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Mother's Duty
The movie has a strange title, and I didn't feel like sugar plays that big a role in the movie, but it makes sense at the end. I am a person who likes sugar maybe a little too much, so that I even avoid all the products that are sugar-free. It was very touching, even stressful, to watch a child diagnosed with type 1 diabetes struggling with the prohibition of sugar and the constant fight with the disease. From the people I met, I know that this illness is very severe, medically and psychologically, on the entire family. In this movie, the central character is the mother who cares for her ill child while also trying her best to balance her personal and professional life.I would say that this movie is documentary-like, message-heavy, and emotional, but all that in a positive way. The events are shown in a realistic way, and knowing that the movie is based on a true story, at moments it feels like watching the news. There are many important messages in the movie, and I am glad that the supporting roles also had something to say. So the movie is multi-layered. The highlight was a police officer at customs for imported goods with one, if not the only, comedic moment in the movie. And the emotions... The third act of the movie really delivered with emotions. Some of them were exaggerated, but all in all, they completed the story nicely for a movie that I would recommend watching with a family.
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UFO - Underneath Firmaments of Others
After watching this strange movie I was inspired to look for a meaning of UFO's. Yes this movie has an UFO - Unidentified Flying Object but it uses that background to show something about our reality as humans so i would suggest that UFO also reveals what is Underneath Firmaments of Others. We see the emotions, thoughts, statements, experiences of many people but at the end it is impossible to identify what other people hold underneath their appearances.I can see how some people would dislike this movie if they are not ready to watch something different. This is a dynamic art film. Many people, many scenes, many words, many details, yet the viewer is lost inside trying to connect the elements of the story. But how can someone connect all humans stories?
This movie shows how people would live with the presence of UFO. For me as Christian this presence of the big flying object in the sky is like the presence of God. He is there above, watching everything, yet staying silently and lets us wonder and explore life.
To conclude, this movie was really interesting and made an impact on my philosophy of life. The music and songs added a lot of soul to the story.
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No beginning and no end
Reading Webtoon is one of my favourite hobbies and the "Sweet Home" webtoon is still one of my favourite.The first season of the series managed to caption the suspension and drama of the webtoon but this second season is just a big complicated mess. So much happens and still nothing happens.
It all felt very disoriented with every character keeping their secrets from others and also from the viewers. With so many characters i couldn't connect with anyone because the story never went anywhere meaningful. Yes there is horror and gore and action and many monsters, but it didn't help much to make the series more watchable and enjoyable. I had to force my self to watch which is a shame. What bothered me the most is slopy dialogue and inconsistent story progression. Looks like the director wants us to stop caring for humans and start rooting for the monsters.
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Hallelujah
the movie is more of the first one, but it hits stronger since the cycle of crime, double crossings and death continues and has a deeper meaning knowing the context. this movie on its own offers a look to the past movie and past events so watching the first movie is not necessary. The characters were very brutal and charismatic, they are both monsters and humans.but i wonder about the title "Believer". yes we have one gangster who is a believer and knows his bible so that he can quote it in certain situations but that is more of an example what it means to sin against the second commandment: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
ultimately, is there belief and God in this movie? and what is death or justice if there is no God? I would have wanted more hints at that from the movie but i did get a lot to think about. so if you want to look into the soul of some criminals, this movie is for you.
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Your Name
In my country, there is a custom of giving a baby one of their grandparents’ names as a second name. I think the purpose of this movie is to show how we carry the names and legacies of our ancestors. The film tells a story spanning three different time periods that are connected together. At first, it was confusing and unclear how they were linked, but by the end, everything comes together with a powerful impact — especially in the end credits, which list thousands of names that shouldn't be forgotten.The main character is an elderly woman named Jeong-sun. At the beginning, the movie focuses more on her son, and I think that was a mistake. The film struggles to find its balance in the first half. It felt like the movie tricks us into investing our emotions in the young students, only to then shift the focus to the mother, who is the true heart of the story. However, the second half is almost perfect, with outstanding acting performances, beautiful cinematography, and strong dramatic moments.
The conflict connecting the two time periods serves as a tragic reminder of how easily friends and neighbors can turn against each other. This movie is a mix of historical, family, and school drama, and I am sure it will be remembered for a long time. It points to the collective memory of many people whose names have been forgotten. By carrying someone’s name, we also carry their story and, hopefully, learn from it. This movie delivers an important message and deserves to be seen by everyone. Perhaps it will even help us rediscover the dignity of our own names.
