3
Megumi-H
From earth sharing the same sun & moon.
‘Mr Vampire’ in Korean version
This is a Korean take on Exorcism…some nostalgia familiarity to the good old Hong Kong movie, Mr Vampire. Watched this because of reviews.I grew up watching Hong Kong horror drama involving exorcism, spirit and zombie. So I was pleasantly surprised by this movie which is based on Korean culture also has some similar elements such as rituals, calling spirit, Feng Shui, ancestors’ grave shifting, exorcism etc. It even had a darker urban legend as the back story about what Japanese Yin-Yang master done to Korean Feng Shui by breaking Korea into two countries. And there was a subtle theme of how a country and people survived this ordeal (war), trauma stays with them.
Brief plot without reviewing much, is about one veteran (a Feng Shui master), a funeral director and two new practitioners (a Sharman and her disciple), these four came together because of their client’s ancestor grave mystery and uncovered a darker past. Facing life danger situation, they will have to use their expertise to fight the unknown.
Brilliant writing, good pacing, good acting.
If you like this type of drama, this is definitely worth the watch.
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A historical detective/coroner drama with simple cute straightforward romance.
I was pleasantly surprised to come across this drama by chance. The first episode got me hooked.Cast - a group of young actors and actresses who were neither popular and nor famous but their acting were super. They presented their roles well and very natural.
Plot - interesting twist and turns in the story. ML and FL developed love and learnt to trust each other, supported each other through their challenges. No complicated third party. The supporting casts have their own sweet CP too.
The story and plot were witty. Both ML and FL were smart and witty, cute in their own ways. The director had an interesting way of showing how historical coroner (FL) uncovered evidences from the corpses and crime scenes.
Refreshing to watch. The ending was a trap set up to captured the villain and of course happy ending.
Once you start, you can’t stop. Definitely worth a watch if you are in for an appetite of some simple straightforward romance and witty detective work.
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Coloured Lens
This was an old movie, released in 2014, I only picked this up now after so long was because ML used to be one of my favourite K drama lead and I found a source to watch it online.Personally I used to cringe at such storyline with the emphasis on the over-glorifying of extra marital affairs (EMA). The fact to this story is that both leads did betray their spouses. And ML’s behaviour is no different from the older commander who was trying to take advantage of FL during the dance. The only different is ML is charmingly handsome and FL also has feelings for him.
However after watching this I realised that it really depends on what ‘lens’ you watch with. It’s actually a simple, beautiful, sad love story.
If one watch this with an emphasis on the ML’s story of a celebrated war veteran suffering from PTSD and how he was trying to navigate his life again after the trauma of war. He can’t celebrate his wins and he is tormented, and he discovered a dysfunctional way of coping is being obsessing over a desire at first sight that spark him to live again. And as the show progresses, one will understand why his obsession and desire was the only thing that kept him alive after war, similar to why a lot of war veterans developed alcoholism.
Hence it’s not surprising that he attempted suicide after FL tries to break up with him. Yet even he didn’t die, he was again not given another chance to be understood and recover, instead was punished by being sent back to war and die there. He has literally no second chance and no life post war except that glimpse of love desire.
So I am surprise that I do like this and how the story was told was quite nicely done. The acting were spot on and ML is still charming, although too good looking to be a war veteran. LOL!
So choose the lens that you are going to watch this with and you may just enjoy this differently.
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If you are a City Hunter Fan…
City Hunter was a classic J comic, may seem like a simple story but the main character can be complex back story. I am a fan of the comic and anime, so nice to see finally J entertainment made this series into a movie. There has been so many version made previously, the one with good effort and attempt was the French version. However I must say this is movie by far is the best adaptation and maintained the essence of its original comic. And only with a J production, we can see the J humour done so well. The casts done a fantastic job, the fighting and shooting scenes were quite well done. I really enjoyed watching this, if you are a fan of City Hunter, it’s a must watch and you sure will enjoy this a lot.Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Potential great love story however cheapened by its main theme on sexual drive!
FL and ML has their first sex experience in their high school day. The experience created and impact for both of them.In adulthood, FL didn’t have much success in love and life, she met the ML again who was having trouble with his male libido. ML’s libido to him was also equivalent to his creativity. So as a writer, he was in despair when he lost his writing ability due to his lost of libido. However when FL came into the scene, ML found his miracle cure, where he was able to regain his sexual arousal. So subsequently the few episodes were about ML trying to convince FL to have physical intimacy and sex with him. Which she gave in eventually. In this drama, FL was portrayed as a ‘push over’, giving in to ML’s advances and requests again and again. After she gave in to him and had sex with him, which she was still unable to set clear boundaries and resulting in her wondering was she just a sex object. Deep inside, FL seems to love ML previously or/and was once emotionally hurt by him (in high school, she couldn’t understand why after she gave her virginity to him), he abandoned her. As adult, she tried to act mature and cool about the matter but still deeply curious and drawn to ML as she was in high school.
There was another matured SML who was gentle and respectful to FL and took interest in her. But yet ultimately we know that she chooses to stay with ML because she accepted ML’s term of loving her is via physical connection (or sex). Partly she is flattered that she is the only women that can aroused him and maintain his sexual desire/needs. So they end up staying together and be happy in the moment.
What I dislike:
Normalizing woman to be a ‘push over’ and sex object to man. Allowing woman to be a victim to man’s fantasy.
Suggesting that it’s acceptable to allow a man to act on his sexual drive to manipulate a woman through her emotional vulnerability and love for him.
Dehumanizing man to a state only being driven by sexual drive and needs.
What I like
The actors/actress acting were natural and believable in their roles.
ML’s character is uniquely designed and he is not really like all man, one can see a mild autistic traits presented. And as FL learnt and choose to love and accept his flaws, their love is simple and uncomplicated as they meet each others’ needs.
The boldness of the director and script to explore this topic in an open manner.
One need to watch with an open mind or you won’t appreciate it.
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Older woman athlete discover Love.
Genre: older woman and younger man romance; professional athlete; resilience as a sportsman; perseverance and growth with faith in self.It’s not my usual to watch romance between older woman and younger man. Feels like a cradle snatcher situation in such relationship. My personal bias. I watched this because of the male lead who I followed in another drama, “Forever Love”. However I am pleasantly surprise by this drama, it’s romance is not to cringy and there were quite a focus on the struggles of being a professional athlete. Especially when the ML succeed in multiple attempts to break his own records, inspired a deep admiration of the journey of a sports person.
The CP romance is acceptable, got good chemistry. The ML really portrays well as a ‘little puppy’ hopelessly in love and pursuing his love in one track mind. The FL is strong and resilience in her own ways with unwavering trust in the ML potential.
Overall inspirational watch! If you are looking for a light hearted and warm drama, this I will be my recommendation.
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