This is so Takashi Miike

Watching Takashi Miike once or twice and you'll recognize that bloody director anywhere. He really loves gore and to splatter blood everywhere.

I saw the drama in YT shorts and I was visually attracted, so that's why I watched. Who knew it has only 6 episodes, which end up being nothing more, but a LONG prologue. Tbh it's the same as if I've just watched the longest introduction to the concept of what is a Connect. Or a short series how a guy chased another guy with a phrase "return my eye to me".
I must admit, realizing that it ends with a huge cliffhanger I was pretty disappointed. Because the concept of Connect was pretty entertaining.
And what is "Connect"? Connect is an urban legend about an undying person. And it truly is so, even if they're cut to pieces their bodies seek to reconnect the parts. For the criminal gang it was like a big dream - they thought the guy will heal himself, though I think Connect doesn't work that way, they do reassemble, but I don't think they're capable of regenerating organs. Otherwise he wouldn't run around screaming - give me my eye back. After all whenever there's a cut those filament like tentacle act almost instinctively and immediately. Tbh partially this reminded me of the Parasyte -the maxim- anime, although connect doesn't have any alien form to exist in the human body, but the ability to transform body and survive is what feels alike.
And this Connect man is Dong Soo, a silent introvert guy who likes to stay low-key in the shadows and live his life quietly, fully aware of who he is and afraid of being found out, he was caught by criminals and although he managed to escape, but one of his eyes was taken away for transplantation. Little did he know that this way he was connected to another person, who happened to be the serial killer. The way he figured it out was also unusual, after all Connect is a special existence and due to the part in question being the eye, Dong Soo could "see" some of the images from the other person.
Also, I'm pretty sure many of us had seen those opening scenes with the human statue and that's why we got interested.
Figuring it out Dong Soo tried to find and stop the man (wonderfully played by Go Kyung Po), so there will be no more victims. But I must say that Dong Soo acted so suspicious at all times, he always acted as if he was on a wanted list. And because of this he stumbles a lot on his way to seek justice. So there were times when I wanted to ask him - don't you find your actions counter-productive? Maybe change something? Especially if you want to stop the dude.
The story itself follows three lines, one is just for fighting - criminal gang that tries to capture him; the line of the serial killer; third line is finding out that he's not the only one like this. But it's hard to name it a full story, because the gang was just chasing and fighting, the killer had a showdown, but it all ended interestingly and the number of connects grew by the end of the show. So the ending wasn't only the biggest cliffhanger, but a huge tease. And this is the biggest spoiler, but I'm still mentioning it, after all my curiosity grew when we find out that cut parts can be attached to others, not only, what if a bad guy becomes one of you and we won't get anything unless there will be a new season (or just go and read webtoon instead).

Emotionally the depth of this show is shallow and is not enough to cover your ankle. The only one who goes into dilemma is Dong Soo. His overall reaction to society should give you the idea that because of who he is, he can't live a life in the open, just a simple accident may blow his cover, like it happened in his childhood (the scene used once too often in the series imo). He stuck out like a sore thumb compared to others. You can't expect anything from Jin Seop. I Rang as we figured has her own agenda. The gang was responsible for chasing, screaming and coloring the screen red. And the way the storyline progressed also felt lacking and felt slow. Although what would you expect from Miike. As I said it's simply a long intro, after all nothing was truly resolved.

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I'm sorry I didn't like it (''´艸`) I'll explain what was distracting me the most first. Because I had no idea how cheering squads in Korea looked like, I was surprised by seeing their costumes, believe it or not, but they are dressed exactly like tamer in circus here, all those jackets and velvet and bling-bling. I know they're supposed to cheer, but I thought of our circus all the time.

There's nothing particularly bad about it actually, but to me it is a passable drama. And I also didn't like it making it into a love triangle, because it is obvious that someone will leave with a broken heart and don't feed me this bs that second male lead is for the audience to love.

The only good part is that Cheer Up managed to reconnect me with kdramas after I saw several cuts from it on YT. I watched several kdramas years ago, but I guess either I was unlucky in my choosing or melodramatic plots were the thing back then and I honestly couldn't watch those. But during this time I felt like I could give it a try and added few dramas in the list and Cheer Up was one of them. I will say my deep thanks to it for that, things changed and I was left amazed on how production grew, cinematography is insane and overall there are gems. Unfortunately, I can't say that Cheer Up is one of them.

I thought the beginning was pretty okay, the university like any other has their own legends and the cheering squad has those too. The intrigue is there after all. I was amazed to find how cheering squads dress and what they do... I mean it's cheering, okay, but I wonder if it's me, but seeing them doing almost the same thing made me wonder, if it's that hard (?_? ) You need stamina, but they felt like going for cheering olympics. I understand it's more about passion and ability to rile up the crowd, to have that presence on stage. I think I'm too far away from it as a foreigner to truly feel the charm of it, I understand the passion, but when you never went through same experience it's hard to relate, my life in uni was bleak too. I also had my main costumes distraction at all times.
The mains were also interesting, Do Hae Yi is so lively and striving, there is nothing bad about wanting to earn and when you have money you can do many things. Park Jung Woo is responsible and serious about the cheering squad, he truly wants it to work, despite the legends. Seemingly different people together start to strive for the same goal. Although Do Hae Yi joined the club for the money, but she came to care about it and it stopped being just a task or a contract. But I particularly don't like when they have the second male lead who also falls in love with FL, but we all know he won't get anything.
I wasn't even mad that both of Hae Yi and Jung Woo acted like children when they came together, very sugary couple. But the sudden twist at the ending I felt not needed. I'm not a fan when they add a sudden illness of the loved ones, like can't you do without it? I thought having a villain who wants the profecy to work is enough for the thrill.
And with the sporty campus love story and thrilling chase after the person behind the scenes I felt like the ending drowned me with so many couples and relationships :'D

My personal favorites were actually Hae Yi and Sun Ho moms. I don't know, they brought me joy, even if you knew that Sun Ho's mom drank not out of happy married life and Hae Yi's mom spent in poverty most of her life. But here they are and keep on going. Aye.

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I think I need some soap...

