Completed
moanmei
33 people found this review helpful
Mar 4, 2012
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 9.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
I watched this Drama a while ago and there is actutually a lot to say about it. At first it is one of the most beautyfull dramas i have seen so far. The acting is great and the music matches well with the scenes. I often have the problem that historical dramas get boring after a while and I see myself skipping some dialogues in order to go on to the more "interssting" parts. In the drama Hwang jin yi however this feeling wasn't there as much as in the other so i nearly watched every second of it. The only thing I didn't like that much was the sadness that you find yourself in while watching it. There are many scenes where I actually cried and that is the reason for me not to rewatch it that many times.... But that doesn't mean that it's not worth rewatching. The dances and the acting of Ha ji won in particular are sooo outstanding and in my opinion they portrait hwang jin yi soo good that all the time you get what she stands for, fights for and how great of a women she is. For all those who are interessted in Art this is a drama that leads them back to the past to discover what being an artist means.
To sum up this drama is valuable in acting, art (costumes are great) music and dancing also the storyline is interessting. The only thing you need to prepare yourself is getting a bunch of tissues ready as it gets really emotional ;)

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Magiere
20 people found this review helpful
Feb 19, 2014
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
So many aspects of this drama are beautiful and poignant: cinematography, story, themes, characters, and acting. Unfortunately, what really brought Hwang Jin Yi down was the execution.

Hwang Jin Yi herself (excellently portrayed by Ha Ji Won) is a legend and a difficult character to center a drama around because she's so enigmatic. The show handles this by making her almost otherworldly, the epitome of beauty, grace, and intelligence whose passion for dance eclipses everything else in her life. However (or perhaps because of this), there was too much of a focus on the supporting characters - love interests especially - and how they were affected by Hwang Jin Yi, often putting her on the sidelines. As the series progressed and she became more guarded, the emotional weight of the story shifted to them as well. Instead of Hwang Jin Yi being the subject of the drama, she was the object.

Nonetheless, although the show had a tendency to be over-dramatic towards the end, it has great commentary on art (painting, music, and dance) and the life of gisaengs. If you are interested in these, then this is the perfect drama for you.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
MysteryMel-Bookish
9 people found this review helpful
Sep 10, 2013
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 8.0
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 6.0
Just marathon-ed this epic tale and was entertained by each episode. Strong story of an important woman in history & Korean history who was gifted beyond her time. Her tenacity, intelligence and wit was uncommon at that time period (still not a favorite today in some lands) to move a nation and gender forward. This movie would be an excellent viewing for the costumes, scenery, and historical nuggets and needs to be extra-recommended during Women's month as a reminder of women who helped form a culture when women were basically considered playthings by either profession or birth. The lead actress did a brilliant acting job in this mentally & physically demanding historical figure role convincing viewers that she was JinYi. The only downside, you will find yourself tearing up - beside that, this is well worth the investment of time and thought

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
rrtaghel
2 people found this review helpful
Jul 21, 2022
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

The forgotten impact of arts on our lives

A drama with good teaching. I used to neglect arts in my life and thanks to this drama I came to give it the place it deserves and have become more balanced in my head. I needed to give slow meticulous work a chance and I hadn't realized how I missed this for my inner balance until I watched this series. It is completely wrong to give material matters all the focus we are almost commanded to grant in our times. We have forgotten about beauty and arts, again not as a purchased item at a gallery but something that we aim to achieve progressively and with great patience. Chasing money and refining appearances only makes us more childish and quickly bored and upset. We have become triggered only by violent emotions and shocking appearances. We have become a lot more bestial in a sense. What we need to learn is how to get away from the materialistic impulse and how to cultivate virtue: patience, learning genuine good taste from the grounds, dedication for true slow work .. if you get doing that, you'll be achieving some balance. You'll get yourself away from a great deal of psychic illnesses.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
maddiebuggie
2 people found this review helpful
Apr 27, 2020
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This was the first historical Asian drama that I was able to finish and loved. There was nothing that I hated about the show. It was never boring. If you don't like historical shows with lots of politics in it then this is your show, you will like this a lot. I loved all the outfits and makeup and hair that was done in this story. There was lots of drama which I liked a lot. It was sad that they had a kill off quite a few people that we have grown to love through this year but they made the right choice by doing that. The story wouldn’t have been as good if the main character did have to go through all these deaths. I liked the instrumental songs that were played throughout the story. The actors and actresses did a great job in this show. I loved all the poetry, dancing, musical instruments that were done in this story too. The director who made this put a lot of heart, time and care and passion into this show and it shows. The director did a great job with this show.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Hana Joo
2 people found this review helpful
Aug 8, 2015
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 10
Rewatch Value 8.0
At first I thought "Hwang Jin Yi" is something similar to "Memoirs of a Geisha"; depicting a bitter life imposed to a talented woman and how she overcomes her obstacles... (catching story for watching once only)..but it was totally different. I don't know much about history and culture of Korea in detail, but what I really liked about it was focusing on a different aspect of a kisaeng's life, as an artist.
Unlike the similar versions of such stories, it didn't highlight the topic as a a huge catastrophe and make a fuss about it. Of course there were some tragedies in between, but they didn't make the story banal.
Ha Ji won is one of my favorite actresses though in most of her roles (mostly including super strong women with high level of perfection), I've seen some traces of aggression and you feel like the character is always on guard. But in here I think she really made a good job. I've read that Hwang Jin Yi herself is a legend with an enigmatic character (like many other artists; I think it's in our genes perhaps :D), but besides the constant proud perfectionist hardworking character she wanted to be, the actress performed the weak parts all humans have and the delicate aesthetic part sweetly, from the time she was a naive sprout to the point she blooms.
I think the fact that they also focused on the lives of supporting characters was quite helpful; too much attention to the main character would make it tiring, besides when you have to take some time to consider different point of views, different reactions and different influences on different people, it will help you develop your own perspective in a various ways instead of staying a relatively passive audience.
Another perfect part of the drama was the music, quite enjoyable indeed!
Overall, it is worth the time.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Ongoing 14/24
Peephole
3 people found this review helpful
Jan 15, 2021
14 of 24 episodes seen
Ongoing 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.5
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 7.5

