On paper the script probably sounded like a fun quirky comedy with a twist. Yet, it was not really that fun, the pee and puke jokes were juvenile and the twist was obvious from the start.
Random complaint, but the color grading was truly not my style. Everything was orange/yellow, the color saturation too high, but at the same time the whole movie felt dim and dark. It just felt heavy for the eye.
On the bright side, the acting was truly solid and I loved the job makeup artist and practical effects team did on the ghost.
Overall, I guess it’s just not a movie for me. I can see it being a fun watch as long as it’s viewed by the target audience.
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"Dream Cheese" or "Real Cheese" that is the question
"A Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese". A very apt title for a very thought provoking movie. NSFW warning: consensual, but explicit, gay sex scenes and some rear nudity.There is a sad melancholic, masochistic kind of desperation about all the characters in this movie. They are all very much 'cornered mice dreaming of cheese' but never actually getting any cheese. It becomes clear in the course of the movie that each character's "dream of the cheese" became more important than actual getting of the real 'cheese', and because of that their lives got 'cornered' and limited by clinging to the dream for cheese, instead of the real thing when it came their way.
Kyoichi doesn't really have any deep connections with anyone. When people latch on to him, he has no objections ... easy come, easy go. Some clung to him as a 'lesser suffering' alternative to their lonely single lives ... they said they 'loved' him but did they really? What was the basis for their love for Kyoichi ... is that really love ?? Wataru has the measure of Kyoichi when he tells him, "You'll have anyone who loves you, but ultimately you cannot trust that love, so you sniff out the feelings of whoever comes near you."
To one degree or another I think all the characters who wanted to connect with Kyoichi knew that their dream of 'love' with him was futile ... and yet they persisted anyway. As an oblique response to this kind of grasping, Kyoichi gave Wataru a very poignant question and a statement ... one which I think the whole movie revolves around and is relevant to not just Kyoichi but to all the people who were interested in him:
"What do you want? There are a billion things in life more important than suffering for love."
All the characters got themselves cornered by clinging to their dreams of cheese, to the point that the actual 'cheese' was no longer their objective. When Kyoichi broke off his engagement with Okamura Tamaki, he tells her it is because his Ex came back and that, even though the Ex walked out on him again and probably for good this time, he wanted to wait for him. Kyoichi time and again lets the real cheese go ... and instead holds fast to the 'dream' of cheese instead. Even the last scene at the beach when Wataru comes back ... again ... Kyoichi lets him go with a "sorry". Kyoichi is on an iterative dream loop ... he will never get the taste of real cheese ... and neither will Wataru who ebbs and flows out of Kyoichi's dream of cheese.
Okamura is dreaming of cheese too, and an escape from her real life. She knows Kyoichi isn't the real 'cheese' and yet, despite Kyoichi breaking of the engagement to wait for his Ex to return, she pleads with him, "Can't I stay with you? If she comes back, I will step away quietly." A billion things more important than suffering for a dream of love ... but that is what she chooses ... she too has cornered herself in the dream of cheese that isn't real cheese ... the dream of love that isn't real love at all ... just like a menu isn't the same thing as the food.
Everyone cornered by the dream of cheese ... to one degree or another, at one time or another, we too in our real world can/may get cornered by our own "dreams of cheese" and miss the real cheese when it comes to us front and centre ... it is a situation worth thinking about. Dream away but when the real thing comes ... don't get cornered by the dream, grab the real cheese and run ??♂️?
An excellent thought provoking movie ... I am sure the manga would also be just as poignant if not more so.
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My Heart is aching...Made me cry like a Little baby
From now on, this is one of my treasured movie. it felt like i was there in the movie.. i get attached to the characters too badly. It's a must watch according to me.but waeooo.... waeooo..... waeoooo....
why Woon Ho died...why why why...
I cried my heart out. And i'm still crying while writing this...
I felt too connected to the story and characters...wherever they I cried I cried but My heart is aching right now.. I don't know when I'll get over it.. I am crying and Feeling sad Waeoooo Waeoooo..
