Nicely shot with an engaging musical soundtrack, this low-budget Korean BL suffers from being low ideas as well.
Two film major students fall in love with each other at university without confessing it to each other, and later, as professionals in the industry, link up on a love story project whose subject mirrors their own experience. This premise ought to provide an engaging dynamic of characters learning about themselves and each other, but it is hampered by the limitations of a small cast, no subplot worthy of mention and overuse of the main location.

“Individual Circumstances” turns itself into a two-hander which would be fine if the individuals were fully fleshed out; they emerge instead as thin, without much in the way of endearing characteristics on which to explain their attraction to each other. The Director and his cameraman strike me as being aware of how thin is the script by shooting the house location more than the characters and at one point, in an effort to mix things up, crossing the line in one of their numerous sit-down static exchanges. The cast themselves do an admirable job: Kang Jun Kyu is the more experienced of the leads and it shows in his efforts to project Woo Jae’s inner turmoil; Han Jung Wan handles his debut role with confidence.

Ultimately, though, a drama in which there is so little physical action requires a concentration on the characters’ internal conflicts which underlie so much of the best Kdrama. Here, it’s hard to know what motivated either of these two guys to be drawn towards each other, other than the daily ritual of going with someone to grab a bite to eat.