Reviews

Was told to watch by a friend, mixed feelings

My friend for a while had been asking me to watch this Drama. I went into watching this having an understanding of how it was going to end and I still was utterly shocked by it. As well as being utterly in shock with the ending, this is not the normal Drama I would watch, and I STILL LIKED IT.

The story was wonderful, I think that's what made it so sad. The Drama kept bringing back details from the past adding new depth to something you thought was just a simple plot tool. Think that's what made the ending so bittersweet. Poong Woon Ho VHS tape holds all of those sweet memories that you can remember watching as his and Na Bo Ra's romance slowly blossomed. As well as the very special VHS tape being held in a Drama that made continuous reappearances throughout the whole Drama. These small details are what I like to see in a Drama, they leave a lasting image on you after watching.

The acting was great not the best. The chemistry between Kim Yoo Jung and Byun Woo Suk was utterly beautiful. Their scenes had just the right amount of cuteness. They weren't too cute causing me to want to throw up but just the right amount to make you giggle to yourself. Even Kim Yoo Jung and Park Jung Woo scenes held this same cuteness. Though I did find some of the crying scenes a little weird to watch. The tears of the characters almost looked a little too forced, but I mainly only saw this when we were seeing Woon Ho and Bo Ra in their high school years. I do think it helped add a bit of youth to their tears but I still think they looked a bit odd. But the whole air of this Drama was great and I am completely willing to watch other Dramas with these actors.

The music didn't leave much of a lasting impression on me. When watching music can make or break a show/drama, but the music in this Drama didn't do either. After watching this drama I can't remember any of the music that was in it. Some Dramas I watched were greatly better because of the music. This Drama wasn't improved or made worse because of its music. I think its lack of music doesn't decrease how much I liked this drama, but I can't say that if it had a great soundtrack I would have thought it was the best Drama ever.

Due to this Drama being quite a sad one from my standpoint I wouldn't necessarily want to watch it again. Maybe after a bad break up with a nice pint of ice cream cuddling up in bed, but I not going to get home from school and put it on. From my standpoint, it was a wonderful 1st watch and I will always hold it dear to me but not so dear to suffer through that ending again.

Overall, this Drama I would 100% recommend anyone to watch this, but just watch with caution and have that box of tissues with you for the final line.

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One too many twists.

Honestly speaking, I don’t even think the story was bad. the directing though, missed a lot of basic elements.

The scenes simply do not transition in a smooth way. Everything feels so out of place. Random private naked yoga classes turned into kamasutra scenes, a random detective story, which technically makes sense (people are dying after all), but never matches well with the main story. It honestly felt like they stitched scenes together without actually taking into consideration if they create a cohesive picture and explain the story well.

By the end of the movie they present one too many twists so rather than an interesting (though slightly overused) turn of events, it all becomes confusing.

The acting was bad. Lee Chae Young easily did the best, but all the rest of the cast was questionable at best. Felt like the actresses were cast for their bodies and not their acting skills.

Overall, skip, don’t bother watching.
(more about the directing fail in the comment below)

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Song

Does anyone know the name of the at the end? And because this site is demanding me to make 500 words, i’ll just copy and paste my Q lol - Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end? Does anyone know the name of the at the end?

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Once you entered darkness, there's no turning back... No matter how hard you try.

If I were to sum it all up, this story is all about unconditional love and everything grim, dark and tragic all together. It's like a whole 4 tier cake that's fully-structured by prostitution, molestation, suicide, rape, cheating, murder and violence with same-sex romance as its cherry on top to attract its viewers. It may look interesting, exciting and delicious on the outside but once you take a bite you'll be shock on how awfully bad it actually tastes inside.

It was a story of everything sinister and ludicrous intertwined to each other and depicts how multiple acts of such brutal action can result to a continuous, moreso, non-stop set of events that only leads to either tragedy or death.

Closely looking at the narrative, I'd say that they successfully made this story as dark and tragedic as they wanted it to be by mercilessly manipulating each and every piece like a puzzle that will only move in accordance to its players wish and desire.

This movie probably has the greatest facade I've ever watched in a long while. The way they've flawlessly hidden the true agenda of this piece by showing us same-sex love story felt like a whole fraud trick to me. It may seem promising and exciting at first but as it progresses you'll realize that it's starting to go deeper and darker... and by the end, you will be perplexed to know that you're only left with nothing but agony, disappointments, and regrets.