To wash my ears after these cheeky dialogues!! AH! I understand cringe and I like rom com, but this was straight out embarrassing! *hides*

It's a fact that I never read the original webtoon when I started watching this drama, but when I met reviews and comments I realized there is something wrong and read first few chapters to get acquainted and I fully realized pain of those who saw the webtoon first. After all it's really hard to watch adaptation after reading the original at any time. You can't help but subconsciously compare the two. I don't mention the fact that when adaptation does not follow the original to a t it also becomes confusing. And I repeat, I read only few chapters!!
And I could tell the difference right away. Even the female lead gave me completely different feeling, not only because webtoon has truly ordinary looking girl (she has average looks, she doesn't manage her body shape and weight), but idol dramas simply won't EVER take a challenge of finding an actress that at least partially would resemble such ordinary girl and with a true make-up (like contact lenses, stickers for double eyelid etc.). Because I'm so sorry FOR HAVING EYES. I look at her beautiful fatures that can't be masked with reddish skin and overdrawn brows . Huh~ Ironic, right? The story about make-up and the rash face looks like that *wink*. The girl to me doesn't look ugly, her body also looks great, but she needs dermatologist. But such idolish dramas don't allow the big contrast. Again let's not forget that original LJG didn't have good face AND body, she worked hard to achieve a beautiful shape, so the starting line here and there are completely different. Mun Ka Young looks amazing btw, very beautiful. Second thing that made me have very different impression is how the story started. Webtoon LJG gave me more free-wheeling feeling, she wanted to blend into her new school, but she never looked as scared? She just found the make-up as her ticket to being more than what she is. Drama LJG knows what a school violence is (sorry everyone, but what they do is not on a bullying level to me, this is violence), so her trauma comes from there. The stakes of the first episode are really high, all the bullying, crying, attempt at s*. It's understandable that she wants to hide herself. But here again is where things are different to me and why I mention original and drama difference of female lead. Because webtoon LJG was SO different, she almost wanted to attract attention to herself and be liked, but since drama LJG kinda wants to blend and the liking from others isn't really important, she's more about doing things she couldn't do prior (like doing the girly stuff with girlfriends). Oh remember that scene where she walks into new school for the first time? So exaggerated, so embarrassing :D

You don't need to be a guru writer to see for yourself, the script was cut and chopped and reassembled A LOT. Why? Because when you cut it like that and reduce its' significance it becomes less needed. Okay, maybe needed, but I still don't understand why you need to include that baseball player (looks bad, his lines were so cringe "strike right into my heart" *rainbow vomit*), or why would you include that playboy (I mean, in webtoon you understand that it's a plan to keep LJG away from LSH, but here... I'm speechless). Anyway, the writer included some really embarrassing lines in the script, my skin crawled a lot.
But still here we are, following this story of 'true beauty'.. or in other words more like a kiddy version of - everyone, bullying is bad, your face is not important, what is important is your heart~ <3 *kiss*

As for other characters:
I never knew who Cha Eun Woo was before watching, I only heard his name and saw few shorts, but you must admit he IS handsome and sounds handsome. It's the type of correct beauty, yet recognizable. And even if his character setting was more of a stone-faced handsome guy, yet when he smiles his eyes shine. He is the first to find about LJG and although they have such a start, he still gets points for treating her well. It's a spoiler, but with their love for each other going strong, I really didn't get why writer forced that break-up, I'm sure both would have waited for each other. I know that the one who loves can let go, but it was awkwardly written and it felt bad to me.. maybe I'm wrong, but in my impression it felt like LSH breaks up and makes up one-sidedly, like where's love in that?
Han Seo Jun's role was pretty okay. But despite his love he really felt like a good friend. And don't start with me on who is better. Both had good and bad sides.
What impressed me the most unlike the above was Kang Soo Jin! WHAT DID THEY DO? Like WHY?! Just to insert a love rival between girls you first write KSJ into this heroic handsome woman, I was totally up for it! But then they turned her into this! Just why? Wouldn't it be okay to keep her good? I mean, LJG's previous bullies could easily play the role of villains till the end and KSL would stay awesome, but I think her character was flushed like that. At least in the webtoon KSJ was a complete snake from the very beginning, she WAS that bad who could use anything to make LJG and LSH not together (you could feel her obsession), but in the drama she was introduced so handsomely and walked away like that (also, she felt plastic when it came to emotional scenes against LSH). I was so surprised they crossed out such a beautiful female friendship they created.. but I suppose they created it just to give a twist. I'm sure writers thought it was cool and they were smart *shakes head*.
Honorable mention: LJG's sister and teacher are cute, okay?
The story was okay, nothing bad, the script and dialogues could be better, characters more consistent. Not a horrible watch, but I must confess at times I struggled watching it.

My struggle was with humor! I'm all for humor, I'm all for healthy cringe. I like rom com. BUT! I think they overstepped sporadically here and there. I honestly didn't need making faces, poop and fart jokes during important emotional scenes and some of the body comedy to keep up. For example, LJG's dad that was hit by a pan with eyes open and tongue out..why? Or her little brother farting on the stairs. A lot of poop jokes btw, noticed? And they're sporadic and not needed imo. E.g. Both sisters talk in bathroom suddenly there's pooping little brother behind. HSJ searches for his brother and finds him in the toilet pooping. At the end LJG is so stressed that she's costipated, it comes as a topic during emotional talk (?_?).
Acting should be acting, even in comedy, the more natural it is, the better, sometimes I felt like seeing too much. Even there were scenes that gave me impression as if actors themselves looked like - do we really need to play it like that? embarrassing. can we go home and hide?
All in all it was like that. Not entirely good and not entirely bad. My respect goes for the topic of external beauty, especially in Korea where it's such a big deal. I think it should be brought up and explored to give a positive example. We should take care of ourselves, love ourselves. World would be a better place if we weren't hung so much on beauty and a person does not deserve bullying and hate for the way they look.
<3

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I love this movie. Despite its' dark theme I was very impressed when I first saw it. What particularly impressed me the most that the hook up of the story does not start with revenge plot, but an attempt to save someone. It becomes the peak moment of Won Bin's character.

