Happy to be home.
I had the strongest feeling of coming home. I remember the day that the announcement came that they were gonna go on hiatus, and it was such a, such a bad day. And I honestly did not think I would make it, but here I am four years later, and I get to experience BTS coming back in real time. And I'll tell you, there is no stronger feeling than coming home. That's it. This whole documentary was so insightful and so beautiful, and my chest is feeling so heavy. And it wasn't even like a sad, depressing documentary. No, it was showcasing everything they have been through, everything they did to get here, and it was utterly beautiful. It was like coming home. It was like watching a family movie, because they are our family. It's watching people you love be happy, be sad, be in pain, and achieve everything they have dreamed of. I really don't know how to explain it, except that it felt like coming home.Was this review helpful to you?
This is not a love story, its a story about love.
You know when you watch a gay or LGBT movie and it does not center about being LGBT, like I don't know how to best explain it, like it's not just, oh, it's a gay movie. No, it's so, so, so much beyond that. I read somewhere about this movie that it's not a love story, it's a story about love. And that whole dialogue or line, it just touches so close to me because it's such a wonderfully written movie.One of the biggest hate comment thingy that they're getting, that this movie is getting, is that there was no kiss, there was no heavy romance, but it showed love at its purest form ever. And I loved that, yes, the main characters were guys and they were in love, but it was so much more than that. It showed a whole process of how they saved each other when they were at their lowest. It was two really, really, really good friends coming together. And even beyond them, there was their other friends and other family.
There was a scene where Ryu, the main character's parents, offered the Rumiko the same thing that her in-laws had offered her, that you can come live with us and you're always going to be family. And they both offered the same thing. Two sets of parents who were not hers offered the same thing, yet one was so much more warm than the other. And the other was actually legally binded. And I don't know what else to say.
A lot of the times people tend to reduce queer films to did they kiss, was there enough romance, was it explicit enough, but what this movie is trying to say is much quieter and much bigger. It says that love is not always loud. Love is something understanding and quiet and beautiful and warm. Love is staying and understanding, and it's becoming a home for another person. I think that's another reason why this movie feels so intimate. The relationship doesn't need constant romantic confirmation because the care is already overflowing from every scene.
It was such a beautiful movie. I don't know. The ending hit me in a really good way, but like most other times, I wish I had gotten more. I wish I had gotten to see them even more happier, but I was thinking, oh, I wish we could see them happy, but that's not even true. We did see them happy. We saw them happy. We saw them sad. We saw them go through a lot of phases and it was wonderful. This is truly a wonderful movie about love and how it really is all around us, but it's just difficult to find sometimes.
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how to watch this again for the first time?
I don't even know where to start, but I will say I kind of regret not watching. This drama genuinely altered my brain chemistry. It was that good, and it has immediately gotten into my top list of favourite dramas in the world because I don't know if I'll ever watch something as beautiful as this. I personally have not seen that many romance K-dramas, but I've seen a lot of dramas in general, and this is easily one of the best ones I have ever watched. It was so entertaining and such a good story throughout, and there were no inconsistencies and no problematic scenes where, like, oh, it's so cringe, I can't. And it was the most perfect ending I have ever seen in a K-drama. Lovely Runner when it was airing, but I say kind of because I had the most phenomenal time watching it right now. And yeah, maybe it is the time that makes it better, but I waited two years to watch this, and I had such a good, good time. I don't even know how to explain how. I just wanna say I love Soi so much. She has worked so, so hard to protect the love of her life and the whole concept of this movie, of him trying to get her to love him, but all she wants is to keep him alive, and the only way to keep him alive is by making sure he stays away from her. This concept is so painful, yet so beautiful, and they are dependent on each other. I'm so happy that the last episode was just fluff. There were no problematic scenes, nothing. It was just them getting the true joy they deserved after 15 episodes of pain and suffering. That's all I wanted. I didn't want a 10-minute scene of joy. No, I got the full hour, and I'm very, very happy. Lovely Runner is one of the best shows ever, and I'm so happy to have watched it.Was this review helpful to you?
