The Wind Blows (2019)

Years after the “Yes”-word, and yet a substantial love story, touching without being kitschy

"The Wind Blows" sounds quite inconspicuous, but it is not. It turns out to be a moving love story. Actually it is rom+/-com that starts exactly where other love stories end: with the ´yes´ word. The KDrama tells of what can happen when the butterflies (in the face of the new) are followed by ordinary years of shared, sometimes painful everyday life relationship... But that's not why love has to be gone missing. On the contrary... yet eventually, love might find it harder to take its space...

The title "The Wind Blows" refers specifically to the moment when the two protagonists first met many years ago. At that time the wind was blowing. What started then is not over yet. Figuratively, the wind is still blowing. However, the everyday challenges of aging have now added to their married life. The two must meet those challenges. It is rather common that one may be tempted here and there to make solitary decisions instead of communicating. One may have doubts if there still can be a way together. Every now and then it seems that such a common path is not (or no longer) possible. And then, maybe, one or the other might open up again.

"The Wind Blows" tells a serious and profound story about a love relationship that has grown out of the first romantic phases. Generally, this is less wanted on screen, as it inevitabely comes with problems, arguments and breakups. (Somehow that's in the nature of relationship - the constant rubbing against each other in a wide variety of ways actually leads to feeling/sensing yourself and the other person in the first place... it doesn't work without it. Does it?) In this KDrama, problems, arguments and breakups are all in, too. But so is love. (...as so often, although we might fail to notice in the midst of turmoil.)

I don't want to hide the fact that Alzheimer's disease is involved here as a stab in the back and at the same time a second chance. Against this background, the story manages to tell sensitively, empathetically and at times ruthlessly about the bumpy stretches of a patient love that has been and remains there over time - even if it is experienced differently over the course of the years, perhaps sometimes cannot be shared and also has changed its forms of expression over time.

The sensitive processing and the emotionally intense acting (great: Kam Woo-sung and Kim Ha-neul) are KDrama quality at its finest, which has once again proven itself to be just perfect for dealing with such a complex subject, which is difficult in several respects. A substantial story, touching without being kitschy.

(Well, I didn´t need the slightly shallow subplot and few unnecessarily humorous sequences here and there. Yet they obviously tried to loosen things up... well...)

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The criminally underrated drama of 2019

REVIEW :
' You remember the thing with your head but cherish memories in your heart. '

This drama starts off so casually, Once that brink of sadness starts, it feels inescapable.
From the synopsis, as you may have read, It starts on the fun part of a divorce.

You'll love this drama when you're in search for something profound, with proper depth, realistic and most above that if you're a mature person.
This drama is strictly for mature people.

The initial plot is a bit messed up but the execution is brilliant.
The transition from a couple struggling to a divorce situation and the comeback years later.
Phenomenal!
There are moments in your life when you feel empty, tired of watching your regular dramas and movies, this is where this drama strikes. It's simply breathtaking!
It's sad but in the most positive way.
That maturity of never giving up, never losing hope!

I didn't have the courage to complete this drama as I found myself stuck, currently on episode 12.
Even the characters are breathtaking, true to themselves.
Especially the leads, Kim Ha Neul's choice of drama speaks for itself.
She never disappoints me.
Controversial and daring topics but she pays off every time.
One of my fav actresses.
A brave decision to play such a part on such a plot.
It isn't easy!
And Kam Woo Sung, this was my first drama of his. What a legendary actor he is!
His voice reflected the toughness required to play the character, the mentality, the transition of an Alzheimer's patient.
There's nothing better than a Slice of Life category.
The warmth and the cold striking you like nothing has ever.
Drama's like this make you feel tender, And since I haven't seen much of such, I find them profound.
I'll complete this when I find my strength back xD

I decided to
A perfect 9 for this one. ^^

HOW ALZHEIMERS AFFECT YOUR LIFE : SOURCE QUORA ( I found this answer on quora and sharing it for the sole purpose of awareness how it affects our lives .)

First, it depends upon the stage of dementia: mild, moderate or severe.

In mild dementia, it seems to be like being a functional alcoholic's day, as far as cognition goes. You're able to do what you need to do, but some little things get missed, such as your T-shirt is on backwards, but you don't notice, or you can't find the sugar bowl so you start taking apart cupboards and end up going without coffee and the kitchen is a mess. Later, you swear you did not do that. You have no memory of doing it, and the more another person argues you did, indeed, make that mess, the angrier you get. You did not. They are lying.