Just for the contrast, take any Hollywood action blockbuster movie, it has a lot of revenge plot as a driving force. It is always some retired awesome dude that everyone feared, but now he's out of the picture, but one day something happens and this something wakes them up from their dormant state. Just an example, even the recent 'The Killer' has an attacked girfriend. Or we all know how John Wick starts.
'The Man from Nowhere' also has an awesome retired nobody, but to make him move you had to take the girl. And saving this girl becomes the greatest motivation, despite the obstacles, despite the consequences.

Story. You don't need to invent anything profound. Sometimes a good story is a simple story and I consider the story of this movie quite simple. It has a simple chain of actions and consequences, which slowly leads us to the final goal. But it still doesn't lack in emotions it evokes in you. It doesn't show much drama, there's no hysteria and no shouting and pointing to look at some horrid things, but your heart is still filled with anger, sadness and helplessness knowing that somewhere, something similar might have happened to other children.

Acting. We omit the part where it is obviously impossible for a kid to act without flaws, but the overall cast did a great job. And you know they did, because otherwise you wouldn't be so impressed. I remember watching it for the first time and later seeing some press releases and Won Bin really was the man of that time. Him and Kim Sae Ron appearing, I still remember how she wore those cute dresses. But despite the glamoure Won Bin chose quite low-key path and also started a family and I honestly wish him all the best.

OST. I want to be dramatic for a second and say - I'll slap anyone who dares to say anything about the OST. Haha kidding, but the soundtrack is great, let's agree to it and also I really fell in love with the finale theme when I first heard it, it was so unique.

At that time there was definitely a considerable amount of hype around this movie, but I find that it was deserved. Although I re-watched it only a number of times, but in my list that's an achievement. You can still watch it and it's still a great movie, it aged well.

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Curlies~

If you throw the logic out the window sometimes, it's really enjoyable to watch. I'll write the part with spoilers after I finish the general part of review.. I really have few questions.

Uncanny Counter tells a pretty neat story of a young man who finds himself gaining powers to fight evil spirits and help them reach the place where they belong for all the wrongs they comitted. I kind of forgot how does it feel to watch a series about someone "special". Because our boy So Mun can be called special. Other counters get a second chance in life waking up from a coma in exchange for risking as counters, but So Mun was walking around with his friends. Special~. Being special did not end on that *points* you know what I mean, if you watched.

He joins for a simple, yet sacred for him reason - he wants to meet his parents, who passed away in a car accident and working as a counter will give him this opportunity. And this is our story about the evil spirits and the evil in human hearts. The story binds several characters to the main unfolding plot. And many might find it unsatisfactory, but I looked at it from the angle where evil spirits are not the most evil you might find, they basically want to become more powerful, so they consume human souls left and right, but the greed in person's heart may lead them to act far inferior to beasts. But due to supernatural elements and the tone set to be not too realistic and depressing, it helps to elevate some of its' moodiness, but doesn't end up being clownish. Despite the fact that the story about the main evils stretches very predictably for entire season, but along the way there is a feeling of satisfaction for the entire build-up frustration when the evil is finally punished.
UC also has a strong theme of family and bonding, because after So Mun joined the counters he felt that they were like his family.
Some of the characters, especially So Mun, really grew and changed. Some really don't need that much of a development, but small changes here and there were present.

The acting in the show was great (sometimes was a bit too much for me though, personal preference, nothing more), so were the characters, you really cheered for them, there are a lot of heartfelt and tear-inducing moments, but because there was enough of emotional scenes I find that it's not good to binge (and I binged the last part of the series), because you may feel fatigued. I bet when you watch with enough pause between episodes it may not feel like that.
The only downside to entire series is that it feels draggy in later part, but it can be said about many shows with 16 episodes or more. But in general it was quite entertaining.

Oh yeah, big thanks to vfx ppl on this show and those who decided not to use too much of cgi, that's why a load of action scenes and less cgi made it pop and not to make it too fairy.

/SPOILER PART/

Now, I can talk about few spoilerish parts that stuck to my head.
- The biggest question marks in my head . The first one was during the council time and So Mun being stripped off his abilities, I can understand the motivation behind this action story-wise, but before that I felt that the whole system of "breaking" rules was reallu outdated. By this time it was obvious that actions of evil spirits and humans were interconnected and distinguishing one from the other was impossible, all actions were directed for the greater good. But when it comes to the main evil spirit I was sitting and thinking - they know it's powerful, why would you have only few people after it, if it's so dangerous. I mean I thought there were only these few counters (silly me), but when it downed on me that they surely have more I had another question - why don't you send people to catch the bastard? But of course our main heroes should do these themselves, otherwise it would be too convenient. But knowing that the guy is SO dangerous, it was strange not to do it and later they sit around the table with worried faces.
- The part where So Mun thought it was his negative thoughts that drove for the territory to appear made me say "Dude"...
- OH YEAH! The one part that was in my opinion hysterical. Although the acting was great, but when it came to the scene with staffs I laughed like a b*. All those noises and poses sent me flying. Honestly, if someone else was at home they might think I'm watching AV.
- Some say this series have too much going on about humans and not about catching evil spirits, but the past of two counters involves humans and that's the setting you get.. you expect no humans an donly evil spirits there? As I said earlier I do find that it was more about how horrible can a person be, harboring evil.
- Another laugh I got from the "hell" scene when evil spirits land at the point of their destination. Honestly, a mud bath? It was funy to watch them in those neon lights, a bit of dry ice, mud floating around and extras crawling around. It left me with a silly feeling instead of feeling dread. Even a simple spotlight on the person in question and reaching out and dragging the person into nothingness would feel like a horror instead of a bunch of people wriggling around, playing as if they're going to "eat" the new guy.
- It's a wishful thinking for the shows to be shorter and wrap up the endings in an upbeat manner, the story would be more compact in this way, especially when you have one main villain (the evil spirit in our case), but it's just a dream, I know.

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This was HILARIOUS!

