Reviews

Hirokazu Kore-eda never disappoints

God, Hirokazu Kore-eda is seriously one of the masters of modern cinema. His movies are as simple as they are brilliant. He knows how to find beauty in the smallest things, and his films always leave me with a warm feeling, even if they're usually sad and/or melancholic. The characters and societies he portrays in his work always feel so real and genuine. It also helps that he knows how to pick one great cast, as clearly shown here. In fact, this particular cast is so f**king good that I can't even pick an MVP, they really are that good. There's not a single line or facial gesture that doesn't feel natural and real. I had been looking forward to Broker for so long, and it actually ended up being even better than I expected. This is certainly one good way to start the year.

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wish they would have made 3 separate movies for each of the 3 couples

This is a movie version (110 minutes runtime) of the original 6 episode series (220 minutes runtime https://mydramalist.com/680869-second-chance). There aren't any new scenes only half is cut out. I wish they would have made 3 separate movies, each one focused on a couple because this movie did not solve my two main issues.

1. With three couples and not a long runtime, each of the couples' relationships feels rushed and it can feel choppy overall jumping back and forth between them

2. Two of the characters look very similar (they are brothers in real life, they aren't related in the series - one is a barista and the other learns muay thai). The characters don't appear in the same scene until the very end and it was really confusing (I thought 1 character had 3 love interests and actually screamed in the last episode when I realized they were different characters).

By separating the story lines out, I think these two issues would not have been a problem or as much of a problem. They could put some transition scenes (a city skyline with time lapse) to show that time has passed before the next scene is shown.

Content warnings: bullying/beaten up, homophobia

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heart touching

I saw this movie on the plane so I'm not entirely sure where it's available with eng subs, The story isn't anything new or original but it's an important film is what I would say. While so many of us are fed up with life there are so many people who want to live but cannot I find the varyings of our lives very different. In the beginning, the lead character is stopped from suicide by a woman and is taken to the hospice where she's told she can learn to die there. Of course, after meeting the people there and seeing their stories she's learned how precious it is to be able to live. You can say she was lucky she met that woman not everyone who's living a hard life is given a life-altering look into why living is worth it.
the side characters' stories all will have a special part in my heart simple, very simple call it a cliche but it is heart-touching.
i'll definitely recommend this movie if you have free time, it got me trying to hold back my tears in the middle of an airplane.

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One of the best movies ever

Parasite lives in the extremes of cinematography, its palettes are not colourful with multicolour but rather paint the most real of pictures of what South Korean societies are like. It is an ode to Director Bong's incredible work that Parasite feels so real and raw.

Parasite questions social inequality in the most of crude of forms, through micro-aggressions, violence, abuse, discrimination and isolation. Every moment of the movie feels like a punch to the gut and it answers and questions notions that is not only limited to South Korea but even beyond the realms. Parasite's imagery, its acting, its message, its want to tell a story will live on like a legend. Decades later the story will live on to still question and rebel.

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Don’t let the “filmed on the phone” fool you into thinking it’s a cheap low budget short horror. They obviously had the money to make it look stunning. The writing and the story might be simple, but perfectly executed - exactly how horror movies should be.

Those That Follow tells a simple story of regret, guilt and fear - the past can literally haunt you. We are introduced to two characters that start with the same baggage, but as the plot progresses, take different paths to deal with it and face the consequences of their actions.

Realistically speaking, the strongest point of the movie were the visuals - it’s simply beautiful. Being an ad for a phone, they took all the steps to make sure the final product can wow any possible customers. Surprisingly, the fact it is an ad made the movie better, since it pushed the director to use a variety of different shots to show he all the capabilities of the camera.

Acting was good. It did feel like some reactions were exaggerated, but nothing that would distract you from what was happening on screen.

Overall, truly a great short horror movie. Simple, but effective.

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I tend to give these short films/movies on Gagaoolala a shot and I am glad I did.

I will try to explain without giving any spoilers but it's very difficult to do when the movie is under an hour because of the amount of significance one may take from certain scenes to explain the overall storyline.



Reading the synopsis is necessary to have some kind of understanding of who is who and where the story is currently set in time. 

The black-and-white visual language was truly amazing. I am not a big fan of black-and-white films so the fact that I was engrossed the entire time says a lot. 


The story is between two friends, who help one another in a time of need. Although it does not seem like it at the start since Tod is letting Hao stay with him. However, as the film progresses you see more of their dynamic and how they are as individual characters, and how they are together as they begin to live with one another.

