"잊기 싫어. 기억하고 싶어."

Have you ever wondered what your closest friends would feel like if you died? What would they do? How would they remember you? Moreover, would you want to witness their grief yourself while being around them as a completely different person? Those are the challenges the main character Ban Ji Eum has to navigate on a daily basis.

🔸️The drama explores grief and the ways to cope with it - letting people go or holding onto them at all costs. Do dearest memories outweigh traumas? Should we live in the moment and forgive? Ji Eum has 19 lives worth of suffering, and worth of happy moments too, but she can't erase one and keep another. She has to make a choice between her long desired happiness and her friends' wellbeing. I feel like the plot relies too heavily on inyeon 인연, but I like that the characters still have to overcome challenges in their next lives to end up together, like Secretary Ha and Cho Won.

🔸️The drama is heartwarming, not heartbreaking, and it kept me engaged very well. Except for the truck accident for which I still don't understand the motive. I absolutely adore the child actors who all did an outstanding job, and not just for their age. Shin Hye Seon is truly amazing, especially in the emotionally intense final episodes. And Ahn Dong Goo? Where did this guy come from? He has an incredible quiet energy.

But I was more interested, how did Ji Eum's gender identity and sexual orientation change as Ji Eum was reborn in both female and male bodies?

Read More

당신이 좋은 이유? 그저 그 사람이라서. 바로 너라서.

I started this first part of the Reply family hoping to get to the bottom of the odious goat bleating sound effect that all the three dramas were riddled with. Needless to mention I didn't find its origins. It just exists. But I was very surprised to stumble upon a respectful representation of gay character Joon Hee. It would probably be a lot to ask for a happy ending of his love line in 2013, but at least there were no mocking or deliberately "awkward" situations to make fun of his feelings.

The main nostalgic attraction point of the drama is the first wave of K-pop with H.O.T. and SECHSKIES and cultivated insanity of K-pop fandoms. The female lead Shi Won spends a considerable amount of runtime in lines to concerts and fan meetings and makes it a part of her personality. The male lead Yoon Jae though spends most of the time struggling to confess his feelings to Shi Won, and by the end it gets quite annoying and stagnant. There is a lot of charm from the supporting characters because the writers don't shy away from portraying teenage awkwardness in relationships and "inappropriate" obsessions like porn tapes that influence their perception of dating.

I cannot leave out a giant walking screaming red flag that the teacher Yoon Tae Woong is. All the drama he is almost grooming Shi Won and buys her attention with expensive gifts so she, a high school student, would agree to date him, a rich adult man working at her school because Tae Woong's previous girlfriend was Shi Won's older sister who died. It's fucked up. And you know, it's obvious why Shi Won is susceptible to his grooming. Her own father is so crazy entitled that he finds it appropriate to tell his daughter she looks awful and to shave her hair for any "wrongdoing", and the boys in the drama agree with him. The grooming is portrayed as romantic and totally normal behavior while the dad's repulsive character is portrayed as humorous and caring. No, thank you, don't drag this shit to the next generation of K-dramas please.

If I had to rate the Reply series, it would go like this:
1. Reply 1988
2. Reply 1997
3. Reply 1994
If you have watched 1988 you don't have to look into the other ones as they're on absolutely incomparable levels of quality and you won't find anything new. But Reply 1997 is much more laid-back and gives you the vibes of both 2013 and 1997. It's a double nostalgia shot.

Read More

배신을 하면 공멸하지만 협동을 하면 모두에게 이익이 되는 심리게임.

Were you a strategic mastermind in high school? Intelligent enough to build and maintain your own little North Korea in your class and astute enough to instigate a rebellion and tear the empire down? Was your entire school full of lesbians? I don't think so. And that's why we have K-dramas - to see these wild exciting plots come to life!

