Reviews

Don't Read Any Reviews

FAIR WARNING: Reading any review may spoil the experience of this movie.

Having said that go watch this movie NOW!

If your still here remember I warned you.

This is not a horror movie and it is not quite a romance either. It is a perfect blend of suspense with a sprinkle of gore and a tug at your heart strings.

I went into this not expecting anything really just thought it looked interesting. The Thai movies I have had the privilege of watching have a way of blending elements in the story lines just enough to make the stories interesting but not too much in any direction. I love that about them.

I don't want to say too much about it because it will ruin the feeling of the movie if you go in expecting one thing but get another. Watch it without expectations and enjoy it.

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Disappointing plot but great nostalgic scenery!

The movie starts off pretty well since its entertaining to see how the FL gets to know the ML and his friend, especially through her mischiefs. But it ends up going down the cliché route halfway through the movie: the FL and her friend end up liking the same guy so FL lies to the guy about her feelings. This makes the plot frustrating and hard to watch. It's not very creative and doesn't make the characters seem thoughtful or relatable. If anything, it made the FL seem irresponsible for making the people around her confused and left in the dark. Although I think Yoo Jung's acting is pretty good, its the scriptwriters who mostly failed this part of the movie.

The other main cast members had mediocre acting, especially the two male leads. Though, I do feel a nice bit of chemistry between Yoo Jung and the two!

Overall, the little things like her school, family, and friendships are heartwarming and fun. The nostalgic vibe and the cinematography were stunning. But that's mostly what uplifts the movie for me. And I know a lot of people are unhappy about the ending, but that's what helped me feel some strong emotions, especially with the video tape at the end. It was heart-wrenching and I like actress Hyo Joo's moments there. Without the ending, I would probably give this a 5.

I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this movie but if you want to watch a light-hearted romcom with a mediocre cliche plot, and don't mind a sad ending, go for it...

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Just another idol film with the intent to sell Kim Yoo Jung.

(1) Story [-]

There's nothing original in the story, so cliche and highly predictable. And there's nothing in the story itself, no message to convey, just bringing the formula of teenage love story that full of misunderstanding in for the actors to play. They try to make a twist but it's a cliche twist, so it's not a twist in the end since audience can guess it right beforehand. However, the feelings between the characters has a solid foundation to be believable. If you also watch Chinese movies, you'd know how unpassionate the production teams are in making a film. They don't care to build a foundation for their stories, so lots of Chinese films are very much superficial and not believable at all. This movie is a good example for comparison. It is a story with nothing but still have a good foundation, so no matter how nothing the story is, as long as the actors can perform, audience can still enjoy it. Thus, higher score.

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(2) Acting [+]

Kim Yoo Jung is the star of the film. She carries the whole team. It's very enjoyable to watch her acting. The ML is so-so. I don't feel right with his smile at times which I'm not sure if it's due to his acting or just the physical feature of his smile. The best friend of ML's acting skill isn't that strong but I'd give him passable. The acting of the FL's best friend isn't real enough. I feel like her true self tries to pretend to be the character, so it feels more pretentious though the character is actually sincere. Anyway, her role doesn't show up much so it's ok.

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(3) Cinematography [~]

Cinematography is upto standard, but I don't really like their dream-like filter. In the scene at the vast lawn, all the colors look obviously artificial.

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As a whole, it is enjoyable to watch, but also wasting time. I wouldn't rewatch it, that's for sure. And if I know it'd be like this, I don't think I'd watch it in the first place.

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How can a loser be stronger than a winner? Blue (2021) shows us how.

Story:
This film really asks the question, what makes us strong? It shows that winning isn't all that matters, nor should it be used as a scale to measure how strong a person is. Here we have Kazuki who wins all the time and swears he will retire from boxing if he loses. On the other hand, we have Urita who loses all the time and keeps a smile on his face.
The dynamic between Kazuki and Urita is very subtle but very brilliant. Urita is constantly trying to help his friend win matches, giving him helpful tips, and is always in his corner. Yet Kazuki doesn't do the same. In fact, there was one scene where Kazuki witheld information about one of Urita's upcomming opponents that would have helped him greatly. Why did he do this? Humans are complicated. For me, I think that Kazuki was selfish and wanted Urita to remain a loser. He didn't want Urita to stop supporting him and if he started to win matches, this might happen as Urita would then focus more on his own success. It could also be the case that Kazuki was jealous of Urita because of his amazing attitude. Urita is always seen as smiling and optimistic, whereas Kazuki is always seen as irritable and moody. This might have made Kazuki jealous for no good reason.
It is very important to note that this film is not a typical boxing movie, where the underdog trains as hard as he can and ends up winning matches. The point this film is trying to make isn't that winning equals success, but rather that attitude is more important. Urita did everything he could to win, he had amazing physique and techniques that even helped his other teammates win their own matches. Yet, Urita still couldn't win a match of his own. Does this mean he was weak? Hell no! He was stronger than anyone else in the movie because no one else could have handled so many failures with the same grace that he did.