From the thriller category this movie stepped into hilarious trash under the heavy steps of the Alpha boy :'D

And if you support the calim of "never seen anything like this before" then you better watch and read more. The storyline is generic human experiment project (oh puhlease as if we've never seen those) that goes out of hand onboard of a ship and starts a melee.

I've been watching Doom at your service and the feeling of - I know this guy from somewhere - hasn't left me, before it downed on me where I might have seen him and I was right, just with more tattoos and golden teeth. And then realized that I haven't left a review under this movie yet, so I rushed like a bird to share why I was basically rolling laughing while watching.
But funnily, initially I watched this movie thanks to someone's edit on YT short, which had him and Jung So Min, very misleading edit I must say, because if you've seen the movie you know there's nothing between the two.

First part of the movie I'd say I spent in disgust thanks to the idea of creators to make it look disgusting. One is the nightmare of all clean freaks, transporting some knocked out monster in the deepest parts of the ship where everything leaks, seeps and looks yuck including the dude in question. The second one is brutality and the amount of spilled fake blood after the prisoners escape.

But. To me everything started to turn hilarious and I couldn't care less about the idea to make it sappy, include some heartfelt stories etc. The reason for it is:
1) Special effect make-up. The Alpha boy aka walking killing machine looked hilarious to me. To make him look buff the team just crossed the boundry and overplayed themselves. I don't find it looking terrifying, at best it looks comical;
2) Sound effects. The most hilarious moment for me was one - when the door falls on top of a person and the Alpha boy walks on top of the door, his steps were heavy, but they added the sound as if he's wearing iron boots, it was hysterical! :'D Just imagine that boom-boom-boom;
3) Some fight scenes, you'll have to see for yourself.

Oh yeah, I don't mention that all die and some die in a very forced way, as if the screenwriters didn't know what to do and lowered IQ of people to achieve the result.

In general it was nothing more, but an action movie with a lot of fight scenes and blood. The monster is nothing more, but an experimental project to enhance human body to, of course, prolong life and make it stronger, which can also be used as a killing machine. But to make it even more thrilling we have a whole bunch of criminals added to the ship, so you can guess that it's a simple guise for transporting the Alpha boy in the depths of this ship. Criminals find their way out and break out, taking the hold of the ship, the big noise and a bit of blood wake up our bloodthirsty monster, who starts to hunt, kill left and right. I don't think both sides had too much time to think before a bunch of people were simply wiped out, so Seo In Guk's role wasn't that long tbh. The one who surprised me the most was Jung So Min, they managed to let her survive the entire movie, but then she rushes out with a single gun, in the narrow corridor against armed crowd and of course she got shot. I think this surprised me the most. But I must say.. I haven't seen her in a main role, almost always used for something episodic, so I can't say anything about her acting in general, but here she felt bland. I also asked myself why they let her character survive for so long, but tbh her character did little to the story. But in action/thriller movies like this with fights and blood there is no need for some profound acting, you need to be just a little engaging, that's all.
And because I didn't expect much I had my fun, after all I can laugh at trashiness instead of being frustrated or disappointed. And I respect Korean film industry, the growth through years is obvious, there are many remarkable works, if not story-wise, but cinematography-wise. There is still room to grow and I wish them all the best.

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I loved it~

This drama really hit it for me! You know the feeling that everything about the drama manages to satisfy you and make you happy and feel the joy? That was it for me. The cast has great chemistry, you like watching everyone, because everyone did a great job. From wild cat Secretary Kim, to our narcissistic , cheesy yet endearing President Lee. The humor is also up my alley. I loved how the drama was shot and edited, I always love me some cute sfx to make it better too. I watched it with bubbling happiness, if I'm being honest.

The CAST was really the best part of it, I love it when I can enjoy everyone's play. Starting from mains. Park Seo Joon did a really good job, from the very first "AURA!" you knew it was cringe, but it was a healthy cringe. His character also grew and changed. Kim Mi So also managed to.. manage his mess and basically who if not her could deal with his temper. Although the story and beginning might not sound that astonishing, but who cares? They managed to pull this plot and make it a memorable journey :D Scenes of Seo Joon and Kang Ki Young were also one of my favorite, I just liked their friendship. And in general wasn't the crew good? Weren't the stories of other characters entertaining? I think they were :)

And I also liked their relationship and how it was built. Mi So due to her life experience can't share a dating experience or family life stories like her friends, who talk about dates, husbands, kids, while Mi So is married to her work. And she's not a simple secretary, but a secretary to the president, which promises less personal time and more responsibilities. To me she was almost like a life assistant too. They didn't start on a passionate note. At first our president Lee didn't feel falling that deep, although she was practically the only woman he could allow to be closer than others. Due to work of course they know each other well, or so he thought. Her sudden wish to resign gave him a wake up call and consequent events allowed to see her other sides and not the politely smiling Mi So with formulaic expression. The barrier between the two started to crumble at that moment. You can't say that only Young Joon changed, but Mi So also became more accomodating. The cherry on top should be their childhood story, but it's wonderful that they came together not basing their relationship on that.

All in all I find it a good watch, I'll be happy to re-watch it in the future and also recommend it to others. I watched it in good spirits and it also gave me joy.

PS: What is your most memorable funny moment? Mine would probably be Mi So's father having a gig and diving, but forgetting that his public are all older people and they def won't catch him.

