Reviews

"In the royal household, they regard their children as enemies"

This was a hard film for me to write a review for. The Throne told the events leading up to the explosive event in 1762 when King Young Jo took his troublesome son’s punishment into his own hands. Or at least part of the events, giving reasons or making excuses for Crown Prince Sado’s reprehensible behavior depending on how you looked at it.

Crown Prince Sado is called before his father after a possible aborted attempt to kill the king, something largely frowned upon. The king is in a jam because he can’t execute the prince for being a traitor because of the problematic law that states the whole family of a traitor would be judged, implicating the king and royal grandson as well. If the prince kills himself, his retainers and supporters are afraid they will be executed. Eventually, the king settles on locking the prince in a rice box with no food or water. The story then flips back and forth in time to explain how the two came to this moment of deadly impasse.

King Young Jo prided himself on his studies and discipline to Confucian ideals and decorum. Sado enjoyed art and hated studying. As the young prince grew up, the king became more disenchanted with the crown prince and more critical. When he made Sado a regent, Sado attempted to change taxation and create laws to benefit the people instead of the nobles. Rival factions were not amused and the king stepped in fearing a loss of power and prestige for himself. Regardless of what decisions Sado made, the king ridiculed him. And apparently because his daddy was mean to him, Sado snapped and became a murdering deviant.

In real life, Sado murdered a eunuch and carried the head around in his private quarters. He beat and raped the women in his circle and murdered many servants. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? The serial rapist/murderer behavior or a distant critical father? In the film the Queen Dowager, his wife, and other women seemed to care for him and dote on him so he wasn’t without attention and positive affirmation. It felt like the film was attempting to drum up sympathy for Sado, but I dare say all of the people he murdered and raped would not feel much compassion regardless of the reason for his brutal and inhuman behavior. Glossing over his vicious actions seemed to weigh the scales without all the facts.

The costumes, wigs, and sets were all beautiful and luxurious. The Throne excelled in the poignant performances by most of the actors including Song Kang Ho, Yoo Ah In, and Kim Hae Sook. Song showed how the king was strictly disciplined in his own life, having no leniency for Sado’s more lax behavior. He also portrayed the king as distraught by the actions he felt had to be done for the country and to spare his grandson. Yoo brought out the complexities of this screen prince who wasn’t in a hurry to be king and had his own ideas for the crown. The dissent into madness was believable. Kim played the pivotal role of the Dowager Queen who saw more good in her grandson than her son did.

If I hadn’t read about Sado’s unbearably cruel behavior, I would have rated this film higher. Somehow leaving out the details seemed disingenuous when assigning blame for his actions to the king’s critical conduct toward his son. If you can block all that out and enjoy the film for the quality acting and cinematography, it is a stunning film to watch.

4 December 2024

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10/10

I don’t know why this does not have a 10/10 rating … the rating do no justice to the movie … totally a must watch. Not only for bl fans but for movie watchers in general .. if birdy and ji han do not make your heart hurt ..you’re heartless 🩷


Everything I say from here is bullshit coz I needed 300 words to publish review
The pacing of the relationship was a little different than your typical BL, and the acting was on point. There are a few different reasons why I wouldn't consider this a BL, the most prominent being the absence of clear seme/uke (masculine/feminine) roles. The two lead characters are well-crafted, and the emotional complexity of their relationship far transcends most BL story lines. I would even consider going back to the theater just for one particular scene; which, although technically a sex scene, accomplishes everything without showing anything. I've been thinking about the passion and emotion of that scene all day.
I feel like this film includes all the great elements of a BL series, but removes the saccharine and adds a plaintive historical setting. The music includes a classic Taiwanese pop song as well as a new song, which includes the film's title. The inclusion of both neatly represents the time jump of the story. This film is a must-watch, and I hope it gets the international attention that it deserves. Both BL and cinema fans alike will enjoy it.