Sooooo pretty.

I don’t know whether I hadn't paid attention before, but the hanboks in this drama are the prettiest.
The story is compelling, and not to mention the great music and directing. And the emotions are well tuned. I cried, felt goosebumps and excitement from cliff hangers and events. The romance is good too.
The drama empathizes so well with the feeling of those women who had to live as every man’s woman for the rest of their lives as their fate.
Again, the story is nice, and Ha Ji Won is as beautiful as always.
I appreciate the art in this drama.
I love how this drama shows the process of hard work and talent.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
bonnie
1 people found this review helpful
Jan 10, 2016
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.5
Story 9.0
Acting/Cast 9.5
Music 9.5
Rewatch Value 9.5
What a worthy drama to watch! I love Ha Ji Won's portrayal of Hwang Jini.
She has the ability to make the audience believe in her character.
Ha Ji Won is one of a kind! I really enjoy her natural acting. I watched her
in Secret Garden, and she was fantastic.
Also the supporting cast did an amazing job. An amazing drama with beautiful cinematic
scenes, strong cast, music and directing.
Was this review helpful to you?
Dropped 17/24
smool
1 people found this review helpful
Dec 1, 2020
17 of 24 episodes seen
Dropped 0
Overall 6.5
Story 5.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
To sum up this drama is a treat for the eyes : the costumes are incredible ,there is a nice emphases on the art (painting, music, and dance) and the life of gisaengs. If you are interested in those, then this is the perfect drama for you.

The acting is also good.

In fact, there is nothining reprehensible with this drama. I just wasn't captivated by the stroy line and the feud between the 2 gisaeng houses. Futhermore i don't know anything about the historical caractere behind Hwang Jini. So I won't judge this aspect

However i liked the depiction of the giseang life ( with is usualy sugar coatted in historical dramas).

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Completed
Park Min
0 people found this review helpful
Oct 17, 2023
24 of 24 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 3.5
Story 3.0
Acting/Cast 3.5
Music 1.0
Rewatch Value 1.0

Disappointing

Most of the cast were underperforming on their roles. Aside from the main female lead, there wasn't much appeal going for the drama. Which made the drama utterly boring with its insane 24 episodes nascence runtime, it felt painfully infinite. The drama had a poor pacing with every section/period. The first 10 episodes all served as an intro and could've been condensed down to couple of episodes at best. Some gisaeng "training montages" were laughable and straight up ripped from anime-esque training arcs followed by an instant skill power up, despite having all the time in the world to flesh out the gisaeng journey from an artistic point of view. A drama about gisaengs that doesn't put the effort and needed attention into the gisaengs. To top it all off, they couldn't even deliver with the ending, I hated the last episode, everything felt force for the sake of progressing the drama. By the way, Jang Geun Suk shouldn't be listed with the main cast since he's only there for a few episodes.

Read More

Was this review helpful to you?
Hwang Jin Yi (2006) poster

Details

Statistics

  • Score: 7.9 (scored by 2,089 users)
  • Ranked: #2796
  • Popularity: #2599
  • Watchers: 5,415

Top Contributors

50 edits
38 edits
18 edits
15 edits

Popular Lists

Related lists from users
Historical Korean drama
117 titles 48 loves 1
Onde assistir?
6453 titles 76 loves 2
Top Painful/Saddest Death in Kdramas
130 titles 788 voters 37 loves 20

Recently Watched By