Reviews

Actor is hot. Main idea is good. Subplot is boring.

Gotta admit I come here for the ML after watching "Perfect Crown". He’s still hot in this one, but in "Perfect Crown", he's hotter with that restrained, mysterious vibe.

The FL is good too. But honestly, neither of their roles is that demanding in terms of performance, so there isn’t much for them to really show. That also makes things less interesting. So it’s up to the story to be interesting, but...

Let me first say that I can see what the main plot is trying to do. It’s aiming at gender issues in Korea - things like homophobia and patriarchy - which are serious topics. So I do give them credit for that. There are also some moment that lands well at the right time, like the ML’s dance scene which I actually enjoy.

But the subplots, which probably take up around 75% of the movie, feel mundane, repetitive and nothing new. It’s just another retelling of familiar stories that once you’ve consumed enough media, it starts to feel dull. And it leads you to the point that you'd rather detach from it all rather than sit through it again.

So yeah, to sum it up: good actors, extra points for a hot ML and a meaningful intention behind the story. But overall, still quite boring. Definitely not something I’d want to spend money on or sit through for two hours in a theater.

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Note 1 :
If the full score is 10 - it's 5.5 from me.
But when the full score is 5 - it's 2.5 from me.
There's still much room for this movie.

Note 2 :
Someone on Douban said they liked the drama version more, so I gave it a try. But for me, the movie version is more engaging and easier to sit with.

𓂃 ✦ 𓂃

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stuck in self proof

Before commenting on my review, I should note that I watched Kill Boksoon first, so I was already familiar with the world this show created. Since Mantis is a sequel/spin-off, it wasn’t difficult for me to get into the story. Kill Boksoon mainly focused on the life of assassins — their training, missions, and how they deal with the aftermath of killing. It’s the type of story that requires audiences to be emotionally prepared for dark and intense themes. Because Kill Boksoon focused heavily on action and fight scenes, I was curious about what direction Mantis would take.

After finishing it, I think it makes sense that the show focused more on the emotional side of being a killer rather than only the action. The story explores the characters’ emotional struggles and insecurities, which I know some audiences may find difficult to connect with. Personally, though, I really liked this aspect because it allowed me to understand the complexity of the characters’ inner feelings instead of only seeing their surface-level motivations and performances.

One of the most interesting parts of the story is how Dok Go projects his own emotional insecurity onto Jae Yi. This becomes the main reason Jae Yi traps herself in the mindset that she will never be as good as Mantis. What makes this even more tragic is that this belief is not originally Dok Go’s own idea — it comes from MK. Dok Go admires MK so much that he accepts his opinion without questioning it. Because he sees similarities between himself and Jae Yi, he ends up passing that insecurity onto her as well.

Even though Jae Yi clearly defeated Mantis during their match, the seniors still believed she would lose if they used real blades. They underestimated her ability and made assumptions without giving her a fair chance. Dok Go later repeats the same behavior. Even when Jae Yi requests a real blade fight, he refuses because he has already convinced himself of the outcome. The sad part is that Jae Yi would rather accept an honest defeat than live with people assuming she would lose. This becomes the reason she constantly feels the need to prove herself until she finally kills Dok Go.

Mantis also suffers emotionally. He feels guilty for being chosen while Jae Yi was rejected, even though she won. He never truly understands why the seniors made that decision. Because of this guilt, he spends his life trying to protect and support her, often holding himself back because he is afraid of hurting her feelings. Ironically, this is not what Jae Yi actually wants. If Mantis had defeated her fairly, she probably would have accepted the result and worked harder to improve openly instead of becoming trapped in a cycle of proving herself.

In the end, both Mantis and Jae Yi are victims of the emotional pressure created by the older generation. Jae Yi desperately wants to prove she deserved to be chosen, while Mantis keeps trying to support her in ways that unintentionally make her pain worse. This emotional complexity is what made the show so appealing to me.

That said, I still wish the series had given Jae Yi and Mantis more memorable fight scenes because their emotional conflict was strong enough to deserve even bigger action moments.

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A Story That Barely Moves

Impossible to Imagine is the story of a woman who has contentedly painted herself into a corner in her life. She's running a business that has been handed down from generation to generation within her family and is on the verge of becoming obsolete due to the cultural and demographic changes in Kyoto. At the recommendation of a friend, she hires a business consultant to try and salvage the family business. He is half Japanese and half Australian and immediately offends her with his openness and willingness to examine what might be going wrong with her business. FL is a rigid traditionalist from the very first scene and to think of doing anything differently than she's always done it is offensive to her. But her desperation drives her to invite him back and continue to work with him. He offers some very workable solutions and she begins to cater to a more foreign born customer base. He serves as translator and emotional support when it's all too much for her, but he also creates the occasional problem by handling conflict in ways the locals find unacceptable. Despite this, they work well together and form an attachment that works for a while.
Eventually, his need to look to the future and to make changes and explore begins to feel like a constant threat to her need for everything to remain the same. The movie finishes with her and her father continuing to run the business with the added changes, but she breaks things off with the ML. Her complaint when they were together was that he wanted change to happen too fast. My complaint after watching the movie is that the character development was infinitesimal and story arc was pea sized. Maybe that was the director's point, to explore the cultural resistance to change that some areas in Japan are internally battling with, but man oh man, I wish there had been a more fruitful exploration. Imagine if the characters had learned that fear is the root of rigidity and that creativity can be employed to both preserve the loveliness of unique cultural expression and develop plans for adaptation to changing cultural tides. Imagine if she had taken the hand that offered to help her out of the corner she was painted into. Ugh. She denied the call to adventure and chose the safe and predictable option.
All that to say, the actors did well. They seemed like regular people that might actually exist. The technical side of the film was fairly amateur, but it didn't intrude into the story.

