Love through the screen

Can close relationships survive extreme situations? Can the same extreme situation help create new relationships?

I like anthology series and this one, produced by now dead production company Nadao, is definitely one of the best. Unexpectedly, an excellent covid quarantine skype drama from Thailand when the majority of these covid dramas came from the Philippines. There are 10 stories, each dealing with a different kind of relationship.
Here they are:
1. Haunted (from) Home - two brothers pranking each other at distance.
2. Lovers On The Street - a girl finds a photo of her boyfriend with another woman on Google Street View. She enrols the help of her best friend to find who that woman is.
3. The Thuang (Talk2DaHand) - a man tries to recover some money he lent to a woman who refuses to give it back. His reply is awesome. This is the shortest, the funniest episode of all.
4. Day 10 - two neighbours meet and talk through the wall between their balconies, thus curing loneliness brought on by confinement.
5. Pumpkin Can - a fitness trainer decides to help a girl who just got dumped, to get back on her feet. Generosity in hardship.
6. Close Friend - two best friends and unrequited love. Should the friendship survive?
7. Because We Know You Still Have To Leave The House - an inventor, safely quarantined at home, comes up with protection gadgets for his frail friend who needs to go out to work every day. The inventor gets angry when the banker complains about the lack of practicality of his inventions. This one made me angry: the rich guy in safety complains to the poor guy in danger and sulks when he is not obeyed.
8. Mother - Distancing - mother daughter relationship is often a difficult one. But when they are in danger, everything else suddenly becomes unimportant. As it should!
9. The Coach - a guy trying to earn money by becoming a life coach on line. Not a good idea!
10. What Happened Last Night? - a gl.

Each relationship is shown in depth and is really ingeniously produced giving us a serious look at the young people's relationships: be it between siblings, strangers, friends or with parents.

Definitely worth the watch if you are in the mood for a short drama!

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Hope in misery?

If you are looking for a nice and fluffy bl, you are at the wrong place! I understand why it has such low rating, I do not agree with it but I understand! Because it is grey: misery, unhappiness, hopelessness...mention it, it's there! But it is not all black since there is a sliver of light that appears.

It is a story of two men trying to survive, just survive the onslaught of their respective families. They have known each other a few years previously when their parents married but that marriage did not last long. Something happened between the two young men at the time, as well, that created a huge rift. We never really clearly find what it was: an unwanted, unexplained kiss? The main problem are their parents: one father is an abuser, the other a criminal but still very attractive to his ex wife using their son to finance them.

The drama is too short. It touches upon a lot of issues but it does not really have the time to delve deeper into them: mainly parents abusing of their children who are desperately wanting to free themselves from their hold. So much so that the young men are exhausted, desperate and lacking energy to do anything. We are left without explanation as to how and why that kiss (?) happened between them which ruined a friendly relationship they had when they were younger! The older one feels responsible and guilty towards the younger one. Why?

The romance comes out suddenly and is heart flutteringly beautiful, chemistry soaring sky-high but unfortunately nothing is solved by the realization. The life is too difficult to bear to do anything more than just survive. The promise of happiness is too scary to believe: when you've been beaten down by life, you lose all hope. We are left with an open ending, showing us a glimmer of hope that one of them allows himself to dare to feel.

This drama is beautifully filmed, written and acted. The cinematography alongside the animated opening credits are all in shades of grey, perfectly translating the desperation and the misery the main characters feel. The music is just as good. It has been a long time since a korean BL made me feel so many emotions: rage, pity, sadness, hope, love...

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Shiny rock and a skunk!

"There is no future for a nation who has forgotten their history. There is no past for a nation, who has lost their cultural assets."

Stealer is what you get when you mix Leverage with White Collar add a dash of Indiana Jones and Batman and a big dose of "not taking themselves seriously" kind of humour and sprinkle it with patriotism... a very fun watch, with likeable, funny characters and over the top villains!

