Reviews

When you lose yourself along the way and instead focus on growing up and trying to live the dream you thought you need. Often time we forget about our pure and childish self. The things we were so passionate about and loved as young adults. The responsibility and the standard of this world tears us down and we slowly let go of ourselves. This is what this movie was about to me.

Ni ni plays two characters, the 28 and 17 years of herself. She was ready to marry her longtime boyfriend who promised her forever, but slowly ten years passed, and they had not reached that stage. She dreamt of being his wife and doing things a housewife should. Instead, he proposed a breakup. Like any other girl, she eats to forget about the pain. She orders these chocolates that were supposed to help her but instead, these magic chocolates transfer her back to 17 years old. Both of them go through ups and downs with each other. They fought and bickered. They had ongoing issues with their relationships - the 28-year-old with her current boyfriend and the 17-year-old and her new beau. But through it all, they eventually learn to accept one another. It will always be a fight to find that balance, a struggle but I hope we never forget that moment when we shine our best and learn to accept and love ourselves from that point on.

These were some of my favorite quotes specifically from the scene when she was going to lose her 17-year-old self. I couldn’t stop crying during this scene:

“It was you who changed me”

“Don’t be afraid, I will never let you go again”

“I admire your purity and bravery. You know it was you that gave me back the beauty in me that was lost”

“Big Liang, this life is yours to live. I’ll never be far away, just listen to the small voice within your heart.”

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Low budget lesbian short film about the end of a relationship

Why is it that no one ever finishes their food in fiction? That is a real question I have, but it is not at all the central question in this short film which manages to tell a lot with few dialogue lines and few scenes.
'Are we really done?' is a little short film that is queer without being a rom-com. It's centre point is the question in its title 'are we really done?' Are the two best friends who were dating in all but name in high school, who were always together, and who might have thought that this time would never end, are they done? Is their history over? Is that time in their life, this shared romantic moment over? It does not have time to develop this to a very large extent because of the low budget and short runtime, but it provides one answer. It uses flashbacks quite well to give us their backstory in few words and the actresses do a good job at sharing with their eyes everything that is left unsaid. Both asking the title question and answering it.

The production quality is lower than might be expected from Korean short films which usually have very high production values, but it's also nice to see more amateurish productions. The filming and directing is decent if simple. The sound is sadly too low throughout which can be a bit annoying and the editing could be better. But overall, this is a very decent short film and one that I would recommend you watch if you have 10min and want something else than the traditional romcom short film.

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This is a masterpiece!

This may not be everyone's cup of tea also in addition that this is a somewhat political movie due to the occupation of the Japanese army during WW2 but movie is a masterpiece.

Trigger Warning: Some scenes in the movie shows violence towards the LGBTQIA+ community, Torture (Physical & Sexual), Rape, and War.

- Acting-wise, everyone did such a splendid job. not to mention the Philippines comedy King Dolphy is the one portraying Walterina Markova. He did such a splendid job. The young Walternina & her friends did a great job too on their characters, I had felt what it was like to be a part of the LGBTQIA+ community during those times. I can't dent the fact that being part of the community is such a controversial issue then up to now & also this movie might also have been controversial due to its nature but in my opinion, everyone that has to do with this movie really did a good job~
- The scenes and events were acted & shot great!! yes, it's not perfect but still, the message & the feelings were delivered to me.
- This movie is just purely an art in film.
- The movie was based on actual events told by Walterina herself. You can research the story and some news clipping s on google if you want to know more about her life.
- Will definitely watch this movie again and again if I got time~

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Sh88ty college community project

This ain't a movie, it's a college community project gone wrong.
Messy acting, messy characters, f88ked up cinematography.
Horrible direction and a Horrendous experience.
The director who's also the screenwriter should be fired.

They chose a half-baked script based on some toxic relationship, like those f99ls who f88k around and created a screenplay out of it .
One could accept that the concept was good enough to proceed but the writing in such a manner.
All hell should break loose with such sh88ty dialogues.
Acting talent of both the leads was wasted.

I'm seriously angry at this lady who made this movie.
She shouldn't be found near the director's chair or writer's den.
Go do some other work blondie.

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Can see where they were going with it, but it's poorly executed.

Where do I begin....

After reading a few comments mentioning the snail pace of the movie, the awkward intimacy, the uncomfortable age gap, and still deciding to watch it - what surprised me the most is that none of those aspects are the ones that bothered me. From the first 5 minutes of the movie, I even thought I'll come to like it (ooh boy).

What did bother me is the normalization and romanticisation of the foundations of this relationship.

Sakurai is a 37 year old man who acts as if he has never been in a relationship before, and hence he does not know how to behave and control himself. He is displayed as the type of person to pick up a hobby (such as caring for a houseplant) and then neglecting and abandoning it after the novelty wears off. He proceeds to intrude on and quickly advance with a new housebody, the 19 year old Yoichi.