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A MASTERPIECE

A masterpiece indeed, To be honest I'm kinda wanted more interaction about their ending, I felt being left behind by those scene, though their smile is an example of assurance that they ended up being together until to the continuation of their love story in "UNINTENTIONAL LOVE STORY", and also now I understand why they keep bickering each other, and the tatto Ho tae's has leave a remarkable back story, The Screenwriter has no idea that he created that we can call a “Masterpice", a bonus spoiler about the kissing scene they ate it, I felt that kiss was genuine, butterfly in my stomach in short.

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A Different Perspective

This is exactly that, a different perspective but with the same ingredients. They meet in college. Weather the rumors as they move in together. Classed as a romance, this is definitely a drama with a very serious take on the prejudices of being different. In contrast with the later released 'in your feelings' series, this is the thinking version. With equal screen time, both sides of the relationship is revealed between a gay man and a fearless woman who refuses to cower to her male counterparts.

In both their relationships, at one time or another, they both deal with the consequences of not using a condom. In the pursuit of love and happiness, they both act unwisely. Their fierce bond tested from the fallout, they separate. One beaten by her jealous abusive lover, the other waking up too late to recognize what he had. They can only call each other. No one knows them as intimately as they know the other. Life has it's way, maturity comes and permanent choices are made.

This deserves the same level of awareness as the later released version. The acting is superb. On a smaller budget, the story is engaging, entertaining and very intense. His admission of losing an important love and the ensuing breakdown is felt. Had this been released much earlier, my belief is that this adaptation would have garnered more praise for the different perspective.

Good watch.

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gentle and sweet slice of life (need a third movie)

Overall: the sequel is very similar to its predecessor with the theme of friendship and infusion of cooking/food into the story. I was happy we saw progression but a third movie would really be the cherry on the top. First aired in Japan June 2024. Aired December 4th 2024 on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4988/lets-eat-together-aki-and-haru-more-please-2024 (not available in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong or Macau)

What I Liked
- sweet and caring moments
- the cooking/food
- realistic to practice interviewing
- non cliched female characters
- avoided a common plot element at the end (i.e. technology exists)

Room For Improvement
- the voice over recap of the first movie
- thought there had already been some realizations in the last movie, wish we had seen more progress earlier rather than the very end

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Coloured Lens

This was an old movie, released in 2014, I only picked this up now after so long was because ML used to be one of my favourite K drama lead and I found a source to watch it online.
Personally I used to cringe at such storyline with the emphasis on the over-glorifying of extra marital affairs (EMA). The fact to this story is that both leads did betray their spouses. And ML’s behaviour is no different from the older commander who was trying to take advantage of FL during the dance. The only different is ML is charmingly handsome and FL also has feelings for him.
However after watching this I realised that it really depends on what ‘lens’ you watch with. It’s actually a simple, beautiful, sad love story.
If one watch this with an emphasis on the ML’s story of a celebrated war veteran suffering from PTSD and how he was trying to navigate his life again after the trauma of war. He can’t celebrate his wins and he is tormented, and he discovered a dysfunctional way of coping is being obsessing over a desire at first sight that spark him to live again. And as the show progresses, one will understand why his obsession and desire was the only thing that kept him alive after war, similar to why a lot of war veterans developed alcoholism.
Hence it’s not surprising that he attempted suicide after FL tries to break up with him. Yet even he didn’t die, he was again not given another chance to be understood and recover, instead was punished by being sent back to war and die there. He has literally no second chance and no life post war except that glimpse of love desire.

So I am surprise that I do like this and how the story was told was quite nicely done. The acting were spot on and ML is still charming, although too good looking to be a war veteran. LOL!
So choose the lens that you are going to watch this with and you may just enjoy this differently.

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The Grefg tailandés trata de deshauciar a una anciana de su casa

Ya lo predijo The Greft el plot de esta película : deshauciando a una anciana.

