Reviews

With a sword, that boy cuts the rope, dividing this world from the next.

Came across this on Netflix and saw the trailer, it seemed intriguing and glad I got around to seeing the prequel to this popular manga series. I'll keep this review short since this is a well known series. As a warning, it is bloody and ultra violent at times but there were no annoying explicit sex scenes, thank goodness for that.

This was a fascinating watch about an assassin who was used as a part of a revolution to destroy the Shogunate. This drama had beautiful cinematography, historical settings, and costumes. The prequel storyline isn't complicated and had tight plotting so it was easy to follow even for people who are new or not familiar with the franchise. While it has its fair share of blood and a bit of gore, the sword fight scenes were choregraphed very well and there were some scenes were it was almost elegant despite the blood shed. I originally intended to watch this for the action and sword fighting but was rewarded with a lot more. The love story is subtle and stoic. While it is a main part of this prequel arc, it doesn't dominate and allows the other areas of the drama to stand out.

There were some well written scenes with poignant moments such as a philosophical conversation Yukishiro Tomoe has with Himura Kenshin, it questions whether all those murders were worth it for the peace he thinks he is fighting for and the morality he is sacrificing.

Even with the violence and blood shed it was tastefully done and executed.

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Sweet and Sad

This is one of those beautiful doses of nostalgia, a moment in the life of a bunch of teens... Reminding me of my own youth, as I too was born 1983, had a heart condition, and had to leave my loved ones behind to move to different country, crying on a plane... longing...

This movie has an amazing cast, great cinematography and some really good characters. There are a few scenes that annoyed me, but they were properly delt with later on showing a teen with a heart condition as... you know a teen with crushes, wishes and desires beyond a cure... Wanting to stay put so she can get close to her crush... As well as some stuff that others take for granted but teens with heart conditions have to del with. + She actually got to have a scar!

" I need a friend not a nurse"

The flirting in this movie is top notch, and though there are moments when the female lead feels straight out of Disney (especially in the beginning) and I do not agree with all of her decisions. She is pretty cool, bad ass and kind all at the same time without becoming a super hero. The male lead is really sweet in every way possible (almost), playful, kind and listen to this he actually respects women, and seems to grasp the notion of consent before people used the word consent 1999.

The friendships in this movie have their good sides and less good sides, just like most relationships do in real life. They are however really well executed except for some annoying overly high pitched crying here and there, which is why this is a 9 and not a 9,5. There is a a pretty high rate of predictability but also some moments that may surprise you (very few though) .

Level of tears- build up and light fog in the eyes but no full blown snotty crying.
Level of cuteness- High, oh so high...

So if you can handle some pain, go watch this movie. If not save it for a day when you can handle it.

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I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THIS

Watch it if you want to be left feeling like a complete and utter wreck. Also don't watch it for those same reasons. I just feel the same as I did after completing twenty five twenty one. It's literally that except there's a plot twist at the end.

Be warned, there is no happy ending to this story. I'm still not over it. Bo Ra and Woon Ho deserved sooooooo much better.

It's a solid 8/10 for me but I am so mad / confused I want to give it less but it was a really good movie, I think the actors did a really good job portraying these characters and sharing their love story. It made me feel so many emotions.

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a ‘bud’ of a movie

Mayve the fact that I expected a lot of this movie made me so disappointed. The scores and reviews are all good, it’s a Netflix Production, and it’s got a very good cast.. so what could possibly go wrong?

With all those good things I guess the script and writing is what fumbles. It’s a shame because a lot of lower production does things a lot better but don’t get the recognition they deserve. I won’t talk about that anymore here.. I’ll just share my thoughts about the movie

What I liked were the main character trio. I liked them, but unfortunately they weren’t developed at all. The time jump seriously is too harsh and the division is very big between being a high school to an adult. The college scene was thrown in there to make up for it but it failed, it just showed that Bo Ra against gotten over Woon Ho, and it was done with a blind date which I find pretty lazy. There are so many ways to present a character missing someone but trying to deny it, and she straight up said it out loud.

There is a lot of visually stunning moments, the aesthetic is very good with this movie. I just wished they would’ve been more creative other than just beautiful scenes. They couldn’t done much more symbolically.

