If this was an arthouse film this would be called a role model perfection. The shots and the sets were gorgeous with so much intricate detail that colored the characters and the mood of the story. The two leads were also beautiful in their own ways and flaws, and their contrasting roles emphasized their beauty.
I was satisfied with all the artistic content the film delivered, loved the two women, and the story with its plot twists kept my attention. The two women and their feistiness made them quirky, but then the whole film was pleasingly eccentric which made it even more erotic. Kim Min Hee was dazzling as an innocent to a literal fox with her seductiveness and the same goes for Kim Tae Ri with her wits which flipped to a loyal companion once Min Hee revealed her true colors as well.
This is probably because of preference but I was put off by how eroticism influenced all the characters. I became bored with it and rather disgusted as it just ramped up the farther along the story went but then that was one of the points of the film so I can't negate it for that. The use of bells was the one thing that really confused and towards the end I started trying to figure that out more than focusing on the movie.
Overall if you're looking for a gorgeous film with atypical characters in unpredictable settings, this is definitely a recommend.

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My face the majority of the movie was the disgusted/appalled emoji. All the main characters were the definition of sh*t heads and I don't know how Kazuo didn't lose his cool and cuss out every person he met REGULARLY. They were so brazen it'd be impossible for the average person not to snap. I really enjoyed Sato Takeru's performance and it isn't bias but just admiration for how he carries every role he's in so professionally. Kazuo was a very rational and level-headed and cool person. A normal person who was a pushover and struggling with financial pressures like everyone but he was a reasonable person. He was the only stable thing about any of the characters' contributions to the story.
The whole theme about money's worth/value and human dependence/absorption with it was very repetitive and seemed to a rather privileged point of view? It irritated me because even though I understand the underlying and moral aspect of what the characters and writer was trying to say, the stress Kazuo was going through is an incredibly real burden that people go through and it's not his fault or MONEY'S, it's the society we live in. The aspect on how much society creates this false financial pressure on a person was completely sidelined and even though the message of escaping from the obsession over worthless paper is a good and real one it's also theoretical or rather disconnected from reality. It was almost condescending and I lack the proper word here but something similar to the savior complex permeated the whole story and that is why I couldn't believe how chill Kazuo was with everyone basically disrespecting him. I understood his gratitude and resolve after his friend's actions were concluded, but the audacity of those actions??? Perhaps that's why Kazuo is a better person than me but.
The drawing up to the climax and Kazuo's final resolution was satisfying and well-played so it's fine but the overall message was just a turn off. Kazuo's realizations too were very emotional and delivered well by Sato's performance and the directing.

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Tears were out of my control

I was really drawn from the very start to Liu Ye's character. His character was that of an incredibly simple, honest, grounded, and heart-warming man with the best intentions so I felt very comfortable supporting his story through the majority of the movie. I'm also a sucker for simple romances of everyday people with the "indie" camera work that can be found in a lot of Asian movies so I was rolling with it. Around 3/4 of it, I started to get tired of the minor plot holes and the Peiru because honestly I don't think that woman was up to the rare diamond of a man Fang Zhendong was, BUT. Their exchange where she told him he'd blessed her with an angel, his utter shock that "she'd want his child from someone like him" and her THANKING HIM for being in her life hit me like a truck. I'm tearing up writing this and thinking of that scene now. I didn't even expect that brick load of tears but I was sobbing and kept crying over new scenes every 5 minutes after that. My nose was stuffy and I was roaring with tears especially for the last 5 minutes as well. I did not expect or prepare myself for this movie even though I should have known it was emotional since that's why it's so famous.
One thing that stood out to me and triggered more sobs was the thought of Peiru's (possible) regrets? She used this angel of a man and honestly did not appreciate him for long enough when he was still healthy and able to express his love for her as much as HE wanted and they almost parted on an argument??? I would probably never be able to get over that regret or forgive myself. It seemed like such an everlasting burden to be honest but the portrayal of their love was fantastic.
Overall, I was VERY unprepared for all these unexpected emotions.

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The characters' dynamics were very interesting and pretty well-written. The two leads had many unspoken sides of them that were revealed by their behavior, interactions, and short dialogues. This was enjoyable except when it came to Jin Pyeong's PTSD. We knew he had it from only one 5 min or less visit to the doctor's and then it was never mentioned again. We only knew that his depression, perhaps his panic every time his obsession with the girl was stopped, and his alcohol dependency were related to the PTSD. I feel like more emphasis could have been given there, but it was still heartbreaking to know that he was suffering and where his actions stemmed from.
I enjoyed the movie overall; it was quietly, realistically artistic in its shots, the characters were written well and the actors fulfilled them. The supporting characters were also developed nicely but not distracting to the leads.
Even though I feel like Jin Pyeong was crazily in love with her, I still more strongly suspect that he was obsessed and in love with their sexual relationship. There just didn't seem to be enough non-sexual, lovers' interaction with one another. The climatic part of the movie was gripping, and definitely caught all my emotions and attention up until he shot himself. I was surprised that he survived and even though it made me curious as to how the movie would end, I thought the end was a bit of a let down. It came off as cliche while the rest of the movie had been executed in an original way, but I guess the finale was meant to show that he loved her, having her name tattooed on his arm idk.

