Reviews

A heartwarming and sweet story perfect for kdrama addicts

If you haven't watched this drama yet, or if you put on your PTW just because of Chae Jong Hyeop, or if you've never watched a J-Drama and are into K-dramas more, then I strongly recommend this drama to you
Since I was the case too, I always wanted to see how Japanese dramas unfold but never dared to start one, but when I read the synopsis and found CJH there I gave it a shot and I'm glad I did
In this situation I could understand the ML better and feel the difference in culture and language more since I'm a Kdrama addict so I felt like. I was a Korean going to Japan for the first time and trying to cope with its people and understand their language better
I was a bit annoyed by the FL and how cowardly she acts but it was understandable
Also, the second lead syndrome is strongly present here too
The second couple is sweet too, the amount of funny misunderstandings between them is even funnier
Anyway, I feel like I wrote an essay here
Hope you have/will enjoy(ed) this drama as much as I did

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Liza and Enrique's Performances Make Up for the Movie's Imperfections

This is very enjoyable but not as good as Alone/Together among LizQuen movies. The acting between Liza and Enrique is very convincing. The movie is also an enjoyable watch for a lazy weekend. However, the basic point of the plot, Gio's "cheating", is not very convincing since he didn't really cheat but was only taken advantage of during a night when he was drunk. I understand that girls get hurt if guys lay down with other women even when they were drunk, but Cali breaking up with him and making her a man-hater because of it makes her character less admirable. I wish they made another scenario of how Gio would cheat on Cali (ex: being taken to a bar after a tiring and disappointing day at school or work where he was really tempted to sleep with another girl for comfort because he was really disappointed with what happened at school or work). However, the fact that Cali's dad cheated on her mom did help add to the pain of Cali as well as make her man-hating personality develop more.
I wish the film was less "racist" though. How could a film be filmed in South Korea and then call a Korean character Kimmychi (joke on kimchi food)? While this mistake can be forgivable since Kimmychi maybe just a term of endearment from her boyfriend, using the term "slanted eyes" is just a little bit too much.
3.5 over 5 for Liza and Enrique's performance and for it being an enjoyable film for me to watch. A Korean person might however find this film a bit offensive.

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The Perfect Japanese Art Film - A Must Watch

This film that will remind viewers of love and loss, but also guide us to appreciate what is special and beautiful in life. Especially cats.
Eight years on from its release, "If Cats Disappeared From The World" maintains its gentle, existentialist, and esoteric appeal, as a possible Japanese homage to Ingmar Bergman's cinematic masterpiece, "The Seventh Seal" (a knight plays chess with Death on the beach), while staying true to Japanese social culture.
Satoh Takeru has enjoyed a powerful career since this film, and is renowned for tackling emotive roles that other actors might find difficult: he can weep big, manly tears and in the same scene, ponder the magical wonder of the universe. And that, my friends, is why he is so in demand today as "The Actor's Actor" and the intellectual person's sex symbol. He turned 35 just a few days ago and has already amassed an amazing acting portfolio. He's headed for Hollywood: watch that space.
Here, the dialogue is beautifully restrained; the music punctuates the scenes with pulsing electronica and gentle piano in alternate scenes of joyful youth and inevitable tragedy. Satoh skillfully balances dual roles, capturing the essence of a dying postman and his irreverent alter ego, amid flashback scenes highlighting the cycle of life.

*** THANK YOU FOR READING! "Follow" to be notified of more reviews. Enjoy! ~Fumiyawagi

28 March 2024

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Conflict Between Ideologies and Life-Long Convictions at its best

Jang Hyuk utterly and undeniably stole the show.
His character, counselor Park, was so profoundly well-written that I am having difficulty hating his character, even as a villain. He had layers upon layers… Even his layers had layers. One of the best-written villain’s characters that I have ever watched since the character of Yi Bang Won from “Empire of Lust.”

Kang Han Na was unapologetically superb in her role as Yoo Jung/Lady Park.
Her character personified that old saying…
“If she was a man, what a King she would have made…” She had all of the necessary and all of the sort-after attributes of a great King. Again, one of the best-written Queen’s characters that I have ever watched since the character of Queen Im Hwa Ryung from “Under the Queen's Umbrella.”

Lastly, Lee Joon…
What What can I say about his role as king, Lee Tae…?
I do feel bad for the actor. Any actor placed in a scene next to Jang Hyuk, whether it is a first male lead role or a second male lead role, is going to look unfinished and less skilled. Then, we have the writing behind his character… While his 2 costars’ characters writings were profound, well-written and full of layers, the writing behind his character felt weak, untrustworthy and incomplete. Throughout the entire 16 episodes, I really didn’t see any growth in his character. His character remained abundantly emotional, vengeful and neurotic at times.

All and all…
One of the best Sageuks that I have watched from Jang Hyuk and I am utterly impressed by Kang Han Na‘s acting prowess.

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A story about your own UNIQUE love.

Before you watch this series, I will say it is unique and can push boundaries. Which shouldn't be a surprise if you are at all familiar with Japanese films/series since they are known to have shows like that.

