Not sure what the director was trying to achieve here
To be fair, I did only see the second half of The Last Emperor. I was flicking around for something to watch at 1am and this was playing on SBS World Movies. For those of you familiar with SBS, you would know that this is the only true way to properly experience SBS movies.Admittedly, I initially thought Joan Chen's Empress was the protagonist. Partially, because she was the feature of the scene I came in halfway through, but also because she had the strongest presence on screen. Honestly, what a diva. Recognised her immediately due to having watched Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace so many times.
Otherwise, this film just gave weird old-school Hollywood vibes (yes, yes, I know he's Italian, whatever...). First of all, did this seriously need to be almost entirely in English?? Like I get that Western audiences are racist, but if they've chosen to watch a movie about the last emperor of China, I feel like they can handle some Mandarin, y'know? Plus, you have the lethargic orchestral score, and then the weird flattening of Evil Japanese and then Evil Maoists...well, it all left a bland taste in the mouth.
Needless to say, I'm really not inspired to go back and watch the first half. Cheers.
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Loved this
I really enjoyed this movie, especially since it shows what can happen when one is not careful in this age of technology where we use our mobiles not just for communication but for everything ranging from monitoring the smart systems at home to keeping track of our schedules and everything else.The story really made me pause and think. But what mainly stood out to me was Yim Siwan’s acting and the way he displayed the range of his character so flawlessly! I will definitely rewatch this just for Yim Siwan’s acting alone!
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This review may contain spoilers
The Scariest Sound Is the Silence: An Infectious Cycle of Madness Masquerading as a Noise Complaint.
"The Noise" is a masterful, suffocating piece of atmospheric horror, rightfully earning a 9/10 rating. It brilliantly exploits the confined apartment setting, generating profound psychological dread and paranoia. The central concept—noise complaints—is far more than a simple plot device; it functions as a powerful social metaphor for community apathy and the tragic silence surrounding genuine mental distress. The film makes a stark commentary: people react with anger to sound rather than compassion. The narrative excels by establishing that the 'paranormal' element is not a typical haunting but a cyclical, highly contagious transfer of severe mental trauma and psychosis. The truly devastating power of the film lies in its conclusion: the heroine does not defeat the evil, but tragically internalizes the madness, ensuring the despairing cycle persistsWas this review helpful to you?
Silent Sparks
I can't even begin to express how much I adored this! It was the perfect mix of adorable and painfully relatable for anyone who's ever been an introvert with a crush. The slow burn of the whole thing had me gripping my pillow with all the tension, and yet, it was so charming I couldn’t help but smile through the awkwardness. Cologne guy, he knew exactly what was going on! 😂 The inner monologues? Chef’s kiss. I just wish it was longer, or even a full-length movie, because I honestly would've watched hours of that shy, cute energy. Being an introvert can be tough, especially when you like someone, and this nailed that feeling so perfectly. A solid 10 from me, without a doubt! 🥰Was this review helpful to you?
A Nostalgic, Heartwarming High School Romance
"Love Untangled" is such a sweet, nostalgic ride. It reminded me of the warm, simple charm of ‘90s high school dramas that I grew up loving. The main character, Se Ri, is so relatable with her hair struggles and big-hearted attempts to confess her feelings. Gong Myung’s portrayal of the supportive boyfriend is everything, seriously, K-drama needs more characters like him. I also loved the message about self-love and staying true to yourself, which felt really refreshing. It’s just the kind of feel-good drama you watch when you want to smile without thinking too hard. Sure, the last bit had an unnecessary misunderstanding that kind of dragged it down, but overall, it was an adorable, peaceful watch that left me with all the warm fuzzies. Definitely one I’d revisit when I’m in the mood for some nostalgic, heartwarming romance.Was this review helpful to you?
Totally Overrated and boring
After an hour, I got bored and stopped it.Because of the high ratings and good reviews, I gave it another chance and watched another half an hour. I got bored.
Feeling somewhat guilty, I turned it on again. After 15 minutes, I gave up.