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Past Sins
First of all, I don't like the English title "My Friend Is a Murderer" because the movie is shown from the murderer’s perspective, with all the other characters in the background. The Korean title is much better as it uses clever wordplay, mixing 꽝 (slang for "failure") with 공소시효 (statute of limitations).The main character, Seong-cheol, hides in a remote village for 30 days until his statute of limitations expires. However, instead of lying low, every encounter with the villagers turns into loud yelling and arguing. There were some genuinely funny moments, but mostly it was just noisy chaos that wasn’t very enjoyable for me to watch. I felt that all the characters exaggerated their performances too much in an attempt to be funny.
That said, the story was still interesting, and the movie kept my attention from start to finish. The filmmakers added many layers to the story and made the village feel believable with its ensemble of characters. I must admit, this movie actually has solid production — not on the level of big blockbusters or theatrical releases, but very well done for a streaming film.
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Ghost Illusion
The most interesting thing about this movie is the folklore behind it — the real-life stories that inspired the creators. Salmokji is a real place where many strange occurrences have been reported, so of course a movie was made to exploit it. I can say that for the first half, I was intrigued to see where it was all going, but in the second half, I just stopped caring about the characters. The mystery remains a mystery, and it’s hard to definitively conclude what really happened.The movie is full of cheap jump scares. They build tension in a scary scene, then a ghost suddenly appears, the movie immediately cuts to the next scene, and the ghost is gone. It feels like the producers used every opportunity to insert a scare without thinking about the consequences or consistency. For example, there’s a scene with a character on a boat who changes appearance to another person and finally he disappears and the movie just continues as if nothing happened.
What I did like was the camera work. They experiment with different perspectives and shots, showing some nice filming diversity in a few interesting moments. But in the end, this is just a forgettable movie that had potential but wasted it on cheap horror tropes.
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Doesn't Make Sense
From the start, this movie seemed strange. The first scene felt like it had been filmed in front of a green screen, with the characters having a distinct outline around their silhouettes. As the story progressed, it made less and less sense until the weird finale, which somehow perfectly fits the overall style. For me, the movie started slow but became more and more interesting. So when I say that things don’t make sense, I mean it as a compliment — the absurdity was used to strengthen the comedy while still delivering an inspirational story about the different roles we play in our relationships. Could i play a role of father to my wife, haha?Mismatch is a 2026 South Korean comedy-drama that really made me laugh when I least expected it, and it was thoroughly entertaining overall. Some movies have jokes that are so stupid or silly they become funny. In this film, the jokes are so unbelievable that they end up being hilarious.
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Let's Be Friends
Who would have thought that a movie called "People and Meat" would be this good? This is indeed a gem of a movie about the unlikely friendship between three elderly people with good balance between drama, humor and social commentary. Try avoiding the synopsis if possible, as it reveals too much of the story. While the plot revolves around eating meat, the main focus is on portraying the issues elderly people often face in Korean society.The movie makes you instantly like the characters, largely thanks to the veteran actors who all delivered perfect performances. It feels like watching your own grandparents. In fact, after watching this movie, you should go and treat your older family members to a dish they like. This film gives us a lesson on how to live an authentic life. We might not always agree with the characters or fully understand them, but we have to respect them.
There were a few special moments during the movie when my heart just opened wide. Since I am already over 40, maybe this movie touched me more than it would younger viewers, but still, I would sincerely recommend it to everyone.
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Dance Psychotherapy
Office work is very stressful, and employees need some form of refreshment so they don’t carry their work issues back home. The main character in this movie is the office leader, Guk-hee. I heard her name as “Cookie” :) She seems very strong and confident, but she is bursting at the seams, both personally and professionally. Eventually, she discovers flamenco dance and things start to change.The movie tries to portray a social drama, but it felt overly complicated. It was hard to keep up with all the office issues. Since I’m not an office worker, I had a hard time relating to the characters. On top of the drama, the movie also tries to be a comedy, mostly through weird and childish bodily humor. The main actress often stretches her face in exaggerated ways, probably to make us laugh, but for me it was sometimes uncomfortable to watch rather than being funny. I don’t think the actors did anything wrong — it just didn’t suit my personal taste. Hopefully the movie will be more successful with other viewers.
What I appreciated is that the movie presents dance as a remedy to help people find balance and emotional relief from the stress of daily life. We all need a way to break free from our problems — not to run away from them, but to face them in a healthier way.