Woon Ho and Bo Ra had a short romance, but it didn’t get to be fully developed either. It seemed nothing fully bloomed. So I don’t understand why Woon Ho was just pronounced dead- it really threw me off? The time skip didn’t need to happen- honestly I can’t tell what kind of ending to a movie this was other than to cheaply try to get people to cry. Emotional stories can be done better than that, it’s kind of insulting to kill someone off and just say it rather than show or allude slowly or hint it. He was just dead and she never knew.. it felt cheap to me to get me to feel bad. If this movie really wanted a cry and to make a character die at least tell me why he died, instead I’m left feeling like this movie didn’t end, it was very loose and had no resolution. Her friend wasn’t brought up on the future, her parents, her own brother… what happened to those characters that were introduced.

I also understand I’m being harsh. But within a realistic setting and time that I’ve lived through I’m just baffled at this loose approach. It’s hard to have things be so all over the place and unexplained if it’s in a modern setting where answers can be found easily.

So this movie is just a watch- interesting, it was so easy to just do and not make a fuss but it tried too hard and failed for me.

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Never believe in the dramas / movies set in the 80s and 90s

The plot is somewhat typical, a story about first love and friendships in adolescence, at first I felt that it was a bit slow but then it improved, really what is most striking is that you do not expect the ending and the fact that the love story from Bora and WooHon it ends before it started it hurts, at least they would have had another kiss
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The performances were good, Kim Yoo jung and Byun Woo suk in the train scene where they say goodbye will always be a memorable scene, it was impossible not to cry and Han Hyo Joo in the last scene where she sees the tape... Damn she didn't even have to speak so that I would be destroyed
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The best movie of 2022 and here the phrase that destroyed us all "I want to see you, Bora of the 21st century"

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Woon Ho didn't deserve that ?

Byeon Woo Seok, was really good and so was Kim Yoo Jung, but I really hate the fact that the movie was a sad one, and it made me cry so much. Thats the reason why I hate timetravel or time skipping going back to look at their memories movies. Bruh the fact that Woon Ho died, was so sad, and their love was so genuine and sweet, maybe I shouldn’t watch movies because of the male lead, anyways all I have to say is that this movie brought a lake of tears out of me, the amount of time I took crying just watching this movie was quite embarrassing considering it's acting. ? ? ? ? ?. My heart literally broke for Woon Ho, so I'm going to watch his upcoming dramas to make up for the pain that this movie has brought to me.

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Brilliantly executed mind-bending, thought-provoking movie

An intense mind-bending, thought-provoking movie ... it will not be everyone's cup of tea due to the themes it revolves around ... but I loved it and thought it was brilliantly executed. The cinematography was mind bending, the score, the script ... the awesome out of the box, blow your mind ending ... all brilliantly executed. If you are feeling depressed, I would not recommend you watch this movie as you may find yourself doing an even deeper dive into questioning your own existence ... just saying.

The cinematography, the score and the sounds throughout the movie beautifully complemented the actors and conveyed a psychological context that is beyond words. The use of colours; lights and shadows; cinematic focus points where the out-of-focus points were as important as the in-focus points; the sets ... all were just amazing and mind bending. There was just so much in this little movie ... it was kind of ethereal and yet had a touch of "Fight Club" about it ... the concepts of 'separation' and 'alienation' were palpable. There were elements of humour (in the beginning) in amongst all the philosophical confusion, angst and pathos.

There are some very deep philosophical concepts embedded in this movie ... time and waste of time ... life and death ... 'alive' but 'dead' ... 'dead' but 'alive' ... futility ... the purpose for 'being' ... alienation from self and from others ... social vandalism ... the 'system' vs chaos ... mind vs mindlessness ... there was even a 'cult' feel in the aggregation of social 'misfits'/'rebels' ... Marvel Comics' supervillian Thanos ... Nietzsche and his concepts of master and slave morality, nihilism, death of god, affirmation of life, perspectivism et al ... "Everyone is betting their lives on something." So much to think about and see in action in this movie.
"All humans who do not think and act with their own heads are our targets of attack. Getting on the system of the rotten world and doing well, it's the same as reproducing the system."

The 'war' against some 'thing' ... or betting your life on someone/thing is always interesting to me ... embedded within those concepts is you/what you want against the 'other'/what they want and yet one has no meaning without the other, cannot exist without the other ... both 'sides' are eternally bound together ... 'up' has no meaning without 'down', 'shadow' has no meaning without 'light' ... 'system' has no meaning without 'chaos' ... indeed is not chaos a system in itself ? ... and in the end we all die anyway ? ... human consciousness is such a mind bender lol.