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She's a summary of our desires

Helter Skelter is more of a dark and edgier story of human desire for beauty. Be it for self-satisfaction, be it for satisfying others. Or both.
Lilico is the epitome of that desire. She cut and stitched herself together and filed the rough edges that didn't fit to put piece by piece together. She is the image of that desire incarnate, a perfect picture. If you pay attention to details you will see how deliberate her image throughout the whole movie is. She is so vain that even at her lowest she wears a dress and high heels. God knows, she definitely doesn't even have "casual" clothes that do not come from a fashion magazine and I'm sure she doesn't own a pair of more confortable shoes, like her assistant. You can see her throughout the movie staring at herself in the mirror (hence the reference "mirror, mirror on the wall") and mostly she does it barely dressed and you know why, because she is satisfied with her beauty, it is supposed to be a fake beauty created by a surgeon, but she wears it as if it was real, she loves to see herself almost naked, because this way most of it shows. Yes, it all describes superficial image.
Which still leaves me a bit in awe that this movie could see so much into future. Yes, plastic surgery was there for a long time, but it never was such a common place. maybe it was for the western world, but only these years I've seen girls copying IG "models", trying to be alike, dress alike and also have a face alike. Never have I met so many people just shopping and I see a woman with lip fillers for example. It was such a rare occurance for a place like ours, but it's not anymore.
But beauty isn't everything here, Lilico always wants more. She has this almost morbid desire to be loved and admired, although she acts like a bit*h in real life, she wants to be loved and be the center of attention.
I see several paths evolving:
- For her goal she can sacrifice.. anything.. even herself. So you can say that there's too much *ex in the movie, I can say that argument is quite fair, because there is indeed enough of it. You can say it serve several purposes. For example she sleeps with producer not for love, but for more roles. "Unspoken rules" of the industry. Her boyfriend is like fake love of two plastic dolls, although they're perfect. Then is her assistant who is no less crazier than her to me, even if she looks meek and acts like a soft persimmon. But again, morbid desire for love and also she acts like her assistant should stay and be the puppet in her small world, because by this time she started losing her shi. This also gives her a bit of a cheap feeling, because this is her most prized body she stares at so much, yet she shares it left and right without cherishing herself. But it also has the feeling of her past that she knows no other ways to tie people to herself.
- She wants to last forever, although it is impossible. There is a theme of being on the peek, as if you're a legend that will always stay in hearts, but also being dispensable and nothing more than a party popper that is thrown out after use. So Lilico and Kozue are the opposites of each other. Kozue came later, was younger and in demand, so Lilico slowly became a background character and was on the verge to be forgotten. I loved the simple demonstration of it all through showing Kozue being photographed in same studio with the same background, also attending same TV show, doing the same commercial. But Kozue unlike Lilico understands the truth of this industry, but Lilico can't come to terms that she's no longer there. Everything came to nothing and she was replaced.
We're talking mainly Lilico here because the idea and the message of the movie are portrayed through her.
To me Lilico is like that brainwashed girl that beauty is everything, for it you should be ready to sacrifice, even if it means to lay under the knife, even if it means you shoud sleap around when you're not sure if it's a right thing to proceed. Like look at her relationship with her boss, she calls her Mama, but you can tell that she trusted too much, they used shady clinic that requires you for often visits, even her earnings who knows where they're going. Her own condition, physical and mental, lead her to abuse substances. Her life became a mess before her last call. And at the last moment she did it her own way, like she told her boyfriend, she held her life in her own hands and did it to become what she always aspired to be - a legend.

The movie is shot nicely, it looks like a colorful kaleidoscope of Lilico's life, moving so fast that there is no moment for stopping. The dangerous ticking of the clock that time is running and it's something Lilico is most afraid of. It's also like flipping through a fashion magazine. Colorful and distant life. But who knows that it's just a fake dream.
I call dialogues very.. Japanese, because they don't talk like common people, it always feels theatrical almost (mainly thanks to investigator). The only ones who were underpaid were probably extras, the girls who were shot for "girl talk", those were so fake and plastic, but if you want to give it meaning it can have it.
I don't think there are many movies like this? They may be, but I haven't seen them yet. I say it because it's a darker version fo where beauty may come.

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In the past life and in this life.. I love you.

Thumbs up from my mom to Rowoon for being handsome ahaha

Might not be a big hit, but it was a good drama.
I started watching not expecting much, I'm new to these actors, the story might not sound new, but I don't pay too much attention to pointless comparison these days, since everything depends on actors and production team and they managed to keep me interested and the last half I simply binged. Strictly speaking there are always hit and misses, but speaking truthfully it's not as horrible as some people say.

What I considered to be good.
Acting. I had no idea who Rowoon was before watching and I must say he has the face and skills for you to remember him on the screen. What can I do, who doesn't like handsome guys. Oh! And so far the only actor I've seen who could act drunk so well ahaha like honestly when it comes to drinking or being sleepy many actors don't look drunk at all. You can put a ton of blush on their faces, but they can't do it, but his scenes were on spot ahaha. Same for Bo Ah. Although it wasn't her fault there was so much emphasis on her acting shy at the beginning, which was later dropped, but overall she did a good job with her role. I noticed he acted with actresses older then him in several dramas? :)
All other actors did a good job too.

Romance. I'm not against characters having prior relationships. It's not a bad thing having a character who is not a blank piece of paper when it comes to love/relationships. This is why I found the initial entanglement interesting. After all the mistake Hong Jo made gave a strong sense of "fate". And from initial almost enmity they came to love. Tbh those episodes when he couldn't control himself were quite funny, because we could see the rational and emotional sides clash constantly. Eventually her life was filled with him and his life with her and their feelings shifted in the direction towards each other. On screen chemistry was great :)

As for the storyline. You need to watch it completely to see the writer's idea. I think the story would have tasted really different if the backstory (past life) would have been dumped from the get go. Basically, we as viewers get the glimpse of the past life together with the characters themselves, which was quite fine. And if someone says something about sub-plot.. *sigh* don't you see why it was brought up. If not this it would have been something else because what should have happened must come, don't forget the settings of the curse after all. I try to speak spoiler-free as much as possible and keep things vague.

PS: The only thing I couldn't get was actually HongJo's co-workers. They acted vile and I couldn't wrap my head around why. You can justify it by saying that because she reported Gong, who in return kept mentioning her, they might have accumulated negative feelings towards her, but this was the part that felt fake to me. Maybe because despite justification I couldn't get why they acted like that, so it felt forced.

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HECK YEAH THE TWIST!

Honestly, after finishing I was glad I held on. Who says what, for me the first half of the show felt watery and dragged, like where this is going. But around episode 8 to 14 things started to pick up and peaked finally with the main 'WHO did it' plotline. After looking back I admit there were places that looked unnatural or unnecessary, but many things still had their own sense, especially after watching the show completely many things fell into place to me.
Unfortunately, due to the run time of full 16 episodes the storyline may look watered down, but the general direction of it is: introduction stage, the story of Do Ha and Sol Hee, the stage of 'WHO did it' and the story is wrapped up. At least it was framed up nicely at the end.