Cast:
While everyone here gave a great performance, I was very notably impressed with Emoto Tokio's acting. I'm used to seeing him play the awkward weak guy. He obviously did a lot of traning for this to build his cardio and physique. His character was a wonderful source of comedic relief at times.

Final Thoughts:
I had zero hopes going into this movie. In fact, I was intending to just fan-girl over Higashide Masahiro and skip through most of it. But the intricate, realistic, and delicate approach to Urita's plight as a passionate boxer with no ability to win matches really caught my attention and held it for the duration of the film. It is a well-made work that any boxing fan will enjoy.

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Love is a terrible thing to hate.

Everything is moving forward, each day we learn something new about our world and society. Yet some people still don't understand, that having different opinion is not an excuse for violence or hatred, because opinions are like assh*les - we all have one.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Cin and May go from friends to lovers, not hiding their relationship from nobody, especially not from their schoolmates. At the beginning everything is rosy pink and they are happy, but one person is enough to trigger a chain of bullying and hate. Sometimes hard times bring us closer to each other and sometimes it is what tears us apart, even tho the love is still there. And that's how it goes for Cin and May...

There's nothing much to write about Even If, it's short, well written and shot movie that leaves sour taste in your mouth and breaks your heart. A theme that we see too often in LGBTQIA+ movies, dramas, books... And we will keep seeing it for a while, unfortunately.

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Kim Yoo Jung, the carry as always <3 . But movie LACKED A KICK

as a true fan of KYJ, I'm gonna be honest, and not biased.

Kim Yoo Jung, Jung Suk Yong, and Gong Myung's acting are not to be doubted at all. Charisma of experience actors, they don't lie.

KYJ has best chemistry with Jung Suk Yong (father), Jeon Hye Won from True Beauty (Darn It). Yoon Yire (Madam), and Gong Myung.

the chemistry around the 3 main leads to Kim Yoo Jung is lack luster, but their acting is good! But seriously, you have seen better main male lead, second male lead, and BFF for Kim Yoo Jung . But these 3 were still far from her level. I agree with someone who said Park Jung Woo has better chemistry with Kim Yoo Jung.

For Han Hyo Joo, I feel like... she acts exactly the same like in Golden Slumber. I was not touched, but she played a convincing adult Bora.

Color is nice, but cinematography feels rushed. Could have been better if it was done with the style of TV drama.

music feels kinda low and not moving. Coming from the music director of secret royal inspector and joy. this is disappointing. They should make it more RETRO, like taxi driver.

Even so, ITS A HIT! Thank you to AwesomeENT, Swoon, and all of the promotion and support.

I believe after 8th night, 20th century girl, chicken nugget, and perhaps 1 more hit netflix drama.. Kim Yoo Jung should return to SBS, get a first TVN drama, KBS2, MBC... and skip JTBC, return to Netflix in the future.

No more movies please, movies are always rushed. That's the problem with Korean Movies, slow start, rushed finale. It's only moving when Kim Yoo Jung was around

Korea can make rewatchable dramas but not rewatchable movies.

Verdict: it's not a family romcom flicks like Backstreet Rookie and Clean With Passion For Now that will touch the experienced watchers.

It's a hit movie directed at mainstream gen MZ, I'm amazed it's a mainstream hit and I am grateful. Still the best 2 hours of my life but I am not that amazed. Only amazed at Kim Yoo Jung

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So i guess this movie is an adaption from drama unrequited love, cause they used the same name and the same story. Overall i do like this movie. How they wrapped this so perfectly into the story. If you already watch the drama i guess you already know about the detail, but eventhough this is the movie, everything just fit to the place. There’s no unanswered question in here. And the chemistry between the lead is strong too, and their act is amazing. The changing phase from their childhood into high school and university is perfectly written too. The character is perfectly written

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“Artsy” yet unsatisfying movie

SPOILER ALERT:
I’m tired of all these types of shows that have the viewer invested in a love story that has misunderstandings. Oh, and the usual female lead is too nice to tell her best friend she likes the same guy, so she sacrifices her feelings.

