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even appeared and I stopped watching. The first 15 minutes were slow, If I had known that I was a little bit more patient or gave this drama an actual chance then I would find myself falling in love just a few minutes after dropping. Why? Chen Berlin who is known as Li Da Ren in this gem of a drama appeared and he just lit the whole drama up.
I finished the first episode and I was already falling for this drama truly, madly and deeply. I found Ariel lovable! and Chen Berlin dashing!I would slap myself silly for not continuing after those 15 minutes. If only I gave the drama a real go then it would have been in my life longer. We all make silly mistakes and I should really watch 3-5 episodes before thinking about dropping.
So this drama is about two best friends who have known each other for about 10-15 years and one thing is certain from the very start.
Li Da Ren loves and has always loved Cheng You Qing. It is also obvisous that You Qing feels the same but she's a woman and she's naive and I guess you could say she's scared about losing Da Ren. Li Da Ren starts to date a girl called Maggie who is very annoying and If I ever come across a girl like Maggie I will run for the hills. The thing about Maggie is she plans and she plots. Maggie wants the perfect boyfriend/husband and this girl has a list of qualities her perfect man has to have and it just so happens Li Da Ren ticks all of her boxes (He would tick mine too) so this begins the love triangle. Even though I said "I would run for the hills" I would say she did help You Qing wake up a bit but You Qing is very complicated especially in her love life. This is when her ex-boyfriend comes back and they had/have a very intense relationship. You know the type one minute they are arguing and the next they are sucking each others faces off.
Throughout the whole drama we are rooting for Li Da Ren to win his girl! We want Cheng You Qing to wake up and realise that Li Da Ren has always and will always be there for her. He is her soulmate. This is the type of drama where you watch one episode and you don't go "I might watch episode 2 tomorrow" no...you say "Next episode NOW!" and you keep on saying that until you realise 13 hours of your life have passed and the drama is over. The couple is no more and you
won't see anymore Li Da Ren and Cheng You Qing scenes. You will find yourself depressed and it will probably take you about 1-3 weeks to find another drama. However those 1-3 weeks of depression are worth those beautiful 13 hours.
P.S:. If you think Ariel and Joe Cheng are IT then think again. It's all about Chen Berlin and Ariel!
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The drama started off so well when they were in America where there was no resentment and all we had was the love triangle starting and a pair of young adults falling deeply in love. The chemistry between the main two leads was probably the best thing about the drama to be honest and even though having amazing chemistry is needed it can't hide the little flaws which can bring down a once great drama.
When I think back to when I watched Love Story in Harvard I remember being happy at first and being thankful I gave the drama a chance because at first I was bit hesitant. In the past before I started Love Story in Harvard I didn't really like Kim Tae Hee because of her character Han Yoo-ri from Stairway to Heaven. Back then if a character upset me I would automatically dislike the actor/actress(not anymore). The second I saw Kim Tae Hee playing in this drama all of that hatred disappeared and I started to really like the actress enough to watch other of her works.
When the drama shifted from America to Korea with the many years later gap I felt I lost a bit of love for the show and even though the first few episodes in the next installment was exciting because of the resentment and falling in love again. When all was said and done the drama went down another path and I honestly found myself watching the drama very slowly and pausing constantly. In the end I made it to the end and I have to say I don't think I will ever re-watch this drama. It was enjoyable while it lasted. I would suggest spending those 16 hours of your life on another drama.
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National Security is based off a true story about a man called Kim Geun-tae but he is known as Kim Jong-tae in the movie. Kim Geun-tae was a activist against the military dictatorship. He had a wife and two children. One day he was duped into visiting the police station under false pretenses where he was kidnapped to be tortured. He wasn't the only one as you would hear screams in the background of the other prisoners being tortured. Kim Geun-tae lasted about 21 days until he finally named the people above him in the organization. However he did put up a fight which lasted nearly a month.
I give the man credit, if I was taken I would fess up straight away before they would have a chance to torture me because I knew what would happen. I knew that I would be tortured for days, finally fess up and then be left scarred of the memories which would be the same to shell shock.
The movie introduces The Undertaker and he is a nasty piece of work and I'm sure he's the type who brings his work to home. A SADISTIC PIG. At the start you would see KGT being tortured and he could handle it, just. But, when the Undertaker comes that's when KGT finds it hard keeping his mouth shut. Why? The Undertaker is very extreme and like I said before A SADISTIC PIG. The scenes of torture, KGTs belly bloated from the water, being trampled on, punched and treated like a dog brought me to tears and I couldn't stop them until the movie was over. It was shocking knowing that something like this happened (I had an idea)but seeing it happen was inhuman and if my gut was just a little bit weaker than it is I don't think I would have continued.
Kim Geun-tae later became a respected congressmen who was then diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2006. He died in 2011. It was stated that KGT was afraid of the doctors and dentists as it would remind him on his torture days.
At the end of the movie they showed you real interviews with victims of torture and some were even crying. It was very hard to watch and it brought me to tears, again.
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This review may contain spoilers
I have came across "May 18" plenty of times. I knew it to be the movie where Lee Jun Ki is starring in, even though he's really just a supporting actor. Plus back then I wasn't really into War films. I had thought that this was set in the early 1900s. I never really looked into the synopsis nor did I know that this was based on a horrendous true event back in the 80's. I was searching for movies to fill up my folder for future movie nights and one of the genres I was searching for was psychological (One of my favourites). I came across this and I thought what the hell! I had just seen 71: Into the Fire and I absolutely loved that film despite crying like a baby next to my sleeping boyfriend (He can sleep through anything).
So, yesterday night I decided to pop a movie on but I wasn't so sure which one. While looking through my folder I came across "May 18" and I decided to look up the trailer. The thing which caught me was the child calling out to his father while sobbing his heart out. I'm a sucker for tragic movies especially when it's a true story (National Security ;__;)
The film started off very pleasant. We were shown a military scene where some of the soldiers were on the plane and they were expecting to land in N.Korea. However one of the soldiers pointed out that they were heading South... their own country. We were then shown a very pleasant town where neighbors would meet up to watch the popular KBS show "Legends" on a small TV for a small fee. We were introduced to the Gang family which consisted of two brothers. Their parents had died earlier on (reasons unknown) The older brother saw his young brother more as his son, his only family. His younger brother wasn't a rebel. He was a top student who even attended church choir. When the older Gang brother wants to get into the good books of his crush Park Shin Ae (The daughter of his boss, although this is unknown to him) they attend a movie with his brother (He was the excuse) they attend a movie which to be honest wasn't his best pick since the other two didn't like it. We were shown how the town was peaceful and anybody would be lucky to live there. However on May 18 the streets were crowded with soldiers beating College students to death as they were ordered to however it did seem like some of the soldiers didn't have a humane part in their body. You would see blood splatter on the billboard from the beatings. Not only were College student beaten but normal working class/ high school students were beaten to death. The hospitals were full of dead bodies and bodies near to death.
This movie is seriously the saddest, most heartbreaking film I have ever seen. I was a complete mess in all honesty. I had a cold so me crying didn't exactly help my blocked nose. I would say I cried about 95% of the movie. I couldn't hold back the tears, it seemed impossible.
I'm not allowed to post spoilers so I can't really explain why this movie affected me so much but just seeing the peoples loved ones die in their arms, people running away from the soldiers, running for their lives was truly heartbreaking. A certain somebodies heart stop beating and the doctors giving up next to their loved ones and their reactions was hard to swallow. The screams made you think of the real victims in the real Gwangju massacre.
All I'm saying is that if you are ever in the mood for a movie which makes you cry don't look any further and choose this.
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