'Why didn't I know... How great it was... Why didn't I know then?'

My review will be split to 2 parts since there is two types of people will be reading this. Some didn't watch the movie yet so they are reading the reviews to find out if the movie worth there time or not, I'll give them the answer and why from my opinion of course, and the second type has already finished the movie and looking for words to express what they are feeling right now through other people reviews, I hope they'll find here what they're looking for.
This is my second time watching this movie and my first review ever, I always get lazy and don't write a review no matter how good the movie/drama was, but since it's a movie that I rewatched and I feel like I need to express my feelings, so I think I'm obligated to give it justice. Excuse my English it’s not my first language but I’ll try my best.


PART 1: For those who didn't watch the movie yet. Does the movie worth watching? YES OF COURSE!!! Why? Let’s see why:
1-->If you like Kmovies/Kdramas that revolve around the period of Japanese occupation of South Korea then you must watch this movie because it transmits the vibe of that era very well: the costumes, the songs and traditions... BUT even if you don't like it, you will appreciate its beauty, because the movie is not about the war even though it's set in 1943-1945, no sword or gun fighting scenes as we usually see in this type of movies.
2-->If you like musical movies where the characters sing some beautiful songs during it, then watch this movie you’ll be satisfied, especially when you know that the ones who are singing the songs are the real cast and the piano too.
3-->If you like movies that focus more on the woman than the guy, this movie is for you
4-->If you’re bored from watching a weak, pure and innocent protagoniste as the FL who has received injustice from the world and still not doing anything about it but crying, then you came to the right place. Our FL fights back to destroy who destroyed her no matter what the cost is.
5-->If you are a fan of Han Hyo Joo, then you’re not a real fan until you watch this movie. I can say that this is one of her best performances if not the best one so far from all of her works (acting, speaking Japanese, singing and dancing) and this is coming from someone who has seen 6 movies and 4 Dramas of hers.
6--> The main trio cast has worked “together” before in another beautiful movie ‘the beauty inside’.
7-->If you like revenge movies then watch it.
8-->If you want to know more about gisaeng’s life since we only see usually a shallow view of them in historical Kdramas.

Some reasons why you may not like it or that movie is not for you:
1-->If you are looking for a movie that will shock you from beginning till end you may be disappointed, as the plot summary spoils a big part of it already. But that doesn’t take much from the movie (I don’t agree tho that jealousy is what consumed So Yul, it was basically because of a betray from her loved ones).
2-->If you hate sad movies you may find this movie too dark for you (I’m don’t like dark movies myself, I find them heart breaking but I still enjoyed this one a lot)
3-->If you are here to watch a platonic love story with romantic scenes then sorry we don’t do that here.

So over all I highly recommend this movie, so stop wasting time and go start watching NOW and don’t continue reading as from now on, the review will include spoilers and details that you can read after finishing the movie.


PART 2: For those who has already finished the movie

_STORY 9,5: Not the first time we see a story revolve around friendship, love, jealousy and betray as those words are the topic of many works that we’ve watched in Kdrama land BUT we usually see the story from the point of view of a character like Seo Yeon-Hee, the poor, innocent and talented protagoniste that couldn’t help but falling in love with her best friend’s lover who helped her break free from the gisaeng’s life to have a more meaningful life as a pop singer who sings to the hall country poor and reach ‘heart of Joseon’ and not just to who pay high, and the ML who falls in love with her as a songwriter/producer first and then as a man, and we follow the story of the two as they suffer from obstacles made by people who try to stood in the face of their love and dreams like So-Yool’s character that usually is an evil second FL who feels jealous from her best friend who’s getting everything she ever wanted (singing and love) and tries to ruin their love and life and so we end up sympathizing with the two protagonists and hating the antagoniste. NO NO THAT’S NOT OUR MOVIE, ‘Love, Lies’ gived us an antagoniste FL that we saw the movie by her eyes wish made it special, I couldn’t hate So-Yool for what she felt or did or even blame her, and I definitely couldn’t like or sympathize with the protagonists as they showed no expression of guilt toward So Yool, they only cared about themselves. I guess that’s what I didn’t like about the movie, So-Yool used to be Yeon-Hee’s best friend since they were children but Yeon-Hee still didn’t show any sort of guilt or hesitation when she fell in love with So-Yool’s lover, and the same goes for Yoon-Woo who claimed that his heart only belongs to So-Yool at the beginning, I feel like we needed more from Yeon-Hee’s character at least, plus some scenes felt rushed a little bit I guess that has something to do with the movie time so I think they couldn’t help it. But overall, the story is very well done, I like the fact that So-Yool and Yeon-Hee are two of the last gisaengs in Joseon which give us the chance to know more about Gisaeng, we don’t see that a lot.

_ACTING/CAST 10: All the cast was outstanding and did a great job from the main cast to the support one, I know it’s a good movie when I see Yoo Yeon-Seok in it, same goes for Han Hyo Joo. I only saw Chun Woo-Hee in the beauty inside and I didn’t even remember her until I saw her in the cast, she did a great job and she has a beautiful voice I hope I’ll see more of her in the future. Yoo Yeon-Seok is wonderful as usual, I loved him with the piano too, for Han Hyo Joo as I said before this maybe her best performance, she portrayed So-Yool’s change of character very well from that innocent kind child who started a friendship with a poor girl, then a beautiful woman who dreams of becoming a singer and a wife to the one she loves, and protect her honor as a Gisaeng, to the vengeance version that can sacrifice anything and sell even her body to take back what she believes belongs to her destroying her friend, lover and herself in the process even after more than 40 years she still tortures herself by taking the name of Chun Woo-Hee and her song, I don’t think that what changed her was jealousy because though she saw her friend achieving what she was dreaming of, she kept trying to support her and smile to her but it was the betray that she felt after seeing Woo-Hee and Yoon-Woo together that broke the last hope she had, she wished to be her so badly that she stole her name after all this years. My two favorite scenes of Han Hyo Joo in this movie were that scene when she was trying to sing Heart of Joseon like Woo-Hee while listening to the record and crying, the second is the scene at the end when she finally heard someone praises her song ‘love lies’ and said 'Why didn't I know... How great it was... Why didn't I know then?'.

_Music 10: Beautiful songs and I think what gave them more value is that they were singed by the cast Han Hyo Joo and Chun Woo Hee, I gived it 10 because I listened to ‘Heart of Joseon’ uncounted times.

_Rewatch value 9: This is my second time watching the movie after I forgot a lot of it over the years, I enjoyed it almost like the first time maybe even more.

_ Overall 10: It’s not easy for me to find a Korean movie that match my taste like that. A masterpiece.

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