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Don't Read Any Reviews

FAIR WARNING: Reading any review may spoil the experience of this movie.

Having said that go watch this movie NOW!

If your still here remember I warned you.

This is not a horror movie and it is not quite a romance either. It is a perfect blend of suspense with a sprinkle of gore and a tug at your heart strings.

I went into this not expecting anything really just thought it looked interesting. The Thai movies I have had the privilege of watching have a way of blending elements in the story lines just enough to make the stories interesting but not too much in any direction. I love that about them.

I don't want to say too much about it because it will ruin the feeling of the movie if you go in expecting one thing but get another. Watch it without expectations and enjoy it.

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Disappointing plot but great nostalgic scenery!

The movie starts off pretty well since its entertaining to see how the FL gets to know the ML and his friend, especially through her mischiefs. But it ends up going down the cliché route halfway through the movie: the FL and her friend end up liking the same guy so FL lies to the guy about her feelings. This makes the plot frustrating and hard to watch. It's not very creative and doesn't make the characters seem thoughtful or relatable. If anything, it made the FL seem irresponsible for making the people around her confused and left in the dark. Although I think Yoo Jung's acting is pretty good, its the scriptwriters who mostly failed this part of the movie.

The other main cast members had mediocre acting, especially the two male leads. Though, I do feel a nice bit of chemistry between Yoo Jung and the two!

Overall, the little things like her school, family, and friendships are heartwarming and fun. The nostalgic vibe and the cinematography were stunning. But that's mostly what uplifts the movie for me. And I know a lot of people are unhappy about the ending, but that's what helped me feel some strong emotions, especially with the video tape at the end. It was heart-wrenching and I like actress Hyo Joo's moments there. Without the ending, I would probably give this a 5.

I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend this movie but if you want to watch a light-hearted romcom with a mediocre cliche plot, and don't mind a sad ending, go for it...

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Just another idol film with the intent to sell Kim Yoo Jung.

(1) Story [-]

There's nothing original in the story, so cliche and highly predictable. And there's nothing in the story itself, no message to convey, just bringing the formula of teenage love story that full of misunderstanding in for the actors to play. They try to make a twist but it's a cliche twist, so it's not a twist in the end since audience can guess it right beforehand. However, the feelings between the characters has a solid foundation to be believable. If you also watch Chinese movies, you'd know how unpassionate the production teams are in making a film. They don't care to build a foundation for their stories, so lots of Chinese films are very much superficial and not believable at all. This movie is a good example for comparison. It is a story with nothing but still have a good foundation, so no matter how nothing the story is, as long as the actors can perform, audience can still enjoy it. Thus, higher score.

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(2) Acting [+]

Kim Yoo Jung is the star of the film. She carries the whole team. It's very enjoyable to watch her acting. The ML is so-so. I don't feel right with his smile at times which I'm not sure if it's due to his acting or just the physical feature of his smile. The best friend of ML's acting skill isn't that strong but I'd give him passable. The acting of the FL's best friend isn't real enough. I feel like her true self tries to pretend to be the character, so it feels more pretentious though the character is actually sincere. Anyway, her role doesn't show up much so it's ok.

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(3) Cinematography [~]

Cinematography is upto standard, but I don't really like their dream-like filter. In the scene at the vast lawn, all the colors look obviously artificial.

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As a whole, it is enjoyable to watch, but also wasting time. I wouldn't rewatch it, that's for sure. And if I know it'd be like this, I don't think I'd watch it in the first place.

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How can a loser be stronger than a winner? Blue (2021) shows us how.