The story is pretty bland, there's no tension building, the characters are uninteresting,
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Female lead's character is selfish & mean & doesn't improve upon knowing her more
It started out entertaining & then went down hill. The female lead's character is self serving, even as she enters into a romance. She "runs Rough shod" over everyone in her path to her goal. I'm honestly tired or female character's like the one in this drama. It's not even worth more words to describe.Was this review helpful to you?
Not bad action movie
It was okay-ish ... The story was lost and inconsistent till like the last 45mins or so, it was so random and going no where, it was a build up for the last 45 mins, but somehow that build up wasn't necessary not did it aid in anything for the last 45mins, if anything it shows that, people who are close to you will be your enemies and you may find good friends in strangers.The action was good, fighting sequences were good but I couldn't help but notice that it was slightly slowed down, i mean compared to other female-lead action movies, still it was really enjoyable to watch.
The brother and sister relationship was really creepy, I thought she was his gf the whole time till maybe they actually mentioned it lol I won't say when exactly cause I don't want to spoiler anything but once this in incident happens I knew their relationship.
The mother daughter relationship had weird dynamics too, is she rebellious, is she depressed, does she need help what is their relationship as a teen and her parent, to say they WERE close when she is younger doesn't simply cut it.
Now the story could be better if they maybe put a hit on her or she had to leave the company, you know something, alas the climax scene was so lame and only saved by the twist the wasn't really a twist as it had an underwhelming consequences ...
Generally speaking, it's a nice action movie, but not a great one, just ok.
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Not worth it
I honestly feel like I wasted my time. This could've worked if it was a short film, it didn't need all that time. Saw the plot from a mile away. wish there was something more, if even one of them made it out it would've saved something. Reminiscent of Gonjiam: haunted asylum but it does it so poorly. I was even watching it at midnight but it failed to scare me. They should've given more of them figuring out how to get out of there rather just randomly getting possessed and getting killed off. Maybe my expectations were just too highWas this review helpful to you?
CUTE LOVE STORY
I’ve wanted to watch this since it came out, but for some reason I never did. Today I saw a clip from the movie and thought, the time has come.At first, I didn’t like the filming style. I know it’s fresh and a lot of movies use this format nowadays, but I’m really not a fan. Films shot like this usually make me feel rushed and I can’t appreciate the story as much.
That said, this one did a better job with emotional depth. I actually felt sorry for the characters, even though the format kept me from fully immersing myself. The couple had amazing chemistry, and I’d love to see them together in another project, just not filmed like this.
The storyline was okay nothing groundbreaking, but still enjoyable. In the end, I gave it a pretty good rating. Even if it wasn't extraordinary, it made me root for the characters and left me with a genuinely nice overall feeling.
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Interesting context and 1st half, weaker in its conclusion
This movie features a different kind of mystery locked-room, since as stated in its title, it involves 6 lying university going through a quite crazy (and highly competitive) hiring screening process.There were enough characters and twists to make it interesting while remaining quite focused on a central mystery. If the first half was really good with all the build up to get into the locked-room and the locked-room aspect working pretty well in itself, the overall conclusion and morale was a bit on the weak side. The societal criticism felt lacking as the cycle seemed to be repeating at the end. The motivation of the actions of one of the character felt poorly explained to try to patch everything together in a clunky manner.
Production-wise, it was good enough to make every aspect of the events happening in the locked-room clear, except for the conclusive ones which were lacking (mostly because of the writing). Acting-wise, it was solid. Each member of the cast manage to play very well the bright and darker side of their characters' personalities.
I would recommend this to people that enjoy locked-room mystery. It is a bit different from the usual ones as the context of the screening hiring interview makes it a rather unusual flavor. However, the writing is weaker in the second half which, coupled with an average pacing, tempered my enjoyment of the movie.