Yoichi lives a lonely life despite the fact that he's surrounded by 3 other tenants; whose backgrounds, personalities or significance are non-existent, as the only purpose they serve is to not only overlook the problematic advancement of this middle-aged stranger on their vulnerable 'friend', but to even encourage it, since that's probably cheaper than therapy.

Yoichi is just a kid who grew up surrounded by the rumour that his parents committed suicide together, hence abandoning their unloved son. His fist ever sexual awakening occurs due to a simple coincidence that Sakurai could guess what he was painting and could sense happiness emanating from Yoichi when he paints.

The setting couldn't be simpler - An emotionally stunted, depressed boy with daddy issues projects his need for a father figure and a sexual partner onto Sakurai, who, as a pent-up workaholic, can not keep it in his pants and upon realizing that he bit off more than he could chew, runs away. The only sensible thought that man coughed up was that their generation gap makes him uncomfortable.... and then proceeded to give the already constipated boy mixed messages and a game of push and pull (in the form of awkward hugs, fervent sleazy kisses, avoiding him, and at the end literally walking out in a middle of conversation).

The actor playing classmate Fujimoto, is out of place with how his acting is far better than all the characters combined.

In a nutshell, the movie was uncomfortable to watch. The overall vibe felt like a BL from 2000s Japan: undercooked and overly dramatized, but with really neat cinematography. If the ending was tweaked a bit and the couple did not end up together, making it a learning slope for Yoichi (such is life), then at least the whole situationship would not be painted rosy.

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Blood and Flesh

I have been trying to come up with a catchy first sentence to begin this review for the past hour, but I can't think of anything satisfying enough, so here we go.

Execution-wise the movie is splendid in all aspects from cinematography and directing to acting and music.
Unexpectedly it doesn't even feel draggy, even though it runs for two and a half hours.
However for some reason I don't feel like mentioning any of this is important, because it doesn't really matter comparing to the plot and what it felt like watching it.

Hunger deals with the theme of greed and the chasm between the poor and the rich. It doesn't romanticise anything and at some points it feels raw to a point that as a viewer I felt depressed, frustrated and angry but not in a way that it made it difficult to watch. It doesn't have any type of ''fairy-tale'' plot or the cliché of ''food made with love beats everything''.
It focuses on the importance of the choices that people make for themselves and how easy it is to turn into a person you hate.

Even though it doesn't feel preachy, I feel like they could tone it down a bit more to have a better balance.
I would definitely like a different ending, but it didn't degrade the rest of the film.

"The poor eat simply to satisfy their hunger, but when you have more than enough to eat your hunger doesn't end".

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Outstanding movie

Wow just wow. I’ve never written a review before but after been recommended this movie thought I’d give it a go. I love a movie or series that is slightly different and this was it. The actors, all of them where amazing but my heart just melted for Hwayi. He absolutely nailed his character, his eyes never lied, his expressions, everything. He was the true victim here. I’ve read a few reviews but my take on the ending differs to those. Hwayi’s ‘fathers’ where never his real dads, his real parents where the elderly couple who wouldn’t move home on the construction site. Hwayi was made to murder his real dad but at the time never knew he was his father, the flashbacks cemented this. I’ve seen a few comments that mentioned they wished one of the ‘fathers’ had killed Hwayi, not sure why. Each of his ‘fathers’ viewed and felt for Hwayi differently. I believe most of them would of killed Hwayi if the situation arose. There was only one dad however who I felt would save him if given the chance and genuinely cared for Hwayi. Another scene when one of the dads joined Hwayi at the toilet and mentioned to him about going to the baths. That concerned me, was it implying there was something untoward going on, however this was never explored. The ending I needed, he reached out to Young Joo who’d been like a mum to him. Very sad movie though.

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YNEH just gave me the hardest slap of reality fr!!!!

This is one of the well-made BL out there, raw and real. The roughest depiction of reality about the "back in the day" era where homosexuality is seen sinful and prejudiced by many. Yes those instances where a group of straight male peers who tried to set fire in a gay's dick in the bathroom! I love how the drama was portrayed especially with two commendable main leads. I'm really a sucker for actors who delivers the drama that I needed and what is needed. Edward Chen's acting is superb and outstanding especially where the drama became intense: Chang Jia Han having intense dialogue with the priest about how homosexuality is a sin and him and Birdy having steamy scene in the bathroom and the dramatic fight in the guidance's office where Jia Han defends Birdy from his father. Tseng Jing Hua as Birdy delivered very well too.