Once you get past the sweat focus, its honestly such a sweet love story about two people who are a building their own happy, loving relationship which may not conform to the norm. I will say the series is fast paced and cuts out A LOT of the background information/characters that you get from the manga (hint hint: read the manga!)

So, the female lead is a shy, anxious woman who was incessantly bullied due to her sweating as a kid - which as we all know when your stress, you only seem to sweat more -. She is intelligent, working as an accountant at a soap company but you can tell from the start she is unsure about her own body and what her value is as a partner/woman. Still she works hard to communicate to the male lead and doesn't rely on the stereotype that "he will guess the problem".
The male lead oversteps social boundaries but it can be overlooked somewhat due to him being a bit eccentric and utilizes his sense of smell to create new scents for soap. I would describe his personality as being similar to an odd painter who sees a new muse and begs for them to sit and model for them so they can create a new piece of art. He is very compassionate and hardworking, he shows his love to the female lead in all the ways he can and even shows his own vulnerability when he is scared he may be losing her.

All in all they work together to build each other up, overcoming insecurities and embracing each others uniqueness. I love the message of "I know I couldn't be there to have shield you from the pain you suffered, but I can be here now to share the painful memory of it and help you learn to heal".

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Superb and fun to watch..
Hope to get sequel with the same cast for this movie..

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Liked it

The story is emotional, mystery & friendship. After watching the trailer, I thought ML was a stalker who fell in love with her FL, but it's totally different. They build a mystery in one episode & reveal it within a few episodes, like the child's identity, who wants to harm her & why.

Seo Jung Hoo is one kind of agent. He is clever, smart, good at fighting, and has no friends. His jumping from one building to another gave me Tom Cruise feeling. I loved Ji Chang Wook acting like a fool.

Chae Yeong Shin a reporter on a small online platform. She is smart, cheerful, full of love, but has a dark past. She suddenly starts singing and dancing whenever she is depressed, nervous, scared. I liked Park Min Young acting especially her crying scenes.

Kim Moon Ho is a famous reporter who is searching for a child. The story from here. I loved that they didn't show any love triangle. Kim Moon Ho loves & cares for Chae Yeong Shin but not in a lovely way but as an elder.

Loved Jo Min Ja & her sudden outburst.

Chae Yeong Shin *& her father singing "I am Thirsty" & Seo Jung Hoo shock reaction. Her singing & dancing in her room while changing her clothes, she kicked her pants & it landed on Seo Jung Hoo face. The poor boy was so mortified.

It made me emotional when Seo Jung Hoo mother left him & young Seo Jung Hoo crying. His crying face made me cry.

Love the face off between Kim brothers.

Loved it every time Jo Min Ja suddenly appeared on Seo Jung Hoo's screens.

Choi Myung Hee knows that Kim Moon Shik is a changed person now. He is now cunning, a hypocrite, a psycho, manipulating everything, full of tricks, but she never doubts him that maybe he is the one behind everything, as she used to a reporter who used to fight against wrong & corrupt. I get that she also changed became seriously ill because of what happen to her in the past.

Love some sweet scenes like Seo Jung Hoo putting his hand on Chae Yeong Shin head while driving so that she doesn't get hurt. He followed her all the way to her house after the lift incident. She confessed her crush on him.

Seo Jung Hoo is the opposite of his father. His father is jolly minded, jokes around all the time, fun-loving, always smiling. On the other hand, Seo Jung Hoo is serious, doesn't talk much, unsocial. They walking scenes were emotional.

Pure friendships & lives which got ruined because of selfish people.

Seo Jung Hoo face when he had a table full of food, which was rare for him.

The death of three friends, especially Seo Jung Hoo's master, was heartbreaking.

I laughed hard at the screen when Seo Jung Hoo introduced himself as Chae Yeong Shin boyfriend & the way her father wanted to beat her up.

The ending would've been better. I badly wanted to see Choi Myung Hee & Oh Ji An reunion, but they didn't show it.

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Feel the thrill of every spike.

Sports movies always resonate with audiences, especially with the theme of striving to be the best and the story of the underdog. This movie does exactly that without any major flaws.

Instead of making this movie entirely about the volleyball legend Lang Ping, it gives more space that highlights the players during the training and the sports events that the team competes in. The shots and the editing are so impactful, making your attention glued to the screen from the moment it started until the end. The intensity increases steadily.

What amazes me the most about this movie is that the players are playing themselves. Even the young Lang Ping is played by her daughter, who’s also a volleyball player. Without a professional acting background, each player carried out their own story successfully. You can see and feel the honest emotion and reaction in every hardship they have gone through during training and every match they are playing. What’s even more amazing is the fact that players from the USA, Thailand, Japan, and Brazil teams appear in this movie rather than having actors portray them. This is a good approach in sports movies because when a professional athlete plays, the technique and style are more accurate and convincing than an actor who embodies someone’s character. I'm just stating the obvious.

The matches are well executed, as if the movie were a historical re-enactment itself. I can feel the adrenaline rush, as if I’m watching a real match instead of a movie. It makes this movie one of the best sports movies I have ever seen. This is a perfect-10 sports movie.