Characters and acting.
Sol Hee - I'll be honest, at times So Hyun felt unnatural in her role, but at other times the chemistry between the characters picked up, but these are my own impressions of her. While Sol Hee is a pretty straightforward character, to the point of bluntness / rudeness. Understandable, she grew up hearing lies and it was as if no one was sincere, thus her trust for others is null. But her involvement with Do Ha felt like she got enlightened, because he was of very few who never lied. Although it might sound strange that she's so old and can't distinguish which lie serves which purpose, but who was there to guide her? That's right, no one. Even the peaceful times with her ex ended with a break-up as a result of misunderstanding. But I was honestly happy by the ending and how the integration with the neighborhood served her to be more in the crowd unlike her childhood, yet funnily the one she took a step to be friends with is the one she worked with. Thus I wasn't mad at the filler characters of the neighborhood :D
Do Ha - I must applaude Min Hyun, he nailed it to me. Also his character had wider arc, because he went from the stage of being social phobia to slow integration, to finally getting rid of the shackles that bound him and faced the past. I finished the show for his sake. It's not because of redemption, but he was endearingly sweet and nice. Especially in their relationship. Although it felt a bit awkward at first, but later I even found them cute. It was also gratifying to see his character slowly opening up to life. He was riddled with guilt, but exactly this did not allow to see another direction in investigation from the beginning.
Kang Min - I don't understand why some ppl felt against him. He's actually quite good, he only had a moment of anger against Do Ha, but he was almost the only one who did not stop being a good cop. He never used 'murderer', but always used 'suspect' and he also did not give up to find out the truth, while it felt that others believed that Do Ha was the one. At least this makes him good. He truly loved Sol Hee, but not everyone chooses to go through hardships together, I know plenty of ppl who prefer going through it alone. Thus he let Sol Hee go, but in that time her heart no longer belonged to him.
Syaon - excuse me for my French, but initially she was like a selfish, stalking, toxic bitch. I understand that her characters was redeemed, but I just hated her for what she did in ep4. F u, girl. She was basically like a copypaste of Do Ha's ex, but at least she wasn't completely lost. And that was a big difference. But honestly to me sometimes her acting was a bit not up to par. And also that opened mouth reminded me of Stewart so much lol
Deuk Chan - I'll be honest I interpreted his character in different ways, while the story was being told. And you can't help it, because he is so protective :) The actor played really well I think.
Side-characters: Who said something that there are too many? At least the picture did not feel empty and many served their purpose. Sometimes not only the story drives characters to evolve, but also other characters. The neighborhood bunch was shortened down to few people, they served their purpose of two main characters integrating with others. Do Ha's ex played really well, hearing her story makes you feel less negative about her, but she developed into unbearable girlfriend and caused scenes a lot. The brother of Eom Ji also played well. BUT the biggest prize still goes to Jin Kyung, after seeing her stoic image in Attorney Woo it was such a big contrast to watch a mom who is a fraudster, also is afraid of her own daughter and has an awkward relationship, yet I found her really fun.

As for 'WHO did it' plotline. Usually in such stories it can be divided into: exposed culprit (Like The Hannibal TV series); half-exposed (when maybe it doesn't really matter who the culprit is or the movie-makers just want to tease viewers), but we watch them in intermissions showing only body parts (like hands) we don't see the full face; last are fully concealed (when creators don't explicitly show who the culprit is), so you can guess it by yourself.
Because we're watching romance and that means impossible for creators to be this crazy and make the male protag the culprit, meaning it's someone else. And also, it would be a huge flop if they assigned some random dude for the role. So after watching the drama for some time and touching upon the past you realize that it's the third, concealed one. But if you later put 2 and 2 together, you basically have your suspect list narrowed down. But it wasn't without a twist :) Tbh looking back I realize that some scenes have a different meaning now, but it was quite satisfying to see how it happened and more importantly why. Who knew~, who knew~.
At least with this plotline I was satisfied :D

In a conclusion, I was satisfied with the drama, how it played out. It wasn't the greatest beginning for me, but the second part made it better. The actors did a great job, Min Hyun deserves the praise, he made me hold on and actually in the end I was glad I did. And many others deserve compliments too.

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The story of decade-long hiatus

I finally found this bs drama. I need an outlet for my emotions, because this drama was like a last drop in a short list of failed-to-impress me watches and it was basically responsible for my decade-long rest and almost instilled fear in front of kdramas in general lol.
Now when I'm back as a viewer and joined MDL several great dramas finally subverted my deeply-seeted fear and showed that modern series are different, production/cinematography/stories are all different. There's so much good stuff to watch. Not everything is an unneededly dragged out melodramatic story.

Beats me why I chose to watch it in the first place, when you have no idea what to watch you often may turn your head to what is "popular", my gut tells me that I probably picked it up because of advertisement. After all in the list of failed-to-impress me series was one with.. Lee MinHo? Yes, it's him. Wait.. he pretended to be gay in it or am I wrong? But when I dived into watching I was truly and utterly disappointed. This was the last drop, the peak of disappointment.

So what led me to drop watching kdramas?
I always felt that the acting was wooden, when you had emotional outburst it was like screeching. While I think acting should be more delicate, even for a TV series. Also there was the problem with storytelling and the length of the show. It felt so-so-so-so-so long~ and it wasn't as exciting to support it, thus it ended up being utterly boring too. All long series I call Santa Barbara, because it was the first really long show I was aware of and later when long series became popular (from European countries, now there's a lot of Turkish stuff) I called them all Santa Barbara, because this name spoke for itself. Same with this drama. The premise of it is actually not bad, I mean the exploration of a couple with age difference and she also has a child, of course it's not going to be easy to be together. But it was so long, so melodramatic, so badly executed despite the themes chosen, I didn't feel any chemistry, back in the day on-screen intimacy (kisses) seem to be on a different level, I really couldn't understand why would you shoot how two people just touch each other's lips, then as if the moment is frozen (it's not) you go on with this shot from different angles. Both characters and actors looked so cramped in such scenes. And in general it felt boring. So-so boring.