The whole day goes like this- close to normal, but not quite. Routines are easy, anything new is... more difficult. And, if asked about someone or thing from earlier in the day, you may or may not remember the event. By the end of the day, you're tired of thinking, but your brain keeps throwing up odd thoughts and ideas- things like, "I can't find the car keys. Someone must have stolen them! I need the car keys" and you may wander, rummage, pull things out of drawers for a couple hours, at the end of which you may be unable to tell anyone for what it was you were searching. Even more telling, you may not have driven a car for the past five years.

During moderate dementia, each day is more moment to moment, and routine is your friend. Anything which is routine is easier for you to experience. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, that's how your day is scheduled. But something out of the ordinary- like a doctor's appointment- can throw you. You may balk at going, at getting dressed and getting in the car and going; there's so much mental stimulation involved in such a non-routine event, you prefer to stick to what you know: Breakfast, lunch, dinner- and maybe sitting in the sun, watching the world go by.

Activities like taking a shower can become difficult for you; if you think about it, a shower is an event which is very high in stimulation of all sorts: The bathroom is very separate from your normal living space- usually hard-edged and cold-seeming. Then you must take all your clothing off- naked- that's just a lot of stimulation itself, and the memories loosely associated with naked are also fraught with stimulation. The shower makes noise, the temperature difference is apparent, there's soap and shampoo and the scrunchie thing, water in your eyes, your ears, the space is confined, and, by this time, someone is usually in there with you, "helping", which is just weird, no matter how much you understand and accept you need help. It's one sign diagnostic of moderate dementia: You may start to not like to be washed and clean- shower or bath.

I remember a gentleman in the Facility I worked in in Washington State; he was new, and hadn't been showered at the hospital, so on his first full day, the aides gave him a shower. He spent the rest of the afternoon in tears because, "They threw me in the corner and pelted me with rocks like a piece of trash!" That's what he felt like. Another woman would walk, up and down the corridors, but stay far away from windows, saying "There's Indians out there! They're going to attack!" It took a long time to figure this one out; she would pace and pace, and could not sit still, always talking about Indians shooting arrows at us. Finally a nurse asked her if she had been hit by an arrow? Yes. Where'd they get you? Right here, and she clutched her low back, arrggghhhh! It hurt so much! Going through her medical history a bit closer, we discovered she had been in a car accident years before and suffered a low back injury. She'd been telling us for weeks what was happening to her, but not in a way which made sense to us; to her, it made perfect sense: It felt like an arrow in her back. And who used arrows? Indians!

You are losing words, but it doesn't matter much since those around you ignore that loss and fill in the blanks. Sometimes, you cannot understand what someone else said, like they are speaking a foreign language, and this can make you automatically refuse whatever is being spoken about- that, too, makes a certain amount of sense. Someone babbling to you in a foreign language and making "Come with me" motions is someone to view with suspicion, don't you think? Moderate dementia is the longest part of the disease, usually, which is why I'm spending so much time on it.

The slow slide into severe dementia is sometimes difficult to spot as far as an actual line of demarcation, but one sign is sleeping more and more often. Even during formerly pleasurable activities, such as familiar and enjoyed music, the damage to your brain is so profound, the stimulation is not enough to keep you awake. You sleep, perchance to dream, but we don't know; what we know is damage to the areas which are usually lit up like a Christmas tree during dreaming is profound, but, since we don't really understand sleep or dreaming, and it seems rather cruel to take someone who doesn't do well in new situations into a sleep lab and wire their brains for sound and colour, stick them in a tube and say, "Don't move", we don't know. But that is one of the things I've always wondered about; it seems to me by the time you are in severe dementia, the difference between awake and dreaming is invisible.

Speech is limited, you may have a full thought in your head, but only one or two words come out, if any. Caregivers learn to listen for the first two or so words and try to discern what the thought is from there, because that's usually all we get. Eyesight is odd; you don't know what it is you are seeing. My current "farthest along in Alzheimer's" Resident today did not recognize a puppy. She saw it, she gazed at it, I placed her hand on it, but she looked then at her hand, not the puppy, and there was absolutely no engagement between her and the stimulation provided. She no longer hears music, which is a shame, because she loved music her whole life long, We still play it for her, we still put on her favorite musicals, but there's no engagement anymore. She does not hear or see any of it other than perhaps a fleeting spark of memory, now gone.

In severe dementia, everything is moment to moment, routine means nothing anymore, because there is no past or future, only now.

And then you start your last slide into end-stage dementia; you sleep 20.5 hours out of 24, and when you are awake, you may as well be dreaming. You do not meet anyone's eyes, you do not react in any manner to much beyond very painful stimulation, you are almost gone. We try to feed you, but you don't seem to know what to do with the food in your mouth, and you may choke, which could result in aspiration pneumonia- never a good thing. Your urine output drops, peristalsis decreases, your body temperature may rise. And as your organs start to shut down, you sleep, and sleep, and sleep, and slip away, very peacefully. You're gone.