Sometimes the happiest scenes never happen. But we still need to believe they can.
I'm pretty sure this movie was supposed to make me sob my soul out, but that is not what happened. It broke my heart into a million pieces. It emotionally destroyed me. I will be thinking about this movie for a very, very long time. But did I sob? No. I didn't sob because this was like a very slow heart attack. I think that's the best way I can describe it. It was a two-hour movie and throughout the entire movie, it was just a slow and steady sense of dread. Even in the beginning when the scenes were happy and joyful, you could tell that something horrible and sad and heavy was coming up because the environment, the tension was always there. And maybe because I know the history of the movie and I knew what to be prepared for, but overall, the foreboding sense of dread was very, very strong.What really got to me was the last 10 to 15 minutes because after going through a whole, like, two hours of pain and suffering and a little bit of joy, but mainly pain and suffering, we get somewhat of a closure. I personally wouldn't call it a happy ending. It's a very sad ending, to be very fair, but it gives you hope. It's not even a hopeful ending, but it still gives you hope that maybe one day, time fixes everything, that you do get to be happy, that maybe life corrects itself. It is how you interpret it. And those 10 minutes of the two main characters having just such a pure connection, it wasn't a romantic scene, no, but it was two good friends coming together yet again. And that is what broke me. And for the first time, I experienced the situation or scenario of almost sobbing, but not really. Like, I had silent tears pouring out of my eyes because my heart was healing itself in a very, very slow process.
The thing that broke me the most was remembering that this was based on a real life, and this whole story was based on the director's real life. Because I'd known about this movie for a very long time, and I had forgotten this fact. So when I finished the movie and I tried to go and do some, just look at the cast and directors and stuff, I come upon this fact. And this is when I find out for the first time that the last ten minutes of the movie, the one scene in the movie that actually made me, made my emotions cross the line of crying, was a scene that never happened in real life. It's so painful to imagine that all of this is based on a real story, and just the last ten minutes of joy did not even happen because the director never got to meet his buddy ever again. The story ended when they were last together. That's the end. But the director was generous enough to give us somewhat of a happy scene at the end. Just to remind us that yeah, love exists and maybe you can move on and everything heals with time. But in reality, that's not what happened to him. And that was the saddest fact about this whole movie.
There's a lot of wonderful dialogues that are in the movie, but my personal favorite one is "if being queer takes you to hell, then send me there, maybe people there will understand me better". As somebody part of the LGBT community, I constantly make jokes about the fact that I'm going to hell because I'm gay and that's where I'll end up. But I say it both cynically and comedically at the same time, because I do find it funny that people who love so purely can go to hell. I just don't ever understand the concept because love is a very pure thing and at the same time, I do understand how religion plays a role here. I do get it. So this dialogue was like a knife to the heart. It's funny, but at the same time, if I do end up in hell, just because I love somebody of the same gender, it's a relief to think that, yeah, there will be other people who will understand me better, that I won't be alone, even in hell.
I really appreciate the director giving some form of hope at the end. Even though they did not get it in their own life, they choose to give it to other people, and that itself shows you how loved and pure they are, and not a sinner because they're gay. They will go to heaven and so will everyone go loves with a pure heart.
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This review may contain spoilers
Even if scars don't disappear, they don't last forever.
I don't think I have physically sobbed harder watching anything in my life more than this movie. And I put emphasis on anything. I don't think I've ever cried this hard. My chest hurts, my skin feels achy with how much I've cried. That's how devastating this movie was.From the very beginning of the movie, it had a very homely and authentic vibe to it. It wasn't a very big, massive production, but it was just a simple story that had a little bit of depth to it, and that depth was so absolutely incredible, I don't even know how to go about it. I genuinely loved how simple the storyline was, yet it hit so hard. I have no idea how to explain, but honestly, one of the best movies I have ever seen in my life. And even though I put the rewatch value as high, I don't know if I'll ever be able to watch this movie ever again.
