A small act of kindness (in the form of a cup of coffee) CAN make a difference
"Would You Like a Cup of Coffee?" is a very heartwarming and thoughtful drama centred around Kang Go-bi (played by Ong Seong-wu), a highly-motivated young man who welcomes change and Park Seok (played by Park Ho-san), the selfless owner of '2Dae Coffee' who's not so accustomed to change having run his quaint coffee shop alone for over 20 years.Despite Park Seok's unfamiliarity with change, he gives customers of any background a warm welcome and aims to bring positive change into their lives with a humble cup of coffee and an open mind as his medium. Kang Go-bi is similarly inclined and, although some customers may intially hit a nerve causing Go-bi to become short-tempered, he has similar goals to the coffee shop owner and wishes to change peoples' lives for the better with '2Dae Coffee's magic formula.
Though the plot may not be extremely engaging or have you on the edge of your seat, it's a nice watch to wind down after a long day and carries the important message of 'a small act of kindness can make a difference'. Overall, a very feel-good miniseries with a relaxing atmosphere and a good message to take away.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
The most calming and most wholesome rendition
First and foremost, I would like to state, that as of writing this, I have seen the original American production (seasons one and two [season two has yet to finish]) as well as the Brazilian one, so I definitely had more than an idea of what I was getting into. However, I did not expect it to be, like my title states, the most calming and most wholesome rendition, as the other two are, for lack of a better description, dumpster fire that you can't stay away from.Of the three countries, the Japanese Love is Blind had the least drama and the least amount of overdramatic edits, and what I mean by edits is that scenes aren't unnecessarily dragged out to keep you on your toes. For example, in both the US and Brazilian versions, the couples reveal is dragged into the next episode, whereas with Japan's, every couple that was set to be revealed was revealed one by one near the end of the time in the pods, and pretty quickly as well despite it still leading into the next episode. Even when there was drama (let's face it, part of this is real life so there is definitely going to be real life issues between the couples) to be had, it wasn't edited to make one side nor the other look bad, and we got as close to both sides of the story as possible and it was resolved for the most part.
However, the one thing I will say, is that this season does give a lot of false hope. More than five couples walk out engaged in the pods, and yet only two end up actually saying their nuptials (their "I dos"). Two couples in particular ended up all the way at the end to walk out on each other.
Other than that, I did enjoy the little life update from most, if not all of the contestants, including, of course, the two couples who made it more than past the alter. Of the couples who ended up together, I loved seeing Midori and Wataru's story develop, but, I personally loved Ryotaro and Motomi's story and I absolutely loved her metamorphosis, as her sense of style (her way of dressing) has changed to match Ryotaro's (and in a good and cute way). Though both couples shined extremely radiant and I do hope they continue their journey in this crazy thing we call life.
Alhough I'm dissapointed that the couples I were rooting for didn't work out, you can never predict what will happen in life, and you can't force happiness.
I am definitely hoping forward to another season, or multiple rather, of Love is Blind Japan.
Was this review helpful to you?
A story of love, deceit and survival!
The drama throws you headfirst into a gritty, neon-soaked world where revenge is messy and love can cost you almost everything. From the start, it makes a bold impression with adrenaline-pumping action, some good and real visuals. Though the storytelling is very layered, it does wobble a bit in the middle but eventually it drew me back.Sun, freshly out of prison and burning with rage and revenge, set up his own gang. His journey starts off looking like a typical revenge story but his story wasn't that straightforward.
It quickly becomes clear that it’s much more than that. Beneath the surface lied a complex power struggle, where nothing is as it appears and every choice he made came with an emotional fallout.
On this journey, he meets Peace, the son of very man Sun is at war with. (Also I found his name very iconic xD) .Their love story felt heart breaking from the start. The relationship was delicate and beautiful but it was built on manipulation and lies even though the intention might not be wrong. The push and pull made sense and to be honest, I enjoyed it.
They really had good chemistry and the Korean-Thai blend worked for me. It didn't feel forced and the backstories were solid enough to support it.
The antagonists were cold and calculated, as they should have been in stories like this. They didn't just solely relief on the physical violence but a lot of emotional manipulation too. Especially Jihun, I found his character very smartly written compared to other villains here.