The plot is not important; a bunch of rugtag solitary individuals are brought together to get the big bad villain down. The big bad is your ordinary baddie: a super rich, greedy guy surrounded by an army of bodyguards/killers dressed in matching suits and ties. He is looking for a treasure that will bring him eternal life of course. And he is completely mad: laughing loudly, raising hands in the air and laughing in triumph some more. An over the top bad guy!

The good guys are a trauma suffering lot: orphaned, humiliated, abandoned etc. So they are looking for a revenge beside trying to get hold on to treasure. Here's where patriotism comes in: the cultural assets belong to the nation not to rich men!

This is a fun, adventure drama: there is a lot of running around, thinking hard, getting dressed up, fist fighting, computer mambo jumbo and maniacal laughter. There is no romance to speak of, glances are exchanged, fluttering was felt but it remained there: the mission is all that counts.

I usually avoid watching previews of the next episode but they caught me unawares and I saw the one for the episode 9 and in that preview everyone was unconscious on the ground. In spite of me trying to convince myself that this was a comedy show so no major characters will die, I was really stressed while watching mostly because they kept dragging it on and on.... The drama itself is not draggy: there is always something going on and the quiet moments are few and far between and usually interrupted by an emergency!

Not the best drama out there but they managed to wrap it up nicely in 12 episodes so it is not draggy and definitely a good watch if you need to give your brain a rest!

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Weird & funny!

The synopsis says it all. I just wondered about the LGBT tag: apparently the two women living together are a couple? I think?

The story is told from the point of view of the fan: immobile(just swivelling its fan regularly from let to right and back again) and silent witness to the goings-on in the flat.

An original idea of putting a camera on the fan combines with the actors' perfect timing makes for a funny and a smart watch. The characters are all coolly (blasé) reacting to surprising presences: nobody shouts or jumps. It is more of a vaudeville show with people hiding in closets and behind coat-hangers!

It is a comedy, there is really no deeper meaning or message. A child's voice recites lines from Veda which is supposed to be about the fan, who, Godlike, bestows its silent presence onto the inhabitants of that flat.

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Growing pains

Teen years are probably the sweetest and the most difficult years in anyone's life. If you are an arts student, looking into your own memories should be enough to find inspiration. I would not be surprised to discover that it is the case here: this being an university project!

The story about burgeoning feelings between two teen boys is told with sensitivity and beauty by someone who knows what he's talking about! Two boys' friendship and certainly more, is ruined by the lack of courage and the fear of how other people perceive them.

The actors skilfully conveyed the feelings of loss, love, desperation and disappointment: their eyes seriously tugged at my heartstrings. The cinematography is lovely and the sets tell a lot about the boys feelings of confusion, loneliness and yearning for happiness, understanding and love. Unfortunately, the society, the misconceptions, the lack of acceptance, scare one of the boys who ends up running away from the promise of a different but right kind of happiness for him.

I wish this were longer and that the ending did not give us a forshadowing of not nice things to come for one of the boys. As the title puts it, one boy managed to ground the other one, stop him from flying away. But now that he is scared, he abandons the other boy not grounding him, holding him down anymore....Sad and tragic? Or hopeful that he will find the strength to go on?

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David vs. Goliath

I disliked this short film for the first 10min: it was the usual tale of rich and powerful pushing the "little" people out of the way with their money.

The silly and stupid daughter of a neauveau riche father (complete with a fake fur jacket...on him!!!) gets into a dorm and a scholarship to go to Hawaii while the smart but poor girl keeps being refused access. But the smart girl is smart and she knows how the world works so complaining and making noise is not going to get her anything. She has to deal with them in an intelligent way. And she does!

This turned out to ba a brilliant tale of the underdog coming on top.

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BFF? Maybe...