Hao is definitely more of a rebellious character and a free bird. One that does not care about the consequences and lives in the moment. He may seem as carefree but tries his best to be a guide in Tod’s life.


Tod, on the other hand, takes a more reserved role. He seems to be content with how his life is, without really questioning anything. He has dreams but does not actively pursue them besides painting.

With Hao introduced, Hao begins to push and question Tod’s dreams in a manner that demonstrates Tod’s personality on a somewhat “deeper level”. Hao asks simple questions as to Tod’s art, what his art means, where he wants to go, why, and by when he wants to achieve all of this. Tod also reciprocates which allows the audience to understand Hao better. These two complement one another despite their opposite personalities. Although, I wished they would have dived more into their background besides giving crumps and leaving the rest for interpretation.

Additionally, it felt like the director wanted to create a more “romantic” feel between Hao and Tod by providing an intimate sex scene between them. However, the scene was not necessary and it felt forced. Yes, you can tell that the characters care for one another and love each other but love does not necessarily have to be expressed in a romantic way. Besides, after that one night spent together, Tod and Hao proceed to go back to a friendly relationship without discussing what had happened the night before, which may leave the audience in wonder at their relationship.

In the end, Hao served more as a character that loves Tod (whether as a friend or romantically is debatable) and helped him express his desire to leave and helped him achieve that. Based on their interactions, Hao helped Tod achieve his dream and Tod helped Hao by being there for him when he had nowhere to go. The last few minutes of the film were my favorite because it gives the audience a glimpse of what each of them saw in a short montage of their past/present, showing how they each shined in their own way.

As I wrote this, I had originally rated it a 7 but now a 7.5. It is not an 8 for me because it felt 

1. Too short

2. The characters were given a short backstory which was not fully developed to understand them in a deeper manner

3. The sex scene felt rather rushed and thrown in there to make it a “gay film”, which in my opinion was not necessary because even if it was a movie on friendship it would have been amazing and portrayed the character’s love for one another.
4. I wanted them to express or communicate the relationship they had cause I had so much interpretation, which is not bad but sometimes I just want things to be clear for my small brain to understand.

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Not enough action

Su Can the son of the Admiral in charge of destroying the opium being brought in by the Prince is essentially an aimless youngman who doesn't want to follow in the footsteps of his government official father. He's happy to go around with the beggar clan just living his life and being in love with Lady Ruyu. Lady Ruyu is a performer whom the Prince has taken a keen interest. She rebuffs him and also gets into a kerfuffle with Su Can. The Prince sets in motion a plan to eliminate Su Can and is father so that he can continue his opiod busniess.After the murder of his father and then the Beggar clan leader Su Can seeks out revenge. It's not a bad movie but the movie is choppy. Somethings happened way to fast and too unbelievably. I did like the costumes and the cast though. I just wish there was a more coherent story.

I can see why this has a low rating. I really wanted to like this film and it really should have been good and enjoyable. The runtime was a short 73 minutes and maybe that's why the story falls apart?

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No Impact

I came across this movie in my recommendations on Youtube and decided to give it a try.

Let's start with the story. It's interesting enough, as there seem to be some layers to be uncovered, but the editing is all over the place and all the scenes lose any impact. They fall in love supposedly deeply, but you can't feel any of it. The emotional scenes lack any impact, because once again the editing make them seem out of the blue. Even the fight scenes, while pretty, eventually end up lacking any excitement.

Most of that is due to editing, but I must also mention the acting. Unfortunately, not that great. Also unfortunately, it goes for the whole cast. Whether it was the directing or the acting ability, none of the actors had any presence on screen. The ML is expressionless. Even if the character is written as a cold snake demon, you would at least expect him to show some expressions once he warms up and falls in love, but his face literally didn't move. At all. Throughout the whole movie. It was like looking at a picture. The female lead, while a bit better, didn't really do that great either. Their chemistry was also non-existent, so with the two of them in the most scenes, you end up watching a very boring couple. The SML is just there. No real impact. Very bland.

The music didn't really help either and seemed out of place sometimes. It didn't always match with the scene you were watching.

All in all, none of the aspects of the story had any impact. The story had potential and with better editing and a more charismatic cast might have been much better, but it ended up being on the boring side.

This story may actually work better as a drama. Giving the characters more time to develop and adding a bit more background. As a movie, it's a bit lacking.