Tremendos papeloncios se hacen Usha (no la conocía pero me ha encantado su actuación) y Billkin (este man lo mismo te hace de gay que te hace de nieto youtuber que en principio quiere estafar a su abuela).
Me ha gustado mucho la película aunque se supiera que iba a pasar desde un principio.Las actuaciones han influenciado mucho porque la historia no es que sea el nova más. Me hubiera gustado que profundizasen más en el rollo de trabajar como cuidadores/estafadores para conseguir la herencia, me parecía una idea que se podía haber explotado mejor.
Se me hace poco realista como el nieto se puede manejar tan fácilmente entre los hijos. Vamos es que la madre le deja carta blanca y los dos hermanos entre que uno tiene deudas y el otro está centrado en su familia...
Me parece tierno como la abuela de acuerda y hace todo lo que le pide su nieto, desde el granado hasta lo de la cuenta del banco.

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a spectacular drag that is less scary and more political than i signed up for

i feel like i just wasted 134 minutes of my life.

no, really, what the fuck was that? the pacing was slow as heck. the recent slew of korean shows i've watched have led me to entertain the notion that there's a school of korean directors that conflate drag with artistry. no, a dragged-out, slow motion shot of a woman raising her head is not particularly thought-provoking. look, i know sometimes it's about flair, it's about atmosphere, but there's a chasm between style and extreme boredom. just don't. overdo. it.

and honestly, the visuals were fine (but too dark -- we're approaching GOT season 8 ep 3 levels of dark here), but atmospheric? sure, it was a little eerie, but it was never really scary. i don't know about other regions, but it sure was marketed as chilling/scary/thrilling over here, and frankly, it just wasn't.

i'll give props where it's due: the acting was great. i haven't seen kim go eun disappoint once, and this movie is no exception. lee dohyun feels a little out of his depth as bong-gil here to be honest, but maybe that's more on his character. which brings me to another glaring complaint: where is the characterization? i'm 134 minutes in and out, and none the wiser about who any of these people are. we're limited by runtime, of course, so if there's a good plot here, i'll forgive a plot-centric movie for less-than-satisfactory characterization. but do we?

the plot is... bad. first we have a standalone case that is fairly uninspired, but serves as an introduction to the system, so that's fine. then we go back to the opening scene's baby sickness and dive into our main arc. i'm sorry, but it took forever to get to the brunt of it. it felt like i spent a full hour of nothing to just get to the exhuming, which was, to its credit, the best part of the entire movie. there was some actual anticipation and apprehension as to what might happen. waiting for the consequences to hit consisted of 100% of the entire show's tension. then the show just... derailed from there. look, i'm not going to touch on the ramifications of the atrocities inflicted by imperial japan, but as a member of the international audience, i question the decision to bring all that into this. while we're being political, i'll venture to point out the implications of transplanting the japanese shogun into a vessel that justifies a faceless evil with a complete lack of nuance. i'm not korean, and i don't have to enjoy this. all things considered, it's also a pretty forced patriotic twist and i'm just tired of the nationalist call-to-arms in my shows, boss. outside of the shoehorned historical politics, the film also loses its suspense and drive once the shogun's involvement is revealed. it's just one traditionally korean-themed oni fight.

bottom line: i want my 134 minutes back.

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Surprisingly Enjoyable

I should preface this by saying that I have not watched the prequel, so I didn't go in with any expectations about this movie or how it should compare to the original and I will say I was pleasantly surprised. I don't expect a lot for action movies, especially in the way of plot - because you go in for the action, but I found myself enjoying this more than I thought. (BTW the spoilers are in the section on Jung Hae In's acting).

The plot still isn't the best - it is the weakest part of the movie, but its straightforward and clear. The writing isn't bad, it's just not revolutionary, which I think is fine for something like this. The movie shines a lot in practically every other facet. First - on the technical side, I thought the music was noticeable as a plus. There's this dark tone OST they use for a lot of the scenes and it really sets the tone. The cinematography was also great - there are a lot of unsettling moments and really creepy/cool shots that feel artistic at time. It makes the movie feel like more than just an action movie, which is nice.

The fight choreography is also brilliant. I rewound several scenes just to watch them again because of how cool they were. You can tell that different characters have different fighting styles and skill levels, which is a nice touch - because it says a lot about them as characters. The fight choreography for Jung Hae In's character is particularly relevant to his character, and you can analyze what he does in the fight and connect it to him as a person, which I think is brilliant.