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Let the Children Fight
Physical fighting is common in very young children, but they soon learn how to express their emotions and solve problems with words. It’s usually best to avoid fights, but sometimes fighting it out seems to be the best option, especially for children. In this movie, we follow high schoolers who often use their fists, along with one strange girl who gets involved in the fights and tries to set the record straight. The film contains a bit of drama, comedy and action.The story wasn’t very convincing. The comedy provided a good refreshment every now and then, but the best part of the movie were the action scenes. Although it wasn’t believable to watch a girl fighting boys — especially since we never see her train — the fight scenes had strong energy and felt satisfying.
I actually don’t know what this movie wanted to achieve. If it was meant to give young actors a chance to act, then I understand. But from a story perspective, I don’t see anything particularly memorable. Or maybe I’m already too old for high school movies.
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Busan Dream
Jung Woo is Jjang-gu. He is not merely acting the character — the character actually represents him and his real-life story. I didn’t know that before watching the movie.Audition 109 starts like a classic Korean action comedy, so I was expecting action scenes to begin at any moment, but they never came. Instead, the movie turned out to be a slice-of-life drama with a good amount of comedy. It was enjoyable to watch, but it felt like the film didn’t have a clear direction. However, knowing that it is largely a biographical movie, made the story development feel much more understandable.
Jjang-gu continues attending auditions and failing every single one of them, while also trying to build a healthy social life with roughly the same level of success. Yet he stubbornly keeps pursuing his dream, showing truly commendable and inspiring resilience. The production quality is very good. There’s also a surprising number of guest actors I hadn’t seen in a long time. The movie features plenty of footage of Busan — its clubs, restaurants, and especially the delicious-looking plates of meals.
If you know who Jung Woo is, you should definitely watch this. After checking his filmography, it appears I’ve seen all of his movies, and it was really nice to get to know him better through this feature.
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Emotions are okay
Emotions at 18 are the strongest, and sometimes they can lead young people into bad decisions. Therefore, it is important to find a way to express them and put them in the right place. This movie centers on a class of female students and their new teacher, who tries to approach them with friendship. We see how negative emotions influence the students, and we are reminded that it is hard for teenagers to understand life from an objective perspective. At the same time, it is also difficult for adults to understand the youth. In this movie, the teacher is the one who manages to break down the walls of emotions and truly understand her students’ hearts. In my opinion, she stole the spotlight and became the real main character of the film.The acting was good, but I wouldn’t say it was excellent. The male characters weren’t very good, and I think the movie would have been even better without them. I didn’t see any real need to add the foreign boy into the story because he just vanished as if he had never been there. As far as I know, he wasn’t either in the original novel on which this movie is based.
Since I am in a Korean book club, I will suggest reading this book there. I’m interested in connecting with the characters on a deeper level because I really liked the topic and the movie simplified it. The church setting served the story well, as did the beach. All in all, it was a nice movie about being honest with your emotions and finding someone to share them with.
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Kidnapping Issues
This is the kind of claustrophobic thriller that has only a few characters, all confined to a small space for the entire duration of the movie. You know, like Phone Booth, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Devil, ...This movie features just three characters, and 99% of it takes place inside a locked apartment. Adding more characters and different settings could have made the film feel more complete, but keeping it limited actually helps maintain the dramatic atmosphere and keeps the focus on the main plot. I really appreciate that the movie only included what was necessary for the story and didn’t waste time on unnecessary extras. It also keeps the budget under control.
Overall, for what it is, this was a great watch. The plot was quite interesting, and the tension kept building throughout the entire movie. It contains quite a bit of violence, especially toward women, so it might be disturbing for some viewers. If you like thrillers and get the chance, I definitely recommend checking this movie out.
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Countdown of Life
I must say, this movie did something to me. It moved my heart in a new direction and made me look at life differently. The description puts it into a genre of fantasy, but the story is as real as it gets. At first glance this is a simple drama about a son concerned about his mom, while he notices strange numbers appearing. The numbers are symbolic of a countdown, but what do they really count?The movie started slow and unconvincing, but thanks to the great performances of all the actors, it slowly got under my skin. So at the end, i didn't feel at all as if watching a movie or actors performing. Instead, their characters felt like real people, or should i say, like my own family.
This is a minimalistic movie perfect for Mothers Day. The second best option is watching it at lunch, preferably eating Kimchi stew which i did eat today. That way, you might feel as if sitting with the characters at the same table.
PS. I give the movie one extra star for mentioning my Rap Idol Outsider :)
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