I'm loved this movie and I think i'll be definitely watching it again and will feel the same pain again...
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This would actually be a really good investigative thriller if it was not for the Sea Monster from the title. There was an interesting mystery, crime, murder, kidnapping, corruption and conspiracy… And there was also awful CGI and over the top monster make up.
Still, even with that ridiculous twist and awfully animated monster jumping around, it was truly an enjoyable watch. I am probably biased, because I loved the female lead so much, but the movie does focus on her alone, so it’s fair to add some points thanks to that character.
Both acting and production quality was nice. Even though Du Qing Ling was a calm character, it did not mean she was emotionless (which often is an issue, as some writers associate being calm with having no reaction to anything). Except for the CGI monkey monster, the movie was also aesthetically pleasing. The surrounding of the forest and the village were rather dim, but the film never truly felt dark.
Overall, short and interesting with great female lead.
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this is for the people who didn't understand the plot at all
At first I was also confused of the storyline. That's why I have to actually watch the movie again. Based on my understanding of the movie, the wine scene was where the husband was narrating his written novel that was also his own story, story of infidelity to his wife, Junha. He narrated his novel to his wife before he died. So when he and Naru, the mistress got into accident, he expected it to happen. It's his own orchestration. He orchestrate his death. He chose to die in a car having sex with Naru than in pain due to his liver problem. That's the starting point of the story. Naru living with Junha to atone her wrongdoing with the ghost Jane is part of Jane's novel. The lake scenes is part of the novel too. So, Jane knew all along that Naru is in love with Junha that's why he loathe Naru. The sex at the last part of the movie is an explanation why Jane cheated on Junha. The S&M relationship Jane plays withJunha is different with Naru. With Junha, she assumes the role of submissive partner while with Naru, he is the dominant partner. The sex between Junha and Naru followed simultaneously by sex of Junha and Jane AND Naru and Jane is a dream or thought processing of Junha according to the novel. When she woke up she told the ghost Jane that he can leave which signals the letting
go process. Near the end of the movie, Junha is reading Jane's notes about his novel. It says Junha says Jane appears on her dream and that he keeps telling her she has to understand what happened. Junha is finally putting aside her husband's memento including the ring. The ending is an open ending where the real Naru with bruises appeared on the door
steps asking Junha to let her in. She brought a plant too.
I repeat everything with ghost Jane and Naru in one house is the story included in Jane's novel.
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This is not a fluffy BL story that is for sure. The relationship between the main leads is twisted and intense and S/M abusive. Having said that I didn't regret watching it ... it was sort of interesting thinking about the 'whys' of this strange relationship and some of the unexpected twists that occurred. In short:
For me this movie is about love ... what is it ... who can have it ... and under what circumstances can it be ‘had’. It is a kind of fascinating melding of greek philosophy and S&M. The reason for my thinking this was the reference to Plato’s feast (the TV documentary they were watching on the TV). Maybe I read too much into that TV documentary, but for me it seemed relevant to the story.
In detail:
Plato’s Feast was kind of symposium or talk fest, where all these philosophers ate, drank and talked a whole lot of philosophical shit. In respect of the TV documentary, it particularly referred to the feast held at Agathon’s (a poet) house. At that feast, the topic of discussion was “eros” or “love”. Quite a few philosophers had their say about what they thought “love” was ... in particular:
Pausanias believed that loving attraction was not always sublime, that it could sometimes be ‘base’ because there were two kinds of love from the goddesses Aphrodite (Aphrodite was the Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion and procreation). One kind of love was Aphrodite Heavenly and the other kind was Aphrodite the Vulgar so therefore it must follow that there were two kinds of love - heavenly love and vulgar love.
Aristophanes, on the other hand, spoke about the myth that original inhabitants of the land were androgynous i.e. they were both male and female at the same time aka the Androgyns. The Androgyns had 4 legs, 4 arms and 2 faces that looked in opposite directions. When they wanted to move, they moved on their 8 limbs like a wheel. The god Zeus didn’t like the Androgyns so he ordered Apollo to cut them into half. Afterwards, even though the Androgyns were now separated, the memory of the connection with their former half gave rise to a desire to search for their other ‘half’ in order to restore their original nature and integrity. However, this was not as easy as it seems as if they were 'wicked' the gods would 'cut' people into even smaller parts.
