2
Saeng
in my Pillowfort
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Does what it set out to do.
"You Are Mine" is a classic office rom-com with a boss-employee romance. This drama thankfully doesn't pretend to want to be anything else, and it does it well.In accordance with its theme, the drama is rife with tropes -- from the gaggle of secretaries / colleagues, to the meddling friend/co-worker, and of course, both working overtime and the all-too-common work outing and more.
There's one story aspect that doesn't quite fit.
The main struggle in this story is that there's an imbalance of power between a boos and his employee -- and I do love that they address this! -- but it doesn't quite make itself clear through the script and the acting. For the longest time, it seems as if our employee is the usual "bottom"-type who is reluctant to enter a sexual/romantic same-sex relationship. The writing emphasizes this aspect too much and for too long, while the much more interesting and *actual* hurdle is only truly visible near the end.
I also am not too enamoured by the music. While the songs themselves fit the vibe of the drama and are likeable enough, they are unbearable as background music and distract from rather than support the scenes.
Both these aspects though are overshadowed by the amazingly on-point performance of the main actors, and also by the supporting actors -- it feels as if they know their characters inside out. The comedic timing is usually perfect.
I also love the "interviews" at the start of each episode (except episode 1, which has it at the end), which are funny in their own unique way.
Overall, it's a nice and fun watch for a gloomy day.
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If you saw a light teenage summer film, fine! If you saw an allegory about modern tiktok-shorts, easily consumed and easily forgotten, versus feature-length old-style slow-paced films, good! Or if you saw an essay about how similar rival relationships in classic samurai films (and also wild west movies and thriller dramas, btw) are to love relationships, also nice!
And if you saw a completely different meaning in the film, especially in the last scene -- impressive! The author is dead. It's your film as soon as you watch it.
Maybe one word about the cast -- they were all great! I love the subtle pining of Bito-Ban's, I love the banter between the technical crew of the samurai movie. And Ito Marika, who played Hadashi was overwhelmingly good -- I loved how she managed to change her body language depending on the mood and setting her character is in: Awkward and angular at school, relaxed and engaged when with her friends and when directing, focussed and precise when imitating Samurai fighting. Her facial expressions range from subtle to exaggerated. I cannot imagine another actress taking this role.
Thank you, Elisheva, for giving me the push to finally watch this film. I'm glad I did.
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What a ride!
You think, yes, now I know what will happen next, now I know how it will end -- and no, you probably don't. While it was always clear that Trillion Game would win in the end, the "how" was very much not clear. I thought I'd know how Haru would do it, but, as it turned out, I didn't. Even at the last scene, there was a bit of a twist.That said, the obstacles were overcome a bit too easily; and even now, I'm not clear about Princess Kiriri's motivations at times. I'd have liked to see maybe one or two fewer obstacles but better ones, or at least I'd have liked to see Haru having a bit more trouble in succeeding. As it was, his plans were a bit *too* perfect. More attention to details would have been a benefit to the story.
Speaking of details, one aspect that continuously irked me: The way that the actual *doing* was just disregarded.
For example, the opening of an e-commerce flower delivery: Where do you get the flowers from? Who will do the actual arrangements, even if they are planned by an "AI"?
Oh, and "AI", as Haru said himself: "It's a buzzword." Even if you can program an AI to do the things it does in this series, the costs for building and maintaining servers with enough processing power are enormous! Not only the material cost, but also the energy cost needed.It's why any company investing in AI has not seen a penny of return investment and it's expected to remain that way in the forseeable future.
It's a shame that the series doesn't pay attention to this sort of details.
Another aspect I found disappointing was the writing of the female characters. Yes, it's the story of the journey of Haru and Gaku -- but as the third partner Rinrin deserved better than to be used as scapegoat (even if she got her own happy ending), and that Princess Kiriri had to submit was also disappointing (even if it was for character-appropriate reasons). I would have liked to see them both put on a more equal footing with the men.
What I really loved though, and what made everything I just said insignificant overall, was the excellent acting -- by all of the cast. Meguro, of course, as the inscrutable Haru -- and until the last show-down I wasn't quite sure what exactly went in in his head -- but also Imada with her cool and calculating presence as well as Sano's depiction of an awkward nerd. I could list all of the actors, but then this will get too long.
Another plus in my book, there's only a hint of romance towards the very end, and even the sizzling chemistry between Haru and Kiri is always turned into rivalry, never romance.
The actors, together with the outstanding music choices and the fast-paced editing made the drama a wild ride, and I was hooked from the first to the last minute.
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* The acting performances of both main leads, they portrayed the emotions of their characters, their fears, their anguish, their hopes really well.