Part of me was a bit mad about the problem of parents and children in this drama and because our mentality is a bit different and we don't have such excessive "honoring the older generation" thing going on, part of me couldn't process how a young man had to bend under the constant oppression and couldn't do things for the woman he is supposed to love. This is where my mind and this drama seriously conflicted, because to me it felt so much about the mentality, which I couldn't grasp. It's not my turn to comment on another society that lives differently, but as an outsider some of these things feel oppressive and sometimes you feel they're heavily exploited. Doesn't mean that the theme of "I don't like the woman/man you're dating, you should break up" cannot be found here, I'm pretty sure every country has it and sometimes family's disagreement may play a huge role. The big difference is that children here, unless parents insist on it, are pretty much expected to be independent after a certain age and because of this independence children might as well not listen and do what they feel is right for them. The topic of a single woman with a child also left me with dread, because I honestly felt sorry and still do when I found out how women may be treated in S.Korea, especially single mothers. This leaves me with dread, because here people would talk about someone who is like that, but that was like 30+ years ago. Now I know some family stories that will leave all dramas in shame. Doesn't mean many things should be normalized, but I think that single mothers shouldn't be so stigmatized, ostracized and treated like a pariah, who don't deserve love, that's what I thought.
This series also felt melodramatic and sad because everyone around them felt as if they were against their relationship. Family of the man felt he needed to be with a girl they felt more "fitting", drandma of the woman was also not a fan of this relationship. Basically, it was sad, no pay-off for a long time, so much melodrama, so badly executed, yet so much water and too much time spent on it.
I'm surprised I remember this much about it.
But yeah, this and other dramas, including one with Lee Min Ho, I remember him because of his stone face, he just added to the overall impression of poor acting in kdramas, thus I did not want to continue. And my desire to contunie explore Korean series was extinguished at that time. A lot of time has passed (a decade, no kidding) and with emerging trends of doing short videos and uploading to YT shorts (I don't use TT) the desire to watch reignited. And I don't see actually too much bad in such a long pause. First of all I have all the previous shows at my disposal and I can pick and choose, secondly, more modern dramas have better production, directing, storylines and overall quality in comparison.
In the end I skimmed this show and then dropped watching kdramas all-together. Melodrama should be taken in moderation.

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I admit it, watched it because of few edits that seemed interesting. But then I simply binged the show. The approach to shoot and tell the story in this show seems peculiar. Although you could say that it very much like other stories, we have a working place romance and they also come to her house at one point, with the difference that the working place is a mental hospital and her living place is a huge mansion where she plays a role of a princess in a high tower.

My first surprise came from two things, Mun Young's antisocial personality disorder and Sang Tae's autism. For America it must be pretty old news, I bet there people don't realize that in other countries mental health might either not be a thing or treated very differently. I'm not from the US, so I can relate a bit to Korea on the subject. After all mental disorders are rarely talked about there, mental health issues seem to be often swept under the rug, shunned or treated with scorn, maybe people don't even believe in it. Here we don't really shy away from mental health problems, but therapists themselves are not in favor (they all act as if they have problems themselves))). So seeing them putting such things on the screen felt like a step. More than that, Sang Tae's character wasn't glorified (imo). And also Mun Young wasn't your typical FL.. more like she was the opposite at first glance.

I consider this a healing drama and to me actually Sang Tae's character represented the process. No really, just for Oh Jung Se's acting I wouldn't give this show low rating, I found his acting and his character simply amazing. The acting of others also should be praised btw, everyone did a very good job. It's just that Oh Jung Se stood out for me.
And I'll be honest here, I had never had a chance to experience for myself what it's like to know a person with autism, everything I've seen was only in different TV series and some don't glorify the image. I found myself thinking when watching Kang Tae taking care of Sang Tae - damn, this is hard, it's as if you don't belong to yourself, but belong to the other person. It felt like a heavy boulder weighed on your shoulders when you simply can't even communicate properly and often times adapt to the other person. So changes by the end in Sang Tae were more obvious. It doesn't mean that he lost his autism, but things changed.
As for Kang Tae and Mun Young.. I must admit they chose a really handsome pair. Soo Hyun is really handsome and Yae Ji is the epitome of what the say about melon seed face in the description (don't ask, I read a ton of Chinese novels and they always describe small faces as such) and has tiniest waist. She was really loud, rude and capricious, but I still liked her. Also unlike other Fls I know they really dolled her up, she didn't wear clothes, she wore money.
In general no one from the trio was completely an okay person. But it's okay to not be okay. Gotch ya.

The main part of the storyline was actually the past that weighed down on all three. So getting some answers, coming to terms with ourselves, finding ourselves being changed thanks to the other person was part of the process.

When finishing it was obvious that this show might not be for others. I wasn't part of the hype, since I'm seeeing this show basically years later, so I have no idea if the show was heavily advertised, but I can say without people shoving something to you, I chose this drama for myself and enjoyed watching it.

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Although idealistic, but a good one. I honestly liked this movie.

The story of two young students in the police university set off from a good start. They came here with different start and they both have youthful vigour (which was shown through wonderful acting), yet during the process also get confused about their future. This question of "what to do next?" or "what am I going to do with my life" came to many of us and both of them don't know what to do, what are the prospects. And only witnessing the kidnapping of a young girl pulls them out from the quagmire. What to do? No witness, no evidence, they couldn't chase the vehicle and even the dispatch of a search team and help is impossible, after all all available units are disatched on the search of some mogul's kid. The reality hits hard, what is the life of a kidnapped girl compared to a person with status. Both decide to hold on and investigate themselves and spend the most critical time searching, thus spending the night running around. Thus the title of this movie, I actually really like the title Midnight Runners, it is simple and true to what is happening and I'm not a fan how they interpreted it as "Young Cops" in my language.. after all except for the word ' young' calling them 'cops' feels incorrect, they're still students and the title is too general.

