Reviews

Women’s strength is not about beauty, but her confident.

I don’t know why not many people give their review to this movie, and it’s kinda shocking me that I never heard about this movie until I find out the movie in youtube randomly.. after I check on Emma Wu’s drama list. Emma Wu is my childhood’s star.. and it’s totally amazing to see her still remain the same.. very beautiful and cute.

Trust me.. this movie will give you a very simple and common plot about first love that separated because of misunderstanding... but slowly but sure you will find out this movie has its own beauty in expressing the main character’s struggle in life. It has beautiful animation effect too.. and totally make you feel to see a fairytale.

Love and working life are both important elements here.. you can relate the situation with your daily life. It’s very realistic.

Back to the story. Because of a dark past.. Xiao Xue lost her self, feeling empty and not being loved, being left behind by her mother and her childhood friend.

One day.. her first love from the past is coming back again to her life and make her realize to change herself to be loved and confident especially to show her amazing artistic skill that she had since childhood.

However... not that long after her successful love and carreer, again she lost everything again because of her cowardness in facing her fear about her mother and her dark past...
In desperation, Xiao xue finally realize that it’s not about changing herself, but finding her old self.

What makes the story become interesting is.. the audience will slowly find out other character’s perspective and true feeling from the middle of the movie. The story will bring you into tears and smile... and there is a very deep meaning about family here as well.

By watching this movie.. you will learn that love will follow you when you already find your self. Being your self and being brave to chasing your dream is the key for happiness.

I hope there will be a drama version of this movie.. I’m rooting for more romance between Emma Wu and Daniel Zhu ;)

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Not your kind of romantic movie but will give you the romance of life.

Intriguing― that's my initial perception of the movie when I first watched the trailer, expecting something romantic from the leads but I received more than that after watching the movie.

The story is nothing extraordinary, it doesn't have the fancy plot and anything else dramatic, it's just something simple but I found it exceptionally beautiful. The characters are someone you can find anywhere in our society, common people, or someone you can relate to. It might give you time to think about how you deal with your life or work or relationships, or what you really want to happen. Or answer question like why it's important to have a breather once in a while. Take a break, that.

Casting was great, thus fits the role and had delivered the acting right. If you know Sunny, you can always expect more and he will exceeds that. I cannot think someone that can embody the character of Yoon better than him, on how weird but realistic he is. Davika and Violette did their part also.

For a movie that was calmed, I felt so many emotions while watching it. I don't know why but even it has a serious tone, I found some scenes so funny and the dialogues and monologues are beautifully written that made it so much interesting for me. I cried so hard yet laughing after that. Other may find it boring because nothing much is happening, but it represents the life of many and that's what it makes it a good movie.

Overall, it's a ride of fun, reflection, loneliness, love, passion, death and life.

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A Predictable and Unoriginal Delivery of an Otherwise Positive Message

I won't say this movie was abhorrent, as it wasn't, but it was very disappointing for me. Even if it did deliver the positive message of being confident in your own body and staying true to yourself, the actual plot was just entirely too predictable. Every cliché that could happen in this type of movie did happen, which not only made me lose respect for the main character but also the movie itself. Any idea or moral that it tried to convey was undermined by an uninteresting plot. Unfortunately, it couldn't be salvaged by the romance either, as I felt almost no chemistry from the male lead. I am glad they managed to avoid vilifying plastic surgery (especially with the unrealistic beauty standards of the modern world), but there was a bit of fat-shaming in the form of slapstick comedy. Not a lot, but just enough to further diminish the power of the main message. Also, I won't say too much about the ending but it felt very sudden and a little unrealistic. This was a short review as I really don't have a lot to say, but I suppose I'll say this: For a movie from 2006, I can applaud how it's managed to stay mostly inoffensive until now among a veritable minefield of potential discretions, and maybe this plot concept was a bit more fresh back then. But viewing it now, the movie is entirely too predictable and uninteresting to be saved by an occasionally endearing performance from the lead actress. With that, I will recommend against watching this movie.

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Dear Lena is a quiet, mostly tranquil movie about issues that run deeper than the calm surface. I truly wished they had touched more on these issues, it would have made this a more complete film for me.