That's what Alzheimer's type dementia is like.

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Road to hell is paved with good intentions

First I want to acknowledge the writers for tackling a difficult subject of Alzheimer.
Second.. Hong Je Yi.. Watching her act was amazing. Not for one moment I didn't feel that she was acting.. As a young child of 6-7 years, she brought out moods, and was a natural actor. In my view, she carried that 2nd half of the drama.

First 8 episodes.. All I can say is: "what the hell!!". The husband decides to be a martyr and he forces his wife to have an affair because he loves her deeply. This is one thing I don't get about Korean dramas.. "I really love the other person so much that I will create misery for them by sacrificing myself!!"
Also, the director or the writer creates more misery for the viewer by postponing the inevitable which was to have a meeting with husband & wife and wasting footage by going to grocery store or fishing.

Ok.. Let's go on to the next half.

After the wife deduces that her ex-husband has an illness.. her dearest friend would rather watch her go through misery than to tell her the reality. I really don't consider them to be true friends.
I do acknowledge Kim Ha Neul acting because there was one tender moment where I truly felt her pain and the discovery that she had been living a lie. That brings up another point "What's up with MOMs in Korean Drama". .. They seem to be just present to F*** things up for the main character.

Finally after trudging through the whole drama, the ending just fades. There was really no conclusion. To me it seemed that they lived happily ever after..
In conclusion:
The story telling was very poor.
The drama was very infuriating.
The character's behavior was circumstantial driven. The question I kept asking myself.. How are the lead characters transforming and growing?

Should you watch this drama? .. Maybe if you don't have anything else to do.

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UNDERRATED MASTERPIECE

From 3rd episode in almost every episode I had tears in my eyes. Such an emotional drama with amazing acting. Episode 1 was just normal but later I got connected so much. After MY MISTER this of the drama which made me emotional so much atleast give a try till 3episodes & later u will feel why only this much episode. STORY ABOUT TRUE LOVE & SACRIFICE. Leave u Deep impact..,..................................... LOVED IT......... EMOTIONAL.... STRONG ACTING
From 3rd episode in almost every episode I had tears in my eyes. Such an emotional drama with amazing acting. Episode 1 was just normal but later I got connected so much. After MY MISTER this of the drama which made me emotional so much atleast give a try till 3episodes & later u will feel why only this much episode. STORY ABOUT TRUE LOVE & SACRIFICE. Leave u Deep impact..,..................................... LOVED IT......... EMOTIONAL.... STRONG ACTING

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Stellar Acts, Lengthy Plot

"The Wind Blows" showcases some commendable performances. Kam Woo Sung, portraying the main male character, Kwon Do Hoon, truly shined in his role. Additionally, Lee Joon Hyuk, as the close male friend "Carlos", delivered a memorable performance.

The narrative offers a beautiful delicacy. However, both the main story and certain subplots felt stretched longer than necessary. While the romance between the side character, director Kim Sung Cheol, and the makeup artist, Son Ye Rim, seemed out of place and contributed little to the main storyline, the core narrative itself could have been more concise. The series, which spans 16 episodes, might have been more impactful if condensed into 12 or even fewer episodes.

Despite its pacing issues, "The Wind Blows" remains an enjoyable series, thanks to its main plot and the standout performances of its lead actors.

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Love Knows No Bounds

Sacrifice for love is the main theme throughout the entire drama. Alzheimer's is touched upon and gives the viewer a glimpse into the devastation it wrecks on the mind and body. Only a touch and a glimpse as 16 episodes wouldn't be enough to show the real everyday aspect of it which leaves loved ones having the disease, and the loved ones who care for them, grappling with a battle to remain who they were.

The Wind Blows is an extremely slow slice of life drama for the mature audience. It deals with mature adult decisions and emotions, of which those with youthful life experiences would barely understand. It would probably be quite boring for most. Yet, it's quite beautiful. Please keep this in mind when choosing to watch.

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Tearful journey with a beautiful destination

I'll just say that it's a very beautiful drama. At first, I thought it was a comedy series, and I was about to stop watching it after the 5th episode, but suddenly the drama took a different turn. I don't know if anyone else felt the same, but as a girl, the most painful thing for me was to see your husband going on a date with someone else, pretending to be someone else. That was the moment when the drama completely changed its course. It was a tearful journey with a beautiful destination. I have seen people facing such situations, expressing their love, and going through all of it with a brave face, and it's even more painful than it appears. I believe this is what love is called - even if your beloved doesn't recognize you, you still fulfill your love for them. Such a beautiful, tearful drama with a perfect ending... I loved it.

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