Reviews

A game that unravels fast

If you like 'Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf', 'The Boys in the Band' or 'Scenes from a Marriage' this should be for you.

Like the aforementioned films Intimate Strangers has a lot on its plate but manages to deal with it in a very careful, mature and profound way.

Some people say despite the one-room-setting it never gets boring. This kind of verbose play-like house-thriller setting is one of my favorite film settings and I have never seen a boring movie come out of it. Human relationships and conflicts, communication and psychology are almost indefinitely interesting themes if done right.

One of the many questions I ask myself is why Ye Jin, a psychiatrist, even suggests playing that game when she know she has something to conceal. Maybe she wants to be found out and provoke a crisis in her marriage because she is in an emotional crisis herself. Too bad for her, because I am pretty sure Suk Ho deliberately ignores what he instinctively knows about his wife. Maybe this is the way these two miscommunicate, between stoking conflict and shying away from it.

There are other moments when characters prevent something from being outed, maybe because they subconsciously know there is something going on, maybe because they don't want to know. In another instance someone ends an embarassing moment for the group that could potentially disrupt the evening and the friendship.

The whole scenario is like a social psychology experiment done in a good way. There is projection, denial, Freudian slips, everything. What I love about it is that the material never chooses the easy road of men are this and women are that, in fact there are many facets of greatness despite all flaws in everyone.

Depending on the topic of discussion the film makes the interesting observation that bonds are built, broken, and re-built, along the lines of time spent together, gender, age, education, social status, belief and personality.

The characters are all multidimensional and feel lived-in, and there are noteable blanks in character introduction, questions are left unanswered, which means more is under the surface than is being shown. This is one more aspect that makes the film very thought-provoking.

There is really nobody among the group without redeeming qualities, nobody I don't like. The only person that annoyed me for the longest time is Se Kyung but even she develops in a way that by the end I deeply empathize with her.

The most fascinating character to me is Tae Su, because once you peel off layer upon layer of brusqueness you learn how far he is willing to go for people, what a decent person he is underneath, a burden he carries by being constantly grouchy.

I like the state each one is left in, from people who are exposed completely, to others who get away with slight scratches, to one who chooses to lay open their secret. It's a very intelligent, tender way to handle the characters. One of the many things to adore about the script.

The sliding-dooresque twist at the end is such a clever idea and makes you ponder which world you want to live in, which option you would choose, it invites philosophical musings about the truth in relationships.

I am trying to gather my thoughts about why I think this kind of no-holds-barred sujet isn't suited for South Korea. They all talk very fast and act so cutesy and the cold hard truth demands time and depth in a way I don't associate with South Korean culture. They constantly hurt each other but gloss over it with the stereotypical tough love attitude.

It's as if the film itself wants to deal with heavy subjects but also doesn't want to alienate any part of its audience so it tries to be provocative while still playing it safe. Maybe this in itself is an indictment of middle class values.

There are no-holds-barred films from South Korea no doubt (e.g. No Regret), but I guess they are more Independent than this one.

This is an ensemble cast with no weak link but I still have to point out how outstanding without being disruptive Yeom Jung Ah is.

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Watched for the main couple

The main couple, mwah, i love then so much. I just really liked the progress of the relationship and even though it was a pretty much classic storyline, it was fun to watch and overall really cute.

The side couple.. what should I say… it was just a complete no. Honestly, it‘s kinda disgusting because his brother literally r@ped him but they still ended up in a relationship!? Also, they‘re step brothers… What I did like though was the relationship with the father. I could relate a lot to it and I think it was important for others too.

So overall, you can definetely watch this for the main couple, I liked them in general. Yes, the storyline is pretty cliché, again, but I remember liking it for the cuteness. Sometimes, it was like cringe, but there was room for some laughter. So if you‘re bored, it‘s definitely a show you won‘t completely regret.

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Alternative Title: Men are Pigs

I am unsure whether I am more intrigued by the shameless honesty of the movie or repelled by everyone being unduly perverted. I am not known as being a prude but wow "Ethics of Anger" (original title) definitely is crammed with as much ugly shit and disgusting men as possible.