I am finding it difficult to write about this drama: I liked it a lot but it stressed and angered me very much. The story follows five lonely young adults who meet through twitter and decide to meet in real life as well. They hit it off immediately, even though all of them lied about themselves. Slowly the truth comes out but instead of tearing them apart, they bond even more. They help each other and love blossoms amongst them. But the timing is never right and everything is just a string of missed opportunities and white lies.
The drama showed us how each of them grew and matured through their friendship. The drama left a lot of unanswered questions, issues touched upon and just left unsolved. Why did Doctor come to Japan with his little sister when his parents are perfectly all right and wealthy in Korea? Why does he always speak in japanese with his sister (I know a japanese drama etc.etc....)? Haru, the teacher had a lot of problems in school: with students and other teachers and then what happened, all is forgotten? Drug dealing student is arrested, she promises to help him and then...what happened next? Sexual harassment at work? Barely mentioned when Kaoru is being molested by his female boss? Kaoru's difficult affirmation of his own sexuality? How did they solve this? Kaoru commits suicide! Very "nice" solution to a huge problem! Probably realistic solution for japanese society but still...he had friends who supported him and were there for him!
The music was very nice, rocky and it fit the drama really well. I liked the cinematography and the way they edited thansitions between scenes: rather original and pretty to see! What was not pretty to see was the male actors' hair: the three of them had awful hairstyles.... But the acting was excellent, they had an amazing group chemistry though the centre of it, like the Sun, was Nakaji, the photographer, kind, sweet and helpful, everyone was drawn towards.
As I said, things made me angry, most of all Kaoru's fate, which felt very wrong. The rest is a sweet drama about young people finding their own way in life, which is easier when you have good friends to listen to you...

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Lockdown to freedom

This is my first lockdown film from Japan. The Philippines have made loads of these but this short film is of a different kind.

The story follows two neighbours as they get to know each other and start dating only to be stopped by the curfews: not allowed to leave their respective apartments, not allowed to meet, not allowed to go out on to the balcony. While one girl religiously follows the rules, the other one is fed up and eventually manages to talk the first one to throw the caution into the wind: they go out for a walk through the empty streets of Tokyo....

Today I remember the lockdowns fondly: what a strange and incredible, never to be repeated experience, that was. We all went through the same feelings as do girls in this film: listen constantly to the news, util you reach the overdose and then rebel, go out and breathe free.

There is not much dialogue, and what is said is mostly just nonsense lost in the news broadcasts. The romance is shown from the beginning and through every stage of development via short scenes. The curfew put strain on it but they decided their love is more important than anything else. So they go out fully masked! The reason for lockdown was never really explicitly said: pandemic or pollution or something else....in the end it is not important!

The music is great. Acting and cinematography top notch. An interesting short film.

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Crush in the open 2

I don't know what it says about this drama but I accidentally watched the second episode of this first and only realized it when the episode finished that I must have missed something but also that what I missed was not that important!

So Bam and Mike are dating now. One day, Bam's junior from schools shows up in the cafe and we find out he has a crush on him. He keeps coming back and confesses both to Bam and to Mike who is shaken by this. Mike sees that Bam and Pee get swimmingly along and feels not deserving. But Bam notices it and puts Pee back in his place.

Oh the usual trope of a love triangle! Quickly resolved but still... The acting is still just as lacklustre, but I must say the actor playing Pee takes the flower with his overacting and mannerisms! He does manage to make his character unlikeable so I guess that is a success!

The production seems to have had a bit more money in the budget so they managed to go and film a few scenes on the beach, which is always nice to see!

I often feel bad when I do not appreciate these small productions much: it is usually a labour of love! But unfortunately I have seen better labours of love .... Still, I would like to encourage them to continue: there are originalities in their work (breaking the 4th wall!) that make it worth watching !

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Crush in the open!

Not bad but not good either. It is obviously made on a shoestring budget so the production is lacking. Acting as well, unfortunately! The only originality this short drama has is breaking the fourth wall by the actors instead of voiceover explaining situations and revealing emotions.

The short drama takes place in an always completely empty coffee shop where Bam gets to work with his crush, Mike who is a writer. In order to break the writing block, Mike asks Bam to help him enact love scenes for his next novel. These make Bam very confused so he confesses. Now it is Mike's turn to be confused. But Bam does everything in his power to help Mike see things (his own feelings!) clearly.

There is absolutely no chemistry between the actors who definitely need a few more acting lessons to make us believe they are at ease while acting: they were rather rigid and the line delivery was monotonous!