Lena is a descendent of Koreans who were forced to work for the Japanese mining coal in Sakhalin and then later trapped there after WWII. Their story would make an interesting film in and off itself as they fought for citizenship and many fought to go back to South Korea. They became second class citizens in Russia and those who made it home were less than in South Korea as well. Lena wants to bury her parents' ashes in South Korea and becomes a mail order bride to make the trip. This aspect is barely touched on and again, would have given more depth to the story to explore that process.

The male lead is a tea farmer in a remote area which lends itself to some lovely cinematography. He tries very hard to make Lena feel welcome and give her anything she needs. Lena in turn tries to help with different chores to show that she is invested in the relationship. She calls him ahjussi throughout the movie which seems to make their relationship an even further oddity. As she walks to the fields she makes friends with a photographer who is traveling through and begins learning to take photographs. Both the film's cinematography and her photos play a large role. Lena tends to be quiet, walking and taking pictures as she has much on her mind. I wish we'd been more privy to what was weighing so heavily on her.

The last thirty minutes or so give the movie the emotional thrust it sorely needed. While this was a beautiful, quiet movie, it could have been more meaningful if only the director had stirred the calm surface with the emotions running beneath.

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A Heartbreakingly BEAUTIFUL Tragedy

I LOVED this movie. It was so much better than I expected it to be, I don't know why I put off watching this for so long. Everything was PERFECT: the casting, the plot and its execution, the characters and music.

I LOVED all the twists in this movie, I watched the trailer before watching this, so some of the twists were expected. But, the story is so much sadder then it seems. Despite Feng Ren being the supposed villain in this movie, he had the most tragic and heartbreaking story and I got where he was coming from. His backstory as to how he became the villain he was at the present day reminds me of Anakin's story. All he wanted was the Song of Yin Meng, the song he wrote with the love of his life who died ten days after they met.

It was so heartbreaking to see Feng Ren lose the love of his life TWICE, he knew her for such a short time but he loved her so much. I cried both times. And the twists just kept on coming. Not only was the FL the love of his life, but he made up the existence of Yin Meng, his "wife", so that everyone else in the world believes that he was married when in fact he had never married anyone and instead spent most of his life mourning the woman who possessed Hong Luan's body for a short time, the FL.

The plot of this movie was so detailed. The execution was PERFECT, non of the events take place in chronological order: first, because it's timetravel and second, because the plot is first told from the FL's POV and then the ML's POV. I LOVED that we got to see the story from both sides and we got to see ALL the important events. Though it may not have been in chronilogical order, the entire plot made sense. Once you put all the pieces together, it just gets even more heartbreaking.

I loved how the plot also made sense through its timeline of events. All the events in this movie were caused by a timeloop, showing how "destined"/inevitable the tragic love story was.

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It managed to make me cry ! (a lot)

I just finished this movie, I put it aside for a short while, and I regret it !

The story / plot was really beautiful, it shows that being in a stressful, and overworking workplace can really lead you to want to end it all. It perfectly showed the struggles of working in such place. The wanting to put down others because you don't want to lose your place, which can result in you breaking down because you may think that you failed immensely.
They even showed the "depression room" meaning he let everything go, he completely stopped caring, he let things rot until it as infested of bugs; the trash bags all over, and barely being able to see some of the floor. Even that one time where they showed that he suffered from insomnia (I believe he did, I'm not sure!) which is a serious thing that no one wants. And at the end, the plot twist was shocking nonetheless ! I really did not expect it.

As for the acting/cast; I was really impressed ! Asuka (Takashi) was really able to show the despair in his face when he was on the edge, I felt it through the screen. As for Sota (Yamamoto) his smile is contagious, and the fact that he seemed to be such a happy guy during the whole movie, up until we saw him in that bus, you noticed how broken he looked and I found that really amazing.

I personally didn't pay attention to the music so I won't comment on that.

Lastly, the rewatch value. I put a lower score because I cried so much while watching this film that I do not want to cry like that again, I will probably rewatch it someday but as for now, I'm still recovering HAHA!