The movie starts and stops too often which disrupts the natural flow. The sequence of actions could have been much more smoothly if the writing was better.

There are great observations in there, hilarious sequences and at times wonderful acting. Cho Jin Woong as dying gangster is among the best things he has done. Lee Je Hoon is an unlikely great fit for a voyeur.

A shame that overall the movie is rather forgettable.

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mathematician's answer

A movie that by the end you realize is about something completely different than what you thought it would be. I quite like the twist in the end and the message the movie conveys, given the dilemma it starts out with.

I have a problem with the female character, I simply don't like her very much, she acts desastrously stupid for a person in her situation, which makes her look weak. By the end I empathize with the male lead but it takes a long time to get there. The only character I think is likeable throughout is the cop, who is clever without losing his humanity.

There are several implausibilities, e.g. what does the lead know about actual police work, how improbably fast do they uncover certain facts, and lastly, this genius brain comes up with such an elaborate ploy for something that could have been solved maybe even without a murder charge...

Solid mystery-thriller deepened by the melodrama in the end. Great score. Cho Jin Woong elevates the movie, like he always does.

Note to Self: Need to watch the Japanese original if only for Shibasaki Ko.

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Full of clichés and the looks of a rich style magazine

This show is for some reason very overhyped.
This drama was a chore to finish for me, but I'm the completitionist type and so I endured. Otherwise I would have dropped it around episode 4 or 5.

The plot in this show is laughable. It had potential as a premise if they had gone on a different direction but as it is, it's just pointless and it doesn't even bother in explaining how things work in the fantasy of this world. One of the main things that annoyed me so much is how they decided to include once again the super cliché of main leads knowing one another from previous life (hers that is) while completely ignoring the core christian believe that the whole series wants to portray. Nothing is really that explained anyway, even his powers as a demon are mentioned superficially. Actually, the fact he's a demon is just overall brushed over and it's a background prop to be used in some scenes. It could have been cool and more explored but it wasn't.

Both main characters did have a bit of personality at the start, something that made them more individual, but this is dropped very early on as soon as they start being together, they become baseline neutral with nothing unique. Their quirks are completely dropped . Rich girl meets rich boy and they fall in love, how refreshing. She also becomes damsel in distress and he's your average "bad boy" that is actually not bad but that it gives him the edge to be appealing to viewers. Whether he was bad or not it's not really explored, because except for a couple of grey area situations the show always wants to portray him as good.
In other clichés we also have here, we include two forgettable side characters that are interested in the main two (and mid show they were almost unbearable, especially Jin Ga Young).

All scenes and environments are very fabricated as if taken from a photo-shoot of the actors for a fashion magazine, and so it happens in outdoors scenes too, the little magical details are very on the face put there purposely, some little fireflies, some bubbles, some water droplets...etc.
This also brings me to the fashion. The whole show is basically a catwalk for upper fashion trends and their hair and makeup is always ˖⁺‧₊˚✦perfect˖⁺‧₊˚✦ Not even when they are in bed there is a hair out of place nor they stain the bed sheets despite having a cake of makeup on.

Continuing with the clichés we also have the funny side character couple that while it made me chuckle a couple of occasions and overall I think they were better than the main couple, some others it crossed the line too much into second-hand-embarrassment territory.
Side characters are just very superficial and add nothing to the story nor we learn much from them either despite sometimes having longer scenes than they should for that amount of pointless dialogue. This is the case of all office workers for example as well as some of the family members of FL.
The villains here are very cliché and their motives are just plain bad, and they all had itchy rashes because... they're sooo *evil*. There is a bit of a motive for their actions but then towards the end it crosses the line of absurdity. The cherry on top was main villain falling from that tower and surviving, eyes rolling I saw stars✧˖°

