Doce e Amargo (2021)

lots of issues

The thing I enjoyed about the film was Chae Soo-bin and Jang Ki-yong's chemistry and I think that's all I can say in terms of positivity.

The trailer for the film is completely misleading. I understand that they did this so that people wouldn't expect the "plot twist" but the problem with this is that it can leave the target audience somewhat bewildered. It advertises itself as a rom-com which is a genre that typically women enjoy to see their idealised version of romance. The film's objective of wanting to present the realism of love and life reminds me of 500 days of Summer. They're not the same but kind of have that same feeling of "things just don't work out" but the trailers of the movie are different. It doesn't target an audience group that are bound to be disappointed in the ending which is why I have such mixed feelings on the ending. While I understand the ending is realistic, I am still disappointed and unsatisfied with it especially since it is hinted that both leads are still in love with each other. But honestly I feel like it only touches on the surface level of realistic relationships. I think it may be due to the constant fluctuating between serious, realism and rom-com. Some parts of it are so comical that it wouldn't be crazy to believe that despite everything, we'd still get a happy ending. That's not to say that you can't have a realistic movie with comedic elements; the movie just doesn't balance the serious and comedy that well, leaving me with mixed emotions.

Like I've commented before, I think a lot of people will be dissatisfied with the ending in terms of the pairings. The leads are clearly still in love with each other and rebounding so if you were watching for Krystal and rooting for her (which I don't really understand why you would other than your bias towards the actress), I'm sorry but the male lead was essentially rebounding/settling for her and that relationship was all based on temptation and lust.

I didn't like that they glossed over what the female lead was going through on an emotional level. But I guess that could be excused as the film being mostly from the male's perspective. Despite the lack of perspective from the female lead, I really sympathised with her. Honestly the plot twist is basically just a superficial shocker; my feelings and opinions for the leads didn't change. I still sympathised with her despite everything because she was being emotionally neglected by the male lead. so you can understand why she was essentially "unfaithful". I don't condone it but I understand where she's coming from. For god's sake, she was pregnant and then got an abortion. Him complaining about how he was still making an effort to see her despite it being an inconvenience was not it for me. He basically led her to believe and have expectations that he was committed to her emotionally and everything when that was not the case as he was wavering in the workplace.

Even though I'm complaining a lot about the male lead, I still don't hate his character lol which is ironic. I think Jang Ki-yong is so charismatic that it's difficult to hate his character which I guess is a good aspect of the film. The characters aren't categorised as bad or good because that's simply not how life works. Yes, the characters made mistakes and had their wrongdoings but those are seen as flaws, something very much of human nature.

Overall, the only reason I would watch this film again would be to see the chemistry between Chae Soo-bin and Jang Ki-yong. Hopefully they get to work together again in the future.

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Misleading trailer...AGAIN

The Asian drama world is notorious for creating trailers that are completely and totally misleading, as seen here yet again. The trailer makes this movie look like a rom-com, but in reality, it's just meh - it's not fun or comical, more of a melo. The ending is a true twist that I 100% did not see coming, which was cool, but at the same time, by the end of the movie I was kind of like, "ugh, what a messed up relationship."

To be completely transparent: I am really not the intended audience for this kind of movie. It's about adultery, which I just don't find entertaining at all. And while my best friend told me it likely wasn't my speed, I wanted to watch it because... THE TRAILER...ugh you K-drama useless trailers. >.<

I wouldn't recommend Sweet & Sour to really anyone.

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LDR is really difficult

I think a lot of people didn’t like this movie because of the last 10 mins when they showed the twist. I actually liked it. Even though I was expecting a happy ending for the couple, I was also fine with how the movie ended. Sweet and Sour indeed. I thought it was very realistic.

The couple started sweet (as in any relationship) but when Hyeok was transferred to Seoul, trouble started. I think both of them tried their best to maintain their relationship but they were both tired, overworked, pressured and lonely. They started blaming and resenting each other rather than talk about it or make time when they’re together. Da Eun was lonely and met a guy who was nice and would do anything for her. Hyeok met a girl who was beside him and understands his work. I also felt like Da Eun was the first who started to cheat. When she accused Hyeok of having an affair with Bo Yeong, that’s when Hyeok did it.

In the airport scene, I thought Da Eun would not push through with the trip and run after Hyeok, but it didn’t happen. But, I think it wasn’t a bad choice. What I didn’t like is how Hyeok, after realizing he loves Da Eun after all and came running to the airport, found out she was already with another guy, and instead of fighting for her, he went back to Bo Yeong and tried to propose to her as a second choice. But Bo Yeong is also leaving and he ends up alone. Oh well, he made his choice and must suffer with the consequences.