But somewhere in the middle, the drama seems to lose its focus. Too many new plotlines were introduced which weren't logical or realistic and some of the twists seemed unnecessary, only to overcomplicate an already complex story. It also started to feel a bit repetitive.
Acting-wise, everyone seemed to be doing a decent job though some emotional scenes could have been better. Visually, I think the drama did a good job with those dark alleys to those intentionally chaotic cityscapes. The fight scenes were sharp and well-choreographed.
The ending does seem to hint at season 2 but I feel they tied up the ends neatly and if there wasn't a next season, I wouldn't mind.
Overall, this was brutal, smart and intense that it occasionally stumbled under the weight of its own complexity. The love here wasn't the saving grace but it held the power to heal and harm. I would recommend it if you are looking for something gritty, where everything revolves around love and choices and their consequences but not "romance", though I feel there is plenty.
Was this review helpful to you?
Wanna see kisses every episode?! ?
This was actually really lovely, usually I keep an open mind with the short length series I watch, and watch it for what it is. This one i avtuallt wish it was longer, I'd watch a 30 mins per episode of this, but it may ruin it and get all draggy 😄... so I'll be content.I loved, loved, loved their chemistry and boy did they did it with kisses 😄... every episode and they were those good ones too, no fish, no awkwardness. The couple just looked so great together, I'd watch another show with the together.
If you want something with a nice and interesting story, and a cute romance with tons of chemistry, and kisses... thats also short and not draggy, then gove this one a try.
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
Ok, so this drama hasn't even finished airing yet, but I feel like if I don't write a review now I'll just forget to do it later, so here is my opinion on 'Sweet Revenge 2'. c:Story/Plot:
The storyline of this drama is incredibly similar to the prequel (Sweet Revenge) and is all about a girl (Oh Ji Na) who is given a magical app on her phone which gives her the opportunity to seek revenge on whoever she wishes. When my friend told me about this, I generally thought this would be some basic-ass show with a way-too-fluffy plot, however, after watching most of it, my opinion from when I first heard about it has changed. Yes, it is a light, warm-feeling kind of show that is there to make you go 'aww', but there are some elements of serious issues mixed alongside some cute humour, you could say? Obviously I'm not saying it's, like, THE MOST MEANINGFUL THING YOU'LL WATCH, but it does include problems such as bullying, fake identity, plastic surgery etc. which I think blended really well with the drama.
Overall, I give the story 7/10.
Acting/Cast:
OMG the casting in this was one of my favorites, as you have a handful of aspiring actors (who mainly range from 13-16) that were casted for this drama, and did such a good job! I mean, obviously, it isn't going to be perfect, as I did notice scenes here and there where the characters weren't connecting with eachother as well as they could of done, but if you were 14 and had to act romantic and shit, it must be really awkward... But every actor in this show I feel tried they're best so, props to them (especially Samuel omg you are tHe bEsT)
Overall, I give the acting 7.5/10
Music:
There's not much to say about the soundtracks - there was dramatic music when there was a dramatic scene, there was sad music when there was a sad event, and that's really it. The music wasn't bad, but it was nothing too memorable.
Overall, I give the music 5/10
Rewatch Value:
I feel like I would probably watch this again when I'm bored and have nothing to watch, or if I was hanging out with friends, as I think it's a light-hearted series to watch with others if other dramas are getting too heavy for you (*cough cough* Scarlet Heart)
Overall, I give the rewatch value 7.5/10
This series is a cute little package with romance, fantasy and friendships. If you're looking for something heavy, DO NOT WATCH THIS. However, if you're looking for a small break, this is the show for you ;)))
Overall rating: 7.5/10
Enjoy watching!
P.S This is my first review, so I hope it was good enough lmao c:
Was this review helpful to you?
The worst kdrama and the worst ending you could ever watch
This is the worst drama ever, it is wasting of time , don't watch it. I don't know the an ending could be this bad... it is really disappointing , the drama not written in a smart way , all the drama they take you to one direction and last 5 minutes of the drama they give you a different direction this is so unprofessional and dummy ... . ..... .Was this review helpful to you?
I Am Hero is based on a Manga of the same name and It has been one of my favorites in recent years and let me remind you Manga is not yet finished so the movie as well, but that doesn't mean the movie will leave you hanging, in fact they adapted the best ARC in the Manga and finished it damn well and they did convey that theme in the Manga in this movie, so what is the theme? Well just read damn the title my friends.