One of the most beautiful part about this movie was the relationship dynamics between the three main characters. And you can argue with me if you say it's only a romantic story or a love story, because I will not joke around about Jimin. She is the most incredible character I have ever watched, because it's just her power of friendship and love is so beautiful to me. She would and will do anything for her best friend. From the very beginning, she was so protective of her friend. She loved her friend, and all she did was care for her. And at the end of the day, all she wanted was Se-yoon to be happy, and I don't even know how to describe how beautiful their bond is to me. Towards the end, we can also see Jimin wasn't just Seo-yoon's friend. Obviously, Seo-yoon mattered to Jimin more than anybody, but as the whole group integrates and they become like a whole nice wonderful friend group, you can see how much pain she is going through, because she lost one of her good friends as well. It's not just about Seo-yoon. She lost a really good friend, and she doesn't even have the option to grieve in front of her best friend. Because at the end of the day, if you look at the semantics, Seo-yoon's boyfriend, love of her life, died, and she doesn't know about it, and her best friend can't tell her about it. It is just utter pain, the way that this story has been written.
And on the same side, Jae-won, who's an amazing, amazing character, well-written, everything, he's such a green flag. I have so much to say about him, I just don't know how to put it into words. But his thought of, I want to make this girl happy every day, even though I might not be there, I want her to be happy still. And the concept is such a beautiful, beautiful storyline.
I loved how at the end, Jimin managed to tell Seo-Yoon about Jae-won and everything because she couldn't hide it anymore, not just because Se-Yoon was constantly wondering and thinking about Jae-won, but because she as a person was grieving and it hurt her. And I'm so happy that she told Seo-Yoon about everything because it was better for both of them that way.
This was perfect, really. I don't have any opinion on how to change this movie for the better because it was utterly perfect. The ending was one of the most devastating endings I've ever seen in my life. Like, I don't know what to say. The last 30 minutes of this movie, all I have done is sob. I haven't smiled not once. And every time I managed to calm down, the characters started crying. And then when I saw them crying, I continued crying. There was a scene where Jimin was erasing all the stuff that Seoyoon had made about Jaewon so that she wouldn't remember him. And it showed a sequence of all the moments the couple had together. But now the guy was not there, so it was just Seo-yoon. And that broke my heart because it looked like she was alone. And it was just a cinematic masterpiece. Those scenes where her happiest moments where she was with the love of her life were just her alone. And she wasn't sad because she remembered she was happy, but she just doesn't remember who she was with. Absolute 10 on 10 movie. I will probably never watch it again.
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"You shouldn't be sad that it's over, you should be happy that it's happened"
There's something really authentic and beautiful about this movie. It hits you very hard in the best way possible. I went into this thinking it was just a deep romantic movie where the male lead dies, and it's sad but really good. But I genuinely underestimated this movie's depth. I really appreciate the fact that both of the relationships have so much depth in them, which is both the platonic relationship and the romantic relationship. In here, you really can't compare those two because they have their own stories, yet the basis of this is that love is so pure in this movie.The main character loves so purely, I just don't know how to explain it. She will do anything for her best friend, even if it breaks her own heart. And I really don't need to go on at length about how beautiful that is. And on the same side of the coin, we have the best friend who will also do anything. I didn't really sob towards the ending as much as I sobbed when those two fought because their bond is so beautiful, and it broke my heart to see them fighting when, at the end of the da,y they love each other so much, and both were hurt, yet would do anything to make the other person feel better because that's just how pure their love is.
The ending to me was such a bittersweet moment because you can see that Bora has moved on. She's an adult, she has a job, she has her own responsibilities, but at the end of the day, she will always remember him, no matter how much time has passed. And when she was watching the movie, she wasn't devastated at the fact that he was deceased, but she took it very well, I would say. Obviously, yes, she was heartbroken, but I think in the back of her mind, she probably knew or thought that something might have happened. And the ending of this movie was so beautiful that, yes, even though it hurts, it's a good thing that it happened.