I don’t know if months later, will Da Eun still be with Lee Jang Hyeok? Will Hyeok date another girl? Or will they both end up with each other again? We will never know.

Rating: 8.5/10

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I have mixed feelings about this title.

If only people could speak and talk through the problem before it escalates too much...

I felt it was really stereotypical. Role of man and woman... She expected her boyfriend to do everything, preferably right away, despite the understandable fatigue after work, getting up early and a very long commute. Also, he was always supposed to come to her, she never even offered to visit him. They never talked to each other about their expectations and problems. They just had an argument when the situation escalated.

The very beginning of the movie was cute, then it got a little creepy but still sweet, and then it got sour at the end and we got a plot twist.

This movie tells a very real story that could happen in real life. However, I have mixed feelings about this title. For me, the first part of the movie was good enough, but then it got worse. I don't feel like this plot twist is needed, but it's easier for me to accept, knowing that such things also happen.

The execution was definitely missing something. The whole movie was very superficial. I couldn't get into the characters' stories.

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Awesome movie, WATCH IT

I was looking forward to watch this movie when i first watch the trailer and it definitely live up to the expectations i had or even crossed it.
after watching the movie, i saw reviews and i was shocked by seeing all those negative comments, i don't know whatt they were expecting, please don't sway by those comments
i highly recommend this movie to everybody.
Awesome story
A damn good plot twist at the end
and Last but not least you will learn something form the ending
please watch it, mark my word this is some good stuff
it won't disappoint you

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If you happen across people talking about this movie online, you might notice how people either hate it or love it. I am somewhere in between. I don’t think that this movie was a waste of my time, I also don’t think that this movie was poetic cinema. For me, it was somewhere in the middle. There were parts of the movie that I really enjoyed and some parts that felt very draggy. As the title suggests, the movie was sweet at times and sour at other times. It sought to portray a realistic side of couples struggling to find a balance between their work-life and love life. For the most part, it worked. But sadly, the movie attempted to be more than what it was intended to be. The story was a mix of melodrama, comedy and romance genre.

In an attempt to bend the genre, the story lost its depth. It never tackled the hard themes introduced in the story and moved on like nothing happened. If the first scene was melodrama, the next was comedy. So even when the couples were dealing with hard times, they didn’t focus on an issue or even discussed it. There was no point where they thought about their actions and how much they might affect the other person in the relationship. Even worse, there was no consequence to their actions at all. Both of them were like robots moving from one day to another.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not calling the actors robots. They were completely amazing. Jang Ki Yong, Chae Soo Bin and Krystal were the lifelines of this movie. They did a great job portraying their flawed characters. The problem was the script of this movie that added a lot of complexities to a simple story by bending genres and making these characters look shallow. That said, I will still recommend this movie if you are looking for a light movie to watch. Even though Sweet and Sour was melodrama it most certainly felt light since the difficult subjects were sidelined as quickly as they arrived. Speaking from a critical point of view, if you are going to talk about these issues you need to at the very least address them. However, it still made a decent watch. It had some highs and some lows.

Conclusion
Whenever I write a review I know if I liked it or not but it is hard for me to say with certainty if I liked this movie or not. So please watch it and judge it for yourself, at the very least this movie was a good one time watch. Don’t go into this movie expecting romance. If you have some free time and a Netflix subscription I will recommend Sweet and Sour to you. Please come back to let me know if you liked it or not. Also, to talk about the ending with me.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Sweet and Sour – Ending Explained
(CW: Mentions of cheating and abortion)

If you are a little confused about the ending, this is where I will try to explain what happened at the end of Sweet and Sour. There were two Hyuk in the movie – Jang Hyuk (Jang Ki Yong) and Lee Jang Hyeok (Played by Lee Woo Je). For simplicity, I will call them Hottie Hyuk (Jang Ki Yong) and Cutie Hyeok (Lee Woo Je). When the movie starts we are instantly jumped into the story of Cutie Hyeok falling in love with the nurse Da Eun. Even though Cutie Hyeok is a patient and Da Eun is the nurse, Cutie Hyeok takes care of her more than she takes care of him. Within the first 20 minutes, we see them go from strangers to going on a trip to Jeju.