* The soft, washed-out colour palette. It supports the slow pacing of the story well.
* The setting is in a rural area, with normal people in normal surroundings.
* There are none of the usual BL tropes here, wich is always nice to see. This is what you can call a universal love story.
* Overall an unusual story for a BL series, although not for a "traditional" (romantic) show. Extra points for that.
What I did not like:
* I don't know why the brother and his friend could not have just stayed supporting background characters. Their relationship distracted from the main leads.
* Too many flashbacks. The pacing could have been more concise and still alllow for enough space to show the motives and emotions of all characters and have a slow pacing.
* Why do the doctors tell Nut about his friend's (their patient's) medical situation? This is not ethical behaviour and it irks me.
Overall impression:
Very nice, but expect a story that deals with a heavy experience and how both main leads deal with it. Not light-hearted, so if you are prone to crying in emotional scenes, keep your hankies ready!
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"Can I ... Can I carry you on my back?"
"You know ... I'm getting married soon. But it has been so hard for me these days. I should ... I should get married... I have to soon ... but ..."This is not a story about a middle-aged man lusting after a boy. This is a story about a man, who once was young, who denied himself his chance with his first love, who is feeling the societal pressures to get married -- who mourns his loss and tries to say good-bye to what once could have been.
Even though this film is short, it's slow. What we hear is not what Jin Tae says -- do not listen with your ears, listen with your heart and your mind; what you can feel and know about him.
Everything is subtle and muted; the excellent melancholic acting, the autumn colours, the quiet sounds -- the story's in the details.
This film will not be for everyone; it's been hard for me to "get it" too -- but maybe you'll find yourselft a bit more open the next time a middle-aged queer person tells their story.
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This is how you do a teenage rom-com
I love this.The comedy is spot-on, both all of the characters (the students of class 8/1 are a hoot!) and the comedic timing. It's very silly, and still the film has some depth.
The eternal desire of highschool students -- I want to fit in -- is tackled for several characters' perspective. Whether it is that your secret crush is exposed in the most demeaning way, whether you have a condition that sets you apart form the others, or whether your nipples are inverted -- all of us want recognition, and even love. But how to achieve that?
This rom-com is not only funny as heck until the last minute, it also surprised me not only with a positive message, but also with excellent acting, a good pacing, great animation(!), and very, very likable characters.
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Teacher Ma, Grade 3 Kor.
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His progressive ideas about teaching don't find easy acceptance among parents and teachers, who think strict upbringing, including corporal punishment, and learning by rote is the path to success for their children.
We follow teaching, parenting and learning adventures of Kru "Ma" Wichai and his third graders in this 12 episode drama.
I admit, I can't often withstand the temptation of a good drama about teaching -- and this one delivered. I loved its message about good teaching methods (even if sometimes I thought Wichai could have found a middle ground in teaching, for peace's sake) and how it showed how school and parenting was done in the 1970s in Thailand.
Also, I learned that I know next to nothing about the history of south-east Asia -- I mean I had heard of Pol Pot, and of course, the VietCong but I did not know anything about the greater picture in the area, let alone that life in Thailand's border territory was that dangerous.
So, a great learning experience not only for the characters but also for me.
The acting was great all around -- and especially for the children! These young actors, five of whom had rather large roles, impressed me.
The story, i.e. the characters and the setting had hooked me from the very first minutes -- and it did not let me go until the last second. The conflicts were at times solved too easily or too quickly, that is to be expected though; this series is made to be a feel-good drama, with a positive outlook.
Most of the series is either optimistic or funny, the last episode had me in tears three times (for entirely different reasons each time).
There's maybe a bit of romantic interest (a few minutes in the later episodes), but it's up to the viewer to decide if they get together as a couple or if they remain good colleagues -- I choose the latter ;) The teacher-student relationship and the friendships between the children are definitely at the centre of the drama, as it should be.
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Until this project, the YouTube channel "옆집남자 GuyNextDoor" had only made short comedy skits -- most of which are really good! They used their history and experience with these shorts to their advantage for their project "Fake Buddies" by filming and releasing the seven parts as comedic shorts, without any indication whether each one would be the last. The first four or so were even complete little stories in themselves, at first I wasn't sure if they should be seen as part of the same story at all. The wait and the guessing game (Will the story continue? Will we get a backstory? Which couple will we see?) enhanced the experience for me.
Even as a finished product, this short story (the complete version is 44:35 min) is charming -- the acting is well done, the comedic timing on point. The plot is simple -- the way it is told make us root for all four of the young people. The budget was obviously non-existent -- for this story about people "next door" more wasn't needed.
