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Never believe in the dramas / movies set in the 80s and 90s
The plot is somewhat typical, a story about first love and friendships in adolescence, at first I felt that it was a bit slow but then it improved, really what is most striking is that you do not expect the ending and the fact that the love story from Bora and WooHon it ends before it started it hurts, at least they would have had another kiss---
The performances were good, Kim Yoo jung and Byun Woo suk in the train scene where they say goodbye will always be a memorable scene, it was impossible not to cry and Han Hyo Joo in the last scene where she sees the tape... Damn she didn't even have to speak so that I would be destroyed
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The best movie of 2022 and here the phrase that destroyed us all "I want to see you, Bora of the 21st century"
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Brilliantly executed mind-bending, thought-provoking movie
An intense mind-bending, thought-provoking movie ... it will not be everyone's cup of tea due to the themes it revolves around ... but I loved it and thought it was brilliantly executed. The cinematography was mind bending, the score, the script ... the awesome out of the box, blow your mind ending ... all brilliantly executed. If you are feeling depressed, I would not recommend you watch this movie as you may find yourself doing an even deeper dive into questioning your own existence ... just saying.The cinematography, the score and the sounds throughout the movie beautifully complemented the actors and conveyed a psychological context that is beyond words. The use of colours; lights and shadows; cinematic focus points where the out-of-focus points were as important as the in-focus points; the sets ... all were just amazing and mind bending. There was just so much in this little movie ... it was kind of ethereal and yet had a touch of "Fight Club" about it ... the concepts of 'separation' and 'alienation' were palpable. There were elements of humour (in the beginning) in amongst all the philosophical confusion, angst and pathos.
There are some very deep philosophical concepts embedded in this movie ... time and waste of time ... life and death ... 'alive' but 'dead' ... 'dead' but 'alive' ... futility ... the purpose for 'being' ... alienation from self and from others ... social vandalism ... the 'system' vs chaos ... mind vs mindlessness ... there was even a 'cult' feel in the aggregation of social 'misfits'/'rebels' ... Marvel Comics' supervillian Thanos ... Nietzsche and his concepts of master and slave morality, nihilism, death of god, affirmation of life, perspectivism et al ... "Everyone is betting their lives on something." So much to think about and see in action in this movie.
"All humans who do not think and act with their own heads are our targets of attack. Getting on the system of the rotten world and doing well, it's the same as reproducing the system."
The 'war' against some 'thing' ... or betting your life on someone/thing is always interesting to me ... embedded within those concepts is you/what you want against the 'other'/what they want and yet one has no meaning without the other, cannot exist without the other ... both 'sides' are eternally bound together ... 'up' has no meaning without 'down', 'shadow' has no meaning without 'light' ... 'system' has no meaning without 'chaos' ... indeed is not chaos a system in itself 🤔 ... and in the end we all die anyway 😄 ... human consciousness is such a mind bender lol.
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This review may contain spoilers
Don't Read Any Reviews
FAIR WARNING: Reading any review may spoil the experience of this movie.Having said that go watch this movie NOW!
If your still here remember I warned you.
This is not a horror movie and it is not quite a romance either. It is a perfect blend of suspense with a sprinkle of gore and a tug at your heart strings.
I went into this not expecting anything really just thought it looked interesting. The Thai movies I have had the privilege of watching have a way of blending elements in the story lines just enough to make the stories interesting but not too much in any direction. I love that about them.
I don't want to say too much about it because it will ruin the feeling of the movie if you go in expecting one thing but get another. Watch it without expectations and enjoy it.
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Disappointing plot but great nostalgic scenery!
The movie starts off pretty well since its entertaining to see how the FL gets to know the ML and his friend, especially through her mischiefs. But it ends up going down the cliché route halfway through the movie: the FL and her friend end up liking the same guy so FL lies to the guy about her feelings. This makes the plot frustrating and hard to watch. It's not very creative and doesn't make the characters seem thoughtful or relatable. If anything, it made the FL seem irresponsible for making the people around her confused and left in the dark. Although I think Yoo Jung's acting is pretty good, its the scriptwriters who mostly failed this part of the movie.The other main cast members had mediocre acting, especially the two male leads. Though, I do feel a nice bit of chemistry between Yoo Jung and the two!
Overall, the little things like her school, family, and friendships are heartwarming and fun. The nostalgic vibe and the cinematography were stunning. But that's mostly what uplifts the movie for me. And I know a lot of people are unhappy about the ending, but that's what helped me feel some strong emotions, especially with the video tape at the end. It was heart-wrenching and I like actress Hyo Joo's moments there. Without the ending, I would probably give this a 5.
