Ruler of Your Own World (2002)

Anti-heroes. Down to earth. Authentic. Harsh. Compassionate. No Cinderella story, yet a love story.

I stumbled across this comparatively 'old' KDrama (2002) because of actress Gong Hyo-Jin. But actually here particularly Lee Na-young and Yang Dong-geun impressed me with their strong and down-to-earth performance. Once again I discovered a little gem of early KDrama art.

Rather tranquil. True to life. Authentic. No fairy tale. No Cinderella story. No power games of the mighty, but simple everyday life of anti-heroes. Yes, down to earth. Very. I was delighted. This KDrama - like "My Mister" or "When the Camellia Blooms" - is centred around a quite authentic, ordinary world. Not spectacular. Neither in action, nor in scenery. The story is also not about the rich, beautiful, successful people that are always welcome, but about those who are less noticed (in the media): about ordinary people who didn´t have an excellent education, yet earn their money somehow. It is about a world comparably most people unfortunately live in - about their worries, hardships and, if it can´t be avoided, illnesses, too.

In its centre: a young, inconsiderate, unwieldy pickpocket who is confronted with the diagnosis of brain tumor. It is about the people in his immediate environment: family, friends, girlfriends, police. About a love traingle. About choices in life. Reconsideration, too. That's not really 'exciting'. But touching. Unspectacularly impressive. A mirror of compassion and humanity.

"Ruler of your own World" dates back to the early days of KWave. At the time, this KDrama was not as successful (also internationally) as i.e. the productions of the "Endless Love Series". However, it was highly valued and appreciated in its own country for the authentic story (with comparably hardly in KDrama otherwise frequently elaborated makjang). "Ruler of your own World" is considered the ´best´ serial production of 2002 (vs. "Winter Sonata" as the most ´successful´ of the same year.)

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