There's this one quote that says, "You shouldn't be sad that it's over, you should be happy that it's happened". And I think that is the best way to put this movie. And yeah, such a beautiful, beautiful movie. It broke my heart a little bit, but I think people are giving it a lot more credit than it deserves in the sadness department. Of course, it was devastating, but I think the ending was really bittersweet, and I loved it. It did not make me bawl my eyes out, but it made my heart ache in a good way.
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How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies
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This review may contain spoilers
The grandmother, in fact, does die, but she gives you a lot to think about before she leaves.
I'm going to be thinking about this movie for a very long time. I don't know how to describe how wonderfully it was made. It was what I would call a slow film, but I did not feel bored for even half a second. It was very gripping, very gripping. It just had control of me the whole time. And it was such a cool movie. I don't even know how to explain it. You're watching people at its core. There's no like storyline, oh, this is what happens next after that. No, it's just people's normal lives. This is what happens. This is actuality. This is reality. I don't know what I'm saying, but it really, really made me feel so much.You go into this film knowing that the main character, the grandson, will look after his grandma for the sole purpose of earning money or, you know, getting whatever she basically inherits all her stuff. And that is the premise of the movie, and we all know that, oh, he's gonna really love her, and then it's gonna be sad and depressing. That is the whole movie, but it is so much deeper than that. And we know it is deeper than that. We go in knowing that it is supposed to be deep, and it really is deep. I was just randomly sending a video to my friends, and the context was, spoiler for this movie is, the grandma actually does die at the end. That's the spoiler I gave them because I don't know how else I can explain it. This was a whole journey from, I don't know, it was that good. It was, it made me feel so much, and it made me feel just deep to my core, a feeling that I haven't felt in such a long time. I haven't been moved by a movie in such a long time, and I really applaud the fact that the director was able to do this without adding some huge fight or drama. No, the director just showed the daily reality of people. This is how life is, and this is how life will be.
Another thing I really, really loved about this movie was that it was a great story, and sometimes a great story does not need a huge plotline. There were no villains, there was no great drama, there was no horrible fight. The best part of this movie was that you really got to see the movie at its core, and what it's showing is that the world isn't black and white. You would think that the grandson is some spoiled, imbecilic child. I don't know. And he really is at the beginning, and the whole concept is that, oh, he gets better and he goes from bad to good, but that's not it, is it? He was always good, and he made some poor decisions, but at the end of the day, he was a good person. He is a good person, and he loved his grandmother. That is a core fact. We can go through these types of feelings with every single character, and I love that. I genuinely do.
Starting with Mui, M's cousin. At first, I thought she would be an example for M and tell him off for behaving that way, but she was the one who actually planted this idea in his head. But the more time you spend with this character, the more you seem to understand her. She didn't come from a place of greed or exploitation. It really rubbed me the wrong way when she said that it doesn't matter why you spend time with them, it just matters that you do. But again, she's right. You can try to make the best for yourself while also giving to others as long as you're not hurting them. And who knows, you might actually end up in a much better position than you expected. When asked if she ever dreamed of grandpa, she showed her true colours. The love she had for the man was never questioned again. Same with M.
The trio of siblings were all such interesting characters. The way that they showed love was very different from one another, and yet they still loved their mom. Sew is the only one who didn't want anything from the mom, and that's why the mom wanted to live with her the most. Sew wasn't the favourite, but Grandma felt most at home with her. There's something very beautiful and poetic about that. And Uncle Khiang. Grandma gave up beef for him. That scene of M telling him was portrayed so beautifully. It wasn't loud or had any negative feelings towards the man. He was simply reminding his uncle of what's important: his mom.
What do I even say about M? I hated him at first. But I knew he was gonna change; the whole movie depended on that fact. I teared up a lot in this movie, but the sobbing only started when I saw him cry for the first time. When grandma was at his house, he sang her the same lullaby she used to sing for him. That was the moment it really hit him that she was leaving, and nothing else mattered than the love they shared for each other. The relationship between them is very pure. Grandma didn't have favourites, of course, but he definitely had a special spot reserved way before all this Cancer stuff even happened.