I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this movie but if you want to watch a light-hearted romcom with a mediocre cliche plot, and don't mind a sad ending, go for it...
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Just another idol film with the intent to sell Kim Yoo Jung.
(1) Story [-]There's nothing original in the story, so cliche and highly predictable. And there's nothing in the story itself, no message to convey, just bringing the formula of teenage love story that full of misunderstanding in for the actors to play. They try to make a twist but it's a cliche twist, so it's not a twist in the end since audience can guess it right beforehand. However, the feelings between the characters has a solid foundation to be believable. If you also watch Chinese movies, you'd know how unpassionate the production teams are in making a film. They don't care to build a foundation for their stories, so lots of Chinese films are very much superficial and not believable at all. This movie is a good example for comparison. It is a story with nothing but still have a good foundation, so no matter how nothing the story is, as long as the actors can perform, audience can still enjoy it. Thus, higher score.
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(2) Acting [+]
Kim Yoo Jung is the star of the film. She carries the whole team. It's very enjoyable to watch her acting. The ML is so-so. I don't feel right with his smile at times which I'm not sure if it's due to his acting or just the physical feature of his smile. The best friend of ML's acting skill isn't that strong but I'd give him passable. The acting of the FL's best friend isn't real enough. I feel like her true self tries to pretend to be the character, so it feels more pretentious though the character is actually sincere. Anyway, her role doesn't show up much so it's ok.
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(3) Cinematography [~]
Cinematography is upto standard, but I don't really like their dream-like filter. In the scene at the vast lawn, all the colors look obviously artificial.
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As a whole, it is enjoyable to watch, but also wasting time. I wouldn't rewatch it, that's for sure. And if I know it'd be like this, I don't think I'd watch it in the first place.
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How can a loser be stronger than a winner? Blue (2021) shows us how.
Story:This film really asks the question, what makes us strong? It shows that winning isn't all that matters, nor should it be used as a scale to measure how strong a person is. Here we have Kazuki who wins all the time and swears he will retire from boxing if he loses. On the other hand, we have Urita who loses all the time and keeps a smile on his face.
The dynamic between Kazuki and Urita is very subtle but very brilliant. Urita is constantly trying to help his friend win matches, giving him helpful tips, and is always in his corner. Yet Kazuki doesn't do the same. In fact, there was one scene where Kazuki witheld information about one of Urita's upcomming opponents that would have helped him greatly. Why did he do this? Humans are complicated. For me, I think that Kazuki was selfish and wanted Urita to remain a loser. He didn't want Urita to stop supporting him and if he started to win matches, this might happen as Urita would then focus more on his own success. It could also be the case that Kazuki was jealous of Urita because of his amazing attitude. Urita is always seen as smiling and optimistic, whereas Kazuki is always seen as irritable and moody. This might have made Kazuki jealous for no good reason.
It is very important to note that this film is not a typical boxing movie, where the underdog trains as hard as he can and ends up winning matches. The point this film is trying to make isn't that winning equals success, but rather that attitude is more important. Urita did everything he could to win, he had amazing physique and techniques that even helped his other teammates win their own matches. Yet, Urita still couldn't win a match of his own. Does this mean he was weak? Hell no! He was stronger than anyone else in the movie because no one else could have handled so many failures with the same grace that he did.
Cast:
While everyone here gave a great performance, I was very notably impressed with Emoto Tokio's acting. I'm used to seeing him play the awkward weak guy. He obviously did a lot of traning for this to build his cardio and physique. His character was a wonderful source of comedic relief at times.
Final Thoughts:
I had zero hopes going into this movie. In fact, I was intending to just fan-girl over Higashide Masahiro and skip through most of it. But the intricate, realistic, and delicate approach to Urita's plight as a passionate boxer with no ability to win matches really caught my attention and held it for the duration of the film. It is a well-made work that any boxing fan will enjoy.
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Love is a terrible thing to hate.
Everything is moving forward, each day we learn something new about our world and society. Yet some people still don't understand, that having different opinion is not an excuse for violence or hatred, because opinions are like assh*les - we all have one.N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S
Cin and May go from friends to lovers, not hiding their relationship from nobody, especially not from their schoolmates. At the beginning everything is rosy pink and they are happy, but one person is enough to trigger a chain of bullying and hate. Sometimes hard times bring us closer to each other and sometimes it is what tears us apart, even tho the love is still there. And that's how it goes for Cin and May...
There's nothing much to write about Even If, it's short, well written and shot movie that leaves sour taste in your mouth and breaks your heart. A theme that we see too often in LGBTQIA+ movies, dramas, books... And we will keep seeing it for a while, unfortunately.