Some of the moments with more tension, like for example that moment between the end of episode 15 and beginning of 16 are solved in such an anticlimatic and fast way that you wonder why they even bothered. Clearly the whole idea of this drama was creating those ˖⁺‧₊˚✦perfect˖⁺‧₊˚✦ moments where they hug, kiss or look at each other and they filled the rest of the episodes with things in-between so it looked like something. But it seems they didn't even manage enough fillers to do this since after the beginning of episode 16 when they already solved the main issue they still had so many minutes to fill the episode with little bits of secondary characters that no one cares about because the plot didn't care for them before anyway. Also, Jin Ga Young spent half the series saying she was going but didn't lol and then when actually something interesting happens to her in the last episode that could have been explored as a small side plot and it's just left there. What the actual hell is this writing lol

There is not really a discussion on anything obviously, like morality for example. At one point FL is taken aback by the reality of the ML's work as a demon, but then it's brushed off because the script said so and because they have the lame excuse he saved her mother when she was pregnant with FL. It was as weak of a plot point as expected.
The most interesting character in this show is God, but obviously is a background character just so she could save him in the end. I liked the detail of her hat.

Overall I think that while there are shows that can be entertaining and use some clichés, this one almost was playing a bingo to see how many of them they could include in this show. For me personally what makes this one worse than some other shows that also use clichés is that overuse of very crafted scenes, fashion and hair/makeup that make everything look so much more fake rather than fantastical. Even their more intimate moments are just so on the face "we're doing this now" that it was taking me out of it and I didn't find it cute. This is paired with the fact I didn't think the main actors had that much chemistry and specifically ML actor was so stiff at times.

Something else that I found extremely annoying in this show are the recap scenes. Sometimes you would have a recap of scenes two minutes after some of the scenes in that recap had happened. This was so overused that I started skipping them. As I said, they simply didn't have enough material for this show and they reused as many scenes as they could as recaps of cute moments between characters or to reminisce about some character.
Product placement is also quite on the face many times.

Music is also very annoying, they reuse the same couple of songs continuously to no end. Also the song that one of the bad guys in the beginning was using and that becomes a trigger for FL, who in their right mind would say to their partner "now it's our song". Like, excuse me sir? just because you say now it's our song it doesn't mean the trauma is going to disappear. But here it does because script said so. I didn't suffer what FL had and yet every time that song appeared again it was irksome to me as a viewer so imagine someone that has nearly died and associates that song with a psycho. I would knock my boyfriend's head with a saucepan if he told me that song is "our" song now. No thanks!!


If you want to watch because of the ML, or you don't mind extremely thin plot and very fabricated everything then you might enjoy this. If you care about plot AVOID this, it's not worth the time I assure you. If you care about certain level of realisticness even in fantastical settings then avoid this too, there are no explanations for almost anything and the main focus is put in the main leads intimate moments and them walking from one place to another in ˖⁺‧₊˚✦perfect˖⁺‧₊˚✦ fashion.

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Lost time

I just love the place this assured directorial debut and small independent film takes me.

The original title, "Lost Time", conveys a lot of it: The confusion of waking up unsure where or what or who you are, weighed down by memories, an indescribable feeling of loss, the heaviness and fragility of life, identity, choices and their consequences, change and inertia, alienation and doubt, metaphysical ambiguity and existential angst.

All this is handled in a diligent yet lighthearted manner (although I wouldn't exactly call it a black comedy as it is described here and there). The mind-bending script is clever not for its own sake but actually clever and full of substance. Great acting, soundtrack, pacing, atmosphere.

You have to live for a long time to be understood for a moment. And this is maybe all you can ask for.

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Unsettling

A gripping psychological horror-thriller with a tense, eerie atmosphere, a more than serviceable score, a plethora of intriguing characters, twists and turns. Great cinematography, color palette, framing and blocking is masterful.

Bluebeard, (original title "Thawing") starts strong, the plot twist around 2/3 of the runtime is so convoluted I couldn't believe it, which is why I love the ending because I want that to be the truth. Still, there are many unanswered questions, this movie might need repeat viewings.