Anyway, given the above as a kind of background to the story, it is not surprising that the two male leads have the same sounding name Ichikawa Mitsuo … the only difference between the two is how they spell their family name "Ichikawa". One spelt it with the kanji for the number "one" i.e. "Ichikawa" / "一川" (one river). The other spelt it with the kanji for 'city' - "Ichikawa" / "市川" (city river). Is having the same name symbolic of them being each other's other half ... they are the same but different ... same coin, different sides ?. This is interesting as when both Mitsuo’s meet in high school … right from the beginning, you can see their two very distinct and seemingly different personalities but there was a hidden S&M kind of connection / attraction between them none the less. Since their first meeting they have 'danced' around each other ... like a pair of orbiting neutron stars that spiral ever closer together. One receives from the other, one gives to the other … one receives abuse, the other gives it … one masochistic, the other sadistic … one gets a girlfriend, the other takes her for himself ... “No. 1” Ichikawa is “City” Ichikawa’s dog and will come to his 'call'.
After high school the two Ichikawa's go their seemingly separate ways. “City” Ichikawa comes from a Yakuza (gangster) world and is a low level ‘dog’ for the Yakuza Boss. “No. 1” Ichikawa is a Systems Analysist and true to his "number" name, is brilliant on coding. They had no contact with each other until that phone call.
When “City” Ichikawa "murders" his girlfriend … the only way he can keep it secret from his Yakuza brothers, is to call his own “dog” from high school. That "City" Ichikawa still has "No. 1" Ichikawa's phone number after all these years is interesting. The rest of the story is really about the “dance” they have with each other against the backdrop of murder and the brutal gangster life … and in doing so, how they slowly grow in awareness that despite how their lives have gone, despite the predicaments they get into, they are best together ... live together, die together. They are two sides of the same coin … each is the "mint" (as in stamping) to one side of the same coin ... one has no meaning without the other ... hence "Double Mints" ... not the peppermint kind but the coin minting kind (well imo).
So this for me is a love story with a twist ... and it is fascinating. Who is it that deserves love … what kind of love do they deserve … ''heavenly love vs 'vulgar love' … if the love is consensual, is one kind of love necessarily 'worse' than another kind of love ? … I am not into S&M but who am I to judge what other people need in their lives so long as it is informed and consensual ... “love is love” be it ‘heavenly love’ or ‘vulgar love’. Interestingly, regardless of the type of love had between people, when it is informed and consensual, there seems to come with it a potential degree of personal 'evolution' … so in that sense can all kinds of love be 'good' love ?.
The ending of the movie had an air of bitter sweetness … I think they were both going to Korea knowing they would meet their deaths there … but in so doing, they would meet it together as "one". The movie is a bit of a mind f*ck ... but that is the way I see it at this point in time ... maybe if I watch it again in another year or two I might see things differently ... who knows.
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Disturbing but so fascinating on a psychological / metaphysical level
I first watched this movie about two years ago. It is one that has stayed in my mind ... it is disturbing, somewhat provocative, fascinating, thought provoking and definitely metaphysical. I thought the production, the cinematography and acting were excellent. Altogether they did a wonderful job conveying with some pretty intense emotional states/events. It is a very loaded movie.In short:
The movie takes you into Tam's life and into his state of mind. Both his real world and his mind are pretty horrific places. I wouldn't call the movie a romance by any long shot but there is definitely something "other worldly" and surreal about it. Tam's life is definitely not aspirational. His family constantly told him he was defective because he was gay, that he couldn't be trusted, that he needed to make them proud and care more for them, even though they couldn't care less about him. Having to live with that all your life and to then have the shit kicked out of you at school is enough to do anyone's head in.