There are only 2 positive points I can clearly see from this movie; First is the familial love Mek has shown to his mother and brother. Second is the unconditional and unrestricted mutual love and affection Itt and Mek have for each other. Aside from these, I can't seem to point out anything else that's considerably good or nice.

Lastly, its ending!! I was so mad and heartbroken. I really thought they'd finally live a more peaceful and happy life after all the tragedy they've been through, yet, this story chose to go all out by giving us nothing but another heartache. They killed Mek like it was part of the plot... Expected to happen to conclude the story and pronounce it 'complete'. Where in fact! It was not! Probably the worst decision ever!

P.S. They really love to do the making out/sex scenes outdoor and I got no complains about that. I even love it a lot. Hahaha!

Story - 7.5, Despite all the negative and dark messages this movie has. I'd still say they executed it quite well and it would've been even better only if it wasn't this problematic!! Still can't move on with the tragic ending ><

Acting/Cast - 9.5, I'm surprisingly satisfied with the leads. Specially with how 'A' look convincing, both appearance and acting wise. Same with 'Tob'. The only problem I've had is with Ying. In some instances her line deliberation felt weak and unstable

Music - 9.5, It's nice to hear early 2000s BGMs once in a while. It felt nostalgic and it truly brought me back to those times. Love the Thai song played too. It smoothly conveys and make you feel the raw emotions they all wanted you to experience and go through.

Rewatch Value - 8.5, Even when it ended tragically. I can still see myself watching it in the future. A year or so probably? For some reason, their bittersweet romance still makes me feel butterflies.

Overall - 8.5, No matter how dark and gloomy the whole vibe of the story, I still can't deny how good the delivery of the entire narrative is. It was foul tasting, traumatic yet kinda addicting. Something I can remember for a long time for sure.

IF you find my review helpful please let me know.

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Confusing

My interpretation is that this film is about Seulgi's insecurities about Miso and her husband, because the guy was completely oblivious about her death, I believe if it happened he would've at least hear about it since the wedding was at the same day as the "funeral". I felt like she was jealous at every second of this short film. I can't really express what I'm thinking because I'm legitimately still confused, idk. I have to talk about Ahn Soyo real quick, she's really good, I watched this short film because I just saw her in The Glory, and seeing this short film that only a few people watched and knowing that she went on to act on such a big time show like The Glory is really cool, I hope she can get more opportunities, and the other 2 as well.

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Poignant and beautiful; it's an artistic (as opposed to mainstream) film

Spoiler alert: This is a touching and intimate character study of Chihiro, a lost individual, and the people who temporarily enter her life. The pacing is slow, and the action and dialogue is minimal. But it’s beautifully filmed, with the landscapes and vistas of her seaside community nicely conveying Chihiro’s sense of isolation and loneliness as she struggles to bond with those around her. The hook, that Chihiro is a former sex worker, is probably a metaphor for her struggles to connect emotionally with others. By the end of the film, we understand what she meant when she imagined that earth is populated by aliens, each of whom came from a different planet. For those who enjoy an artistic-leaning films, this movie is worth checking out.

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Worse than I was expecting.

I wanted to like this more than I did, and I just had to give it a watch, considering it had Kim Nam-gil which is my favorite actor. I will say, he is a phenomenal actor, but this movie lacked much real depth to me. It was a very pushed connection, and or chemistry that actually didn't seem present in any of the characters, with any of each other or really themself all that much. Definitely not present between Kim and Park, but a complete facade of one, I understand she was incredibly naive, and you have sympathy for her, but it was more annoying than sad to me. A constant sacrifice to those dumb men, when it was not returned, comes off as "idiotic", rather than sweet or sad. I absolutely hated her character and everything she was. The ending was the absolute worse, and she deserved much worse at the end. I ended up losing any of the sympathy I had for at the end. There was no chemistry between Jeong and Kim either, even though it was trying so desperately hard to build that, but it was pretty empty. Their interactions were surface layer, and lacked real meaning. I had trouble finishing this movie, and was going to stop watching it about 30 minutes in, but said I'll continue to watch because of Kim Nam-gil. It's not terrible per say, it's just not all that around that Interesting and nearly bored me to death. My biggest and one issue with this film, was the nudity, vulgar language, and sex scenes. You can betray all these dark things of humans, and the nature of us, and society without showing nudity and sex. It doesn't add any substance, and that isn't bought by people who are actually looking for films and shows with real substance and meaning. The whole movie was depressing, everything felt dark even in the daylight. Which is clearly obvious because of how depressing this movie was meant to bem The only good thing this film had going for it was casting Kim Nam-gil, which his character lacked much of really anything, was uninteresting, and you didn't have a clue what he was truly thinking and or feeling throughout the whole movie, so, no I don't suggest this movie, but only to those who are die hard fans of Kim Nam-gil, otherwise if you decide to not watch it, you aren't missing much.

