Money is the villain, life is the battlefield
It's a cinematic slow burn but with very heavy tone and high intensity of pressure, it never stops right there, it keeps digging deeper and deeper as new hell unfolds. An ultimate fucked up business with humanity's worst shit painted in such gruesome yet classy way of storytelling, extremely nail biting trauma in every scene pushing the limits of tolerance. The right or wrong is so muddy in here everyone using evil means to survive this dogfight, where money is the villain, life is the battlefield, and human never ends a happy ending.Was this review helpful to you?
Short review ------no spoiler
While watching a model family I knew I was probably going to finish it in one go. Well almost, as I stopped at episode nine for the night and finished the rest the next morning.The writing was good, the character stick to their personality for the duration of the show, which make them more real for me.
Overall good acting from all the cast, including the children.
The story revolves around the father, who is desperate to help is family, but a chain of bad decisions made him stray from the path of the good law-abiding citizen. The consequences of his choices made senses, there is no extraordinary twist to save him. At no time I thought that the line of events was underserved, broken or not satisfactory. The story flows like water.
I only thought once that the line was weirdly delivered, stiff and lifeless, only to be explained why later. It was a part of the writing, and it comes back later for the same reason. I think it was a cool detail.
Also with the 18+ rating, you can really feel the action without weird out of place blur like some other dark shows rated for a younger audience.
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Giant Disappointment
Unfortunately, the stock characters never really evolve or develop multidimensional personalities, and it causes the whole thing to fall flat. Oddly, there could be some interesting backstory it hints at--but then never resolves.The cast is amazing--sooo sad they didn't do more with them. The cinematography is top notch--that's what kept me watching.
The opening episodes are really gripping (if you can suspend your disbelief for how dumb the ML handles the situation). It's a great set up with so much potential.
The problem is, character-wise it just never goes anywhere. Pity for the situation turns to derision, and no one ever redeems themselves or becomes interesting.
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A Mortal Family
The drama was a big hot mess I don't even know where to start. The synopsis turned out to be a bit misleading from what we were presented. The family wasn't really involved as the journey was mostly one-sided led by the father. Right from the beginning we were introduced to this broken-beyond-repair family but they don't "band together" as the synopsis suggests, they just tolerate each other in this sticky situation. There were a lot of points to pick up from the story but everything boiled down to having one of the sloppiest writing efforts, this might have worked for a mediocre action flick bloated with action scenes but not for 10 episodes drama. The drama had the chance to get on the right track by episode 4 but they doubled down, and then tripled down around episode 7 when they introduced the father. They also quadrupled down when they attempted to shove in a lot of backstory in the last 2 episodes to make the climax emotional. They slapped in the +18 rating just so that they can light up a cigarette in every single scene, in particular, Kang Joo Hyun was lighting up a cigarette in every scene she had. Their lack of creativity was apparent. The most frustrating thing about the entire drama was Dong Ha never letting off some steam. He never lost his nerves or screamed out loud through the entire thing despite his world collapsing from every angle, except that one time at his students which was totally irrelevant. The last episode was mostly a very fast wrap up with no room to talk or do anything, they were cleaning off the cast that they won't be including in the sequel. With all of that, Netflix had the audacity to tease for a continuation!Was this review helpful to you?
Amazing feel and family values
Loved it! It really reminds of Ozark (American TV series) from feel - what you are willing to do for your family. I also loved the characters - how flawed they were, what they went through and what potential this series as second season would have. Also - Park Heesoon - I literally could watch him talking for days, he has the most recognisable amazing voice and his acting always top notch (especially after My Name). Great drama and filled with suspense. Throughout the season, there were many surprising elements and discoveries from all characters and how everything linked to each other in the end was fascinating to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Mr Bean finds some money...
Park Dong Ha is a loser.He isn't a bad guy, he's just quite fucking stupid.
In fact, he is so stupid, his wife wants to divorce him because of that. On top of that, he "invested" money meant for the treatment of his terminally ill son to give a bribe in return for professorship, which terribly backfired, and he lost the former and didn't get the later. It's only a matter of time until his wife finds out and his life will get even worse(he might even get scolded or spanked, oh the horror!)....
Fortunately, fate smiled upon him. On the way back home, he found a car with two dead men inside and lotsa money. LOTSA.
So what does our genius of intellect do? He takes all of it. Then he dumps their car in a nearby woods, and buries the bodies next to his own house.
A perfect crime! What could go wrong? Oh wait, why is a phone ringing from under the ground...?
.....and thus the tragicomedy begins. Our genius of intellect is going to get involved in multiple plots and schemes, trying to navigate reality not unlike Mr. Bean trying to park a car, and providing a nice source of entertainment for us cynical people.
This is superposed with very chill western-like music, a pretty cool plot about inner mafia conflicts, and a corrupt cop investigation. As well as, uh, a rather tragic story of his "model" family kinda falling apart.
All these plots tie together rather nicely, and I am rather impressed by how the writer managed them all.
The style of the drama is noir. That is bleak colors, with lotsa smoking, people talking in hushed voices, and nihilistically soothing atmosphere.
Everyone's acting is on spot, especially Park Hee Soon's who once again plays a gangster(he was brilliant both in My Name and here!) and Park Ji Yeon whose asmr like voice is my new favorite in dramaland.
Overall hard recommend, just don't expect something like empowering story of an average guy climbing up mafia ranks or something. See it for what it is.
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Man up
The premise and preview of a model family seemed pretty interesting. Rather than being negative, I'll just say this.I thought it was a decent effort. It makes sense what they were trying to do. However, I was looking for more from the lead. Particularly within the core of the story and the inciting incident that drives it. I understand wanting to avoid being typical cliches. The story was downshifted from a template from which a more powerful one might have emerged. Just a disappointing waste of a decent production.
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This review may contain spoilers
Ma Kwang Chul isn't as poweful as Choi Mu Jin was
I only watch this kdrama because of Park Hee Soon and I thought the triler was kinda cool.His character wasn't as powerful as Choi Mu Jin from My name but I really think that this kind of role swits him so good.
Dong Ha was kinda stupid and I really hate his daughter. She tries to be cool, but guess what, she's not cool. His son was so sweet tho.
The cinematography was amazing tho.
It's a must watch if you like Park Hee Soon acting.
p.s
i also like the way Kim Sung Oh portrayed his character. i really like his acting since When a man falls in love.
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This review may contain spoilers
Gruesome
I’m not why I finished this drama because it was so gruesome. All I can think of why, is that it was the actors.All the family wanted was enough money for surgery for their sweet little son who bound them together. Even the once l, thought to be dead grandfather, became concerned about his son and his family.
The police and the thugs were so inhuman. I watched the ending to see what bad guys would end up dead. Sounds morbid, doesn’t it? Sadly not one good cop survived.
Money and power. What a horrible human race we can be.
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Em muitos momentos questionei a inteligência do professor porque ele fez coisas que o colocariam ainda mais na m3rda se fosse pego pela polícia.
E o que foi aquela descoberta a cerca de um dos mortos? Fiquei chocada porque quais são as chances?? ?.
Em 'Model Family' é cobra dando golpe em cobra ? quando você pensa que estão na amizade já estão é dando o golpe fatal ?.
Recomendo super esse drama, são dez episódios de mais ou menos quarenta e poucos minutos.
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