Since the emphasis on the "game" is stated right in the drama title, I felt compelled to compare just how much of a game was the bullying system that Baek Ha Rin created. If we take Johan Huizinga's play theory, the first element of the equation doesn't seem to match. In his definition, a play:
1. Is a voluntary activity.
2. Separated from ordinary life.
3. Has a distinct location and duration.
4. Demands absolute order.
5. Connected with no material interest.

But weren't you free to not download the Pyramid Game app? Myeong Ja Eun automatically becomes one of the victims when she declines to participate in the voting. If you're punished for not playing, that's not really a game anymore, is it? If Pyramid Game was never a game in the first place, it means that Ha Rin's superiority to the rest of the class was superficial, she wasn't even a charismatic leader. This imitation of freedom is often executed in authoritarian and totalitarian states, and all of them are held up by fear, not the mythical "respect" for the dictator.

Rather than having to deal with a consolidated cult, Seong Soo Ji parachutes in a fertile soil for a coup d'etat, and it makes her task in the drama easier. The main part of the story is Soo Ji navigating her way through the new class in the all-girls school that she transferred to. The whole drama is one big trigger warning for violence and school bullying, and you should consider that before watching. The scenes of violence evoked such primary rage in me, good thing they are only on screen. The scale of violence is almost equal to The Glory, and the eerily smooth intro with cool colors and definite shapes is certainly inspired by it.

The best part of the drama is THE GIRLS. Literally every communication between any of them is low-key or high-key sapphic. Our fantastic couple Lim Ye Rim and Shim Eun Jeong steal the spotlight every other episode. Bona's fiery eyes were a whole another character on their own, but my favorite actress is Oh Se Eun playing a firecracker Song Jae Hyeong with a thing for muscular shoulders. She's such a playful and bright little fox, she caught my attention earlier with her memorable performance in Duty After School.

There are many things that felt off in this drama, including the superficial introduction of the prisoner's dilemma, and there's a lot I can't put my finger on. But I don't feel the need to emphasize the bad parts if this beautiful lesbian world is spinning and making us happy!

Read More

Uninspired and average

With such a crazy praise I definitely expected so much more. Of course, it's a good movie, but 1h 40m of two people meeting and parting wasn't a life-changing experience for me. The story tries to break away from romcom, but ends up just being "rom" without "com".

Although I found it quite fun how it doesn't take me any effort anymore to switch between English and Korean. I swore at Arthur "If you want to understand her dreams so much just learn damn the language" and "배고파'밖에 몰라?" I also swore at Nora for disregarding her husband so badly and at Hae Seong for being so indecisive and passive. He doesn't deserve Nora, he didn't bother to lift his butt up 12 years ago, so why now?

Read More

"I did not lie to you. English lie is hard"

The best way to wrap up this film would be to interweave the two stories about the unsuccessful Japanese writer and the unfortunate Korean actress so that the woman all this time has been the character in the writer's novel, to end with the interview with the journalist scene. It would make a great complete story. Right now you're going for it, but it just doesn't feel eloquent.

🔸I'm very offended that they repeat several times that writing and acting is lying, and then don't explore that claim.

Let's break it down. What is the purpose of lying? To conceal some unpleasant information, to manipulate somebody. What is the purpose of acting/writing? To open up your feelings, to be honest, to conduct them to the audience - which some may argue is also a sort of manipulation. Both acting/writing and lying require special skills to make people believe. If you believe in things that don't exist and you're telling about them, then it's not really lying, it's your own truth. So let's examine this similarity! Let's go from here. Seriously, guys, what you're so busy with slacking off on this gold mine of a story?!?

And why is the title translated as "Worst Woman" if it is actually "Worst Day"? The perspective changes from the perspective of Eun Hee to some misogynistic one, as Eun Hee is such a "bad" partner for both of her toxic exes.

Read More

The dull middle child of Reply

This is the specimen of the famous Reply trilogy that I highly DO NOT recommend dedicating your time to. There is neither the charm of the first Reply 1997 nor the emotional complexity of the hit Reply 1988. Nor there was created an ambient nostalgic vibe to keep it afloat.

