rushed

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Worse than a B Movie this is a "cult" film

So first lets talk about the acting (which usually I can forgive) but this was worse then watching the end of the Faith no more Epic video. And the fish delivered it lines better. Stunted dialog and unnatural interactions between the actors.

Music by trent reznor...if you are looking for Pretty hate machine this aint it.

Action..was a jumbled mess of cgi in incomprehensible movement coupled with artistic shots to convey the actors feelings with out dialog.

Story..This is sci fi..so take story, especially origin stories with a grain of salt. BUT THIS WAS CRAP. No motivation from bad guy, other than he is a nut job. Dads a pervert who had a baby with an android...WAIT Wuuut! ..anatomically impossible Mr. Garabaldi but you can try...

Oh and iron gun flesh is genetic. Just..what?!

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Needed to be Longer

I loved the 2 ML's big-brother, little-brother dynamic, but because of the limited runtime, the relationship and character growth felt rushed and unrealistic. And after such a jarring climax, to not let the two meet face to face on screen again was a big let down for me.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie when the two ML's were on screen together, but the rest involved a lot of skipping. This needed to be drama length to truly explore the characters and let them realize the growth they needed.

Content warning: Hinted animal abuse, moderate child abuse, and strong violence and language. Fully deserves its 18+ rating, and would be rated R in America.

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Sports dramas/films are always fun for me, but that first kiss in this movie caught me completely off guard. And then I remembered he's the dude from "Kakafukaka" and everything fell in place. Of course, he knows how to kiss. I'm actually pretty torn about this one. Parts of the story I really enjoyed, particularly the archery bits. That was just interesting to me. But it was hard to connect with the ML and so I could never determine what was in character or out of character for him, was he serious or not serious? They could have fleshed him out a bit more, but that's nothing against Masaki Nakao's performance. He's a decent enough actor and he fit the role pretty well. I just wish they'd given him more to work with. I feel the same way about Elaiza Ikeda as the FL. This is the first time I've seen her as a FL, she's always been in a supporting role when I encounter her. She was acceptable as the lead, and I felt quite a bit of emotion coming from her. Her character also had a serious melancholy about her that never got fully explained. So yes, we've got some steamy kissing scenes and there's a spark of connection between the leads, but I found myself asking why. And that's never good. Also, I have a problem in Asian entertainment when the guy pretty much threatens sexual abuse if the girl doesn't go along with what he's asking. Say what now? That sort of things happens here ('if you don't agree with me, I don't know what I might do to you"), so I was iffy about the ML from the get-go. But I still enjoyed the movie. It's filmed very nicely and by the end, I was supporting their relationship. I just wish we'd gotten to know them more. Once again I'm reminded that dramas are usually better than movies when adapting manga because it allows more of the story to be told. Although who knows, maybe the manga didn't give any more details either. But Viki has great subs and it was a beautiful film to stream.

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I just got done watching this drama, and I’m asking myself—What did I just watch? I cant call it a BL movie, because I don’t really think that’s what it was. It was more about method actors going way beyond the characters they were portraying in their play. They crossed the line and really started to have feelings for each other, like they did in their play. Or did they? It really kept you guessing right until the end. Even when it ended and the credits were running, you still didn’t know if they were really acting, or they really had feelings for each other. The acting was excellent and very believable. It kept me interested from beginning to end.

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Just not enough of a story for its premise

Just as I started watching this film, I made the mistake of reading a comment about how it looked like it was filmed like a U.S. young adult movie from the 90's, and the damage was done - I just couldn't unsee it from then on. At times it made me think I was watching "Reality Bites" from 1994 but with 21st century bells and whistles, like social media and access to fancy camera equipment. Young adult struggles are young adult struggles, no matter the era, and you never really know the people around you - that's the big takeaway from this movie.

The storytelling wasn't linear, and normally that's not a problem , but this film felt too disconnected to really grab hold of what it was supposed to be about. I would have liked to have seen more actual plot and less music video or scenes that were trying to be shocking and new (but just felt sad.) The rare moments where the flash and glitz all stopped and we could see real emotion were welcomed but not nearly plentiful enough. A huge crime was committed at the beginning of the film (no spoilers) but the lack of fall-out was truly far-fetched at times and added to the viewer wondering if we were just watching one long dream sequence.

One of the main characters said: "I believed without thinking too much" and I thought that was appropriate. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say, and one of the real lessons we all need to learn as we grow up. But I wanted much more from this film than I got.

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Second chances in life and for acting

First of all: this movie is beautifully filmed. The settings and the cinematography are extremly well done.