Although the horrids of reality were downplayed, after all the main aim of this movie is to not be realistic and overly depressing, but I must say.. the criminal world is still scary. That is why I said that it was idealistic, I bet in the real world they unfortunately wouldn't have seen the next day. Unless they're Liam Neeson.
But what happened awakened their passionate heart to do what they think is the right thing, despite the consequences. They couldn't turn the blind eye and live knowing that if they leave it to others, then who knows what will happen to the victims.

This movie has that youthful passion of doing what you believe in, because you're young, because you have guts.

On a closing note once again my compliments to the actors, they were great. Came here for Park Seo Joon and stayed for a good watch. Thank you.

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Everything, everywhere and all at once

When I watched it I felt that it somehow separated into several storylines, but I couldn't get the point why they continue to exist in the overall story. Tbh the drama, despite the high rate and always being recommended seemed like a huge mess to me. I couldn't watch it as a pure comedy, not only because the slapstick and body humor of the drama were not funny to me, but also because of the thriller line that existed in the story, I don't mention the "family situation", which connected Min Hyuk and Bong Soon. Same as with other parts, I couldn't watch it as pure thriller, because slapstick was shoveled in.

Stalking of Min Hyuk and his need of a bodyguard was obvious, especially in the story it connected him and Bong Soon. Thriller played a role with Bong Soon's power. But what was the point of those gangsters? To laugh at their overacting? THAT made you laugh? Ok. Then I'm the part of viewers who don't get that type of humor.

The series started well. The adorable Park Bo Young is as cute as ever, with her being petite she is well-fitted for the cute contrast - someone small, but can kick ass, a true King Kong Barbie. This humorous part was fun to watch and my main motivation to finish the series. But I talk the contrast of her action moments. I think watching the two main leads was the best part of the drama and my favorite scene was when she princess hugged him :)
Park Hyung Sik (never watched anything with him before) surprised me a lot. Although his behavior was cheesy, but he was adorable when he acted cute. Like a little milk dog brother and his overpowering girlfriend. But to me they fitted well.
But couldn't care less about many other secondary characters and that's the gist of it. Many played okay.

STORY was kinda very contrasting in terms of jumping from something light and humorous to a bloody thriller. I don't say there should be no cross-genre, it just felt really extreme in contrast. But it's a bit obvious that it was created for a reason and purpose. After all Bong Soon is someone who is filled with justice and she gets involved in this case. After all we need some setting that will allow her to achieve her dream - live a "normal" life. But is that normal life actually what she wants.
ROMANCE. Not mad that Bong Soon doesn't start as a blank canvas, she has her unrequited love, but in comparison feels more open with a person who knows about her powers and also this someone rushes to protect her, despite her being that powerful. They have this openness about each other, but also reliance she never felt before.
OST. For some reason I wasn't the fan of music or sound effects of this show. Beats me, but it also influenced my dropping impression.
As for comic relief gangsters. These I could do without. They lowered the quality of this show a lot to me. Like why would you drag them, who cares about them? To get beaten again and again, what's so funny? When they switched to those guys I started to skip their parts in later episodes.

It has such high ratings and I understand that many found it worthy. Partially, it is fine to watch it. Honestly, I watched just for two Parks :) It's all personal opinion.

And desppite some criticism on my side, I'll be happy to watch the sequel.

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Archaeopteryx screech

Before I start singing odes to how I liked it, I want to have a moment of rambling. I particularly dislike when people start pointing out at tropes and routines as disadvantages, while I find it quite silly, because every genre has those, it's part of the genre after all. Rom-com doesn't pretend to be a chaser after high achievements, it should have romance, it should have comedy, if you want to watch something realistic then you definitely chose the wrong place. It's as if viewers, who are very aware of what to expect from the rom-com still manage to be surprised that what they see is what they expected (tropes and routines), but it makes them angry for some reason. But the main thing that makes a show pop is not only those, but how the entire staff, from director to screenwriters, actors, editors and everyone else manage to make the drama entertaining and interesting. To me many parts of this drama won my heart, so many endearing people.

Drumroll.

I want a loud round of applause for cameramen and editors. STANDING OVATIONS PLEASE!
Honestly, the first thing that really got to me was the wonderful work of camera and how the whole drama was edited, they managed to highlight many things. Fresh ideas, the picture doesn't look boring. They did manage to make it look entertaining. I remember even sending the slipper hitting the face scene to my mom for laughter, she said it was really fun and edited well. Not to mention small details, even the birld screech that haunted us the entire series was memable. Just for their job done so well I really had fun watching.
And overall I really-really loved watching it.

SECOND STANDING OVATION IS FOR ACTORS.
I honestly loved their play. They managed to be expressive in a humorous way, but not exaggerating it to the point of being awkward. Amazing Kim Se Jeong (the very first actress who really looks sleepy when waking up ahahaha). Absolutely delightful play. Ahn Hyo Seop played really well too, transforming from this arrogant and snarky CEO who only wanted to catch Shin Ha Ri's tail for her deceit, but slowly growing and changing. The way he was acting new and awkward to relationship, which was logical, was endearing. The second pairing was absolutely fantastic! Some say they even overshadowed the main couple, but I don't think so, each couple had their own story and merit. Since main couple was responsible for the rom-com routines, the second couple had more mature approach, after all they met, fell in love and came together eventually witout much bullshit, which was really refreshing. Seol In Ah was fantastic, I was really amazed, I had a really good impression of her while watching Running Man and in acting she didn't disappoint. Let's not forget to mention Seo Hye Won, with a little spoilt daughter personality and Engrish words thrown here and there she managed to have her own bright spot. And of course Lee Deok Hwa who played the grandpa. I mean viewers should be like him, even grandpa knows how to enjoy the melodrama X'D To me personally the entire drama really was held up by actors and they made it work.
Despite the storyline being silly it was fun to watch. And of course it was unrealistic, don't start with me, everyone knows that such things don't happen in life. The only thing that I thought was not really needed is the time skip at the ending, the story could have done without it. Maybe the distance and coming back again means something for Korean, but I felt bad that grandpa's character was put through such plot. That was the only dark spot in my opinion.
All in all, if you come here for the rom-com, light-hearted watch, then try it. Really.

PS: I think I'll forever remember about Samantha and Rachel :'D

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