🔸Even though this boring middle child of the trilogy was twice as big as its seonbae 1997 and hit 10% viewership rating, it essentially has nothing to say but offer a demographic group some historical recap to ponder upon. The years 1994-1995 were memorable for South Korea as the era of 삐삐 pagers and rapid progress, but I didn't see much life in the screenplay that would shadow that global change on the characters. There are also no good period needle drops - not a single song I wanted to hear more than once!

The characters have their moments, but during the 90% of the unjustifiably long runtime they are very predictable, vague and boring. Never did I feel any human connection with them but in one episode with the medical student Bing Geu Re who couldn't bear the dread of pursuing his parents dream and wanted to follow his own calling. The writers ruined that storyline later, and it felt like they killed all the hope for this drama. Many viewers will also find the actress Go Ara playing Na Jeong inauthentic and ungenuine, or simply annoying. Not to mention the romantic storyline and a kiss played by an 18 y.o. girl and a 30+ grownup actor.

Although, one good thing about the casting is that all the actors in the hasuk were born in the provinces and spoke authentic saturi. I enjoyed hearing it so much!

🔸I am particularly dissatisfied with the drama because my own parents belong to the generation that "saw both the analog and digital world", albeit not in Korea. To be young in the early 90s was a very challenging and exciting experience. I was hoping to see that enthusiasm, ardour and rebellion, and also the life circumstances that made the young adults mature so fast. I was hoping I could understand my parents better. Unfortunately, the drama brushed all over the underlying events and emotions confining barely to the trite question "who will Na Jeong be married to".

Read More

"그러니까... 나 좀 구해주세."

There have been fewer dramas about solo K-pop singers with a truly moving and outstanding screenplay. Until now! This drama shows how the performers not only have to compete with each other but fight their own fears and regrets as well.

🔸The wide scale of an ocean with myriad stranded islands and of Seoul seething with individuals aspiring to become someone is the ultimate metaphor for the show about breaking free to pursue your passion. The theme combination of domestic violence/not being allowed to dream and performing arts makes it even more impactful and relatable, as for me. Abusers don't deserve to be remembered, passionate artists do.

🔸It is definitely a terrible exaggeration to imagine 15 to 10 years for Mok Ha to stay in great physical and vocal shape on the deserted island. It's so much more effective to demonstrate how fast the world - specifically, the K-entertainment industry - changes if the period of Mok Ha's isolation lasted 7 or even 5 years. In addition, it would be great if the story included Mok Ha's attempts to preserve her voice, practice guitar chords on some bamboo stick and composing songs with the sounds she could imitate with improvised tools. As we all know, it is art and creation that helps you cope with difficulties and heal your traumas.

Said that, Castaway Diva is still the most wholesome and inspiring story that takes its place in my heart forever. Thank you, amazing actors and the crew! Park Eun Bin's saturi sounds so cute, and the young actors did an incredible job!⚡

Read More

"누구든, 의심해야죠. 그건 내 직업이니까."

🔸️How hypnotizing the two leads are! They both resemble two feral territorial cats fighting for domination - and very shrewd ones! Shin Ha Gyun's magnifying asymmetrical eyes stare right into the depth of your soul, and they just won't let you go. Yeo Jin Gu and Shin Ha Gyun are the ones who make this show work because, honestly, the screenplay alone wouldn't be engaging enough for me. Just like any other crime/thriller it focuses a lot on the antagonist supporting characters we don't want to observe for an extended period of time. Instead, who would refuse to watch Han Joo Won and Lee Dong Sik filling the screen with borderline erotic tension and hold onto each other in the moments of pain?

🔸️Other K-drama directors produce, Shim Na Yeon creates. She is the master inside a genre. If it's a drama - Good Bad Mother - then it is deeply traumatic and affectionate. If it's a crime - Beyond Evil - then it throws you head-first into the darkness. The editing - that could be irregular like in any TV project - is under perfect control; the actors are living through their characters; the score is filled with passion. What will this wonderful director gift upon us next?

