amrita828
Italy
Does it tell the story of a girl who needs to come out of her hidden sense of guilt and find the lost relation to her father? Or is it about this same girl seeking revenge against a cheating boyfriend?
Perhaps it tells the adventures of a young man who pretends he\''s gay, as the title seems to suggest. Or, again, it\''s the story of a house and how it influences the lives of those living in it.
In short: I could compare this drama to a pot-pourri. You know, those pretty little boxes or vases filled with all sorts of dry flowers, herbs and spices. You open it thinking it will smell of frangipani and your nostrils are assailed by a nondescript cocktail of perfumes, from cinnamon to roses.
The acting is not bad, although I maintain that Lee Min Ho is too preoccupied with his good looks to be a truly believable actor. I\''m ready to face the consequences of my statement.
And, to be honest till the end, I was slightly distracted throughout the whole show by the length - or lack thereof - of his trousers.
Overall, it starts in the best of ways, with elements of comedy and all the premises for a very sweet, passionate love story. It loses direction somewhere by the middle, and it doesn\''t find it back.
Disappointing.
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Nothing wrong with it, mind you. On the contrary, if a man is attracted to younger women, I don't see why it shouldn't be the same for a woman. And in many cases the formula works.
Not here, though, not to me at least. Koike Teppei is the perfect child: he's sweet, invariably clumsy, funny in a goofy way, but he's the most unbelievable lover ever. I can imagine he could have a teen-ager crush on a tall, statuesque, perfectionist of a collegue but why should she reciprocate? To fullfill her mother instinct?
This was the first time ever - and I hope the last - in which I laughed out loud during the first love declaration.
The plot is so inconsistent I forgot most of it after watching the end credits. The situations these 2 are thrown into, which in the drama world should help the 2 fall in love with each other, are little, daily, mostly boring ones. I had no particular wish to know the epilogue of this story, so by the end I simply watched it while I did a dozen other things. How did it end, by the way? I forgot.
I give the music a non-committal 5 because, truth be told, I don't remember how it was. Whatever the case, it certainly did not leave a great impression on me.
Overall, a boring, dejà -vù dorama with a very unfitting cast.
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Sore wa, Totsuzen, Arashi no you ni..
25 people found this review helpful
Despite the premises though, there is something about this drama which made it into one of my favourites in its genre.
Perhaps because on further analysis it doesn't deal with falling in love with someone, but with learning to love oneself and appreciate the little, daily things one gives for granted.
Esumi Makiko is so beautiful here, one soon forgets the age gap. The story revolves around her, her internal struggle, her doubts, her self-esteem. Yamashita Tomohisa plays his part very well too, portraying a young man in that fragile phase between adolescence and adulthood in a very believable way.
Overall, a delightful, suave drama.
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But it isn't so much the plot which makes this into a great watch: it's the direction style. Everything about it is over the top: from the athlets who fly around the court as wuxia warrior on a battlefield, to the characters who have the flavour of manga drawings, from the camera angle which plays with frozen scenes and facial expressions, to the plot itself, with its never completely serious twists. References to the battlefield, the Romans, the Greek and Sun Tzu's the art of war are scattered all over the show for the most attentive viewer to catch.
The scenes displaying street basket are awesome and the beautiful music is chosen with sense and aim.
I'm ready to recommend this to every basketball lover. Should you happen to hate this sport, then it may be a harder watch, unless you are appeased by the good-looking actors, in heaps here, and the beautiful, strong and far from whining leading ladies.
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Which is not, thanks to its atypical structure, devided into 7 different stories.
The advantage is, one can skip the story or stories one finds less appealing or interesting and jump to the next without having lost much in terms of development. Even a long break between them is possible, which I personally found refreshing.
I found them all enjoyable, each with a completely different flavour and connected only by the common thread of the Say Yes Enterprise, a pretty improbable cupid agency. The acting is not stellar, but it's solid and realistic and the music varied and very appropriate.
All in all, an enjoyable drama.
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The movie made me think of Luc Besson's "Leon", one of my favourite films ever. The feel is the same, and so is the awkward yet deeply touching relationship between Tae-shik and So-mee.
Won Bin's performance is superb, his misery and loneliness enphasized by the constant darkness of the setting and the few sharp lines he is asked to deliver. But just as brilliant is the kid's acting and that of the two schizoid criminals with their dark humour, one lamenting the blood on his Dolce & Gabbana's shirt, the other toying with eyeballs.
Stay away from it if you are easily disturbed by blood. This movie is violent and pretty graphic, and the ethic underneath the blood shoking and insufferable. The Korean police are doing what they always are in Korean films: nothing. Except being activated to a frenzy by the only hero of the story.
At times, one wishes one could enter the screen ad shake some sense into the police force. I can only hope this is a dramatic device, more than a window on reality.
The action scenes are brilliantly enacted, with enough close cut shots to make them believable and felt.
Overall a superb movie, not to be watched while eating, though.
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It's clever, thought-provoking, surprising and entertaining. It engrosses the viewer from the very beginning, accompanying one through a journey which is at the same time thrilling and disquieting.
The direction seems to have the quality of a dream in mind, what with the dark colours mixed with splashed of blood red, shiny yellow and electric blue. The acting follows the same pattern, constantly over the lines, like a classic theatrical piece, with exaggerated costumes and close-up shoots of frozen expressions.
