Doki
U.S.
In terms of historical accuracy, Gohatto is right on the money for everything except the subject it's primarily dealing with.
In a way, it's modern-minded characters in a historical setting.
I won't give an entire Japanese history lesson here, but homosexuality was not fraught over as it is in the movie. For example, there is a lot of concern in the movie over who "swings that way" and who doesn't. In reality, shudo was considered a higher form of bonding and there was extremely little concern over who participated in such acts and who didn't. It's also important to note that sexuality was much less... fixed. It was not seen as such a solid concept as it is today.
Again, this could arguably be the intention of the director, handling a modern issue on a different platform.
Historical accuracy has never been huge for me, though. I do feel it's important to understand if something is or isn't.
A lot of this movie is left open to interpretation. If this is a big pet peeve of yours, I don't recommend this movie.
While artistically I understand why so many questions were left hanging in the air, a big part of me still wouldn't mind some filling in of the blanks.
Something I didn't hugely care for was that large chunks of time were "skipped over", explanations of what has occurred given textually. I just felt it didn't work for this film.
I do want to give due credit to the costume and set designs which were excellent. The swordsmanship was also well choreographed.
The music, on the other hand, just wasn't noteworthy.
The acting just didn't stand out to me. I felt the actors did their job and they did it well, but it wasn't anything more than that. It's difficult to tell if that is a reflection of their skills or a director's decision; I'm leaning towards the latter.
As a last little peeve, most of the actors keep a relatively flat affect the entire movie, especially Kano. While this can be chalked up to how samurai actually behaved at the time, my problem with it in this instance is that because so much of the plot is left up to how you interpret it, I was hoping for emotional cues to lead me in the right direction. So yes, I think the director made the right choice, but the selfish part of me wants to know what the characters actually felt.
I personally felt this movie was more about the corruption that goes with desire rather than homosexuality. Nonetheless, the director does a good job of presenting the issue in an interesting and relatively unique way.
Overall, it wasn't my favorite, but I do think Gohatto is worth watching.
Note: There's truly no sexually explicit scenes in this movie. There's only one that's even questionable. I do advise anyone who is squeamish of gore to proceed with caution, though.
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This review may contain spoilers
This is just one of those dramas you have to watch. It's that good.It's the heart aching poetry of how history repeats itself, and falling to one's fate.
Gu Family Book has a depth you rarely see; there are so many levels to the plot, each enhanced by a spectrum of emotions and feelings.
As a warning, this series takes a hatchet to your feelings. While the feels are proof of a phenomenal drama, you may need to do something like hold kittens or let puppies lick you to make everything okay again.
While some scenes are arguably dragged out too long, I was amazed about how much happens in every episode. I'd get to the end of one and be shocked at how much actually took place in just that one hour. These are not a boring 24 episodes.
Despite how much I adored this drama, the ending has the potential to ruin the entire series. I really had to sit down and think about if the final twenty minutes really lowered my entire opinion of this series (the other 23 and a half hours of it).
Avoiding spoilers, I believe Gu Family Book would have had a much, much stronger ending if it had ended thirty minutes into the final episode. While it would have been much sadder, by ending on a promise it would have been more beautiful. The ending almost mocked the rest of the series with it's casual atmosphere.
Among my issues with the ending was the fact that there was a significant lack of closure for the vast majority of the characters. Gu Family Book focuses so much on the characters' interactions with one another and their growth as a whole that to not know what happens to them gives you a very incomplete feeling.
On the more technical aspects, my only complaint was the supernatural effects (this includes the design of the gumiho's divine creature appearances).
They were... somewhat cheesy and contrastingly cheap in comparison to the effort put into the costumes and sets.
What I considered the worst part was that they threatened to ruin many serious and emotional scenes.
While I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the setting and costumes, they were beautifully done and obviously had a great deal of effort put into them.
The music beautifully accented the scenes-- moments where I was close to tears, the music often pushed me over the edge.
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This is just one of those dramas where all of the pluses make up for the negatives and then some.
Story: I just loved the story; was it a flawless masterpiece? No, but but few things are. The twists and turns were excellent, and so many scenes get you right in the feelings.
The plot (especially in terms of relationships) didn't have too much of the one-step-forward-two-step-back that usually drives me up the wall with dramas; the conflicts and coming to terms with feelings felt relatively realistic and timely.
Acting/Cast: I thought the leads were phenomenal right from the start. I read a few other reviews that said Lee Min Ho should stick to contemporary roles, but I thought he was flawless in his role.
I wasn't too sure about the supporting characters in the first few episodes, but they seemed to gain confidence and really got into their roles. By the final episode I felt the vast majority of the cast was more on par with the leads.
Music: I usually don't notice music much, but I loved the OST for Faith. Any issues I have with it is more editing related. I thought it matched the feeling and mood of the drama perfectly and only added to many of the scenes. (I typically consider a soundtrack decent if it doesn't detract from a show, so being able to add to the value is a big plus.)
Rewatch Value: I'm personally really not big on rewatching anything; if I watched Faith again it would be to get more Lee Min Ho in my life. I do feel that, because such a big part of this show is the shock of the twists, that it has a lesser rewatch value. You may forget small details of a show, but you typically don't forget gigantic plot twists.
Other Comments: Most of the "problems" I had with Faith had more to do with directing and editing than with the actual elements. Faith is phenomenal, but I think it's just like any drama in that if you don't like the genre there's a good chance you won't enjoy it.
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If this movie doesn't make you cry I would say it's safe to assume absolutely nothing else will.
The focus of Hearty Paws is on emotions, both the characters' and the viewer's. The plot is essentially very simple, the flesh of the movie being how it makes you feel.
Yoo Seung Ho as Chan was outshone only by Dolly, the Labrador cast as Hearty. I think it's important to throw out there that training a dog as exceptionally well as Dolly is trained is no easy feat.
That aside, Yoo Seung Ho did a phenomenal job as the only (human) character with a substantial role.
As a side note, just so there's no confusion, most English translations of this movie refer to Hearty as a "he" but she is in fact a female dog. It's "he" in the gender-neutral way.
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