The story revolves around Hideo who is a once a promising mangaka but his dreams always stay out of reach for the reason that his characters were pretty normal like him, he has a relationship that is about to end, in short he is somewhat your typical loser protagonist. One day zombie apocalypse happens, miraculously he's one of those who survive then he met this girl that he promised to protect with his life. One interesting thing about this movie is its setting, it is in Japan where there are only few people who owns a gun and our protagonist owns it as a hobby. This gun is vital to the story as owning a shotgun at this situation means you are the king, this became the point of conflict with humans in the story as someone wanting it badly enough to kill for it and the way it serves as a metaphor for Hideo's character development is a work of a mad genius, like only in japan, the land of metaphors.
Visual effect are spectacular as they did something very different here, zombies veins are black, they deform differently once they became zombies, They move and contorts like insects. The sound effects are amazing too, the squishy sounds once their head exploded was done right. Music is intense if it needs to be intense. Song at the end it quite nice, it captures the atmosphere of the movie well.
Oizumi Yo gives a solid performance his zero to hero transformation was believable, though he doesn't look like the character in the Manga at least his persona reflects hideo, kudos to him. As for Nagasawa Masami and Arimura Kasumi, they were at least mediocre. I was especially disappointed with Nagasawa Masami's character cause that character is very different from the manga, her character supposed to be a baddass. Kasumi Arimura's character didn't do as much here so I can't asses how he did in this film.
So how would this stack up against other zombie titles? well let's say to me it made zombies scary again and kind off remind me why this genre has been one of the favorites for these past decade and that last minutes was a FREAKING-INTENSELY-GORY-HEAD-EXPLODING FINALE.
Check my Blog for other reviews & other JDramas stuffs. (｡◕‿‿◕｡)
https://thatjapanesedramaguy.blogspot.com/
Was this review helpful to you?
In terms of the human emotions, this one delivers it all! Although, it is probably meant to be more of a comedy drama than anything else, it touches your emotions on many fronts, that is, your feelings of happiness, anger, sadness, loneliness, laughter, sanity, etc. This one is not particularly a very deep drama in terms of love triangle relationship but I will say this, you won't be disappointed nonetheless. This one has just the right touch of love drama, not too much and not too little, but enough to keep you on the edge of your seat and feeling satisfied with a happy smile on your face when you reach the end.
Every character in this drama played their part in this film so perfectly, you can't help but fall in love with watching this one. I guarantee you'll be quite entertain from start to finish. If you're still reluctant...you shouldn't be...try out the first three episodes and you'll find yourself addicted to this drama in no time...I did...maybe you will too...
Overall, a very loving, funny, happy and entertaining drama that will have you laughing all the way through!
Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
OMG
Yes, yes and yes.That's what I like to see. I loved this special episode.
Firstly, I'd like to say that both actors are just.... hot. And Chahub's fake tattoo suits him perfectly. (Yes, he confirmed on twitter that it's fake😂)
I liked their chemistry, and the looks in each other eyes were just perfectly executed. They really transmitted me their feelings and emotions.
The story is definitely an interesting one, not the typical school concept one, as they are both playing as adults in this series.
I'm definitely gonna re-watch this one several timed until the actual series drops.
Was this review helpful to you?
Sing a Song of Six Spies.
This is a lively, intriguing and exciting romp into the murky world of espionage during the Northern Song period. The various subplots of this drama delve into the counter-intelligence activities of six, young and budding Song spies as they work to undermine Song's arch enemies Liao and Xia. This under appreciated drama carries the hallmark witty dialogue, creativity and manifold twists that made Joy of Life such a huge hit, albeit with lower budget and a young cast.Sing a Song of six spies
A pocket full of lies
Four and twenty black deeds
Faked by a Xia
Six young and promising individuals from vastly different backgrounds are recruited and undergo intensive training at a top secret spy academy. The morally ambivalent Yuan Zhongxin is cunning, cynical and diabolical; the perfect anti-hero in the high stakes world of double agents, conflicting loyalties and multiple betrayals. He is only bested by the fiery and badass Zhao Jian and together, they make a formidable pair. Although Zhao Jian comes off as arrogant and almost dislikable in the beginning, she is a rare strong female character whose desire to be relevant resonates from the get go. Along with the chivalrous Wang Kuan, who is pretty much 11th century google, Zhongxin, Zhao Jian and Wang Kuan are the brains of this outfit of six young spies. The well connected and commercial Wei Yanei alternately bullies or buys them out of trouble while the lethal Xue Ying more than pulls his weight in any skirmish. The disarmingly innocent Xiao Jing is the glue that binds this talented team together. Their goofy antics, youthful idealism, courage and sheer brilliance under pressure shines a bright light into the dark world of spooks and war hawks to whom the ends justify the means.