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Have your tissues handy

"Remember" might be uncomfortable for some given the subject matter of the Japanese occupation of Korea. Forced labor to other countries of Korea's young men, young women under the guise of working in a factory being forced to give "comfort" to a foreign invader's military men, businesses aquisitioned for the growth of the invading power are but a few of the points at the forefront.

"Remember" was tight and lacked the flaws usually found in a film. The determination of the lead character in his mission was lead by an equal fixation of the scripwriter and director. The plot was straight forward with no detours. Action, Thriller, and Historical genres were given equal measure, with suspense heavily-laden. There was NO room for romance. No room for dilly dallying away precious time in a nearby coffee shop. The story was moved along with one goal in mind. And it was fantastic!!!

I have no descriptions for the 2 main leads. There aren't enough superlatives. The supporting cast were mainly veteran actors who never give less than in any project. It was a male-driven film.

Oh, and if the truth about the past is not remembered & preserved we'll definitely be inclined to repeat it.

Seriously, the ONLY thing that bothered the heck out of me during the entire 2 hours and 8 mins was the Americanized nicknames for the T.G.I.F's (more commonly known now as Friday's) employees which I've seen in other dramas. THE USE OF JASON AND FREDDIE GRATED ON MY NERVES. I hope this one factor isn't an issue with the local employees of the international company. It's degrading and disrespectful.

I rated the music lower ONLY because, well, did it have music???

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This fish may put you over the limit

If The Legend of Jiang Zi Ya was not a cheaply made movie about the titular character, then it did a good masquerading as one. The CGI was close to home computer level quality. Jiang Zi Ya would most likely be a familiar character to the audience and perhaps that's why the writers glossed over anything resembling character development, but by doing that it significantly lowered the stakes for the characters in the movie.

Jiang Zi Ya battles a river demon after it has eaten the parents of a little girl named Phoenix who were fishing on a raft. After imprisoning the river demon, Jiang is called on the carpet by Primus. Primus tells him he must apologize for hurting innocents during his battle with the river demon. Jiang steadfastly refuses and is subjected to 15 years of lightning bolts and then being thrown down to earth as a mortal. The now grown Phoenix rescues him and miraculously carries his bruised and bloody body into her hut. The villagers quickly turn against him thinking he is responsible for another river demon threatening them and try to feed him to the giant fish. He ends up saving a little girl from being eaten and is now hailed a hero. The local earth god shows up and lets the cat out of the bag as to who he is. He sends Jiang to the Mausoleum of Deification to retrieve his Deity Whip. Phoenix who feels indebted to him for saving her life years ago, agrees to accompany him as does Rocky, the idiot who loves her. Rocky is the kind of sidekick who makes sure they leap from the frying pan into the fire on various occasions because of his lack of intelligence and self-control. While escaping an ancient ax-wielding demon, Jiang is hurt. Goddess Phoenix (yeah, I have no idea why she looks just like earthly Phoenix and the writers didn't explain) tells mortal Phoenix to transfuse blood into him. This seems to give him his powers back, but it could be because goddess Phoenix was mixing her blood in, too. Again, no clarification by the writers. They finally arrive at the resting place of the whip but are stopped when a voice tells Jiang if he takes the whip, the villagers will die. Our hero goes back to the village sans whip and now has to battle the river demon who has escaped his prison and is looking for payback.

The ending deals with sacrifice and benevolence. Thankfully, after all the sacrifices the women in Jiang's life made for him he's learned to let go of romantic love. Didn't help those women, but at least he's free to go on his heroic way unfettered to do his Investiture of the Gods work.

The movie relied on primitive looking CGI and the battles weren't exactly tension filled. The fight choreography was simple and unimaginative. Primus looked suspiciously like The Eye of Sauron.