One of the earlier scenes hit me very hard. It was the temple scene where he was pointing out that none of the family members had put her in their wishes. And he was doing that to get the attention back on him, yet his wish wasn't something attention-seeking. It wasn't, I hope my grandma gets better or may she live long. He simply paid attention to what she wanted and wrote that down. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into it, but that's just how I felt. Even when he got upset about not getting anything, he seemed more mad about her health than anything. Like the realisation of her dying was slowly creeping in, and this was a good reason to yell.
Lastly, probably a crowd favourite, I will buy you a new house. The amount of pain and love this particular scene made me feel is impossible to describe in words. It really shows you how pure a child's love is. His grandma told him, I am going to be saving money for you until I die. And his response was, Oh, I hope you save this much money so that I can have this much money. And his grandma was like, Oh, you want me to die? And he's like, I just want the money so that I can buy you a new house. His whole thought process was that, Oh, I'm going to be getting money. What do I do with this money? Give my grandma a new house. Can love be purer than this? This is my favourite scene in the movie. What can I say? I am like all the other sheep out there. And cut to the scene of, "We're almost at the big plot I bought you". M fulfilled his promise.
I have never written a review this long for a movie, and yet this is not nearly enough for me to express my love for it. It is a beautiful movie. A beautiful story. I feel very happy. I have been waiting to watch somethig this fullfilling for a while and I'm glad it was this one.
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Beautiful stories
This was the perfect ending. I don't know what else to say. I had the time of my life watching this show. It was amazing to watch a show that made me laugh, cry and scream. I literally got to watch the characters go through so much growth, and what can I say, man, the main character was so well written. Honestly, all the characters were exceptionally well-written. I loved watching each story unfold, and it's just beautiful to watch people getting their well-deserved justice. There are new characters every episode, and yet the main characters will still always have your heart. Just perfect.Was this review helpful to you?
A Warm Hug In Drama Format
This drama just quietly makes someone happy. It's one of those rare coming-of-age romances where the comfort is the point. There is no harshness. And what makes it truly beautiful is how gentle it is. The friendships feel real and the romance feels safe. And everyone genuinely wants the best for each other. I just saw friendship and romance at its purest form. There was no unnecessary toxicity or exhausting misunderstandings. Instead, it was just people growing up together and loving each other sincerely. The show never feels like it’s trying to manipulate you into feeling something extreme. It just quietly says these people care about each other, they communicate, they grow togetherand love can actually feel peaceful. This one's gonna stay in my heart for a long time.
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Give it a try, your life might change.
It's such a hollow feeling finishing this because I know I probably won't ever watch something this amazing again. When Life Gives You Tangerines was my number one K-drama, and I genuinely felt that nothing would beat that, but honestly, from the beginning, I had some idea. The moment I started this, I got the strongest feelings of home and love. From the first 5 minutes, I swear.This show has shown me just so much love, but also given me countless life lessons. This is sounding so preachy, but it is what it is. I remember wanting to finish this quickly so I could start something new, and yet at the same time, really struggling at the end because I never wanted it to end. It's weird, but they did coexist at the same damn time.
People say that this is a slow and kinda boring drama, but isn't that the point? The depiction of life here is absolutely outstanding. Tell me, what would you say if someone asked what this show was about? I think I would be a bit overwhelmed because I know no matter how hard I try, I won't be able to explain perfectly. It's about life. It's about love. It's about the highs and lows that every single person on this planet feels. It will make you cry your eyes out, and it will make you laugh till your chest hurts. It is a beautiful show, and I am glad I watched it.
There's so much more I can say, but as I said, I won't be able to put down all my thoughts perfectly anyway. The simple truth is that no show will ever make me feel this great again. Oh, the joy to be able to watch this again from the beginning.
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