The rapport and camaraderie between this ensemble cast and how they grow to trust each other and learn from each other is the best thing about this drama. In each arc, one or two characters gets fleshed out and dimensioned - we get to see their home, family, who they care about. The character building is achieved via clever dialogue and suspenseful or action oriented moments that lapse unexpectedly into comedy before transitioning back seamlessly into the previous moment. The characters have unique shared experiences with each other, giving them individualized rapports and further deepening and dimensioning the team dynamics. I watched this right after Imperial Coroner and I cannot help but notice how uncannily similar Xiao Jing/Wang Kuan are to Chuchu/Prince An in terms of archetype. The big difference however is that in Young Blood, both characters grow and develop and they seem more real and fit in naturally with their team.
Most of the danger laden missions or arcs are creatively written and laced with the right mix of action, intrigue, comedy, romance, tragedy and of course betrayal. The superb subplots overflow with richly dimensioned characters - there are so many fantastic grey characters from villains, to rival spies and would be friends were it not for the different loyalties. There are few easy wins for our spy team as they are engaging with smart characters who are consummate liars that can (and do) beat them at their own game. In the last two arcs however, the writing did fall down somewhat. The writer seems unable to stop himself from overindulging in too many twists and surprise about faces. I did not appreciate how some of the smart characters got noticeably dumbed down in order to extend the plot or force additional twists. That said, the ending was good, tying up most loose ends but the end bit was a bit messy obviously to leave the door open for Season 2, which has since been announced. The strong performances, the richness in the characters and the team makes Season 2 a no brainer in terms of something I look forward to watching. Even if it doesn't materialize however, the ending can be considered satisfactory and conclusive. I give this super enjoyable watch a 9.0 although it should be between 8.5 and 9.0 or a 8.75.
Was this review helpful to you?
Alright, Jacquie...calm yo’self and chill. *Pauses to wrangle in my copious fangirling.* I gotta pull this spazzing down a level, and keep my raving to a minimum. Let me calmly explain to you why this drama is so flim-flammingly made of tasty awesome-sauce!
Firstly, it has all the right tropes to hook you: poor misfit unattractive heroine/rich Mr. Perfect hero. But, let me lay it all on the line because guys, these are just the building block tropes that NEVER turn into cliches! Rather than just being a dumpy, badly attired heroine in oversized glasses or whatever other weak-ass magic trick the wardrobe department typically pulls to make our lead "frumpy," this drama goes the extra mile without going the extra mile. Our heroine, Sam Soon, instead is legitimately overweight, without the "Let's Just Throw Her In A Fat Suit And Bad Clothes" trend. Nope, instead, we get a tall, Rubenesque female lead with frizzy-but-realistic hair and clothing that doesn't look like Barney's diarrhea.
Why am I going on and on about the wardrobe and physicality of Sam Soon? Because guys...do you REALIZE how nice it is to have a misfit heroine that isn't a walking joke?! Oh, and did I mention she totally has a spine? As in, this girl will ALWAYS stand up for herself, but simultaneously knows when to be reasonable at the appropriate moments and how to compromise AND negotiate. Basically she isn't a shrieking Too Stupid To Live female lead, and THANK YOU DRAMA GODS FOR THAT!
And as AWESOME as Sam Soon is, that's how equally kick-ass the rest of the entire cast of characters are! Yep, you read that right folks; literally every single character in this drama has individual personality with believable motivations, and there's not one evil antagonist rubbing their sinister hands together in the shadows. Every time this drama could have pulled a cliche, it didn't. Disapproving male lead's mother? Guess what, turns out she's multifaceted and nuanced! Contract dating? Guess what, turns out this acts as only the set-up rather than some angsty BS! Heroine falls in love with the hero first? Guess what, she doesn't morph into a doormat or mop bucket full of embarrassing bullshit! Hero is a cold fish who doesn't believe in love? Guess what, his evolution is well paced AND layered in backstory and frontstory!