I also love how the drama swayed from stigma towards LGBTQIA to the realistically relatable feeling of Jia Han struggling to hold his emotions because he fell out of love bucz of Birdy. I was like being so invested in the drama that I love the sequencing of it. It didn't really stayed on one topic which is homophobia but also martial law, unrequited love and rebellion of youth group. The drama never failed to stab daggers in my heart everytime Jia Han get hurt. I imagined that I was him and just wanting to own Birdy all by myself.
One of the scene that stood out to me was the one dialogue of Jia Han something along the lines "If homosexuality is a sin and gay people condemned into hell then I beg Him to put me in hell to be happy to who I want to love, please I'm begging you!" That line from me is gut wrenching bcuz Jia Han begs to be understood as a man begging to be happy loving another man regardless.

Jia Han just stood out to me bcuz of how passionate he is to Birdy and how he go through extreme extent to protect him. Birdy, on the other hand, needs a brick in the head to realize how hurtful it is for Jia Han to be ignored and pushed aside just bcuz a girl entered the scene. I hate the scene where Birdy punched Jia Han bcuz he was interfering his confrontation with his father in the office. I don't really get why he did that. That's just awful bcuz Jia Han never deserve something like that.

I love the direction, the jumping on every different scenes in the series. One scene after another which overlapped beautifully. The cinematography is aesthetically nostalgic which kinda resembles that of I Told Sunset About You. It's just beautiful when they incorporate that effect to emphasize the nostalgia of living back in the day. The writings for this movie is well executed. The realistic depiction of this raw ass movie is just outstanding for me. The explicit scenes in the grave where these hoes getting steamy with guys in a cemetery lot, the sensual touch of Jia towards Birdy's body, the scene in beach where Jia and Birdy got naked enjoying the water and laying naked in the sand. Those, were just chef's kiss. One of the touching scenes of the movie that I also love was the one Jia conversing with Birdy through the telephone and tearfully played his written song for him to listen. It's just a beautiful scene just enough to make your eyes watery and provoke your emotions.

I also want to pinpoint very few flaws of the movie. The fact that the two never really end up together and they grew older separately only to meet up years later. That's something I think they need to change. While that can be something true to happen, it's just dissatisfying for me. Not really a fan of them being separated then grew older just to cross paths with each other again. I kinda like the ending tho but I think there must be another cool ending to that.

Overall, this is really a very good movie to just get you in your emotions and make your eyes sore from crying. I might add that this was one of the best BLs out there bcuz it mirrors reality about how people in the past being prejudiced toward gay people. This is just a masterpiece I never expected but greatly appreciated.

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Hunger is greed

Food here could be substituted with any materialistic object with the vs of rich people. You either run towards something and you lose time, ie poor people, or you have too much of something and you lose it's value
Life is about balance, about gratefulness and about giving more than receiving. Rich people might think they have more but in reality they have so much less because they're never satisfied
Poor people are never happy because they always want more


Great filmography quality the biggest benefit of Netflix production. beautiful food. a nice message of poor vs rich, hunger, greed, definition of success, and be satisfied with what you have vs what you could have.

Not enough grittiness, aokbab is a great actress but her stoic richbitch vibe didn't feel as greedy as she should've been. The 1 second nudity was uncalled for and the downside of Netflix

The way those rich people ate was way too gross, and tho I understand the hunger metaphor and I don't doubt rich people do live their lives devouring their pleasures, but I also don't think they'd go around like eating animals, etiquette is a rich people nature
Overall good but not great

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A movie masterpiece honoring of the unsung heroes of China during WW II

The acting is superb, everyone in the cast giving a nuanced performance that adds to the tension and overall intrigue of the film. The editing and cinematography is top notch with every frame seemingly poetic with how Director Cheng Er juxtaposed both light and shadows for ultimate effect. There are a lot of notable scenes in this movie and Wang Yibo especially shined. The final confrontation between Yemi and Watanabe was so gripping, that one can almost feel the palpable tension and dread in the air. I highly recommend this movie. A must watch, although I highly doubt you’d be satisfied seeing it only one time.

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A Masterpiece of a movie that keeps you engrossed from start to finish

Having just watched Hidden Blade I can honestly say I haven't been so engrossed in a movie in a long time. The cinematography is exquisite. Storytelling by Cheng Er = amazing, love the non linear timeline. Tony Leung is top notch as always, his scene with Zhou Xun is chefs kiss. Honourable mention to Hiroyuki Mori.

As for Wang Yibo, he was absolutely riveting, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. His duality, the strength and vulnerability he showed brought his character to life in a way know one else could. At parts he was absolutely chilling and made my blood run cold, someone please give him a purely evil role. He held his own against the legend that is Tony Leung and that says it all.

I will watch it again as there are so many little things that I know I missed out on.

Cheng Er did a brilliant job with all the foreshadowing, I love his mind and I will go check out his other works.