Tam was literally caught between a rock and a hard place with no escape ... except to escape into his own mind ... it is his safe haven, but it is so distorted in there ... is what he sees in his mind a reflection of outside reality? Is the 'reality' outside the only 'real' reality ? ... is the 'reality' inside one's mind fake even though it is 'so real' to the owner of that mind ?. Tam's mental reality and the reality of the outside world is so blurry ... so much so that at the end of the movie, I think the only "real" things were Tam himself and the murder of Tam's family in the lounge room ... the rest ... well that is the proverbial metaphysical question isn't it ... which reality is the 'real' reality for Tam ?
More detailed:
The imagery / symbolism throughout the movie were very evocative and beautifully captured the essence of an altered mind state. There were quite a number of images/scenes that really left an impression on me (I have put the old "Spoiler" cover on as you may want to see the movie first) and influenced the conclusions I arrived out watching the movie:
(1) The algae on the pool walls and in the washroom - so many of them looked like human images to me ... it was kind of like a Rorschach ink blot test. Were these representatives of people in Tam's life? He tried to scrape off one ... I wondered who that might have represented to him ... his Father ... it was right in the centre of the pool wall? Towards the end in the washroom, I really thought the algae on the wall was Phum and as Tam walked back into the wall and rested next to it I thought wow ... is Phum even real? Was the pool facility some kind of giant Rorschach ink blot test for Tam?
(2) The clouds. The clouds in the movie were magnificent and there were a lot of scenes where they formed the major portion of the scene. There was one significant cloud panorama where this massive cloud had hidden the sun and all you could see were the striking crepuscular rays coming through ... it gave the impression that I was on the dark side of something and the light was trying to break its way through the clouds. Was this the case for Tam's mind?
(3) Looking up at the sky while underneath the water. Again this was fascinating ... like the clouds, the water was a barrier to being able to see clearly. Water is a distortion of light and therefore the images scene through it. Also all the waters that Tam sunk beneath were dirty - there were bits of muck floating around and mosquito larvae swimming about. I don't know about where you live but where I live Mosquito larvae are harbingers of disease e.g. Dengue, Ross River etc. Does all of this suggest a "diseased" perspective of Tam?
(4) The blue light. I think there is a connection with this blue light and the name of the movie. The blue hour is the period of twilight in the morning or evening when sun has dipped below the horizon and the sunlight becomes a blue shade of colour due to "Rayleigh Scattering". People who have spiritual beliefs say that the "blue hour" is the moment between dreams and awakening. It is also known medically that blue light affects/has caused depressive moods in people. That is why the medicos advise to have less screen time before you sleep and why companies like Apple have an option to decrease blue light emission on phones etc. So was most of the movie just a strange dream in Tam's mind? Was there any part of it that was real? Which lead me to the next point ...
(5) The Fight Club. Because of all of the above elements, I thought of the protagonist in the Hollywood Film "The Fight Club". Was Tam the equivalent of Edward Norton's character and Phum was the equivalent of Brad Pitt's character?
At the end of the movie, I think Phum was imaginary. I think the only "real" things in the movie were Tam himself and the murder of Tam's family in the lounge room. His family constantly told him he was defective because he was gay, that he couldn't be trusted, that he needed to make them proud and care more for them even though they couldn't care less about him.
Having to live with that all your life and to then have the shit kicked out of you at school is enough to do anyone's head in. He was literally caught between a rock and a hard place with no escape ... except to escape into his own mind ... and to get rid of the "ink blots" who had hurt and betrayed him so much when they should have loved and nurtured him and cared for him.
Aside from his most likely imaginary lover Phum, he could have developed a multiple personalities as well ? ... the one that kicked back against the oppression, the one who stole the Buddha, who stole the gun, maybe even one was the murderer?
Who knows. What we do know is the final scene of the movie ... he and Phum both sunk beneath the very dark waters of the river and looked up. Against the light of day, he saw bits of muck floating in the water ... mosquito larvae and the blurry images of the blue sky and clouds ... the delusion continues to be his 'safe haven'.