Read More

"우리 엄마 나한테 한번도 예쁘단 말을 해준 적이 없거든."

Happiness for the two young lesbians!
🔸One of a few dramas that go beyond just "everybody wants to look like idols, teenagers are suicidal, and social media is bad". The story unleashes its full potential with all ways and underlying reasons to get respect and acceptance in a society. There is much more violence in the world than school bullying, and disregard is another contributing part of it.

The identity of the actress Lee Han Byeol who played the first Kim Mo Mi was revealed on a press conference just before the premiere. That's quite an interesting move, also considering that this role is her debut, and she absolutely nailed it! I hope to see her more and I hope that Korean entertainment industry will slowly shift its unflinching standards of beauty.

🔸I've been waiting for this drama for about a year, and hell it paid off! I just love how Kim Wan Seon's electrifying "Dance in the Rhythm" contributes to the energy of the show. Wasn't it in Reply 1988 too? My favorite song of her has been "Let's forget it", but looks like I'm about to change the favs.

I absolutely loved the episode about Mi Mo and her friend, both the writer and the young actress made such an amazing hedgehog-like strong personality who desperately needs love, protection, and understanding. 💚

Overall, the drama felt like the mix of Celebrity and The Glory, talking both about popularity and revenge. The amazing actress Yeom Hye Ran who also performed in The Glory made me want to murder her character so bad. 😅

Read More

생일 축하합니다!

I haven't had my birthday celebrated for so many years. I can totally understand how you wait for that day to feel appreciated, and it turns out just like any other day that brings you closer to death and updates the count of "friends" who forgot about you.

🔸️As for the movie, one major issue, in my opinion, is that the rhythm doesn't really change making it hard to feel where is the beginning, climax, and the end. The movie is too shy, too quiet, just like the main character, and I would like it to stir me up a little bit more. Otherwise, it's still bottled up and not resolved. Yet I like this short a lot for its beautiful picture, vibrant environment, and good acting. 응원합니다, 감독님!

If you want to watch this short film, contact the director through email and request the link politely. The email address is [email protected]. (It took about a couple of weeks to get a response on mine)

Read More

아름다운 청년 전태일 편히 쉬세요.

🔸️Can you imagine what level of despair one has to reach to set themselves alight and die the most horrible death publicly? Will their sacrifice change anything at all? In 5 years? And in 50 years?

🔸️Jeon Tae Il used his last resort by the end of the Third Republic of Korea. Two more Republics would change before the democracy is established, and many more bloody years were ahead. Self-immolation is not an effective form of protest but the most shocking one. It does leave an indelible impression on witnesses, making them question their situation. It is only up to the living if the horrible act of sacrifice has a real impact later. In case of Jeon Tae Il, it wasn't forgotten.

The camerawork in the movie is absolutely fantastic. The depth of shadows and light gives sometimes dramatic feel or sometimes the feeling of being trapped. The leading actor Hong Gyeong-In is perfect. It would easily go to my favorites if not for the slightly undercooked screenplay that made me stray in between the two story lines with the newest one less clear.

Read More

"죽기 전에 또 봐."

🔸️I've been hearing a lot of complaints that a little brat like Sang Woo is not a realistic portrayal of a naughty kid. Well. I grew up with my grandmother who is currently 83 years old. I was spending the holidays at her house with no hot water and a toilet outdoors. I can't compare that to the rural Korea of 2000s, but as I watched the movie I felt so strangely familiar with its world.