Do you KNOW how amazing it was to be sucked so hard into a story that doesn't give-up out midway through like a deflated whoopie cushion?! Do you appreciate how spectacular it is for a drama to shrug its shoulders and go, "Hey, guess what! We're gonna put these two leads together through some bumpy trials that won't turn into melodramatic screaming-at-the-sky tribulations?" Thank you, My Lovely Sam Soon, THANK YOU! Thank you for showing that a couple can have disagreements and turbulence in their relationship without feeling the need to utilize diabolical parents, laughably stupid misunderstandings, random cancer, or amnesia!
You gave me a fun ride of a hero unwillingly falling in love with a heroine not his type, but kept it grounded and believable. You gave me comic relief that didn’t come at the expense of the heroine. You gave me some hella hot chemistry that was subtle but ever present. And, most importantly, you sucked me in with quality storytelling and amazing characters that had me finishing this 16 hour drama in two days. I honestly don't know if any other drama can compete with you, and I just wanna snuggle with you and your awesome characters, plot, pacing, comedy, drama, and cuteness!
Was this review helpful to you?
When I started watching this drama I thought it just had 16 episodes, I didn't expect 28 episodes at all, that's why in the first 4 or 5 episodes I thought that the drama was way to slow, the screenwriter was wasting too much time and I also thought that the drama would be boring, but then I saw that in fact this drama has 28 episodes and then I had another thoughts... The screenwriter took the necessary time to develop the story and help the view to not just get used to the main character, but know personally each and every character that is part of the story.
In this drama the screenwriter knows how to control the characters and the history being faithful to each of them and as the viewers get into the story - as a viewer I can say that - they learn to develop different feelings towards the characters. The story has different levels and in each level we can see new sides of the characters as the story develops naturally. There's nothing forced about his script, it is the most natural one and at the end... I must tell that everything was thought carefully. This end was one of the few ones that gave some satisfaction, it was a really good end.
The music is nothing special, I like the OST, but there was nothing too memorable for me.
As for the acting... It was brilliant! I didn't expected that Han Hyo Joo would pull out such a good acting as she did with her character Go Eun Song in this drama, the actress Moon Chae Woon also did an awesome job and as for me deserves a round of applause for her performance as the second main female lead Yoo Seung Mi, also the actress Kim Mi Sook just wooow, really good one. Really good acting. But of course Lee Seung Gi as the main male lead and Bae Su Bin as the second main male lead did a good job.
I'll watch this drama again someday for sure since is such a good drama.
Even if the OST isn't that memorable, from the acting, screenwriting to the directing this drama is the best.
I highly recommend it.
Was this review helpful to you?
The Assassin is loosely based on the late 9th century martial arts story "Nie Yinniang" by Pei Xing, a core text in Chinese swordsmanship and wuxia fiction.The film is set in 8th century China during last years of the Tang Dynasty. The film centers on Nie Yinniang (played by Shu Qi), an assassin who is directed to slay corrupt government officials by her master, Jiaxin, a nun who raised her from the age of ten. When Yinniang displays mercy by failing to kill during her duties, Jiaxin punishes her with a ruthless assignment designed to test Yinniang’s resolve: she is sent to the distant province/circuit of Weibo in northern China to kill its military governor Tian Ji'an — her cousin to whom she had once been betrothed. I hope that made things clearer for you, cause it helped me.
The story begins in black and white, showing off the skills of our female assassin. She is ruthless and cuts the guys head off in one clean shot – quite impressive. But it’s done so quickly and smoothly that it takes a second or two for us the audience to go ‘Oh he’s dead.’ We then get shown a second side of the assassin where she is ordered to kill a man but refuses to after she finds her target and his son together after spending the day playing with each other. Her refusal to follow an order due to her ‘humanness’ means she gets sent of to kill Tian Ji’an. We then go in to colour, but still maintain a kind of… ‘old’ feel to the movie.
For anyone who is too lazy to read 2 pages worth of writing here’s a basic summary – slow story but pretty things.