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Education is what get you far

Education is the first priorities, it’s not just getting an education but having knowledge. This drama shows that no matter if your old or a badass gang, you still need education. Because without education your good as nothing, I don’t know about how Korean runs there school but USA I haven’t heard anything bad about corrupt schools. So my guess is that yes there might be some countries that do run by corruption, I’m hoping that Korean isn’t one. There’s been a lot of dramas that school are run by corrupt, my best wishes and hope are for the kids that really want a bright future won’t face there kind of troubles. I recommend this drama for those who haven’t got there education, and wish they focus on there future. It’s never to late to get the education you need

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One of the best Taiwanese movie ever.

My Taiwanese friend suggested me this one. At beginning, I was like “hmm, this one just so so”. But when i kept watching till the end of it my emotion was exploded.
Lets get straight here. Not many things to say. You should watch and experience yourself. Everyone will approach the story differently.
With me, I have laughed and cried with the whole characters.
The story of each person in the movie blends so well. The acting is exceptional.
The soundtrack is amazing.
Every time I watch it, I realize there is more meaning that the director wanna say.

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This movie deserves an infinite amount of stars! ⭐️

If everyone involved with the production, the story, and everything in this movie could get a dollar for every time it manages to make me teary-eyed, they would all definitely be a millionaire! I saved this movie for a special movie night with my siblings when we all gather for a sleepover, and I must say this movie was the perfect pick! I tend to avoid watching tearjerker movies since I know I would be a total crybaby every time I watch them, so I thought watching this movie together with my cousins and my sister would be perfect!

I just don’t know where to start with this movie. Everything was perfect. Whether it was the acting, the story, and gosh—the MUSIC! It was heavenly. Traumerei was an excellent choice! And I just think that everyone did a really great job portraying all their characters. Even though this movie was mostly depressing, heartbreaking and sad, I definitely found myself smiling and laughing heartily on some of the scenes—which I think it was hard to do but they managed to wrap it all up perfectly!

The only thing bothering me is the ending. It seemed like something wasn’t finished, like it was cut off. There weren’t even any credits in the end, which I think was odd. But still, I think this movie was really really beautiful. Although heartbreaking, I would love to rewatch this anytime! Overall, a 10/10 for sure! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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Is it really a good BL if you don't cry ?

I just finished watching this movie, and let me tell you, I did not waste any of my time AT ALL.

When I watched it, I didn't watch any preview or read the summary; I didn't even look in the comments. So that said, the whole movie was a surprise, I didn't know the plot or the main characters.

The plot and the story was so well written, I was hooked from the beginning. Nothing was too slow, but nothing was too fast either, they moved at a normal pace. Every single time I thought something bad was going to happen, I was wronged, for example, when Akira's sister found out about Yuki, I thought she was going to be disrespectful and hatful, but on the contrary, she was supportive and proud that he was living his life as himself. With basic logic, I knew something bad was going to happen around the middle of the movie, and this time I was right. That's also when I started crying, and never stopped. Call me a cry baby but it really did break me in pieces. The more it went on, the more it hurt to watch. The fact that they added the characters from "HIStory 3: Make our days count" around the end made me cry even more, adding them was really a great idea and I love it.

For the cast/acting/characters

Let me applaud them for their amazing work. The actors did so well in portraying the emotions and everything looked so raw.
Yuki's character was the one that spoke the most to me. It may be because we have similar personalities, but everyone was just so amazing in this movie. When they broke down crying, I cried with them, I could feel the emotion through my screen. I'm going to have to watch other stuff with them in it because honestly, I love them.

The rewatch value is a big 9.5 because the other 0.5 is for the times I don't want to cry. I will certainly be rewatching this in the near future, this film is addicting and one of a kind and truly unparalleled.

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Raw & Necessary

This was hard to watch, not in any other way than the real and rawness of everything portrayed in this movie.

This is a movie that deals with the subject of bullying in the most blatant and shocking way possible. There is blood and bruises, humiliation and nastiness. This is young humanity at its darkest and it's all displayed on a tiny screen for your viewing tears. And there will be a lot of them.

This depicts the story of Chen Nian who is in her senior year and just trying to prepare for her exams. Her dream is to get into the college of her choice. Right off the bat, this is emotional. A girl that she knows and avoids is getting bullied and jumps off a building at school. Then we see the bullies shift their focus onto her because of her moment of care.