🔸️Moving from the small apartments with almost sterile cleanliness that my mom maintained to the house with mosquitoes, bugs and mice running around always required an adaptation period. Old people can't put as much effort into cleaning, and their eyesight and memory are bad. I would often ask grandma to cook something, and when she put the salt in twice or even trice I would push the dishes aside and say they are disgusting. When grandma didn't understand what I said I would call her deaf and not repeat my words on purpose. I would sometimes refuse to thread a needle for her. She didn't kick me out of her house, and she wasn't saint nor very patient. She just new I was a silly kid. After a couple of days of being squeamish I started washing the dishes and dusting by myself, and even eat the soup with a drown midge in it. In the end of the summer I didn't want to come back home.

🔸️집으로... is everything but manipulative. The kid in the story isn't coming over the grandmother's house voluntarily like me. He has problems in his family, he feels abandoned for a weird person he doesn't really know. If you look into your childhood you could probably find the moments you acted like Sang Woo even if you didn't admit it to yourself. There are many moments when the boy does good things, he's not plain evil. It's insincere to call him a piece of sht because most of us were the same and have forgotten that.

As I looked at Kim Eul Boon I couldn't stop thinking how much has she lived through. She saw the Japanese occupation and all the Six Republics of Korea. And how many more old people lived off their gardens in the same conditions as the main character in 2000s?

🔸️The movie might not be the most subtle or "intellectual", but it has a strong core. I see now, Minari was definitely inspired by The Way Home. There is nothing extraordinary in its cinematography, or acting, or the screenplay, but all of them are very organic. That's what makes people love the movie.

Read More

I not gonna wipe up!!!

🔸️I've just found a gem in the trash mini drama genre. It's so ridiculous that it's fun. At the beginning your brain is unsettled by the disastrous behavior of the characters but then you gradually accept the rules and play by them. I can even tell this drama is secretly gay because of the intense gay scene in the 2nd episode hehehe...

🔸️What captivates me here is the unusual story of the bullies and their victim. The victim is not written from the position of the weak but from the position of an average-confidence person who actively seeks for the way out.

🔸️The exploration of friendship is pretty decent here. People from the same criminal background are gathered in one high school but they act differently, e.g. TaeSan who "never beats anyone up with no reason" on the contrary to the red haired guy who lies in wait for the person to be in the most vulnerable position to attack him. Some only need money to communicate, some need understanding.

🔸️The actors... Oh, well. Kwak DongYeon pulls it off very well as usual even though this is one of his very first roles. The cast of the hooligans falls into the scope of the uncanny valley effect when they try to play comedy, but still it's so silly that it's fun itself. The Teddy Bear guy is damn awesome.

🔸️The love line of the teachers is absolutely pathetic, predictable, boring, and unnecessary. It weighs literally zero bytes of new information. The ending slipped a lot. We never got a single focus on the relationship between those three but there is suddenly a kiss. (But I tend to think he's secretly a gay) The new challenge for TaeSan is stated right at the end. It feels like they were going to make a hook for the season two which will never be there.

🔸️I don't get it, what kind of high school is it. Why there are 28 yo bearded students, why do they study together with teenagers, what about girls, and why do they do anything but studying there? Those contact-free battles were enough.

My first reaction to this drama was to cut it out, but I actually noticed the originality the creators tried to bring into the drama. I appreciate it.

Read More

Not bad enough!

This show is what theater kids rehab looks like. And you know, I'm not complaining. They had good time, I had good time. We're even.

Chicken Nugget doesn't necessarily shoot for the moon, nor does it classify as absurdism - more like fooling around. You could ask the producers why did they make this drama, and they would most probably answer "Because we wanted to and we could", and this would be completely fair. But for me personally, Ryu Seung Ryong's affiliation with fried chicken will never go away after this.

But why? Still, why? The conflicts in the plot were very forced, like the most idiotic scene of the fight with aliens. Aliens also had no reason popping up in Joseon. And why, at all, was this long story about Kim Yoo Jeong being a chicken nugget told? The last episode basically pushed the red button and erased all the remaining significance of the drama. It's telling you almost straight out that you wasted 5 hours of your life for nothing. "Thank you, dear viewers, you may go home now."

The chicken intro though is such a killer 🔥

Read More