Still, point for the effort, the writing was solid and original. The music was too loud and cheerful and just underlined the (bad) acting.

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Milady, are you daft?

This was so good until...it was not any more!

The story about a ditzy heiress/police detective and her butler was original and fun at the beginning. But then the story stayed put: no character development, no change, immobile. And that ruined it for me. I enjoyed the first half, slept through the second.

The world building is rather fun and colourful. She is kind and living in her bubble since she has no idea how ordinary (i.e. not obscenely rich!) people live. Her reactions are funny. The butler is stoic, cold-blooded and direct. Their relationship is fun.
Her boss is another rich man, completely self-centred and incompetent as a detective. So the butler solves the cases for the heiress and her boss takes the credit.

The drama is based on a manga and maybe this static characters work there but in a drama I need to see the results of the interactions between these characters. Nothing! Everyone remains in their place and while the initial cases hid this lack of development, once I was used to the format, I completely lost interest.

The heiress puts her glasses on and goes to the crime scene in a limo. Her butler follows her hidden from sight while she investigates (nobody knows that she's a heiress!) with her incompetent boss. In the evening, she tells her butler what she learned during the investigation. He insults her politely because she did not figure out who the culprit is even though it was crystal clear to him. So, over desert (hence the title of the drama!), he explains everything to her. They confront the culprit who is then arrested by her ignorant boss.

The characters are fun in small doses: you cannot binge this, it becomes quickly unwatchable! The subs made it also fun to watch because the subber made an extra effort to translate everything that was shown on the screen (there were a lot of manga like graphics!). Except for the last two episodes (one story in two parts!) which lacked those extras in english and suddenly the drama was much worse for it!

Key word here is: FUN!

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Again and again and again...really fun!

Wow, just wow! What a fun film this was! I hear "time loop" and I am buying it immediately.

The story takes place in an inn somewhere around Kyoto (apparently a very well-known area!) in the winter. All of a sudden, the whole area finds itself inside a 2min time loop. After the first incredulity and shock, the staff and the guests quickly get used to the looping and bear it calmly. Until they don't. Until they do...

The film portrays magnificently people slowly realizing what is important, finally talking to each other and being honest with what they want. There is Mikoto who is angry that her boyfriend, the inn chef, wants to go to France to study cooking. She takes this opportunity to tell him honestly what she thinks of it but at the same time, while trying to figure out the reasons for the time loop, they talk more, laugh together more, come to understand each other better. There are guests of the inn: a writer with a writing block using this opportunity to rest, relax and think at peace which turns out to be very effective. There is a pair of old friends reconnecting who end up arguing and telling finally the truth, stop pretending..;

The time loop serves as a motivation behind the character growth. People are very polite and do not dare break society convention; the time loop liberates them and they become stronger and finally truthful about their hopes and wishes.

The film is funny. I loved the cool attitude the characters held. It was fun to watch one conversaton continue through multiple loops. Everyone was in the loop, retaking the same start position every time but doing different things during each loop.

One problem though which was never explained properly; the weather. They did go through many loops and since it was only local, the weather kept changing but how likely is the weather to turn from winter with 10cm of snow to spring to winter and snowing again literally from one loop to the next. I think there is a serious continuity problem here hence the rating...Other than that, highly recommended!

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One night only

"In this world, we were only meant to find each other not but not end up together"

A simply beautiful short film. A story of former lovers reconnecting for a short interlude and then separating, probably for good! They only have one night to pretend and they do: they pretend they are happy, they pretend they are on a date, they pretend that everything is fine. But there is that nagging feeling: why? They need closure. Or at least one of them does, Niko. He never really wanted to admit to himself the reasons for their breakup. But he needs to hear them and what he hears makes him regretful. He starts to buckle under the feelings brimming, brought out by this night and the presence of his first love. But at the moment he starts expressing those feelings he is brutally brought back to reality! The dream, the fantasy is over, never to be again!

Regrets remain. Feelings remain. But the pressure of the society is far too strong for him to deal with. Even though we are well advanced as a society, our tolerance is high and we are open-minded, there are still places and people for whom gay love is unacceptable and frowned upon. These two young men are their victims.

