The writing is sublime. I haven’t ever come across a drama with such an original take on what could have been a standard plot. I cannot express with enough appreciation how fresh this story feels while watching. Even with some of the same drama tropes like cancer and entwined fates, I felt as if I was watching a Kdrama for the first time. If I could elaborate on how amazingly lovely, heart wrenching and yes, even humorous this story is, I would talk all day and spoil any reader of this review. Clever details in very well acted scenes, smart dialog, raw and real emotion elevate this drama above most I’ve seen. The editing is almost part of the story. You must watch to understand what I am saying.
Jung Woo Sung was amazing. He portrayed Kang Chil with incredible fearlessness. I would imagine an actor must be brave to throw himself into a role and portray a man so raw, vulnerable and having to overcome such fear of a world he thought never wanted him. His performance was a tour de force.
Kim Bum did a fine job in The Woman Who Still Wants To Marry but he matured in this drama. As he has grown up, his acting has come along for the ride; his portrayal of Gook Soo was intense, goofy, natural and totally convincing.
Na Moon Hee who portrayed Kang Chil’s Omma was simply amazing in every scene. Her cranky, rough portrayal of Mi Ja (Omma) was bursting with life. I could feel the undercurrent of her loving so much if she ceased being mean and tough, she might melt away. She was incredible.
Han Ji Min was great as the tough, wary, vulnerable Ji Na who fell head over heels for Kang Chil. This has to be my favorite thing she has done that I’ve seen.
Choi Tae Joon who portrayed Im Jung gave a charming and very touching performance. I will be watching out for him in the future.
The cinematography was eye catching all the way through. There are sweeping views of meadows, snow covered valleys, quaint village towns and crowded fishing wharfs. Every local was rich in detail and perfect. The set design really needs to win an award.
The music was another 10. The main love theme “In Order To Live” was pretty and dramatic. The song “You Idiot” stood out for me as well; both for its lovely music, lyrics and theme and also the humorous title. That is exactly Padam Padam; a mix of incredible, intense emotion but also much humor and heart.
I would watch this again in a heartbeat! As full as my drama watching plate is, there will come a time when I will want to return and see this again.
Padam Padam is a complete GEM of a drama and I recommend it highly to everyone!
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By the end of the drama Kiyama (Daito Shunsuke) was totally my favorite character! He doesn't really talk much,but you love his character anyway. Wataru (Yusuke) is really funny, he's loud and always says what he's thinking, but has a lot of heart and Yusuke played him well! And Koji plays Yutta the leader of the team, who keeps everyone together.
It's just a really touching drama, and BIG BONUS in my book is that it has a great theme song! I still love it and listen to it all the time.
You defiantly wont regret watching this drama. I've seen it from beginning to end about 3 or 4 times and re watched favorite scenes and episodes (like episode 4 and 11) more times then I can count!
Even if sport/team/friendship dramas aren't your thing you should at least give it a try anyway, you might surprise yourself.
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The characters are well done and played, except for Yukari, the manager, i think this one doesn't match so well with a manager function and with the aura in the movie.
About music, there are some good things, both about music and lyrics. Special mention to Yukiya's music.
I just don't get the end...
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This review may contain spoilers
To say that this is a romantic comedy set against a political backdrop is a matter of perspective.City Hall, for me, paints a typical--if not accurate--picture of Asian countryside politics from the petty to the scheming bureaucracy and party politics, then taking it up a notch by touching on national politics and slowly intertwining it with a meaningful love story that develops into the fore.
WARNING: potential spoilers up ahead!
Shin Mi Rae is a 10th grade civil servant who, after winning a contest, finds herself being the victim of Inju's swindling city government. Mi Rae, indignant about this injustice, initiates a self-serving one-person protest until it becomes a city-wide issue. Mi Rae realizes that her issue is one among many of those being ignored by the government and through her efforts have gained the support of Inju constituents.
Jo Guk, son of a legendary figure in politics, have grand ambitions of running for national office however because his father's wishes, he grudgingly comes to Inju where his father wants to implement an elaborate plan in order hoist himself back into the political arena.
Both leads, although romantically linked, tackled substantial issues: on women, on livelihood, on farming, on employment, on social services, on elections, even on big businesses investing in a small unknown town. And this is what makes it a cut above your ordinary rom-com: it's not all lovey-dovey.