There's also a part two, but I'm not sure if I'll be watching that.

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Poly? ACE?

Disclaimer: Please do not come down on me like a ton of bricks! Be kind to me! I am just ignorant and trying to educate myself!

If you are not familiar with the terminology or the very notion of polyamourous relationship and the meaning of ACE, you'd better do some research before watching this otherwise you'll find it incomprehensible!
There has been a huge development in sexual orientation terminology within the general population and, I hate to admit it,I did not keep up to date! Recently, there was a thread in the feeds dealing with it, but to be honest, my english being far from fluent, I did not understand much! The same is with this movie!

This short movie came highly recommended so I thought I might write a sentence or two about it since I spent some money on vimeo to watch it!

So from what I saw, please be indulgent of my ignorance, this is a story of three men in love and who live together: two engage in sexual activity and the third one, being repulsed by the notion of anyone touching him, just watches the other two and takes pictures (he's a photographer!). The end!

The actors have really good chemistry and their characteristics come out through just a few phrases. The cinematography is a bit on the dark and colourless side. The music...was there any? Can't remember! Rewatch value is high: first because you paid for it so you rewatch it often(LOL!) and second, in order to see tiny details which help understand the story better.

I would have liked the movie to be longer, to get some back story about the characters. Nothing there unfortunately! This is just a moment in time, when they decide to live together! A short movie which has the privilege, it seems to me, to be the first along with Koisenu Futari, to speak openly about ACE individuals. And as such, it is a unavoidable watch! It doesn't hurt it, either, to be excellent for those 18min and making everybody who's seen it want more!

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Bad Critic Reviews ≠ Bad Movie

Before you start looking for reviews, especially the negative, I advise you to watch the movie first. Before I watched it, so many people told me it wasn't any good, boring, confusing -- you know the drill. I particularly love the cast, so I didn't let it bother me much, and when I did watch it, I absolutely loved the film. It's so intricately detailed and truly entertaining to watch.

I understand why some would say that it's confusing, but I believe that actually being interested/curious about the story would be more than enough to make it understandable. Sometimes we're already prejudiced with opinions from others that we unconsciously refuse to appreciate something as it is. I think this is the same for this film.

Moreover, Alienoid is truly an entertaining movie. It's a new sensation that I haven't seen anywhere, and the director (Choi Dong-hoon) really outdid himself with this one. Although mixing historical elements (and guns!), fantasy, modern settings, time travel, and aliens wouldn't be so much of an inviting idea to many, it surely made my jaw drop for most of the movie. There was just the right amount of action, comedic relief, and plot in it that you won't realize it's coming to an end. I also loved how there was a vast range of characters that corresponded to each timeline -- especially the two mages!

Anyways, I loved the main three's (Kim Tae-Ri, Ryu Jun-Yeol, Kim Woo-Bin) characters so much! I can't wait to see more of them in the second installment. It's actually really funny how KTR and RJY's dynamic in Little Forest is so contrasting to them in here! (Plus, Thunder (KWB) in the pink suit absolutely slayed!)

The film duration is quite long (2h22m), but the story made use of it perfectly. The pacing is also good, which makes it seem like it's not even two hours.

Great movie to watch with friends and/or family!

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DIDN'T SEE SOMETHING I DON'T THINK WAS COMING FR!!!!!

This title is just absolutely solid at least the first half which is very promising. The plot got confusing in the latter part which is a plot twist. When I was really watching it, I was so glued at anything happening between young Phop and Dew and how just their homophobic town came crushing gays like homosexuality is an epidemic. The part where homosexuals were blamed bcuz of the STDs rampant presence in their town and forcing gays to be straight. It's just disturbing and sad to see that, especially when Phop participated in the so-called treatment. The bruises he got from the "treatment" is cruelly sad and I got infuriated. The story was so compelling. The moment of spending with each other and running away from their homophobic hometown together. I really sobbed at that entire first part. The plot gotten confusing. It's like "what in the world??!! Am I still watching the same movie?!!??” This became another story of a forbidden love between a teacher and his student. The reincarnation thing made me realize that I was still watching the same movie. Not really a fan of gender swap here. It would have been better if Dew reincarnated as a boy. It became like a weird connection between the two.
Even they ended up together I still think there still some things left unanswered like his wife, Liu's bf and anything I forgot to mention. I assumed that when they bungee jumped they died from drowning bcuz apparently the harnesses weren't attached to them.