First of all I must make it clear that this movie is not one which I can judge as a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ movie. If this movies hadn’t been recommended by a lecturer I met at a university (I’m planning to do Film Studies at uni next year) then I would never had watched, let alone finished this movie. Why? Well mainly – the low ratings are low for a reason. This film is incredibly slow. I don’t mean it drags, I mean it’s REALLY slow. Firstly would probably be the lack of action. With a title such as ‘The Assassin’ one would expect lots of ninja-badass fighting scenes and lots of killing people and stuff. Yeah there isn’t that much of this, I think maybe only 3 or 4 fight scenes in the whole film – not very many in comparison to other action movies. Especially if you think that quite a few of these fight scenes were shot from far distances, giving you a wider scope of the action in contrast to getting up close and personal to the actors – which is the method normally favoured by modern directors. In addition within the fighting which we do see, it’s more like graceful dancing then brutal fighting. If you watch wuxia for the bloodshed and violence, you won’t find it here. Sorry.
There are many long scenes with little talking, I would say that only about 50% of the film is talking, maybe? In addition there is basically no background music, with the director relying on background noises of water, walking, wind, etc. The only music used in this film which has nothing to do with the scene is at the end credits. It’s a good piece of music, but it is quite solitary. With all of these in mind, it does make for quite a boring story. I won’t lie, I got bored. Half way through I did eat my dinner, brush my teeth, and then started researching background information on the movie to see if there was anything interesting I could use to add to this review. There was a little bit. To be honest, I didn’t understand some of the story line – I’m guessing I just missed the crucial parts where they were actually talking or something. I’m reassured when I read reviews on other sites which state that they didn’t understand the story either. I mean, at least I understood what was basically going on.
And then of course we end on a rather anti-climatic ending thinking ‘Now what?’, but I won’t spoil it for you.
But..
Yes there is a but; a big but.
What makes this film good is not the acting or the story, but the cinematography. This film is f***ing gorgeous. I’m not surprised that Hou Hsiao-Hsien, the director, won a ‘Best Director Prize’ for it. Not only do they make large use of Chinas beautiful landscapes, but they also use a lot of techniques seen in ‘old’ films. I’m not sure whether or not that is a legitimate ‘style’ but there are a lot of similarities.
Here are the reasons I like this film/find this film interesting:
1) The landscapes – obviously. There are many lingering shots of the landscapes all around rural areas of China, Mongolia and such. Director Hou (What am I meant to address him as?) has said in interviews and such that they aimed to shoot at high altitudes because there was no civilisation there. This of course means that you get to see beautiful rolling fog and ever changing weather. I believe that the weather and such was not planned for and they just went along and filmed with what whatever weather was happening at the time. I thought that this made it much more natural, compared to the controlled and precise movies of today.
2) The fight scenes are believable. Unlike most Wuxia films we don’t have people legitimately flying left right and centre. Not gonna lie – I hate that style. In this movie I think I saw only one or two instances where he uses this, but prominently the shots and choreography is either at a far view point or… not as close as most modern fight scenes… but near enough that we get a jist. We see interaction and faces, which we don’t normally see in the ‘quick-cut’ action scenes we’re used to. It’s nice.
3) The child actors – bless them. I’m convinced that they didn’t hire any children actors and those that were featured were accidentally brought to the set one day and somehow got dragged into it. They kids just sit, play and run around as if there are no cameras. It’s awesome. Plus it looks very natural.
4) The lighting. Director Hou tried to make the lighting as natural as possible (seeing a theme here yet?). If it was day time he would try and use the outside light, if it was night time then he would make it look as much like candle light as possible. This use of natural lighting resulted in a lot of warm colours, which made me happy inside.
5) Long scenes. But isn’t that a bad thing?! Yeah. Probably. Kind of. Some scenes go on for too long, but it works in some cases. There was one scene were we see tree tops for about 20 seconds. Time yourself and stare at a wall for 20 seconds, it’s a long time. It does work better when he lets us star at rural scenes in a village for a while, or the landscape shots – they’re pretty. In addition the long scenes do also mean we aren’t cutting every 5 seconds when ever a new person talks, which brings me to the next point.
6) Composition. One of the keys to a good movie is composition. And boy does this film have some sweet composition in its frames. In some cases we get shots of a setting and then go straight into talking – this means we don’t have to have as much talking and can carry on looking at pretty things. Or we have the scenes were the camera is handheld and moves around the set from one speaker to the next – no cutting (I love this so much). We have symmetry, symbolism, thirds, etc. It’s just gorgeous. It makes me want to sit down and screen shot frames to analyses what’s in them and what it could mean, my inner English student is trying to escape!