A fascinating film on a whole lot of levels.
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children are precious
What a tremendous and wonderful surprise. I'm so glad I found this drama while doing the Thai Watch Challenge and needing just a few more short items to watch.Keep in mind, it might be triggering to you depending on your history. If you've had experiences with abandonment or child abuse. But for me, Present Perfect, reminds me that there is a reason to hope. That things can get better and people can turn their lives around. All it takes sometimes is one significant moment to change someone's story.
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I love a good horror movie....
I really love a horror movie, but in recent years it's hard to find one that "convince" me to watch from beginning to end. But this movie turned that around!!I don't know if it's because the hospice really exists or if it's because the film is all recorded in video format, but I just LOVED IT!!
The entire film was well produced, from the actors' performances to the background. The jump scares that happened throughout the film made the scenes even better. I loved the fact that, after a while, it felt like the actors really were going through the curse. The screams, the cries and even the tantrums were so real that I felt fear along with them (and I don't even feel fear in horror movies)
It's true that I made a bad decision to see this movie late at night, but I don't regret watching it. I highly recommend it, but I advise you to see it during the day.
GOD LUCK brave and watch out, you never know what might come up behind!
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Covid driven horror stories? I guess it can work...
Bad luck is a bitchI think the first story had the most confusing message. What was I supposed to get from it? Don’t always help people who claim they are in need because they can screw you over? Don’t break covid isolation restrictions by letting strangers stay at your home?
It was fun and wacky and the emo teen magician shaman boy got me dying from laughing, but I’m just not sure what the writer wanted to tell with this one…
Also, excuse me, but why was this story so dark? Damn, I could barely see anything.
Nothing beats meat
Decent story, but I’m not sure I like the black and white aesthetics. It was also way too short to have any meaning or impact. Felt a bit like an ad break. I understand it’s linked to all the fake covid medication and how not following the actual doctors’ advice and listening to random people with their great healing stories can screw you over, but… it kind of felt flat in presentation.
Shit happens
I did not think the title would be literal… I need a white truck of doom to give me amnesia asap. Oh gosh… why? When I thought it couldn't get any more gross, guess what. It got more gross.
The message is there - mistreatment of patients, overworked medical staff, desensitization to other’s suffering - great and strong messages, but why did they have to literally cover it all in shit?
HM?
Job insecurity during the pandemic was a big problem and the consequences are still here and with the current market, I don’t think they are going away anytime soon. The desperation of trying to earn money in any possible way is something many people could relate to. I’d say this story had the most clear direction and storytelling. When you feel like you won’t be able to even feed your child, you would ignore potential dangers with the hope of getting that coin.
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The mentor-mentee relationship between the two main characters was natural and fun to watch. While it was never the focus of the movie, it gradually and realistically built the trust and care the two had for each other.
The separate stories were interesting, but the background linking plot sadly was underdeveloped. Sure, by the end you get it all and the motivations of the villain are explained, but for me, not enough detail was put into crafting his backstory and presenting him as an interesting figure.
Production wise, it's honestly hard to describe. It masterfully mixed beautiful shots and sceneries with mediocre CGI - a rollercoaster of aesthetics. Acting was great. Not surprisingly, I liked Shang Tie Long's performance the best. I do have one complaint though, which I usually have with Chinese movies and shows. The generic white actor with awfully done dubbing - why? Why do we always have to have them?
Overall, surprisingly fun. I went into it thinking it would be a C class supernatural horror with all the aspects below average quality at best, but received a rather enjoyable 1 hour and 20+ minutes ride.
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The plot is literally people “swimming” to the island after their boat flipped. Them talking and fearing a shark. That’s it. Sounds boring? It was.
Truly the best parts were the awful CGI and questionable editing and soundtrack. One song got me so confused I was sure my laptop broke, because it sounded as if some nasty ghost just kept stopping and playing the video. And then the english rap OVER dialogue. Who mutes dialogue to play the song and put the subs for said dialogue? And how they just clear cut the song and put on the dialogue sound halfway through the sentence… oof.