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there are two different endings for this one

Overall: I took into consideration that this was made in 2016 and from China. No official platform. There are two endings and you can probably guess how each will end. Note the movie and my review might have triggering content.

Content Warnings: intimate partner violence, choking, beginning sexual assault (touching), violence, blood, manipulation, slap, non con kiss turned consensual, homophobia

What I Liked
- there were actual apologies that a character meant, he had character growth and I believe they will live happily
- domestic bliss montage
- bed scene

Room For Improvement
- that slap was not needed
- love triangle
- don't understand what was with the fiancee thing

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servant/master dynamic, there is a second part

Overall: this review takes into consideration it aired in 2016 and is from China. It is also called "Uncontrolled Love". Available on iQIYI https://www.iq.com/play/uncontrolled-love-secret-of-the-valet-2016-19rrlkp87k?lang=en_us Note the movie and my review might have triggering content.

Content Warnings: non con touching, homophobia, (towards the end: beaten up/held against will, blood, attempted gang rape (not with the MLs), choking, self harm)

What I Liked
- acting
- coherent story
- music

Room For Improvement
- cliche wannabe girlfriend/wife
- the ML is controlling/abusive towards the other ML; however, I think he does have character growth in the second part

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the darker of the two parts

Overall: I tried to take into account that this was made in China in 2016. Note, this second part and my review has things that might be triggering.

Content Warnings: death, attempted murder, attempted suicide, rape (multiple times), kidnapping/held against will, choking, torture, non con recording, punches, injury, homophobia (internal and external)

What I Liked
- a character did obsessed well
- a character was public about things (though he should have consulted the other guy first before doing that)

Room For Improvement
- was likely meant to be the fictional bodice ripper type premise where "the mouth says no but the body says yes" however, the torture and repeated rape were not fun to watch. I did not want them together romantically.
- this thing went full soap opera including the nonsense of what happened in a swimming pool he could stand up in
- the wife and kid are barely mentioned and brushed aside
- cliffhanger ending without a resolution

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Not the best portrayal of bullying, but perhaps the most sincere one

It was a very touching movie. I have to say that it was simple in narrative. There were not any wildly unexpected moments. The message of the movie somewhat confused itself, but it was clear that this was not your typical portrayal of bullying in cinema.

In this movie, the role of emotional anchor was at the forefront. The honest, innocent, pure connection between two people. There was no exploitation of the love, sexuality or the dramatics. The portrayal of connection was dispersed everywhere, in every second of this movie, and so real and so flawed -- that it worked perfectly.

As for the acting, the side characters were average because no one’s story was particularly developed. But both leads did a phenomenal job. Absolutely convincing and punching performances that save the script. Every and any success of this movie goes to the two leads. I could see this movie being less interesting or captivating, genuinely lost, under different cast.

All that did induce the waterfall from my eyes on multiple occasions (I cannot deal well with injustice). It was a pure, emotional movie, with easily digestible story.

Satisfying ending. A good watch.

A recommend.

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must watch if you want to cry your heart out

absolute peak cinema. the acting, the colour grading, the cinematography, the script, they did not miss ANYTHING.

i love angst and this is literally what i reach for whenever im sad and need an outlet. i can't cry easily just from my feelings but this just opens the floodgates every time.

jeff and engfa literally KILLED IT in this movie. while this movie can't be called comforting AT ALL, it's become my comfort.

really shows the struggle that queer people went through JUST TO GET BASIC RIGHTS and still a majority of them in most of the countries don't have the same rights as the others. this world is such a unfair place, there's so much to hate in this world and people decided to choose to despise love, just because it doesn't look like THEIR definition of love.

i hope other countries become open to queer people and let them live and love however they want. while thailand has made queer marriage legal, most countries (including mine) are literally destroying what little rights queer people have, and it's so messed up.

this movie is a GREAT GREAT take on this inequality and it's definitely worth giving a watch even if it's not someone's usual style. kudos to the director, the actor and everyone else involved in the making of this film, i hope it gets more recognition in the further days.

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Breathless tension...

This was intense!!! I literally stopped breathing at certain points when the intense tension was so thick and then that one kiss in particular...you know which of them I'm referring too had me hold my breath and put a hand over my heart...the tension and passion was off the charts! The ending kept me guessing or double guessing...was it still the play or reality? Actors were amazing in their roles, they got me hook line and sinker! P.S. I am not a fan of any bit of dark stuff in my dramas, I prefer butterflies, rainbows and a necessary few conflicts that get neatly tied up at the end. I like to escape reality watching dramas not suffer more in the fantasy world too, so most of this pushed the envelope for me because of my preference, I would even have prefered a different ending...but here I am signing up for mydramalist just so I can leave this review because this little drama had me in its grip all the way through to the end...phew, I can breathe now! 🤪

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