She gifts Cutie Hyeok a pair of sneakers before their trip to Jeju as a couple’s gift. Cutie Hyeok wears the sneakers and runs around at the airport in excitement while she waits for him to come back. The camera shows him start running with determination to lose weight and then cuts from Cutie Hyeok running to Hottie Hyuk running in the same couple’s sneakers. The intention here is to say that they are the same people and the Cutie Hyeok lost weight and became this Hottie Hyuk.

The director very smartly diverted all our attention throughout the movie by adding hints that both Cutie Hyeok and Hottie Hyuk are the same by giving them exact same personality traits and background story. Both are pushovers and let Da Eun order them around. Both took a car from their parents to drive Da Eun around. Both are Engineers. Both met Da Eun at the hospital as patients. Both hate the Doctor guy that keeps hitting on her.

In the first part, we see Cutie Hyeok refuse macaron on their date and then later in the movie Hottie Hyuk says that he hates sweets – further confirming the audience that he is the same person. There are several other instances where we think that it is the same person, like the nurse trying to remember if she has seen Hottie Hyuk somewhere. We think that she realised that it is the same guy and he lost weight. However, in reality, they are not the same people. The movie is not chronological. It jumps back in time when we are introduced with Hottie Hyuk.

Da Eun is dating Hottie Hyuk for a while when we meet him for the first time. When her relationship with Hottie Hyuk starts getting bad, she meets Cutie Hyuk at the hospital. The night she is going through a very hard time with her abortion and Hottie Hyuk leaves her to go to work, the same night Cutie Hyuk finds her number and calls her. She tells him that she is alone at home and he should come over.

Cutie Hyuks changes the light bulb and throws the trash that Hottie Hyuk didn’t. Their relationship starts getting worse as time progresses. Da Eun starts dating Cutie Hyuk while Hottie Hyuk is busy at work and unable to go home. They still try to keep the relationship working but after a particularly nasty fight where Hyuk accidentally calls Da Eun Bo Yeon (Krystal), they break up with no discussion that they are breaking up.

Later, Hottie Hyuk cheats on her with Bo Yeon (Krystal) and doesn’t go home for some time. He tells Da Eun to take anyone she wants to Jeju which she does. Both the first airport scene and the last airport scene are the same scenes. Da Eun gifts Cutie Hyuk the sneakers and Cutie Hyeok starts running in excitement. This is when Hottie Hyuk finds her at the airport and then both Hyuk and Hyeok crash and fall down.

I hope this explains the ending.

Thoughts
Even though the ending had me scream at my tv and then start laughing hysterically, I still think that this ending was the weakest and the strongest part of the movie depending on the way you see it. On one hand, it gives a fun, unexpected twist to the melodrama but on the other hand, it makes the entire relationship meaningless. At the start when the camera cuts from one to another, we don’t want to believe that Cutie Hyeok lost so much weight that he turned into Hottie Hyuk. But as the movie goes on they kept adding hints in the movie that just makes us convinced that both are really the same person. It was brilliantly done and we need to give the credit where the credit is due.

- That said, cheating is not cool.
If you are watching the movie from a critical point of view, the movie loses its charm. Throughout the movie, the couples did nothing to show that they should be together. Both were terrible to each other. Da Eun takes advantage of Hottie Hyuk the entire time she was with him (much like what we see her do with Cutie Hyuk in the beginning). Hottie Hyuk gets a car and commutes for hours just to spend the night with her. He does house chores and drives her around. She is never considerate of his hard work and his exhaustion.

Hottie Hyuk (side note: I think I have probably called Jang Ki Yong hottie over 100 times by now but did I lie? lol) was also a terrible boyfriend. He never listens to her and only talks about his problems with her. He doesn’t tell her about his girl colleague and keeps lying to her about it even when he was not cheating on her. He is also doing the bare minimum for her. Especially, when she needs him the most. Had the writers not tried to make the story realistic and melodrama, the rest of the story would have made much more sense, and the ending twist would have even been funny.

The entire time the couples were not honest with each other, they had no emotions towards one another. Even after going through such a hard time, they barely communicate or even fight for that matter. Da Eun goes through abortion, she gets cheated on, her boyfriend is never there for her but when the movie ends we forget it all and she becomes a con artist that takes advantage of men.

“Where did it all go wrong?”