Despite the low quality effects Benny Chan and Niu Ze Meng were likeable in their roles. They fell in love awfully fast. Of course, hers could be hero worship and for him she was a ringer for his girlfriend (who he hadn't seen in 100 years). The acting aside from the main two characters was cringe-worthy. One older woman's job was always yelling someone's name repeatedly when there was danger. "My granddaughter!" "Phoenix!" "Xiao He!" It became humorous after a while. The version I watched used English names for some of the characters in the subs, just to make you aware there are different versions out there.

Aside from the female doppelgänger situation, the story was easy to follow. For the most part it was entertaining despite the cheesy CGI and acting. The ending was a letdown as it used the female sacrifice trope I am well and truly over. I began to think the river demon cleaning house wouldn't be such a bad idea. Clocking in at just over an hour, The Legend of Jiang Zi Ya doesn't require much commitment but it could strain your patience.

3/16/23

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I don't really know what I liked the most, maybe the peaceful energy.

I was not fond of the end, I guess open ending like that aren't my cup of tea, but it was still interesting in a way.

But for sure, I felt the pain of the mother. She lost everything, and she stills accepted to take care of him. She is sick, she is feeling a great distress, she is lost, she feels lonely...
Having him might have woken up the old her, the piece of her she was searching for.

Overall, I liked it. It wasn't that exhausting to watch and differents subjects were still talked about. They weren't talked about in a light way and it wasn't pressuring as well.
I feel that it is a really hard to recommand that movie but you should at least all try to watch it once.

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I am actually someone that is scared super easily but I don't know why, I was able to watch it completely without being that scared (which is actually amazing).

I didn't put 10 for the rewatch value because if you know the plot, the story isn't that surprising anymore. I liked it...no I think it was great. The story was not seen before (from my perspective I guess), which made the whole movie a lot more interesting.
The acting was also on point. Woo-shik and Da-mi did an amazing job, I'm impressed.

I think it's the type of movie you should all watch without looking for the plot before, it makes everything 10 times better.
Captivating is the right word for this movie.

And unexpected.

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Old school revenge

This was the most camp Korean movie I've ever seen. So exaggerated, so melo, so in your face. I laughed way too much at just how perfectly done it was. Now you may ask why only six stars? Because the cinematography is so dated it looks like a 1970s movie even though it was filmed in 2005 and there just wasn't any need for it to look that bad. In any event, it was quite interesting.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

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good mood and tone

Sunny Our Heart Beat Together is a girly friendship Japanese movie by Genki Kawamura, who is also the director of Your Name (2016). This movie is about a 90s high school friend group named "Sunny," which used to spend their teenage years together. Until 22 years later, each of them was grown up and facing adult problems for themselves. One day, one of the members, Nami, runs into another Sunny member, Serika. But, she has been ill because she has cancer, which has no cure. Serika told Nami that she wanted to reunite with Sunny before she died. Then, Nami is trying to do everything to make Sunny come together again.
They did very well in the part that can make the audience deep down with their relationship. And, the scene of the movie is cut back of forth between the part of past and past of present making the audience not bored. Moreover, mood and tone obviously show the difference between the colorful life of a high school girl and the dark life of an adult woman. In the past part, there are also some scenes that use song to be the main theme of that part, like it’s a musical movie. For me, it caught my attention and made teenage life more wonderful. Many scenes are lighthearted. On the other hand, there are also many scenes of gloom. It made this movie do very well in contrasting bitter and sweet. Good combination.

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Felt like a drama recap were if you haven't watched the drama you wouldn't feel the connection

Such a missed opportunity! I was so excited seeing the leads and so disappointed as I finished the movie.
The story is your usual youth stories, the main characters were really interesting, the hopless playboy, the female school leader, and the mysterious new Seoul girl. They had so much potential but got totally sidetracked by the mix of everything in a small pot.
Like so many side stories shouldn't have been there because we got barely any attachment to anyone in the movie. The 2nd female lead had an interesting story that was left vague and never told.. even the fl was kinda never really explored. The story losses the way from the very beginning, you end up not knowing what was all of this about.
Like there are even characters (the beared guy who's always in MLs house) that serve no purpose but to take up screentime as if the movie has alot to spare!
6/10 It's watchable until the end
Rewatch value : never

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