Speaking of Jung Hae In, he is fantastic in this. I haven't seen a psychopath/serial killer played this well in a while. Normally they're too charismatic, or too smart, or too suave, but Jung Hae In toes the line really well. The acting he does with his eyes gave me the creeps. You can tell that his character loves violence a bit too much - Jung Hae In does a great job at portraying this particularly through fights. Major props to the script writers too because its his love for violence that is his undoing which is really reflective of actual serial killers - they aren't caught because of some tiny clue, they are caught because of their own flaws. Likewise, we don't ever really get a motive, because a lot of times there isn't a why. It feels realistic but not enough to take away from the vibe of the movie. The other actors are also great (Ahn Bo Hyun was really good in his cameo) especially in handling the fight scenes, but I felt that Jung Hae In was particularly stand out.

Overall this wasn't the movie of the year, but it is really fun for an action movie. Its got good fights, fun choreography, and there are moments that are super chilling that make you remember that what you are watching is in fact, something really dark. The comedy isn't over done, but it isn't unnoticeable. I will definitely be re-watching, and I certainly recommend this to action enjoyers. I think the mystery tag is misleading, but it definitely hits the thriller and action genres on the nose.

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Promises, promises...

I was drawn to The Promise because Nicholas Tse and Sanada Hiroyuki were in the cast. It sounded like a fairytale which also had possibilities. If the characters hadn’t been so shallowly drawn, the promise of an entertaining film might have been fulfilled.

Qian Cheng is a starving child with a sick mother. After scavenging food from a battlefield, she is approached by a goddess who offers her a deal she can’t turn down. Qian Cheng can be wealthy and adored by men. The catch, there’s always a catch, she can never fall in love or she will lose her love. Years later during a battle, a slave named Kun Lun displays a propensity for running---fast. General Guang Ming knows talent when he sees it and makes Kun Lun his personal slave. Duke Wu Huan is determined to take over the kingdom and have a grown Qian Cheng for his own. The table is now set for a love square.

The whole premise of the story is that Kun Lun, Guang Ming, and Wu Huan were all obsessed with Qian Cheng. It had to be the spell, for while she was beautiful, she wasn’t charismatic. Qian Cheng fell deeply in love with the masked man who saved her and had no qualms about giving herself to her supposed savior despite never having seen his face. Instead of coming across as a seductress, she appeared vapid to me. I found it difficult to care about any of the characters or root for any of the possible love combinations. They all seemed fairly vacuous. Aside from Kun Lun being able to enter the Speed Force, they just weren’t that interesting. Sanada and Tse camped it up a little in their portrayals of foes and besotted men, though Wu had other reasons for his obsession.

The CGI and special effects were rudimentary at best. There were luxurious costumes, especially for the opposing armies. You would not miss Guang Ming’s men in their bright red armor. The wigs left a lot to be desired though.

I enjoyed the premise of The Promise, or rather, I wanted to enjoy the premise of the film. The one-dimensional characters were difficult to become invested in. I appreciated most of the performances, it would be hard to ignore Sanada Hiroyuki and Nicholas Tse. The sets, scenery, and costumes were beautiful even with the low grade CGI and occasional editing glitches. It just felt like the movie promised so much more.

2 December 2024

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I love her too!

This film hits me in a way that feels very personal. The first TV drama I watched, about ten or twelve years ago, was Byakuyako, starring Haruka Ayase and Takayuki Yamada, which also starred Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World. Although she played the 'villain' in the first one, I really, really fell in love with her. I loved everything about her and fantasized about going to Japan years later and meeting her by fate. It's embarrassing, but I’ve identified with the feeling of Kenji watching Princess Miyuki through the screen. Damn, he even had the chance to be with her, fall in love, and have his love returned as well.

The plot might be a bit cliché, but they just don’t make films like this anymore. Although it’s Japanese, the film draws many references and inspirations from Western cinema (Audrey Hepburn herself), even in the way it portrays and understands love. But all in all, I loved it.

I love you, Haruka Ayase. I hope that one day you’ll see through the camera screen the admiration I feel for you. You, or one of your alter egos.

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