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Situational humor at its best.

I watched this for Lee Yi Kyung, cause him doing comedy can never go wrong but the show stealer is Kwak Dong Hyun by the end. He got the ending portion you couldn’t expect.

NK and SK fights are world known but for this lottery ticket, few of the military personnel of both countries join hands. They fight, agree, and disagree by finally making an alliance to be fair and the journey of frustration happens. There are some hilarious moments, which hurt my jaw from laughing. There is never a dull moment.

Go Kyung Pyo was silently hilarious but his farming skills were extraordinary. all the supporting characters are good too.
NK female soldier was so sweet and beautiful. Kwak Dong Hyun is winner.

Must watch for a stressful day.

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Bromance between Police Academy Students: a fiery midnight run !

This movie is centred on a duo of police academy students that find themselves investigating a crime in the middle of the night, literally running all over the place trying to help.

I found the pacing of the film really well done: it is never boring and manage to deliver a clear message. The protagonists are efficiently defined and well-conceived: the viewer understand very quickly their motivations, characteristics and their relationship. The plot is not that nuanced: it is not very critical on the current system and can be seen as a bit simplistic. But overall, what matters is that the story is earnest in its intentions and is gratifying.

The 2 main actors were awesome: they had great chemistry together, they wore their hearts on their sleeves and were really complementary. I'm not surprised by their amazing performances given their respective body of work.

The soundtrack was not overly present but I found the ending song upbeat enough to conclude in a satisfying way the movie. The filmmaking was really good in terms of fight scenes as well as training and practices scenes of our 2 "rookies"/ungraduated cops.

I would recommend this to people that love one of the main male leads and that are looking for a great and entertaining cop movie!

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You'll be dissapointed ...

I'm maybe late here but I still want to inform potential viewers about this movie

let's cut to the chase, if you had fell in love with the series i would suggest you to not put your hopes up on this movie.

you wouldn't get as much excitement as you would felt watching the series, for instance.
there are some aspects that are "chotto" unsatisfying, if you had watch the series I'm sure that you're familiar with the theme song.. sadly the theme song only played once in this movie and the timing isn't even right, it is played in the middle of the movie when kurosaki was talking about his plans, they didn't play it in crucial moments like when kurosaki revealed his final move to his victim (like usual and i find that really interesting and exciting as a viewer) and I found that really unsatisfying.. i just couldn't see the final blow being the final blow when "daite daite daite senorita tsuyoku tsuyoku tsuyoku hanasanaide" isn't playing

the other thing.. let's treat this "movie" as a long bonus episode.
Nothing happened in the movie that was able to make viewers goes "WOW" the story is obviously great, but this isn't worth being a movie i just felt as if it's another episode and the storyline here is just not what many people were expecting

overall, I'm disappointed in this movie and I'm sure I'm not the only one

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Still funny and entertaining as the first movie. But honestly, this can already stop here.

It was as if Sang-sook (Ra Mi-ran) has already changed for the better, but old habits just die hard. Until karma hit her again, and this time, much harder than before.

I was initially apprehensive for this sequel, since the first movie was already adequate with its story and ended with a closure. This time, I am glad that it was still able to retain the foundations of its predecessor that made it funny in the first place, for the most part.

Sang-sook was as kooky as ever, and Hee-cheol (Kim Mu-yeol), as loyal as he is to her, was just as entertaining as well to watch. Their dynamic was explored more here, and it, being this story's core, was one of the better points of this movie, if not its highlight. Individually, they were already funny, and together, it was truly comical.

One thing to note is that the comedy this time was more superficial and toned down compared to the first one. Maybe it was because it was set on a provincial setting which is not as robust as the capital Seoul, but it was still enjoyable. I just laughed with their foolishness at the beginning, then towards the "return of the curse" at the middle, until the "plot twist" at the end. Also maybe, because I was just in the mood to watch a mindless comedy film in that this movie just clicked with me.

The pacing and story direction were satisfactory as well. New characters and settings were introduced here, and it was quite good how it was drawn out. Pony (Park Jin-joo) could've been more fleshed out, since the actress really shines in comedic dramas. Her character could've been given a bigger role on the story.

In terms of pacing, there weren't filler scenes all througout the movie, but since the story events were already predictable, the screenwriter and director had to bank on proper comedic timing to really make this sequel as interesting as the first one, and they were mostly successful on that aspect.

In terms of production, I was amazed on the CGI effects on one scene about the long term goals of a certain entity (I have to make this spoiler-free hehe). There weren't really standout production and screenplay value here, but nonetheless, it was coherently done.

The ending was more or less the same, bringing up again the possibly of another sequel. I, for one, though found this one to be still funny and entertaining as the first movie. But honestly, this can already stop here.

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