Story:
This film really asks the question, what makes us strong? It shows that winning isn't all that matters, nor should it be used as a scale to measure how strong a person is. Here we have Kazuki who wins all the time and swears he will retire from boxing if he loses. On the other hand, we have Urita who loses all the time and keeps a smile on his face.
The dynamic between Kazuki and Urita is very subtle but very brilliant. Urita is constantly trying to help his friend win matches, giving him helpful tips, and is always in his corner. Yet Kazuki doesn't do the same. In fact, there was one scene where Kazuki witheld information about one of Urita's upcomming opponents that would have helped him greatly. Why did he do this? Humans are complicated. For me, I think that Kazuki was selfish and wanted Urita to remain a loser. He didn't want Urita to stop supporting him and if he started to win matches, this might happen as Urita would then focus more on his own success. It could also be the case that Kazuki was jealous of Urita because of his amazing attitude. Urita is always seen as smiling and optimistic, whereas Kazuki is always seen as irritable and moody. This might have made Kazuki jealous for no good reason.
It is very important to note that this film is not a typical boxing movie, where the underdog trains as hard as he can and ends up winning matches. The point this film is trying to make isn't that winning equals success, but rather that attitude is more important. Urita did everything he could to win, he had amazing physique and techniques that even helped his other teammates win their own matches. Yet, Urita still couldn't win a match of his own. Does this mean he was weak? Hell no! He was stronger than anyone else in the movie because no one else could have handled so many failures with the same grace that he did.

Cast:
While everyone here gave a great performance, I was very notably impressed with Emoto Tokio's acting. I'm used to seeing him play the awkward weak guy. He obviously did a lot of traning for this to build his cardio and physique. His character was a wonderful source of comedic relief at times.

Final Thoughts:
I had zero hopes going into this movie. In fact, I was intending to just fan-girl over Higashide Masahiro and skip through most of it. But the intricate, realistic, and delicate approach to Urita's plight as a passionate boxer with no ability to win matches really caught my attention and held it for the duration of the film. It is a well-made work that any boxing fan will enjoy.

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Love is a terrible thing to hate.

Everything is moving forward, each day we learn something new about our world and society. Yet some people still don't understand, that having different opinion is not an excuse for violence or hatred, because opinions are like assh*les - we all have one.

N O T S P O I L E R F R E E / N O M A J O R S P O I L E R S

Cin and May go from friends to lovers, not hiding their relationship from nobody, especially not from their schoolmates. At the beginning everything is rosy pink and they are happy, but one person is enough to trigger a chain of bullying and hate. Sometimes hard times bring us closer to each other and sometimes it is what tears us apart, even tho the love is still there. And that's how it goes for Cin and May...

There's nothing much to write about Even If, it's short, well written and shot movie that leaves sour taste in your mouth and breaks your heart. A theme that we see too often in LGBTQIA+ movies, dramas, books... And we will keep seeing it for a while, unfortunately.

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Kim Yoo Jung, the carry as always <3 . But movie LACKED A KICK

as a true fan of KYJ, I'm gonna be honest, and not biased.

Kim Yoo Jung, Jung Suk Yong, and Gong Myung's acting are not to be doubted at all. Charisma of experience actors, they don't lie.

KYJ has best chemistry with Jung Suk Yong (father), Jeon Hye Won from True Beauty (Darn It). Yoon Yire (Madam), and Gong Myung.

the chemistry around the 3 main leads to Kim Yoo Jung is lack luster, but their acting is good! But seriously, you have seen better main male lead, second male lead, and BFF for Kim Yoo Jung . But these 3 were still far from her level. I agree with someone who said Park Jung Woo has better chemistry with Kim Yoo Jung.

For Han Hyo Joo, I feel like... she acts exactly the same like in Golden Slumber. I was not touched, but she played a convincing adult Bora.

Color is nice, but cinematography feels rushed. Could have been better if it was done with the style of TV drama.

music feels kinda low and not moving. Coming from the music director of secret royal inspector and joy. this is disappointing. They should make it more RETRO, like taxi driver.

Even so, ITS A HIT! Thank you to AwesomeENT, Swoon, and all of the promotion and support.

I believe after 8th night, 20th century girl, chicken nugget, and perhaps 1 more hit netflix drama.. Kim Yoo Jung should return to SBS, get a first TVN drama, KBS2, MBC... and skip JTBC, return to Netflix in the future.

No more movies please, movies are always rushed. That's the problem with Korean Movies, slow start, rushed finale. It's only moving when Kim Yoo Jung was around

Korea can make rewatchable dramas but not rewatchable movies.

Verdict: it's not a family romcom flicks like Backstreet Rookie and Clean With Passion For Now that will touch the experienced watchers.

It's a hit movie directed at mainstream gen MZ, I'm amazed it's a mainstream hit and I am grateful. Still the best 2 hours of my life but I am not that amazed. Only amazed at Kim Yoo Jung

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