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Kim Yoo Jung, the carry as always <3 . But movie LACKED A KICK
as a true fan of KYJ, I'm gonna be honest, and not biased.Kim Yoo Jung, Jung Suk Yong, and Gong Myung's acting are not to be doubted at all. Charisma of experience actors, they don't lie.
KYJ has best chemistry with Jung Suk Yong (father), Jeon Hye Won from True Beauty (Darn It). Yoon Yire (Madam), and Gong Myung.
the chemistry around the 3 main leads to Kim Yoo Jung is lack luster, but their acting is good! But seriously, you have seen better main male lead, second male lead, and BFF for Kim Yoo Jung . But these 3 were still far from her level. I agree with someone who said Park Jung Woo has better chemistry with Kim Yoo Jung.
For Han Hyo Joo, I feel like... she acts exactly the same like in Golden Slumber. I was not touched, but she played a convincing adult Bora.
Color is nice, but cinematography feels rushed. Could have been better if it was done with the style of TV drama.
music feels kinda low and not moving. Coming from the music director of secret royal inspector and joy. this is disappointing. They should make it more RETRO, like taxi driver.
Even so, ITS A HIT! Thank you to AwesomeENT, Swoon, and all of the promotion and support.
I believe after 8th night, 20th century girl, chicken nugget, and perhaps 1 more hit netflix drama.. Kim Yoo Jung should return to SBS, get a first TVN drama, KBS2, MBC... and skip JTBC, return to Netflix in the future.
No more movies please, movies are always rushed. That's the problem with Korean Movies, slow start, rushed finale. It's only moving when Kim Yoo Jung was around
Korea can make rewatchable dramas but not rewatchable movies.
Verdict: it's not a family romcom flicks like Backstreet Rookie and Clean With Passion For Now that will touch the experienced watchers.
It's a hit movie directed at mainstream gen MZ, I'm amazed it's a mainstream hit and I am grateful. Still the best 2 hours of my life but I am not that amazed. Only amazed at Kim Yoo Jung
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This review may contain spoilers
A must watch movie
It has been a long time since a movie has touched me so much. A story of young, innocent beautiful friendship and first love.The actors all did a beautiful job and the main leads were perfect for their roles. I have tears streaming down my face as I write this.
It has a bittersweet ending and of course, it would have been wonderful if it would have turned out differently. I love happy endings. But as I reflect on the storyline, I find that I feel fulfilled with the joy, though short, it gave.
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“Artsy” yet unsatisfying movie
SPOILER ALERT:I’m tired of all these types of shows that have the viewer invested in a love story that has misunderstandings. Oh, and the usual female lead is too nice to tell her best friend she likes the same guy, so she sacrifices her feelings.
Acting: Kim Yoo Jung- her acting is the best! This was the main reason I watched. Love her in everything she does. Actually secondary ML (Park Jung Woo) acting was better than ML (Byeon Woo Seok) but then again maybe it’s just that they made the characters that way. Secondary FL , BoRa’s best friend, I thought her character had a lot of nerve to expect BoRa to research the guy she liked even though they got the names mixed up, and then she got all mad at BoRa for liking him!
All in all, not happy with the direction they went with this…..would’ve liked to see FL and ML together…. At least you don’t have to invest 16 hours in a Series drama to find out that the FL and ML never get together!
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SPOILERS AHEAD
20th Century Girl.I will keep this review (not so) short and i’m simply going to cut straight to the chase. This movie was good but personally i do believe that this had potential to be GREATER than just good.
First of all i want to highlight the spectacular acting delivered by the female and male lead in particular. Both were able to depict such raw and realistic emotions i felt as if i was watching the movie taking place first hand and not just through the screen. The chemistry between all the actors felt natural and genuine, none of the forced cringy friendship acting we’re normally faced with.
The visuals were good, The acting was amazing and finally, The Plot.
The plot kept me fully immersed and hoping for a memorable and powerful finale.. but i soon realized that my expectations were too high as the ending did in-fact leave me and (it seems quite a lot of people, unsatisfied).
Loopholes and unanswered questions. The ending felt rushed. The story was gradually building up and was doing so well until it all suddenly out of nowhere collapses.
.. Prior to watching the film i did see a few comments and reviews revolving around the ending of the film but i never knew what the actual ending was.
Let me start off by saying that my issue with the ending isn’t the ML passing away. - I had a hunch it was coming when the FL was at the telephone box and said something along the lines of “you’re better off dead to me” in regards to the ML. I knew then it was a foreshadowing method used by the director and it just made sense.
My problem is how sloppily they executed the MLs death. No backstory on how he passed or why he passed. Surely the ML’s best friend was close enough to his family to know that he had passed on and FL would’ve found out sooner no?