That said, putting aside the CGI, it was actually a decent looking movie - that’s it for the good parts. The characters were empty, both personality and brain wise.
Don’t watch it even if you have literally nothing else to watch.
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Honestly, what was wrong with these weird transitions between scenes? They showed a really well acted, emotional scene - a dialogue of a mother describing her pain of losing her child who went missing. But in the middle of it, they just cut to flashback of her looking for the child on the day she disappeared - all the emotional impact gone with this weird cut. And then they came back to the mother now describing what was shown… So why even show it? Usually I’m more of a show don’t tell, but here the tell was important, because the emotions the mother was feeling were the focus.
It would be a decent thriller if they did a better job in the post production and completely removed the laughable supernatural elements. It’s not like the plot could not happen without that aspect and it didn't even take that much screen time anyway. It was just another not well executed idea the writer and director had…
The detective was amazingly hot, so that’s a plus I guess.
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Master of something
The charismatic opening by the presentation of the ONE network by its also charismatic owner Jin Hyeon-pil, who is able to draw an overwhelming support by its "investors" which is eerily similar to a cult leader preaching to his crowd all while the same time, an investigation being carried out by Kim Jae-myeong is now starting to end this deception once and for all, was enough for me to be curious as to what would happen next.The next scenes, with Jang-gun now being prepared by the police to be the mole on this money-laundering corporation, for me was actually nerve-wracking, yet at the same time, I already guessed that there would be more being that he was already given the informant role early in the movie, some betrayal would occur later on, and I wasn't surprised already when that scene was shown. The build-up towards the entrapment operation was good, and culminating into a botched operation with Hyeon-pil getting away and Jang-gun being left to die seemed that the whole operation was a failure, but the fact that it occured at the middle of the film, made me thought that there would be more, most notably a revenge by Jae-myeong.
The 2nd half of the movie, which focuses on the Philippines, with the same ingredients of a scam being brewed by the same characters, was the more fleshed-out part, in terms of building up another entrapment operation to arrest Hyeon-pil. The one thing that I was confused was the yellow color grading for the Philippine scenes (which was understandable) yet was also present in some scenes in Korea. It wasn't uniform so that made me confused on some parts.
It could've been more impactful if it had focused more on the car chases and the gunfire, both of which were less plenty than I thought for an action movie. The emphasis on the money laundering scheme was the part I didn't liked and at times, were boring. After all, action movies should be full of action, and plotting said actions should be regarded as secondary, although still important. Had the scheming scenes were lessened, it could've made the plot tighter and the excitement for the inevitable reveal of the plot twists would be more sustained. Also, a recurring problem with the recent Korean movies I watched was still present here - the underdeveloped main character (I wanted to know more on the drive Jae-myeong has for this case) and the overdeveloped villain (Hyeon-pil's drive was simple, which is greed).
Overall, I felt that this was 2 movies smashed into one - 1st part focuses on the local, 2nd part on the international "scam" with the same plot, but different endings. I wanted more action, and was confused as to how the movie title connected to the movie itself, or maybe being a master of something.
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Could have seriously used some character development
This movie played like they had taken a long drama, cut out all the important parts, and then edited in a way that didn't make much sense. The couple goes from barely looking at each other to holding hands, and all of a sudden, they are a couple. I had to back it up a couple of times, thinking that I'd fallen asleep and missed something.We don't really know or learn anything about either of the main characters. He's a doctor, professional, non-emotional. She is studying physics? Why? Do we care? Does it have anything to do with the storyline? They really never talk to one another. She finds out he's leaving the country for six months from someone else.
Dubbing continues to be an issue for me in C-dramas. There HAS to be more than one woman in China that can do dubbing. Her voice is so high, childish, and irritating and I've heard it in so many shows. It really takes me out of the drama.
The storyline with the dad and him trying to marry her off was over the top and just irritating.
In general, I found the acting in this drama lacking. Wooden characters or over-acting, take your pick.
The high point? The fact that it was a movie and not a long drama so I can move on.
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