The story about meeting your love after being left behind once is bittersweet. It gets all lovey-dovey at the end, which seems to bother quite a lot viewers, but not me. It felt good for my poor little romantic heart.
What I think is the best about the movie: the acting. Especially Tonawanik Adisorn really improved compared to the first movie "Present perfect". I liked that movie too but his acting was a little stiff for me - and now in the second part he did an amazing job. The chemistry between him and Kritsana Maroukasonti is awesome and the movie contains one of the most beautiful, loving and caring sex-scenes I have seen so far.
I did not expect a deeper meaning from the movie, therefor I was not dissapointed at all. And it would be great if there was a third part now that the actors really found their groove together, I would enjoy that very much.

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nice and fluffy

*FIRST SENTENCE IS A SOMEWHAT SPOILER*

Putting aside the very creepy "I'm in love with my blood uncle" thing this movie wasn't too bad and was actually cute and enjoyable. I don't find Japanese humor to be my cup of tea especially in romance manga remakes but the very brief comedy at the beginning actually made me giggle a little so I'll give this movie extra points for that. The story was typical but well executed by the cast and director and may be one of my top favorite live-action remakes. Haven't read the manga so can't say how similar it is to it but the movie is enjoyable enough where it doesn't matter if the story is the same as the manga.

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"THE REASON WHY WE ARE FIGHTING THE WORLD SO HARD IS NOT TO CHANGE IT, BUT TO NOT LET IT CHANGE US"

That unforgettable dialogue really made me speechless. Adapted from a novel by Jee-young Cong (published in 2009) which based on a real story that occurred in a special school for deaf and mute children at Mujin in 2005. Silenced is not kind of an entertaining film because it’s made not to entertain I guess but to tell reality to the public, an ugly reality. It’s dark, melancholy, beautiful, and sad.

Anyways, I'm not gonna discuss the plot so go for it when you are up for it mentally and moreover, shout-out to the creative team and the cast for executing it up to the mark.

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Truly charming and enjoyable

A woman dying of cancer starts off the attempt to gather her old school friends, as well as the personal journey of NaMi, who was asked to find the old friends. The efforts and NaMi remembering the old days make it for a very enjoyable movie.
The movie could be used in university courses when teaching about leadership, transformational leadership etc. Chun Hwa, the leader of the group in school, and now losing her battle to cancer, shows time and time again why she is a leader. She fights to retrieve her friends caught in a confrontation involving the military, demonstrations and a rival gang of girls. She does what she can to help, and ensure the unity of the group, ... and in the end, from beyond her casket, she pulls yet another giving the grown up women a sense of hope, and trust in themselves (you have to see it).
The proof the movie is good? Not only will these actresses go on working in many productions as leads, secondary roles and performing cameos, but something must have clicked among them as well. For the next 7-8 years you will find the actresses, who were playing the highschool roles, working 2 at a time, 3 at a time, together in movies and kdramas.

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Not Like Other Korean BLs That's For Sure!

I would say watch it if you're hesitant to do so, the actors had great chemistry and the story line was good.

I know Korean BLs existed before 2019 and gave us better kissing scenes(e.g: long time no see)than the recent Korean BLs(e.g: Mr heart and Where your eyes linger). To My Star set high standards for the next Korean Bls to come when it comes to kissing scenes.

I was expecting the characters to just place their lips on one another and just stand still, so imagine the high pitch scream that flew out my mouth when the boys gave us lip action. I fell off my bed and turned into a happy wiggling worm because WOW! I'm blushing as I write this tbh! To prove that they set the standards high, You Make Me Dance did not disappoint as well when in came to the kissing scenes(AND THEY EVEN DID A WHOLE: IT'S GETTING HOT IN HERE, SO TAKE OF ALL YOUR CLOTHES!! I AM GETTING SO HOT I'M GONNA TAKE MY CLOTHES OFF!)but enough of me talking about the kissing scenes, the show was more than that.

I'm not gonna lie though, I had to rewatch the last 2 episodes in order to understand what happened. Out of nowhere this reporter showed up to warn our main protagonist. I was so confused but after I watched it the second time it all made sense(not saying it'll be the same for you though).
The antagonist and the reporter talking in English was also very weird and somewhat funny for me. No let me be honest, I laughed my head off because it was so sudden and awkward.

I wish we found out more about why our main lead was terrified of breaking glass. That's (I think)the only thing they didn't explain and I feel it would have made the story even more wholesome.

I would recommend this bl.

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