Cho Jin Woong is phenomenal as a suffocatingly repressed, uptight yet sensual, nervous but closed-off, righteous, shy, depressed, calm man who is slowly driven out of his mind. Kim Dae Myung is very convincing too as a mirror character between trying to keep control over something increasingly terrorizing and carefully weighing each step towards his new neighbor.

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Wasted potential

It is puzzling why a movie that has at least 3 great actors, gorgeous cinematography, a reasonably good soundtrack and over the top hilarious gripping sequences, is not better as a whole. I need more background on the main character, on his motivation and personality. I also need more character development scenes, some quiet moments maybe. Why should I care for any of these people. So much wasted potential.


Things I loved

- Kim Joo Hyuk who steals the movie from Cho Jin Woong

- Cho Jin Woong forced into a double mascerade while still visibly being who he actually is

- Ryu Joon Yeol, particularly his reaction shots, he actually steals the movie from everyone

- several sequences where the action is energized by the soundtrack

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On a dangerous path as a choice

A young woman, sold from the “Flower House” to the prime minister to become his concubine, turns out to be a strong and independent personality with her own goals. She also has a mysterious connection to the prime ministers son-in-law, which makes her endeavour even more risky, while at the same time yields an advantage, as it enables her to involve him into her scheme. Being well prepared she turns dangerous situations into opportunities, so she is not afraid, to provoke such situations, despite being already almost killed by the prime minister, before even entering the mansion. There the story unfolds, as she works on settling old scores and retrieving something important, that had been stolen from her.


Maybe give it a try, if you are looking for something with more tension and passion between the main characters, than the average cdrama and if you can bear enemies/lovers stabbing and hurting each other in plenty of ways repeatedly… Also, if you are tired of the innocent, always nice and kind female lead characters, but also don't want her to be unemotional or a stereotypical physically strong woman/warrior type.

I would not recommend this to people, who only want to see sweet/innocent romance. This surely isn't a wholesome love story, since the main characters are set up to be “enemies and lovers” at the same time. Problematic behaviour occurs, but in my opinion, its framed as problematic, not as something to aim for.

I appreciated about the drama:
-that the female lead has agency. She is resourceful, confident and willing to take matters into her own hands. Additionally she has political aspirations besides her personal motivations, giving her purpose beyond romance.
-that the second female lead plays a role beyond being an antagonist to the main leads, not simply being a character to be exclusively hated by the audience, like in many similar dramas.
-that the acting is decent and the plot moves along quickly (there are more flashback scenes in the beginning, but its not excessive throughout the drama)

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Introvert heaven

This drama is not only about introverts and highly sensitive people, it also feels like it is directly made to calm the exhausted nerves and overwhelmed minds of those. Liberation Notes is about acceptance of yourself just the way you are in a world that isn't always too kind to people straying from the herd. It is healing and soothing, inspiring and encouraging.

One thing I got from almost all of the storylines: to find someone you can talk to about your deepest feelings and thoughts and they don't run screaming is all you actually need. Whether you are that person for yourself or someone else is.

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Filler romcom? Yeah. Compelling Demon-human fantasy? Nope.

So the "RECIPE FOR MY DEMON" goes like –
(Take your Goblin, doom at your service, tale of the nine tailed, Strong woman do bong soon, destined with you and some other dramas) — handpick elements you like in a container, sprinkle some Song Kang and Yoo Jung visuals and shake the jar twice with spice nd sauce (jealous/psycho/ctuesy side kicks) , garnish it with some special OST and ta-da!! Your My demon is ready to serve xD

I wasn't expecting much and I didn't recive much either. My demon was enjoyable if you go to see it for the eye candy cast, their chemistry but if you expect a logical fantasy story, take a step back, especially if you've seen other dramas from this genre before.

What I enjoyed is the comedy that popped up here and there, Song Kang should try more Comedies (enough of sending out butterflies lol)... his quirky, childish demon was fun to watch but tbh I would've enjoyed more if Jeong Gu Won was more of a morally grey savage demon becoz we're talking about a demon, not angels. Or are you telling me he changed into an "upright demon" for her? His character arc was just so imbalanced.