7) The last thing which made this film so interesting is movement. In most scenes there is something moving. There are curtains, wind, fog, birds, servants, candles, even the characters themselves shift and move to make them selves comfy. I feel like maybe Director Hou has gained inspiration from Akira Kurosawa, a Japanese director. I saw this movie but I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that they share this quality. It’s such a good idea. It makes it so that your eye is distracted and entertained whilst nothing happens in a scene. Absolute genius! I love it!
Ahh. I hope you can see why I found it so hard to evaluate whether this movie was good or bad! Yes it’s a bit dull but it’s so well made! I would say that I probably wouldn’t recommend this to anyone looking for a good story. However, if you are interesting in movies as an art, or can appreciate a well made movie then this is a good movie for you! If you think you can struggle through the slow pace then you are welcome to try it, as long as you can realise that it’s not a bad film. It’s just that the main focus is not on the story itself but the presentation of the story. The idea that the director is trying to convey. I truly think that the rating of the movie at the moment (6.2) is a bad representation of the movie. This movie is all about subtleness, be it in the detail, symbolism or the music.
I don’t know. Try it yourself and see what you think. Just watch it with a pinch of salt.
Was this review helpful to you?
The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
18 people found this review helpful
The lives of Maikos and Geikos have often been represented by external gazes, and they were done wrong many times by international eyes who saw in them what they wanted to see rather than what was there. This drama has the ability to showcase a traditional practice in a day-to-day setting, letting us see the domesticity, the relatable bits, the inner story of a Maiko house.
This is less about painting a grandiose image and more about showcasing daily lives, with the core of the story being two friends from Aomori (Kiyo and Sumire) who decide to move at age 16 to become Maiko. However, and very early on, Kiyo finds herself in a different journey, the one that gives the title to the drama: she discovers the role of a Makanai, a cook who prepares home-made meals for those who work in the house (and maybe also, through that, provides unconditional love and support).
With a masterful grace similar to dramas like Kinou Nani Tabeta? and Shinya Shokudo (and, less successfully, others like Lunch no Akko-chan or Ando Natsu), this drama is successful in writing the complex through simplicity and narrate a compelling story (in this case, a coming of age story) in a setting that is inviting, welcoming and that has inspiring cooking scenes.
The relationship in the center is the friendship between Kiyo and Sumire, which is incredibly refreshing to see. I'm very thankful for dramas that have come out of late which allow for more than just romance in its core. Still, there are a lot of characters with their own journeys (successful Geikos with life crisis, retired ones who deal with balancing their blood family and their work family, old apprentices who struggle, new apprentices who also do, retired Geikos who come back, family members of people in the house who don't share the traditions, etc.).
The only critique I'd give is that some elements of narrative tension, some thing that seemed would go somewhere, didn't quite have the space to develop. I can only hope that this is like Shinya Shokudo and we get more of it, but only time and people's engagement will tell.
If you're looking for a fast-paced, action-packed, tragedy-filled drama, this one isn't it. But if you're looking for a relaxing, domestic, coming-of-age drama with traditional elements and amazing food, a drama that you can come home to, then give this one a chance.
Was this review helpful to you?
Firstly the story is amazing, I give a 9 though instead of a 10 because the stories at the beginning are quite slow but improve as the drama progresses, but I warn anyone watching that there are a lot of heavy topics covered... but these stories really open up your eyes to the struggles that teenagers go through (not all are universal) and the music is great ! One of my favorite OST and it adds an eery tone to the drama.
Also, the cast is outstanding ! In particular Serena Fang who plays Du/Death Girl stands out, I can't believe I haven't seen her in anything else before this drama... she is the perfect death girl giving off a melancholy, mysterious exterior. Aaron Yan is is great to, but I wouldn't say his performance is that strong, Jiro Wang could have done it better and his character isn't as memorable as Xiao Lin and Da Dong where both of these actors give a lot of emotion. Also I couldn't take Wang Zi seriously as the 'bad boy' in the beginning, but other than that, an amazing cast !
Definitely watch this drama ! You'd be crazy to miss it :P
Was this review helpful to you?