This short film was, as far as I understand, a student project made on a shoestring budget. Again, we were shown that great storytelling does not need an excessive amount of money but an excessive amount of talent!

And last but not the least, the music is amazing. The final song Leaves by Ben&Ben is so beautiful....

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First love forever....

I wonder if one day we are going to be lucky enough and have a drama in which the first love main couple does not remain together, happily ever after, but the second lead wins the girl ..... Sometimes I am really fed up with this trope. And in this drama, more than ever!

The story continues on from the first season: Futaba and Kou have sort of admitted to having feelings for each other and then he goes away on vacation and upon his return, he keeps seeing a friend from his old school and ignoring Futaba. That friend actually wants Kou for herself and makes him believe she's so unhappy and so misunderstood and so alone and so...Kou falls for it and neglects to explain it to Futaba. When she starts seeing Kikuchi and moving on, he gets too clingy, needy and jealous.

I had to keep reminding myself that this was a story about teens. But, while Futaba's words and actions reveal maturity beyond her age, Kou is the opposite. he sulks, does not talk, behaves as if the weight of the world is on his shoulders and nobody understands how brave and responsible he is. So he goes around with a sad, desperate expression on his face. And he takes it up with the whole world instead of himself. He blows hot and cold with her, sacrificing himself and not being with her but not wanting her to be with anyone else: so selfish and self-centred. On the opposite side, Futaba is the epitome of reason and generosity.

I wanted the FL to stay with the SML but I knew from the beginning that that was never going to happen. Heart wants what heart wants and the reason is abandoned! The SML acted too quickly in wanting to replace Kou but all his kindness was not enough to delete the first love, no matter how bad and unkind, from her mind.

This was an extremely frustrating slow watch. The side couples were more interesting but they were given the minimum time . Every minute was devoted to Kou and his tergiversations. One question, though: where are these kids' parents? So we have a couple of dead ones but not all of them? Do they work so much that the kids practically raise themselves? Are kids really abandoned to this extent in Japan? This made me very sad....Very often in dramas based on mangas, we never see parents! I wonder why?

Everything considered, this was an unnecessary watch they could have done away with by condensing the plot in two episodes and finished it with one season!

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Too short....

....I want more! This was too cute and I only wish it were longer, like a full drama instead of 8 short, 7min episodes.

Nevertheless, they managed to tell a sweet story about a café restaurant owner and his employers, who, when the place is closed, use it as a set in order to fulfill the owner's dream of becoming a film director. The cook has a crush on the part time waiter/main actor/her best friend and spends her time mooning over him not daring to say anything. Eventually she gets the role in the film her boss is making and has the opportunity to confess....

The main topic of all dramas, though not only, seems to be lack of communication and the courage to say what is important. The girl is in love, the boy as well. There is another couple having crushes on them but they are completely oblivious. They are young and think that they have a whole life in front of them, that they have enough time to take things slowly. But if you do not stand up and bravely face the issue, it might disappear, never to come back. Unrequited love is such a time waste! Friends to lovers is a very difficult step to take because people are afraid of losing a friend without getting a lover in return so they prefer status quo! The FL here found a way to live her romance through filmmaking. The ending is open: will they stay friends, or will this push them closer together. The FL lobbied for the role certainly in order to push their relationship gently in the wanted direction....So much clever thinking and plotting....

Another topic here is your dreams and what are you willing to do to realize them. The doubts the cafe owner has are made more evident with two incidents: a visit from a former uni friend now a famous director and a disgruntled customer raising hell. Soon enough he is shown that his passion for film making has infected his restaurant staff and that they want to continue with him. The spirit of creativity, friendship and respect has made the little group a tight unit, like a family where nobody is left behind....

The actors were all good but the main actress Deguchi Natsuki is the most beautiful Japanese actress I have ever seen. She has a dazzling smile, there is light shining out of her evident just by her mere presence. This actress is young but will go far....

Everything is warm and sunny in this mini drama: the cinematography is just full of sunshine, very uplifting ! I wish it were longer.....

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