Acting: Kim Yoo Jung- her acting is the best! This was the main reason I watched. Love her in everything she does. Actually secondary ML (Park Jung Woo) acting was better than ML (Byeon Woo Seok) but then again maybe it’s just that they made the characters that way. Secondary FL , BoRa’s best friend, I thought her character had a lot of nerve to expect BoRa to research the guy she liked even though they got the names mixed up, and then she got all mad at BoRa for liking him!

All in all, not happy with the direction they went with this…..would’ve liked to see FL and ML together…. At least you don’t have to invest 16 hours in a Series drama to find out that the FL and ML never get together!

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SPOILERS AHEAD

20th Century Girl.


I will keep this review (not so) short and i’m simply going to cut straight to the chase. This movie was good but personally i do believe that this had potential to be GREATER than just good.

First of all i want to highlight the spectacular acting delivered by the female and male lead in particular. Both were able to depict such raw and realistic emotions i felt as if i was watching the movie taking place first hand and not just through the screen. The chemistry between all the actors felt natural and genuine, none of the forced cringy friendship acting we’re normally faced with.

The visuals were good, The acting was amazing and finally, The Plot.

The plot kept me fully immersed and hoping for a memorable and powerful finale.. but i soon realized that my expectations were too high as the ending did in-fact leave me and (it seems quite a lot of people, unsatisfied).

Loopholes and unanswered questions. The ending felt rushed. The story was gradually building up and was doing so well until it all suddenly out of nowhere collapses.

.. Prior to watching the film i did see a few comments and reviews revolving around the ending of the film but i never knew what the actual ending was.

Let me start off by saying that my issue with the ending isn’t the ML passing away. - I had a hunch it was coming when the FL was at the telephone box and said something along the lines of “you’re better off dead to me” in regards to the ML. I knew then it was a foreshadowing method used by the director and it just made sense.

My problem is how sloppily they executed the MLs death. No backstory on how he passed or why he passed. Surely the ML’s best friend was close enough to his family to know that he had passed on and FL would’ve found out sooner no?

Also somewhere near the end of the film we see an old video recording of FL in her high school days talking about how she hopes her parents are well and how she hopes her brother is grown well. They showed the parents but didn’t show Ba-Da (the brother).

And not to mention MLs brother appearing out of the blue, it seems as if they just spontaneously threw him in and called it a day. I had to pause and scan him for a good minute as i did NOT know who i was looking at. Everything about the ending scenes felt unrealistic and rushed.

There are a few more things but these are my main issues with this film.

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Underrated Movie

I just saw this movie on tiktok yesterday and it piqued my interest and so I decided to watch the entire movie.
My verdict?This movie deserves more attention!

I have never heard of this movie before so I was really surprised because this is such a good movie. However, upon researching, I found out that this movie came out last MMFF 2010 - a time where "Tanging Ina Mo" was reigning, therefore I do understand why it didn't get the attention it deserves - because it was aired during Christmas time and most people (I, included) wanted to feel the joy of Christmas, we wanted to watch a happy movie with our family - especially kids. So deep movies like these were always ignored during MMFF.
I think it would've been better if they released this movie on different time.

Anyway, the story was based on Rosario Perriera - Manny Pangilinan's maternal grandmother.
I did some research and found out that the movie
wasn't 100% accurate - probably just 20%

Story: At first, I was annoyed with Rosario and her actions. And I hate that some people in the comments justified her actions and thought of her as a victim and blamed the people around her, I even saw an article from a newspaper which claimed this movie as "empowering " - I mean in what way?

So I was really happy that the movie was different from the reviews. They didn't make her look like anyone's victim nor did they try to justify her actions. Rosario made a mistake which followed by another mistake and more mistakes. Her character is someone you will not have any sympathy for - at least not until she finally redeemed herself in the last part of the movie.
They didn't make the movie look like "it was her husband's fault that she cheated" - they made sure we all know it was her fault and no one else - and she paid for it with hardships until her last breath.