I would like to argue that the entire relationship was wrong. He was a pushover and a liar. She was selfish and a liar. What did you think of the movie? Do you are or disagree with me? Let me know in the comments below. I love hearing from you guys. 🙂

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The original book is best seller in JPN, and K-drama did great job making this movie

The original novel is very popular in JPN and I had to read it twice to fully understand the twist in the end. That’s why it was said to be impossible to make movie or drama of this book. I watched the JPN movie version then watched this Korean version. Both are made well despite the hard story to make in movie.

I also experience long distance relationship , so I was able to relate to main couple. Some reviews criticized the cheating issues, but this drama’s core is the ENDING. . It’s a fantasy so you cannot take it too seriously.

I wonder how many viewers are able to guess what is the outcome. Very interesting story and recommend to watch for some fun.

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Fun

I'm not surprised by the low ratings (the topic is controversial after all), but I'm glad I watched this one. I heard there was a twist coming, but I didn't predict it. It made for an excellent reveal at the end, and I think it's the right message for this story.

The whole security guard addition was puzzling and unnecessary. Otherwise, the story was tight. I like the characterization of our two main leads. Krystal was meh as usual, and so was Lee Jang Hyeok at the beginning. But the idea of this wary couple, trying so earnestly but struggling from an endless commute and overwork? So relatable, and portrayed so well too.

I also like the parallelism at the end and the choices our protagonists made. It's not clear who drove who away, or who's more at fault. How'd we end up here? Excellent question.

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Neither sweet nor sour but bitter

It took me time to digest the plot twist at the end after watching it because only the plot twist will make you think about the movie or else everything is tasteless here.

Can't blame them too cause the trailer was clearly potraying how the movie will be so it's just another romcom k-movie with way too simple plot. The jacket scene was funny and I couldn't understand what's the role of that mysterious man here maybe it was his conscience. You keep doubting on soobin's innocence. Jang ki yong's expressions are improved; and that breakup scene was so good I felt cheated by my nonexistent bf in that scene lol

So if you have some time to spend and you don't want to watch something heavy so you can watch it.

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Sad yet realistic

I am a newbie to KDramas, having seen only a few of them, and I haven't reviewed none yet, but I felt compelled to review this one right after watching it.

I do not like this kind of movies, because they sadden me and real life is tough enough. However I agree with the message the movie sent and the importance of listening and caring for your loved ones. Work should not ever come first. The movie portrayed realistically the ups and lows of a relationship strained by long commute, long working hours and temptations of having attractive colleagues at work. Not a single moment I thought any person was bad - there are no villains here, just flawed young people making flawed decisions. I just felt sad for them and wanted to hug dearly my loved ones afterwards. If you like to watch genuine dramas about life, you might like this movie. Be warned, the ending is not cheerful and perfect. It is just like life tends to be sometimes, sourly realistic.

Do not read further if you wish to avoid spoilers.

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The main lead Hyeok deserved what he got at the end. Even then he didn't realise what he did wrong, given how self-absorbed he was. For me, the breaking point was when he wanted her to terminate the pregnancy. A big nope, and the biggest sign their relationship was doomed. Luckily for her, she decided against it as we saw in the reel in the end. While I do not agree with her decision to seek refuge in the arms of the man she just feels sorry for, I can understand that she just wants the best for the baby that otherwise won't have a father. Still, who knows? Maybe they will reconnect in Jeju, after all, he's coming there too, although maybe not at the same time. The movie left that card open. I am not sure would I, if I were Da-Eun, accept him back. He still seemed immature at the end, only sorry for himself.

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This movie was like its title, sweet and sour.

This movie was like its title, sweet and sour. When the truth was finally revealed, it tasted bitter.
I wonder what will happen to the child. Will lee jang hyuk (the guy staying at the hospital) be able to accept that Da Eun is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's baby, they even have similar names so I can imagine how he might react to that.
I feel disgusted after watching this...
Lots of loopholes in the plot and what the hell was the security guard doing, meddling in their affairs.. and why does the security guard look like a CEO?
I don't like the ending. It made it seem as though the other's love interest was a revival. I think the end of the movie should show that they are no longer compatible, and I found someone else better along the way. This will close something the parent didn't do.

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Really good background noise

I never condone cheating in any capacity but this movie really highlights how serious emotional infidelity can be. Once you check out of a relationship emotionally then no amount of physical presence can really bring you back. This movie is very realistic about how relationships are very fragile and can be broken by just about anything. I will say, I think her abortion really affected Da eun more than we see. Jang Hyuk's reaction to her news was probably everything she needed to realize he had checked out. Just saying.

I, unfortunately, saw the spoilers before I watched so it didn't surprise me but I enjoyed the movie still.

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