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Same flaws as part 1 but worse because of the liberties taken with the source material
If part one was disappointing, part 2 was worse. There were some differences with the source material that really further impacted negatively the overall interest of the story.I was glad they avoided the childhood connection trope but truly disappointed at how they handled the Sun Ho (aka Kanda Shun) and Seo Joon (aka Igarashi Yu) storyline. The band twist did not work as well as what happened to their bandmate. It dramatically reduced the stakes of their relationship, and I would truly have preferred they went the idol road, like in the source material.
There were other poor scenaristic choices : all the storyline around Kanda Shun mother did not work, especially because of the clunky acting of Watanabe Keisuke who had chemistry with no one, making neither the romance nor the bromance work nor the painful family aspect. The way they concluded the romance was also a mistake in my opinion...The many writing issues, combined with poor acting and mediocre chemistry, really made the second part of this adaptation annoying to watch.
I would not recommend this to people as I don't like how they dumbed down the plot...Not saying that the source material was without flaw but I think it was an error to adjust the background stories of the male lead and the second male lead. Unfortunately, the heroine felt so bland that I struggle to find anything worth mentionning regarding the character. To be transparent, I am influenced by what I know from the original material and from the South Korean drama, if you haven't seen / read it, maybe you will appreciate it more than I, without the disappointment factor.
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Impossible for me to not compare - It does not live up to the South Korean drama adaptation.
Even if I try to look at this movie in itself, separating myself from the South Korean drama adaptation (which was far from perfect, as well as what I have read from the source material, also pretty flawed), this film was quite a let down.It is very colorful and pretty but the romance never worked for me, with the chemistry being very poor. That's the biggest flaw, with the lack of charism of the main cast. The role of Su Ho (called Kanda Shun in the japanese adaptation) is a pretty robotic one, but it felt even more bland in this version with the actor Watanabe Keisuke playing it in a very awkward way. The role of Seo Joon (here Igarashi Yu) gave me one of the strongest Second Male Lead syndrome but in this new adaptation, I felt nothing. To be fair, Tsuna Keito acting was not the worst but clearly he is suffering the comparison with Hwang In Youp from the South Korean drama.
While the movie took some shortcuts on the original story, the core of the story remained the same (even if I was frustrated at some scenaristic choices) but the feelings felt lacking as everything was accelerated. However, I feel it made perfect sense to split the story in a two part movie and to make the split at the point they chose to do it.
I would not recommend this movie to people as I feel the South Korean drama, despite its flaws, does a better job at bringing the webtoon to live. There are a lot of storylines that felt rushed off and the overall impression on this first part of the story is quite a superficial one as it does not dig enough into the suffering of the heroine and some of the most dramatic elements from the original story.
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what a great movie
I just finished the movie, what a great movie, what perfect casting, and what a great performance by a girl who is only 16 years old (but with a resume of acting from the age of 6-7), a movie that combines laughter and sadness in one package (yes, I cried), a movie that touches on a wide range of emotions, great relationships and great communication (keyword) of a family, whether it is between a father (uncle) and a daughter or whether it is between a grandmother and a granddaughter or a son-in-law or between friends, it is hard not to compare it to the Corona pandemic, or to the series "Happiness" (Park Hyung-shik). I enjoyed the whole package and also the message "One person is enough to believe in you" .... Love, perseverance, support and communication..Was this review helpful to you?
Quite symbolic encounter between two slightly odd human beings
I liked this indie film with the image of the rake, it really made me think. Are you erasing your past ? Are you erasing yourself? If this central question of the story is interesting, pacing could definitely have been better, even for a short film.The soundtrack was ok but nothing really memorable, and I also felt the acting was very green. It is very understandable why the characters gravitate towards each other, but the attraction factor was missing from the acting. While those elements felt lacking, filmmaking was good, with some striking moments illustrating the questioning of the movie.
Overall, I was pretty impressed by the meta aspect as the film, featuring students of an Art school while the movie is really made by aspiring filmmakers from the Film School of Tokyo.
I would recommend this to people that enjoy indie movie . It has a subdue atmosphere and feels almost phylosophical in its meta aspect and the constant questionning made by the characters.
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