One thing I admired with Rosario(in this movie) was that, she never blamed anyone. She didn't blame her parents strict upbringing, she didn't blame Vicente for not letting her see her mother until her death, she didn't blame Alberto for seducing her - she didn't blame anyone. Because in the end, it was her choice, it was her actions that made her suffer. She owe up to her mistake, so it really irk me whenever I see comments that blamed her husband or Alberto for her decision to cheat - because cheating is a choice.

What I disliked about the movie is the way the storytelling reminds me so much of the way the old Rose from Titanic, told her story. I wish they changed that part.

Casting: 9/10
Jen's acting was really good although not perfect- I partially cringed with her constant eye movements during her scene with her mother.

Sid Lucero - he had few scenes but I honestly think deserves an award for his acting. His acting as meek Carding was so charming and the way he portrayed, his shock, disbelief and raged towards his uncle was just sooo good.

Dennis Trillio- His portrayal as a playboy and annoying and irresponsible j*rk was so real, it doesn't even look like he was just acting.

Most of the cast did great job except for Ara Mina, I do not know why they casted her - but her few second scene as a doctor almost made me think I was watching a different movie... her acting, her look, the way she talked and her overall vibe just doesn't fit in this movie.

But aside from that, I think Albert Martinez did a really great job for a first time director. He should've won an award or nomination at least.

Cinematography, one of the best in Filipino movies. It was ahead of its time.
Soundtrack - should've won an award. It was great and I read they recorded it in Hollywood using live orchestra! Smell expensive....actually this movie obviously smell expensive.

I love the attention to details, they showed Rosario's son (Played by Dolphy) in an old house, which shows - he didn't become a rich man unlike his step siblings.

Anyway, I think they made a mistake of releasing this movie for MMFF because most viewers prefer to watch light hearted movies with their family during Chrismas.
Movies like "Moments of Love" - which was made earlier than this, at least a lot of people know of it. I even watched it on TV when they showed it... but this movie... just didn't get that much attention... I didn't even know it exists, actually most comments I saw were also new to this movie which is a such a shame because it was really good.
Maybe if they will release it now or put it on Netflix or air it for Holy Week especial, then it will probably get the attention that it deserves.

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heartwarming

heartwarming film and the charachter are fit in the role especially the main male I love the acting ..👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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It’s more like a parody of a zombie movie

If you like actual good zombie dramas and movie this is not it. I watched this a couple months ago but I still think about how bad it is. The plot is very slow and boring. They barely talked, I had to watched it on 2x speed. The characters are so stupid, I mean that’s pretty typical for zombie dramas but still annoying. And finally the worse part for me is the zombies themselves. Honestly I could’ve acted like a better zombie not trying. They were practically humans with makeup on, and wayyyyyy too smart in a bad way. It literally felt like a parody of a zombie movie the way they were acting. Everytime I watch ppl recommend this movie I laugh bc there’s no way if you actually had good taste in zombie media you’d like this. BUT to each their own🧏‍♀️

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Female Leads

The superb acting skills of Kim Yoo Jung and Han Hyo Joo make this movie worth watching. Both of these young women have won numerous awards and after watching this movie you will understand why. The movie does have a sad ending but the reality of life is not always pleasant. But knowing someone still loves you 15 years after you have passed away provides reassurance that your life is worth living to the fullest. Both of these women should win awards for this movie.

The male lead does an excellent job of providing a love interest for Kim Yoo Jung in the traditional timid behavior that is so common in K-Dramas. Coming from the US, relationship behaviors are quite different here. They are straightforward when expressing one’s feelings for another. It is refreshing but sometimes frustrating leaving so many emotions unsaid. We never know how long our time is going to be on Earth and leaving unsaid emotions is a shame for those we left behind.

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Six stories- one great movie

I loved the plot! There are few chapters and in each of them there's a story where somebody ends up being killed. I loved the one with Choi Minho. How can he be such a lucky guy even in movies lol His story is gripping but the ending is terrifying as well as funny (black humour vibe). How come this movie is so funny but also frightening at the same time?

-huge spoiler-
If you want to see a 'falling angel' who almost killed Minho and Pyo having the time of his life as peeping Tom breaking into a girl's flat and wearing her underwear on his head, you should watch it!

Such a great thriller with lots of black humour (and not only). Worth watching!

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