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Most reviews said that the plot was terrible and the director was a try hard with the artistic effects and poor action scenes but I tried it anyways because I was craving some badass noir with lots of action and hotness.
Acting from Kim Soo Hyun was 20/10, I was very impressed. He deserves far more movies and he obviously can handle dark/serious material. The international market needs a man like him as well, hello people. Everyone fit into their roles so no issue there, it's just pathetic that the director didn't use them as well as he did with KSMH, and even there that's just because the man is talented enough to pull double his own weight.
The plot was so poor it took more than half of the movie before you realized the parts all of the leads had potentially and then the last 30 minutes before you saw the plot's protagonist, the drug. By then it was too late to see where the drug had been foreshadowed and was a bit of a wtf even when you did care to think about it. It was far too weakly intertwined throughout the story for its importance to the whole scenario. You were also playing around with two MCs and apparently a third aka the real's alter ego who kept on popping up without any reasonable explanation which just made it all more confusing.
The fake and real were poorly managed as in how strongly they were to lead the plot and their relationship with one another. It started off with it being all about the real which is expected, then drifted into it being entirely about the fake even though real should still have been significant considering how the plot progressed, and then the very last scene is a ridiculous spiritual moment between the two which is stupid because they were never allowed enough interactions to get to that point. Kim Soo Hyun was outstanding as both, but it was obvious that his "real" character had so much more drive as a CHARACTER just by how it was written compared to the fake, but he wasn't given enough screen time to live it up. The potential the two characters could have had was sadly disappointed.
The two good scenes were the real/fake bathroom scene and Sulli's last moments with the fake because of the personal interactions going on; very important aspects to any movie because the characters are the life of stories.
The explicit scenes were rather meh imo. KSH and Sulli are beautiful people and were v pleasing to watch together but it was either not enough or the chemistry wasn't given enough coverage.
The director seemed carried away in his fascination with drugged up realities so all his artistic shots reflected that, but that was also unimpressive because it was so obvious and almost exaggerated. Even his action shots were attempts at art ugh. He had many "symbolic" shots which were either so drawn out or obvious that it basically took effort to connect it to a story that lacked any plot depth.

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Extremely High Execution of a Very Used Concept

I watched this on the spur of the moment after having 0 intention of watching it previously, because tbh how many times have manga/anime fans seen this survival game concept? Growing up with Japanese entertainment, NOTHING about this show was new at all, but I still loved it. I suppose for Westerners it might be new, but for me the shock factors or disturbing qualities didn't stand out from originality but from the pure execution. I could say the majority of the plot turns were predictable as well but the pacing and performances were SO good, that it kept me on the edge of my seat. The violence/gore wasn't emotionally or mentally straining and was easy to get to used to after the initial shocks of the first two episodes.
I LOVED the detective. Passionately :D and not just because that man is incredibly fine, but his character addition really added to the quick pacing of the show, mixing in another storyline so as to almost give us a breather from the dirty inhumane warehouse feeling the other characters endured. I believe that the alternations of character/story focuses was what was really done well because it always kept you rolling and focused. A "next, next, next action" experience.
The only reason I'm not giving it a 10 is because I really felt that the ending of some characters was rushed. Episode 8-9 definitely lacked the full emotional appeal of loss for me and I was mildly disappointed but I understand there was a time crunch.
I've never stayed up all night to watch a show before, but I did for Squid Game. I was absolutely groggy the next day but it was worth it. I'm currently rewatching it with my mom, and it is still an incredibly crisp viewing. The camerawork and colors were executed very, very well and I look forward to watching Hwang Dong Hyuk's other works.
The "novelty" of Squid Game that's all over media is 100% Western hype in my opinion, but tbh with how well done this show was, it probably deserves it.

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Technically, I should not write a review since I only managed a quarter of the series, but I feel like mentioning why I dropped it should be reason enough.
I was hooked for the first 2 episodes because the filming quality, story line, main character, and her character introduction moved at a comfortably fast pace. The camera shots portrayed the drowsy, stagnating summer heat of the city, giving the drama an overall tone of melancholy yet with some passionate life to it as well. For example, the scenes that caught the blinding glare of the sun as the MC squatted on the ground, playing with a machine until it was empty, her watering the plants in cooling sprays as she she first sees her love interest, etc. The main character came across as worn out, 'limp like soba' (another reference to the summer as it's eaten in that season particularly), and aimless as to what she wanted. And that's what turned me off. I understood her need to get a job or get married. Those were legitimate concerns but she goes about it by basically being lustful for a child. Yes, the kid was super handsome, he was sexually willing & curious, but by the 3rd episode I was like wtf she's taking advantage of him?
She kept saying to herself that she never felt such a connection with a person, but I felt like that trope came off across as weak because it was simply their mutual love for similar films. Her "connection" was more like she hadn't been turned on this hard by a guy before. The scene where I stopped was where she was thinking of how to get them to a love motel without getting caught by her bf while the kid is innocently telling her he's excited to see her movie collection. Like no. Perhaps it got better later in the eps, but for the 2nd half of the 3rd episode, their "connection" development was sickening and poorly written.

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