Like I said, this was hard to watch. It was painful and I cried for most of it, because the reality is sad. They didn't pull the punches and show the repercussions of bullying at its worst. This is dark but it makes the spots of light all the more impactful. We do get those happy moments where she shares a newfound joy with Liu Bei Shan. They rescue each other and continue on together. Their relationship surpasses friends or any simple romance to the purest kind of love. It's beautiful and heart wrenching.

All in all, I highly recommend watching this. It is painful but worth the watch.

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Artistic and nudity that is right in your face

This movie is pretty artistic, while the explicit sexuall content is really right in your face, with both sound and nudity that would probably put any porno to shame. So this is not for the underaged viewer (honestly it was almost bit to much bor me, yes I am a an old prude) and I recommend you tern down the volume whenever they seem to be on their way to get naked...

The story is pretty interesting a guy falls/ becomes obsessed with a guy who is so far locked up in the closet he will need allot of cheese to get him out. the guy is also married and seems to be completely unable to be monogamous (witch is okay if everyone is okay with it, but they do not seem to). The guy who is obsessed goes to great lengths/ forces manipulates and does anything in his power to get physical with the guy in the closet. But tho he is literally sexually assaulting his object of obsession you still find your self feeling sorry for him. That could be because the other guy is a complete *****. I do not like how it caters to the idea tht bisexualls and gay men would be horny guys willing to hump just about anybody. But I do like how it shows the difficulty of breaking an obsession, being the underdog in a relationship as well as internalised homophobia. I feel sorry for every single character in this movie (especially the women). I tried to find a line the underdog says about love not being perfect, good or rational but couldn't find it. but whatever he said it was extremely well said.

The cinematography is very beautiful and they use allot of symbolism at times but for the love of whatever you believe in take this as a warning and not as a relationship goal

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cry

Usually I'm not a big fan of zombies or apocalypse kind of theme but this one really caught me off guard.

Every character was worth getting attached to, I cried every time ne of them died. And the acting was amazing, really mind blowing. The little girl at the end broke me, I have a feeling she's going to accomplish great things because that scene... really just made me cry a literal ocean.

I've actually watched this movie 3 times because I really never get tired of it, everyone just did such a great job. Every character was portrayed so well I'm so proud of everyone.

This movie will forever hold a special place in my heart due to the amazing screenplay of every actor, and the breathtaking plot. I'm forever amazed by it and I have a feeling I will NEVER get tired of it.

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I thought I should give a contrasting opinion to the glowing reviews for those who might have had a different experience with this film as I did. I might have liked this movie more if I was familiar with the source material, especially in relation to the characters. Without a background in it, I found the characters to be underdeveloped and the plot overly complex with big plot holes in it. The movie relied heavily on CGI to carry the story along. If Chen Kun and Shu Qi hadn't starred in this movie I would have rated it lower, but they are two of my favorite performers which gave this movie a bump in the score.

I've seen reviewers compare it to Lord of the Rings and Indiana Jones. The plots in those films were laid out more clearly than this one and the characters were more fully developed. Though they relied on CGI and mythology they were also character driven. In this movie, Shu Qi's character felt plopped into the story with no background of where she came from, what her skill sets were, and much of anything about her except that she had been in a complex intimate relationship with Chen Kun's character. They dressed her like Lara Croft, but instead of being a badass she more often than not ended up at the mercy of someone else. We're given plenty of flashback scenes of Chen Kun's relationship with Angelababy which felt thin instead of like an epic or all consuming story of innocent love that would have haunted him for twenty years. It was strange to have all the romantic flashbacks while they are trying to make me care about his bickering relationship with Shu Qi. Sometimes I can just go along for the ride even when the story is all over the place but this was not one of those times. I didn't care for the side kicks at all, finding them more annoying than funny. The villains were completely lacking in spark for me as well as all the red shirts (Star Trek reference). And time and time again most of the characters behaved in illogical manners that caused many of the dangerous situations. Without their reckless behavior I suppose there wouldn't have been the opportunity for all the moments of once again escaping death with spectacular special effects.

The special effects were actually pretty good and there were plenty of scenes where they pulled out all the stops to display them. I just wish that I'd cared enough about the characters to feel a sense of tension when they were running for their lives or dangling by a thread. I don't mind the old tropes of booby trapped tombs, swarms of ravenous creatures, and buildings crumbling apart, just give me some people to care about as they save the world from destruction---again.

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