Reviews

Ok, so I watched this and thought it was like a drama cut up and pasted to make a movie. Which was disappointing to me. But, having said that I really loved the story and the acting was great. I wish the movie flowed a little better or that is was just made into a drama. I will watch it again b/c I loved the actors and the music was amazing. The guilt trip that is placed on the lead actress is hard for me to deal w/ b/c I am not the type of person that puts up w/ crap like that. I understand staying w/ some1 b/c u love them not b/c u feel guilty. I also understand depression and how it affects others so this story has an interesting twist for me in that area. I sometimes wounder about the differences in culture when I watch these movies or dramas. This one shows a huge difference in how we think. I love to see the view point of others. It opens up a whole new world for me. I hope others enjoy this movie as much as I did.

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Rita's view hits the nail on the head but I wanted to add some thougts.

The lighting, the constant rain and even the angles of the house all lent themselves to the mood of the film. Which I thought was a clever technique. The acting in the film was very good. Hyun Bin may be gorgeous but time and time again he has proven he's got serious skills. I don't watch him because he's cute anymore. I watch him because I know I am going to be watching a really great actor.

Having said that: This film is shot in a really quiet way. In one shot in particular you just see the woman sitting on a chair, smoking a cig for a good minute or so. There were times when I thought the director was building upon the silence. Using the rain and the dark and the two character's obvious silences toward an end of some kind.

With the woman I felt frustration and guilt. From him I could feel sadness and quiet hopeless acceptance. Sometimes it felt that they were using their silence to punish eachother. I was waiting for some kind of breakthrough. For some of this emotion to surface. This was not to be... I felt like this movie ended in the middle of a sentance and now we don't know what anyone involved was even trying to say.

It's like going to an abstact art exhibit at looking at a painting of a single huge black dot on a white canvas and thinking..."Why?" and "I hope the artist didn't get paid for this" and "Yeah, I did one just like that in kindergarten." Sometimes when you try to be to artsy, clever and minimalist...you fail big time.

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I'm used to Nakama Yukie's more energetic and happy roles but her version of an obsessed mother and deceiving woman is spin-chilling. She's brilliant!



Unlike most Japanese drama, the acting is not over done and sets a more serious and believable tone to the series. The music gets a little repetitive, having the same theme played during the episode and then the same song at the end.



It tugs at the heart strings, has you gasping at the disloyalty and questioning who to believe. Utsukushii Rinjin is a brilliant introduction into thriller drama and one worth sinking your teeth into.

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A great drama with a wonderful storyline! Just when you think you can predict the ending, the story twists again. Simple yet powerful storyline, one doesn't have to be a fan of basketball to watch.



Yamapi (Naoki) is a great actor here but sometimes he falls a bit flat, making his character feel a bit two-dimensional, though it's mostly due to his lines (not his fault - he's a great actor).



The chemistry between Naoki and Riko was wonderful, though it's true when Natsuki said their relationship is just to "lick each other's wounds" I felt that it was true, in a sense that they played more on the "dream" part than the "love" part.



I love the way they portray characters and each and every single one of the character, be it minor or major brought an interesting part to the show.



Props goes to Shuji, Mai-chan and Utsu - they were supporting actors but they were FANTASTIC. Love the way they bring out their characters!



A light hearted drama without being too pointless or too serious - great watch. You can't help but to fall head over heels with Yamapi here!

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This series is like art described in 4 stories in which Aoi Yu plays the main role. At the end and the beginning of each episode we are given details about the main ideas, inspiration and the director's thoughts.



The theme is lie and it can take on many shades. I'll have to say that everyone should pay more attention to the elements of the story and not the story itself.



As a whole it's presented as a contest between directors to make an ultimate masterpiece that will surpass the others. Can such a thing be made? I say it overwhelmed me. I feel that I couldn't well grasp the meaning of the stories so I remain staring as at a painting of Picasso saying that I didn't like it but the reason is more in the lines of " I don't have the capability of understanding it"

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This drama was seriously a lot more than I expected at first. A really good drama which showed lots of central questions of human beings! What is good? What bad? Peoples weaknesses are tested in here!

So this drama goes deep! Also the cast was exceptional! Both main actors did a really great performance as well as the female supporting role who plays the detective, Nagisa.



The music is refreshing and fits the different situations of the drama.



Overall....WATCH THIS!!! if you want to see a drama with great emotions, deepness, great actors and an very exiting and interesting story!!

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The story of this drama is incredibly unique, at least compared to all the dramas i've seen. The Cast and Acting was terrific and as a result of both the Story and the Acting, I truly felt an emotionally attachment to the characters, and how they changed. The music also furthered my emotional attachment to the drama. While I don't like rewatching drama, Ninkyo Helper is actually a drama I believe I could rewatch, since the element of surprise enhances the story, but in general, it's not essential to making the drama interesting.

Overall, i'm giving this drama a 10, and I fell like every Jdrama fan who enjoys the Crime/Yakuza and Family genres, should watch this.

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A brilliant drama...I think every drama addicted person should watch this one.

About the life of ordinary people, who have their past, with which they are not proud of. About the boomerang of life, when it brings back all the dead back in 100 times worse ways...

About a guy who is trying to forget his past life, and live on honestly and maybe averagely happy, who has experienced many hardships as a son of a lonely mother who drank and took men home, leaving the child on the porch...His way of coping? Smile...a kind and genuine smile...

About a girl who experienced human cruelty and lost her voice only because she was unfortunate enough to be born in a family, where the father was not honest person...

About a Korean lawyer who works in Japan under a Japanese name, just so he can be accepted...

These three people meet, start helping each other, fall in love, try to overcome the hardships...

Again...a brilliant drama.

The score is perfect, by the way, it was composed by Yamashita Kousuke...and if fits the drama just perfectly...

I have watched this drama last year in winter, and I still listen to it score...

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I give this movie an overall 4, but not because it I thought it was generally really bad - I thought some aspects were excellent, while others were pretty much terrible, which is why I figured a more detailed explanation was in order. Other people will opine on the actual plot, so I'll mention some things that were more important to my experience of the movie:





The visuals are great, both in terms of a pretty cast and gorgeous cinematography. This is probably my favorite part of the whole movie - visually, I absolutely adored the feel of it. Also, I don't know how qualified I am to say this, seeing as I generally won't call acting bad unless the actors look like grade school students putting on their first play, but I thought the acting was pretty good. The fellow students in the rural school were rather endearing, as was Lee Yeon Hee. However-



The movie does not flow at all. The editing is frequently jarring - especially when poignant scenes are cut before their full emotional impact could be felt. Character development - in fact, development of any sort - is really jumpy. I still have no idea when the main guy suddenly fell in love with the girl, or when there were any developments in their relationship, because all the viewer sees is that in one scene they feel one way about each other and in the next they feel completely differently. Major aspects of the story, like the lost mother storyline or the boy's grandfather's story, are left awkwardly underdeveloped. I also feel that the supporting cast and their stories are severely underutilized/developed.





The result of all this is that it frequently feels like the actual movie is happening between the scenes we get to see. The sense of "Wait, when did that happen?" or just "Wait, what?" steals some of the poignancy from the scenes that individually are really well done. What we do see could have been part of a really great movie, but that movie was never made. Perhaps if it had been a drama instead and had more time to develop things - or if everything had just been better developed in this shorter time frame - it could have been much better. As it is, though, it's pretty disappointing.





That being said, I do have a soft spot in my heart for this movie, mostly thanks to its vibe and its potential [and those endearing characters], which is why I couldn't rate it poorly without an explanation. Also, while I totally wouldn't mind rewatching certain scenes, I would never watch that whole movie again.

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