I like the cast especially Nont and Ohm. Actually they are the reason why I watched this. I think they served a raw and pure talent and effort which paid very well. I love how intense the drama here. It really encouraged my senses about hatred toward homosexuals. I think this movie do a lot better if the another lead is not female. Didn't have any other issues except to the loose ends it left in the end.

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Amusing and entertaining movie to watch

Halmeoni was annoying at first but after a slight lens adjustment, perspective towards her changed. That is what the director wanted me to know when I was watching this film, and it was successfully done.

The introduction of Mal-soon halmeoni was rather unpleasant. She is shown as someone who is rude, crass, and even arrogant. Later on, her daughter-in-law is not able to tolerate her attitude and was admitted to the hospital. Halmeoni realized that maybe she is a burden to her family and wanted to escape it. This is the reality that is currently faced by our elderly. I actually liked the transition of the first scene which defined ageism by the halmeoni's professor son then towards the scene with halmeoni and her family situation, then went to a point that she may be sent to a home for the aged. Because of that, she wants to be given another chance at life which was granted...with a twist that she returned to a 20 year old lady physically but mentally still her.

Now that she has returned to a youthful appearance (she changed her name to Doo-ri), she is now able to pursue her lifelong dream, which is to become a singer. Comedic scenes were abundant here and all did not fail to make me laugh out loud. Her feisty grandmother stature was ever present despite being in a 20-year old body, which made the comedy pleasing to watch, but what I liked here is that she is now able to minimize her previous crass character and somewhat evolve into a new character that is more understanding of her actions in the others' perspective without losing her unique character. Also, her being in a band with her grandson was not only hilarious, but the songs were just great and the lyrics and message were also fitting with the story. I actually thought the actress that played Doo-ri wasn't the real singer of the songs here, and was surprised and pleased when I found it out later on. She has a nice voice.

She is (almost) able to rekindle her romantic side as she developed feelings to the charming Seung-woo PD. I actually liked how she was able to reexperience romantic love, especially with after what she went through with life. Despite with a sad ending at that part, I still felt content with them both.

What I also found great in this movie, and personally, its highlight, is that it was able to explore more on the backstory as to why Mal-soon halmeoni became who she was. It was mainly to support her newborn son as she was now a single mother after the death of her husband that she had to create a stern, firm, and most importantly, a feisty person, in order for her and her baby to survive. I still find it wrong though how she did it, as seen on one scene. Yet to the unfamiliar person, she may be shown as someone who is rude, crass, and even arrogant, as I mentioned earlier. With that in mind, this is the reason why her neighbor and friend (and former servant), Mr. Park has struck with her all these years. I loved how the pacing of the movie slowly emphasize this side of her to me, the viewer, and at the end, I was able to understand our halmeoni, in an understanding as same as Mr. Park. I also admire that their "romance" was left open, and the final scene was just funny.

Plot wise, this movie is light in terms of emotion and predictable. But it did not fail to entertain me and bring comedy, it was just funny, especially on the "younger" Mal-soon/Doo-ri scenes. The music was delightful to hear, and the pacing as mentioned, was properly executed. There were some parts that I felt was conveniently ended (e.g., her relationship with her daughter-in-law, although to be fair, it has a time skip to a year later). I also wanted it to explore more on the "ageism" issue, as what was shown on the first scene, since it was fitting for our halmeoni, but somehow, they forgot to address said issue. Still, an amusing and entertaining movie to watch.

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I really liked the characters and the story for the most part. The FL and both ML really good. It's an average film with your standard revenge plot. I loved actor Wang Yung Sheng. He's the villian here but I like him in everything he plays in. His skills and charisma, always awesome.

I didn't think the fight scenes were all that spectacular but there were two that were well choreographed. The fight scene between Jeanie Chang (FL) and Chan Lau (4th Brother) was excellent and the work with the pot was fantastic. The other was a fight scene between 2 older gentlemen; one of whom is the villain. Even though i don’t remember these 2 characters they were apparently part of the subplot. Fight was great with the 2 veteran martial arts actors. That was better than all the fights between any main characters. I really didnt even reacall the subplot while watching and was flabbergasted when the 2 showed up to fight over the 36 Deadly Styles book.

Bolo Yuen is here and for some inexplicable reason he is wearing a redheaded, braided wig. I literally, need someone to explain to me as to why the hell that wig was used. It looked like a black woman's wig from the 1970's disco era.

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