Although the story's treatment of these issues can seemingly be simplified and leaning on the melodramatic, you can still find little bits of truth in every issue presented in City Hall. And what I appreciate about this is the fact that it's love story develops at the second half and how it strikes a balance between love and politics. Thus, viewers get to see how Mi Rae and Jo Guk develop their romance from disgust and awkwardness to curiously interesting and becomes a love that's tugging-at-your-sleeve-and-asking-for-some-attention.
Acting - Dynamite! Kim Sun Ah, Cha Seung Won and the rest of the cast are dynamite! A remarkable and note-worthy performance goes to Yoon Se Ah's portrayal of Go Go-Hae--her acting was so flawless that I wanted to slap her!
Music - Although limited, there are some likable tunes that fit into hilarious moments as well as the more subdued ones.
Rewatch value - Odd. You might ask why a 7. Some might find it an easy rewatch, but personally, this is not the type I'd rewatch anytime soon.
At the overall, City Hall maintains a high 9.
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The only downside I found was the second lead. He seemed very one dimensional. Even his facial expressions did not change much. Other than that, it was a wonderful watch. Highly recommend.
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Story- Right from the first episode your mind will be all over the place while watching. I kept going WTF every moment and then the ending of that episode was like “are you serious?!” but in a good way. After watching that first episode I knew I was in for a show with a story I had never seen before in the Kdrama world. The story went at a slower pace but it was needed to not only build up the plot in a way that will keep the audience interested throughout the entire run, but also it was needed for the development of Kang Chil’s relationships(not just romantic). I wont give a way the ending (which honestly with the way they started the drama it could’ve gone anyway the writers wanted being unpredictable) but I will say it was bittersweet and not completely closed. Really though I cried in the last 2 episodes and its hard to make me cry!
Acting/Cast- Phenomenal acting by everyone involved including every single one of the supporting characters. Really though JWS. HJM, and KB really shined and brought their characters to life. Those three deserve acting awards and I hope they at least get nominated. I just wanted to point out that I really did not like the character Ji Nah at all during the first half of the series so much so I didn’t care about her romance with main character. But her character development during the second half was so good and made me root for her. This is what good writing is all about. Making you hate a character one minute but then changing your mind in another is pretty amazing to me.
Music- I liked the music score more than the OST but the songs did elevate the scenes in which they were meant to.
Rewatch- I would wait 3-4 years before watching this again just because this is one of those dramas that doesn’t need to be watched for a while because once the plot is known you don’t get the same feel you had the first time. Hopefully by then I will forget most of what happened during the story so I can enjoy watching it again.
Overall Padam Padam plays like a movie with the excellent cinematography, acting, plot, and score. This drama was new, refreshing and I hope there are more dramas like this to come.
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The plot as fine but it kept the same from the beginning to the ending. No twists and no additional characters to make it more interesting, everything was about the same thing - Yang Eun Bi.
This drama is a lot cliché and for me the main girl is annoying. Maybe that's one of the reasons I couldn't bear with it.
The drama doesn't get deeper about the characters, while other dramas have a lot of happenings in 16 episodes and make us love/understand the characters more this drama just kept being the same, the plot was repeated all over again.
The only thing that was worth it was the beginning of the last episode. I didn't skip any part there, it was funny and romantic and it had feeling. But of course they needed to ruin everything after with the quick flow.
Overall I didn't like this dramas. My high expectations got really low. It's a drama cliché, it has some funny moments but that's all.
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Great acting from the cast, in particular, from the leads, in which this film was their acting debut. Shawn Dou was great as the hunky lead male (great smile!) and Zhou Dongyu was lovely as the naive lead female. My only gripe: the male lead character seemed to be a bit too perfect and angelic and it would have been nice to have some more dimension to his character.
Even though the film is set during the end of the Cultural Revolution, there isn't too much emphasis on politics. This is a pure love story at its best with the interactions between the main characters at the forefront.
The film also has amazing cinematography. The color palette isn't striking but there is a nice contrast between the village and the city landscapes.
Recommended for those who enjoy those simple and pure love stories.
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It leaves you with a cliff hanger at the end and if your someone that doesn't enjoy being left hanging like my self you wouldn't find this very enjoyable. However it was a pretty decent movie and i would watch it again to get a better understanding of the story.
It is not just a scary movie... i guess people who like horror movies would want something scarier and a little less thrill.
It's a good movie...the plot really stars to develop somewhere is the middle and though it maybe not the best i definitely don't regret watching this one ^^
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