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This unexpectedly becomes one of my favorite

To comply with the government regulation, Love Like A Galaxy is divided into two parts, to keep episodes below 40. The total episodes for the whole parts is 56. I'm glad they did not just cut here and there to keep the drama to just 40 episodes. It would not be as good otherwise. They divided the drama really well. Part 1 deals mostly with the character introductions and background. You get to see some character development, especially the FL and ML. Cheng Shao Shang started out as a rebellious girl that was left by her parents since she was a baby, to the care of her "evil-lish", annoying, materialistic, selfish grandmother and second aunt. The first part is about Shao Shang's life outside of the palace, and more about her family. This is an unexpectedly good drama, one that i will put on my favorites and will re-watch in the future, time permitted.

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About a love that has somehow lost its suitability for everyday life over the years

“Between Him and Her” is an alternative to the tried and tested Cinderella love story, which usually ends with a supposedly “they lived together happily ever after”. Therefore, this story is about 7 years later...

The KDrama is rather down-to-earth. It is set within the world of young creatives of Seoul´s fashion scene and tells about a love that has somehow lost its suitability for everyday life over the years. A love that became a habit.

Eventually, a critical moment causes the barrel of internal, unnamed, silent, consuming dissatisfaction to overflow and thus gives necessary strength to actually question everything. However, questioning everything also means having to ask yourself the unpleasant questions. Unfortunately, the answers are not clearly “yes” or “no”. They´re lurking subtly, are not always logical, nor pragmatic or even negotiable. Sometimes it's a "Yes. But." Sometimes it's a "No. But." The problem is: whether it's "yes" or "no", both are true. Love is not always automatically suitable for a partnership... and even if so, this cannot be considered a given either. Nevertheless, that doesn't make such a love any less true or valuable.

For outsiders, on the other hand, the matter may seem more evident. As a audience, we might want to shake one or the other. But in the end the answer unfolds exclusively from within the very personal, complicated emotional world of him and her. Nobody else can have a say. And the KDrama conveys that quite vividly, rather authentic and painfully realistic, too.

Accordingly, the pacing as the two protagonists are taking stock of their emotional relationship, is rather cautious and introspective. Therefore, subplots are providing some invigorating comedy and a bit of drama on the outside, thus pleasantly topping off this little study on certain facets about love.

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An interesting take on religion as profitable business

STORY
The Believers tell the story of three friends (Win, Game, Dear) who attempt to pay the debt from their failed start-up by running a temple. The first half was so fast-paced, sometimes almost too fast so I feared it would drag in the second half and it kind of did when they introduced the crime-esque plot into the story. It feels cliche but also not at the same time because there are definitely moments where I felt it predictable but not at the same time.

ACTING/CAST
I am very biased so when I first saw that the trio was led by Peach Pachara and James Teeradon, I knew they would deliver. I think this is Ally's first leading role so I could understand her acting left a lot to be desired. Even though James was arguably the protagonist, I think Peach's acting in the second half of the story was a top notch performance and I think he should keep being cast in these kind of charming/kinda psychotic roles. BUT... the performance that left greatest impact on me was probably Patchai in the role of Monk Dol. Imagine my surprise when I found out he's not even actor but the front man of Thai rock band Potato. I was just heartbroken on behalf of his character and I only wish his character's happiness, no one else.

MUSIC
I don't think there were original theme songs composed for this series but I love the song selection. My favorite is definitely the recurring song "Saa-tuu" by Milli, TangBadVoice playing whenever their money making scheme works. It is surprisingly fresh yet fitting for the series.

REWATCH VALUE
I don't think this has too much of a high rewatch value because of a certain plotline that I felt kinda unneccesary in the second half of the story but I LOVE the scenes with Monk Dol so I think I'll come back to a few scenes quite a bit to gif/screencap them. There are quite few social commentaries sprinkled throughout the series that I really enjoyed as well. One of my favorite quotes is "It's true that love brings happiness, but happiness and suffering often come together. If you decide to love, you need to be prepared for suffering." sighs... Monk Dol, you are truly my beloved character.

PRODUCTION
I am in love with the camera work from this series. There are a lot of much wide symmetrical shots as well as outdoor shots which showcase the beauty of Thai temples. At the beginning, there are a few scenes where the humor is relied on the framing of a scene, which is so stylistic of Thai cinematic works.

OVERALL
It's a crime drama series that can feel flat at times but hard carried by the acting performances of the actors in this series so I would recommend this to anyone who's interested in the subject topic or fans of Peach, James, Ally or Patchai.

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An Engaging Storytelling with Stellar Casting

Sight, scent, taste, touch, and sound—five senses that imprint themselves in our memories and hearts. And while all of them have an impact, sound is a stark reminder of how swiftly something can fade while leaving an indelible mark.

Nowhere is this more evident than in music. Music speaks to the soul when words falter, conveying emotions that defy easy expression. Its melodic language channels joy, love, anger, fear, and pain, forging connections that transcend barriers.

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/03/28/jazz-for-two-first-impressions-ep-1-2/

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