GuyNextDoor show us that you can tell a good story, even without budget, if you use your strengths to your advantage. I'll be looking forward to their upcoming projects.
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Tomorrow, won't the world be a little better than today?
Slice-of-life drama about a team of prosecutors in the South Korean province, whose office branch is so insignificant that the top-most official forgets to visit them.This show is not at all flashy or fast. It delves into the everyday lives of some prosecutors, shows how they struggle to make the best possible case before they go into court.
Whoever was responsible for the sets did a great job in underlining the day-to-day of office life. I noticed that the paperwork in the offices never looks the same over time.
Regarding the cases, there are some which seem very mundane (but are important to the victims), and I liked that they are taken very seriously by the team. Usually, there are several cases which belong to a similar topic per episode -- there's no trial shown though, so we usually don't know what the sentence is going to be. The focus is on the process that comes before the trial.
Having said that, the drama is not all serious and sombre. There are a lot of hilarious scenes, that had me chuckling or even laughing loudly. The humour more prominent in earlier episodes but it's still there until the very end, unlike in some other K-dramas.
I loved that all of the team (and other people in the branch) get their own character and their own share of time during the drama -- at the end, I felt that I'd grown close to all of them.
I've seen comments on VIKI which called them a family -- it's not quite that, I think, just a very good team with people who like to spend the odd evening together, who are interested in the ups and downs of their lives -- but normally don't get actively involved in each other's private or family lives.
(If there is one flaw in this show, it's that the family lives are only brought up in one episode per prosecutor -- which is especially noticable in the case of the mother, who has altogether too much time to hang out with her colleagues, considering she has two small children at home.)
These characters are first and foremost --- people.
People have strengths and weaknesses, they might be warm-spirited or cold-faced, all of them struggle in some way or the other.
But what counts is how you face your struggles: Will you bend to pressure? Will you keep your moral compass? Will you learn from your experience? What will make you compromise? Will you be able to look at the humorous side of things?
There are no heroes; there are only people trying to do what they think is right. And if you can say "Tomorrow, won't the world be a little better than today?" (cf. ep. 16, 1:08h), I think that you've lived your life well.
I had hoped to be able to add this show to my "No Romance!" collection -- but there is just enough of a romance arc (barely) that it doesn't fulfill my rules. Still, even so, the romance is cute, nicely developed, and really only a very minor part of the whole drama.
Very much recommended!
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It's never sentimental about it; there's no pathos at all. It just shows the people as the are. It also never tries to explain what people are thinking or feeling, why they act the way they do -- which is especially exceptional for Chu-san. I can imagine that a lesser film would try to explain him to the "normal" people (i.e. the ausidence), either directly or through the mouth of a character.
This film does neither. It shows us how Chu-san lives his life, what is important to him and where he clashes with the world, who shows no sympathy for him at all; with the exception of the son of the neighbour family.
Following the way the story is told -- unsentimental, but with great sympathy -- the acting and editing stays natural and even understated throughout.
If you can watch this film, then I recommend you to do so!
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So, I'll just point out only some aspects:
* Trigger warnings for explicit depictions of excessive violence, suicide, human trafficking, drug use rape and forced sex work.
* The movie is very slow and quiet, except where it's not.
* The movie is definitely not fluffy. But heartwarming all the same.
* There's a love story that is told in less than six minutes, from beginning to the end -- and I still cried for both lovers. (But it's still not a romance movie.)
* The young boy actor was impressive.
* A lot of the story is told not in dialogue but in silence. The movie expects the viewer to pay attention not what the characters say, but what they do.
* When people are victims, over and over, all of their lives, is there a chance to get up again? -- The story can be read as some social commentary. But maybe not.
* The sombre tone is lightened by the group of neighbours, whose loving antics are hilarious.
This is not a movie I will rewatch any time soon, it's just too intense for that -- maybe in a few years. But I can recommend it for anyone who is not disturbed by the themes mentioned above and wants something different that engages the mind.
It's probably best if you see for yourself.
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Question: Is the Kim Pilheung the same character as in To My Star, just a few years younger?What I liked:
* I actually liked that there was no inner dialogue, which is there in the series -- it made things a bit more ambiguous for me, which suits the characters' developing emotional state.* I liked the acting of all the actors.
* The girl's mother was cute :)
* We still don't know what is so different at the end of the story that it is possible for the couple to be together. I actually like that.
What I did not like:
* The premise is interesting (though similar things have been done already), but things don't really add up, unless Gang Gook is in some kind of indentured servitude? If they are both 18 or so, then 15 years ago, when their master-bodyguard-relationship began, Gook must have been three years old?