On the other hand Do Do Hee being the CEO of Mirae F & B was relatively better since its Kim Yoo Jung acting there who carried some emotional scenes gracefully too when her character solely felt like a damsel in distress always about to die until our demon arrives. What a flat, lazly written character for a FL who is shown as an strong independent individual, smart enough to own a company lol.

Although their romance worked greatly but in some emotional scenes I still felt Song Kang a little bit out of place. It still seemed like one of his better performances from previous though... then these two being cuddly love birds was kinda cute xD. That being said you'll be enjoying this drama if you were looking for a romcom with moderate ups and downs.

Now don't come at me for why I'm comparing this to any old dramas of similar genre because I highly object to the creater's creativity. Just where is the story lol... Looking at the budget and all the hype around it, this certainly could have been far, far better only if they thought of an actual story, something unique, non-cliche. After all the promotions and teasers almost promised us a compelling fantasy.

So this is how my demon was. Unfortunately not recommending it to anyone.

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Average, Over-Hyped Drama: Recycling Fantasy/Makjang Storylines

Being a Netflix production, this drama already had created a buzz even before airing. Now at the end, the only thing that worked for it were the stunning visuals, addicting main OST & chemistry of the main leads. It had created a great build-up of the mystical element but loses it with the lackluster revenge plot, unnecessary past life stories and conclusion that was just there cause happy ending is needed. Had already posted about it but this drama should have just kept with the modern story and wrapped up in 10-12 episodes. But alas - they stretched it so much that what was initially exciting became super boring & you just fast forward to finish it out of frustration than eagerness.

What Worked:
• Stunning visuals & chemistry of the main leads
• Initial, good build up of mystery around Demon & FL (power-exchange) and family fighting for power
• Cha Chung Hwa as Noh Sook Nyeo- just because she is a fantastic actress!

What Did Not Work:
• Unnecessary inclusion of past lives (the historical era of the main leads).
• Antagonists were not written well. Felt they cropped up randomly only to be beaten up by an OP character & just lost with no conclusion.
• What was the SML doing? What was his need - unnecessary love triangle to be written off easily?
• Comedic elements that just don't work & were not needed (the office workers, the gangsters, the secretaries & ML/FL's futile attempt at it)

The show borrowed a lot from fantasy and makjang dramas given it was centered around a mystical character & family fighting for power. But rather than taking it to another level or giving its own flavor/twist, it fails to bring anything unique and becomes dragged+ boring. What initially excited me: Love story of Demon & Human amidst Family Feud, gets stretched to a point that it breaks and is not digestible. It would have been better to end in the modern setting with his powers returning & discovering the identity of the antagonist(s). Extremely disappointing - especially since I had high hopes with the premise & this is my first drama of Song Kang.

My verdict to Binge or Skip? SKIP IT!
It is an average drama - so my advice is to skip it and use your time to rewatch your favorite fantasy dramas or something else with a better story.

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Excellent

I absolutely loved this drama ... I had to look it up and ask others as to the true name of this series as it was being called something else on YouTube and I wanted to know the actors in it. Thankfully many kind people on here replied and told me it's real series name. This story has great romance, action, many good characters and storylines and held my interest right up to the final episode. I really felt all the actors were very good and the ML and FL really kept it strong and interesting. It s one of my faves and I will watch it again . I think it kept a real sense of love and family in it through out. Kudos to all involved in this series!!

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Quite nice....until one scene.

I am new member, and I am as well new to korean dramas world and maybe I am not as forgiving as rest of K-drama fans...but.
The scene where FL makes ML feel guilty and sorry about his disability and he apologized her for that...made me drop the show. Disability is something we don't need to apologize for and feel sorry for especially towards partner.

And just like that, with just one scene, I lost all interest in the story. And that is a pity, because JWS is superb in his role. The soundtrack is wonderful, the work of cameras just great. Just pity, to destroy superb drama with lack of sensitivity.

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