Characterization is strong too. The main characters and the recurring secondary ones are vivid, clear cut, each one growing and yet remaining the same in substance.
Liar Game is a perfectly staged metaphor of life, with honesty vs. gain at the centre of it.
The music is perfectly chosen, building up when required by the scene, retiring to the background when more attention from the viewer is needed.
Rewatching is almost necessary, to pick up on elements overlooked on first viewing and to concentrate on the overall atmosphere and acting of the show.
Highly recommended.
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This was a very popular drama at the time of its airing. The cast is top-notch, the plot has all the premises for a funny, romantic and passionate love story.
Unfortunately though, the viewer is forced to an extremely long wait for something that never happens, or happens on a very low scale in the last 5 minutes of the show.
The rest of it is a sequel of silly quarrels, food preparing and cleaning. I'd say the cleaning is the main character of the show, to the point you start looking around your house thinking that dusting once a week cannot possibly be enough. Yes, because these two, in turn, dust the huge house once a day, and the director saw it fit to show it to the viewer every single time, just in case one might forget how it is done.
The chemistry between the 2 leads is there, and it's powerful. Ironically though, this alchemy becomes the biggest flaw of the show, because it's like a big amount of electricity never conveyed into anything. One waits... and waits... and waits.
Since watching Full House I'm invariably sceptical about any drama portraying two lovers forced in the confines of a house.
Yawn.
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Hong Kong Express is no exception. The acting is, not surprisingly, brilliant. Tony Leung in particular delivers his nonchalant, ironical and obsessed cop to perfection. To Kaneshiro the honour of the best line in the movie.
The director often uses a tecnique called step-framing, in which a character is frozen in time while the world around him or her moves at incredible speed. The viewer is therefore often deceived as to the real chronology of events.
So, this is a movie about love, but it's most of all a story of solitude, like those frozen characters, who are as lonely in a metropole as little ants in a moltitude of insects.
I gave it a 8 because I need to spare the 10 for "In the Mood for Love", possibly Kar-Wai's masterpiece so far.
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My Princess falls in the second category.
It has all the premises for a light romantic, easy and funny watch but it fulfills none to the fullest.
The plot is a silly one, but I can forgive it since it never advertised as anything else than the usual "normal" girl becoming royal overnight and facing the changes.
When a plot has nothing big to offer, I expect at least great acting and, most of all, something original or beautiful in terms of direction/screenplay/music/visuals.
The direction of this drama is, at best, average, at worst atrocious.
The acting is nothing great either. The female lead does her best, but the rest of the cast is better displayed in a wax museum.
The music is the biggest put off. It does nothing to enhance the feelings portayed; on the contrary, it kills them. It seems like whoever had to chose the soundtrack did a hasty job, putting this or that song at random on random scenes.
Although I usually force myself to watch a drama to the end, I dropped this one, since I found that fast-forwarding 80% of an episode is a waste of time and finger-mobility.
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Perhaps love is one of those instances. The movie by Peter Chan has been compared to Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge" and indeed it shares with this last the same theatrical flavour, between reality and dream. One can't help be reminded of classical operas such as La Traviata or Tosca, with elements of melodrama and tragic mingled with grand musical pieces and modern settings.
With the help of the music, this movie could be watched without subtitles and still be understood by those who don't know Mandarin. This goes to the director and the actors credit.
The plot is simple and very classical, but the style is new and the music original. Not an everyday movie by all means, but one which will linger in your memory.
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I even managed to regain my composure after the initial excitement, let some time pass and cool down, in order to look at it with a less passionate, more objective stance. The result is, SG remains my all time favourite, a drama I have watched and rewatched and will watch again until the characters and the script will be integral part of my life - perhaps they already are.
The plot speaks fot itself. There is fun, romance, magic, tragic, twists and literary references. It flows without interruptions, making you laugh like crazy and cry like a baby, at times flooding you like high tide, but it never leaves one dry or unsatisfied: questions are answered, references fulfilled, all spiced up with a little magic.
The script is unique and brilliant. The funny lines are hilarious, the serious ones thought-provoking. Nothing about this script is either predictable or shallow, making the characters come to life and become realistic in a fantasy world.
Which inevitably leads me to the acting, which is outstanding. The main leads have to play the part of themeselves, then that of the other, then that of the other playing the part of themselves. Lesser actors would have screwed up, but Ha Ji Won and Hyun Bin both do a fantastic job, providing laughters in heaps and tears in the same amount. And their love story is just as beautiful as their chemistry on screen is sizzling.
The secondary characters are not mere supporters. They are all interesting, complex personalities who adds to the plot and the dynamic wonderfully.
The music is addicting, even for a K-pop ignorant as myself. Songs and lyrics are never chosen randomly but highlight and define the scenes they soundtrack.
I can't ask more of a drama. In fact, I doubt I'll find something to fully compensate for the end of this wonderful show.
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The plot is a surprise because it never goes in the direction one expected it to. Don't be fooled by an apparently superficial beginning: nothing in Stand Up!! is what it seems.
The cast is a surprise, because despite the very young age of the main leads, the acting is brilliant and gives the viewer a glimpse to the type of actors those young people would become.
The script is a surprise, as it deals with ordinary occurrences, teens fixations and the relationship between teens and adults in a sweet, mostly hilarious way.
You'll find yourself laughing out loud, giggling and, at times, remembering with a smile.
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