* Even if he started his role later, he would still have been a minor.
* Tae Joo's father seems to regard Gook as some kind of whipping boy, which is otherwise not seen as a problem, but it is an archaic practice that should not have a place in modern society.
* All of this imbalance of power between Tae Joo and Gook is adressed several times but never resolved between them. It makes the happy ending unfinished, for me, and leaves a bad taste...
The last points of both my lists would make an excellent starting point for a second series, in which their difference in status and the need for balance in their relationship would be the main theme. (Could even be as good as the second series of To My Star, I think).
Compared to the movie, I like the series less, since the movie's music score fits it better, and also I liked that we don't get the inner monolgue, which I found more distracting than helpful.
So, overall, it's not that bad, if you can and want to watch the story, then watch the movie.
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Shall I Have a Cup of Coffee?
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I'll drink this cup, even though I don't like coffee.
The most stressful parts of this series are the previews for the next episode.This is a slow-paced slice-of-life drama, and although it addresses heavier topics (illness, death, financial problems, social injustice etc.), all the episodes end on a positive note.
Each episode focuses on one question or person -- but there are enough recurring characters from the neighbourhood that the shop feels like a part of the community.
The coffee shop is not just a backdrop for the stories, but the process of making a cup of coffee and the pleasure of drinking it are a integral part of the series -- even I, who do not like to drink coffee, was tempted to go and try some of these. In later episodes, the focus tends toward the beans and their origins, and that lost me a bit; my investment in the characters was strong enough to continue regardless.
Also, I liked that they incorporated the pandemic -- a lot of shows just ignore it, even though it has had a huge impact on most of us over the last few years.
The open but hopeful ending suited the slice-of-life theme of the whole show -- life does not have a Happily Ever After.
All in all, I can recommend it.
Although the show reminds me of Japanese shows like "Rokuhoudou" oder "Three Star Bar", it lacks that certain je ne sais quoi that those shows have -- so it's worth watching and I enjoyed every minute of it, but I don't think I'll be coming back.
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Cherry Blossoms After Winter
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It's a slow and gentle story -- both the school bullying and short violence in the beginning and the initial coldness of Tae Seong's make the thawing of feelings and the beginning warmth between the couple clearer.
I really like the progression of the story, the pacing is right, the camera work is solid. I like that the young men change their hair style and their clothing when starting university. I also think both their body language changes with their changing feeling, though that point is more subtle.
There's one thing I wish would have been different. I feel that the sets and the colour palette of this series are very cool, too white, sometimes even a bit sterile. While this makes sense in the beginning (Hae Bom's room looks more like a guest room than a teenager's room -- but then again, he feels like a guest in this house), I would have like a shift to warmer colours in later episodes -- spring colours to go with the plot. Unfortunately, Tae Seong and Hae Bom's flat still looks impersonal and cold -- personal effects, a bit of untidyness could have helped. The strings of lighting, I'm sorry to say, only feel artificial to me. Still, this is something that I only can put in words now, after having watched this series several times, so it's really only a minor thing.
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One main reason for this is the main male character, Lee Ahn, who I thoroughly disliked. He is cocky and self-assured without having any abilities to support it -- and it feels that he thinks it's enough that he is himself and has this psychometry to be allowed to flaunt rules.
Another is the romance, which felt forced and superfluous. Is it not enough to share the same traumatic childhood exerience? To have the same goal? Why does it have to be romance, when partners and eventual friends would have made enough sense?
I did not feel any sexual or romantic attraction between them. For the longest time, Jae In seemed to be more annoyed than romantically interested.
They wouldn't do a romance arc if the young people had the same gender, so why force this into a good mystery?
Because the mystery plot was quite good otherwise -- the storyline of the dangerous stranger whose identity is slowly revealed and how he connects to the mysterious Kang Seong Mo was delightfully muddied by the storyline about corporate fraud.
It seemed that we knew everything already in episodes 11 to 13 or so (which is also part of why I had trouble continuing at that point) -- but then there's a surprising plot twist!
(The story telling though was a bit too slow in the last episodes.)
Kang Seong Mo was by far the most interesting character, and his actor subtly portrayed his emotions -- emotionless robot, even though it seems to the other characters, he is not. Without him, I would probably not have made it through the drama.
An honourable mention for Jae In -- one of the few female characters in a drama who can hold her own -- yes, she "needs" to be saved by the male lead at least once, but other than that, she is indispensible to the plot, and actually more competent than Lee Ahn.
Overall, it's not bad -- just not something I liked. If you don't mind romance in your mysteries, cocky male characters and slow pacing, then it might be for you.
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