Also somewhere near the end of the film we see an old video recording of FL in her high school days talking about how she hopes her parents are well and how she hopes her brother is grown well. They showed the parents but didn’t show Ba-Da (the brother).
And not to mention MLs brother appearing out of the blue, it seems as if they just spontaneously threw him in and called it a day. I had to pause and scan him for a good minute as i did NOT know who i was looking at. Everything about the ending scenes felt unrealistic and rushed.
There are a few more things but these are my main issues with this film.
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Underrated Movie
Title: An Underrated Gem That Deserves a Second Look – "Rosario" (2010)⭐️ Rating: 9/10
I stumbled upon this film on TikTok yesterday, and it immediately piqued my interest. I ended up watching the entire movie—and honestly, this film deserves far more attention than it received.
"Rosario" was released during the 2010 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF)—an unfortunate choice, as most viewers during the holidays gravitate toward lighthearted, family-friendly films. At the time, titles like Tanging Ina Mo were dominating the box office, which likely overshadowed this deeper, more serious drama. In hindsight, this movie would’ve made more impact if released during a different season—perhaps even during Holy Week.
🔍 Based on a True Story
The film is loosely inspired by Rosario Perriera, who is reportedly the maternal grandmother of business tycoon Manny V. Pangilinan. However, based on my own research, the story is highly dramatized—probably only 20% factual, with most of the plot fictionalized.
🧠 Narrative & Characterization
At first, I found Rosario’s character frustrating, especially seeing how some viewers labeled her as a "victim" or called the movie "empowering." Thankfully, the film itself avoids romanticizing her mistakes. Rosario is portrayed as someone who made a series of poor decisions and paid dearly for them—not as a martyr or victim of circumstance.
What I admired was her accountability. She didn’t blame her strict parents, her husband Vicente, or even Alberto. She owned her mistakes, which made her redemption in the latter part of the film feel earned. It’s rare to see this kind of character depth and emotional honesty in local cinema.
The only thing that didn’t sit well with me was the narrative structure, which felt too similar to Titanic—an older man recounting the tragic story of his past love. It felt a bit overused and could’ve been done differently.
🎭 Acting & Performances
Jennylyn Mercado gave a strong, layered performance as Rosario. A few scenes (particularly emotional ones with her mother) had slightly exaggerated expressions, but overall, she was convincing and committed to the role.
Sid Lucero was a standout. Despite limited screen time, his portrayal of the meek but loyal Carding was memorable and award-worthy. His emotional confrontation scene was one of the best in the film.
Dennis Trillo as the charming but reckless Alberto was also perfectly cast. His character felt so real it didn’t seem like acting.
The only casting misstep was Ara Mina as the doctor—her performance felt oddly misplaced and tonally inconsistent with the rest of the film.
🎥 Direction, Cinematography & Music
For a directorial debut, Albert Martinez did an outstanding job. The direction was mature, elegant, and emotionally grounded.
Cinematography was top-notch—visually rich and surprisingly polished for a 2010 Filipino film.
The soundtrack deserves special praise. It was recorded in Hollywood using a live orchestra and added emotional weight to the film’s heaviest moments. It truly elevated the movie and gave it a high production value.
🏡 Details that Mattered
I also appreciated subtle touches, like showing Rosario’s son (Dolphy’s character) living in a modest home—quietly emphasizing how her choices affected not only her life but the future of her child. These little narrative details show great storytelling care.
✅ Final Verdict
"Rosario" is one of those rare, well-crafted Filipino dramas that sadly got buried under poor release timing. With a compelling story, nuanced performances, and outstanding direction, it’s a film that deserves to be rediscovered—perhaps through streaming platforms like Netflix or as a Holy Week special.
If you enjoy historical drama with emotional depth, Rosario is definitely worth your time.
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heartwarming
heartwarming film and the charachter are fit in the role especially the main male I love the acting ..👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Was this review helpful to you?
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It’s more like a parody of a zombie movie
If you like actual good zombie dramas and movie this is not it. I watched this a couple months ago but I still think about how bad it is. The plot is very slow and boring. They barely talked, I had to watched it on 2x speed. The characters are so stupid, I mean that’s pretty typical for zombie dramas but still annoying. And finally the worse part for me is the zombies themselves. Honestly I could’ve acted like a better zombie not trying. They were practically humans with makeup on, and wayyyyyy too smart in a bad way. It literally felt like a parody of a zombie movie the way they were acting. Everytime I watch ppl recommend this movie I laugh bc there’s no way if you actually had good taste in zombie media you’d like this. BUT to each their own🧏♀️Was this review helpful to you?
