A cuddly piece of euphoria

So apparently you can summon your distant lover by playing a Conan Gray song to him. I'll make sure to try that out. Happy Valentines, my single friends!

🔸No matter how much you're lost in life, if you are with the right people everything else will come along. This incredible, thoughtful, sensual and inspiring work of art is a rare collaboration between a Korean and a foreign director Baek Inu and Werner du Plessis. It is coming-of-age genre, and explores such themes as adapting to the new environment (Ji Hyeon in Seoul), processing traumas (Jae Won and his depression), trying to live up to someone's expectations and finding your inner strength. You can tell right away that creating a safe space for queer people was the priority for this BL. There are no triggering scenes, hate speech, rejections based on orientation, but instead there are many understanding friends that support the main characters along the way. You can safely watch this drama. Without a single explicit frame, sexual tension and intimacy flood the screen in all the right moments. I'm hypnotized.

Stunning, stunning performances of Lim Ji Seob and Oh Joon Taek! Their expressions are so subtle, and you can feel little electrical sparks lighting between them on screen. From now on, I demand to see these actors in big successful projects only!

🔸The drama feels especially real because it's not isolated from the real world. It is full of references to such movies as I'm a Cyborg, But That's Okay or Hedwig and The Angry Inch, or the influential needle drop The Story by Conan Gray. Several quirky characters like the English-speaking bartender or the cheerful cashier with the K-Trot USB are always surprising and bring diversity to the table even if their influence is insignificant. I imagine this richness is the result of the collaboration. In this case, I'd love more international projects in Korea.

🔸As for the title "The Eighth Sense", I think it's nothing more than an homage to the creator's favorite movie The Sixth Sense. The plot is not even vaguely resembling the 2001 thriller. The only thing they have in common is the main character having counseling sessions about his mental struggles. From the other angle, the title doesn't make any sense as well. Eun Ji, the supporting character, says: "I realized the five senses weren't everything. Just follow your senses. Who knows what might happen?" But what are the other seven senses then? I feel like this particular line just appears out of nowhere to justify the title.

But hey, now I finally learned how to spell "eighth"!

🔸The Eighth Sense is by far the most vibrant and living K-drama (not just as a BL) that doesn't have that manufactured TV production touch. I actually felt a little bit high watching it (hahah) from how much I related and how bad I wanted to be in that campfire circle with the surfing club folks. I wish the cast and the crew good luck and a big success in the future!

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철들수록 꿈이 사라지는 거면, 나는 그냥 철들기를 포기할라고.

Dear friends, behold, the finest historical specimen of the Golden Age* of Korean dramas: Fight For My Way! Insanely cute and funny, just as much problematic.

🔸"I'm dating you, and why do you have to do everything your own way?" While the drama is literally called "My Way" and sends the message of embracing your own desires and independence, this message arrives twisted when it came through the hours of childish interactions between the characters who try to make their romantic partners comply with their whims. But this message doesn't come out of thin air, and the exceptional rating of 13.8% demonstrate what was amusing for the Korean society in 2017 and what was its itch.

This drama characterized by a radical intolerance to others' choices, and that intolerance is often presented as humorous or romantic. But tell me, please, if your partner said this to you, would you think of it as romantic?

- "If you do martial arts again we break up. We won't stay friends either and will never see each other again". (Says someone who is dating them and supposed to support and encourage).

- "I'm not going to marry anyone else, and if my burn gets infected I will die, so come apply the ointment today". (Says someone who got broken up with and doesn't want to let their partner go).

- "Why are you wearing such a short skirt?! Every man will look at your beautiful legs. Go and change right now!!!" (Says a male character to a female character)

The writer doesn't ever trust the characters to be truly self-reliant. She keeps glueing them together when they part their own ways, and this defies the whole narrative of the drama. The most interesting character is the aspiring announcer Choi Ae Ra. She doesn't have a documented proof of her talent and support system like the athlete Dong Man with his medals and a coach. She has to take many rejections and be flexible to achieve her goal, and I love a story like that. Unfortunately, her career didn't get a lot of runtime comparing to Dong Man and the romantic plot. It's such a big lose.

"철들수록 꿈이 사라지는 거면, 나는 그냥 철들기를 포기할라고. 그냥 남 보라고 철든 척 할 필요도 없고, 아끼면 다 똥되는 거고."

🔸The itch of finding a fulfilling career and pursuing your true passion is still very much present today, and it only grows bigger as Gen Z is entering the work force. But I hope that all these toxic traits in K-dramas are left in the past. Let's support K-dramas that don't romanticize manipulation!

* It's the Platinum Age now, post-Netflix. Don't you think?

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"우리 모두는 서로에게 파괴자이자 구원자이다."

I was fighting off the desire to steal all the Gu Won's wardrobe till the end, especially that fuzzy white cardigan.

My Demon is a beautiful homage to Doom at your service and Goblin with a light sprinkle of Succession/Penthouse.
🔸️With the K-drama industry becoming more diverse and less dependent on its progenitorial techniques in the recent years, I'm sure the fans are yearning for those goofy nostalgic and lively projects. My Demon is exactly that energetic romcom that preserves all the best tropes and kdrama traditions on top of having a great chemistry between the leading actors, and it doesn't cross the line of being cheesy. I mean, Song Kang and Kim Yoo Jeong are both so attractive, "but who should I look at, is it Shang or Mulan?"©

🔸️The story doesn't break any expectations but meets them closely. A cold supernatural being unexpectedly falls in love with a human - and here goes everything you'd expect from such a story - funny misunderstandings, love contracts, break-ups "because my presence harms you", extravagant habits of the male lead, the villain pursuing the female lead, past lives in Joseon, and so on. But there are also many touching side plots, like the one of Jin Ga Yeong who was saved by Gu Won as a kid.

However, the most definite weakness of the writing would be excessive borrowing from more successful dramas, like the dissipation scene from Goblin or the "charging" from Doom At Your Service. I didn't feel anything in the climax BECAUSE I'VE SEEN IT ALREADY almost shot-by-shot identical in another drama with the same result.

🔸️That said, My Demon is still absolutely worth watching of you want to enjoy the authentic kdrama dynamics between the main characters and the supporting ones like "from enemies to lovers" of the two hilarious secretaries, or Gu Won's most faithful mob army, or the funny colleagues in Do Hee's company.

For me, the most interesting character is Do Gyeong. His story is more multifaceted than you expect, and the actor Kang Seung Ho did an amazing job with his performance. 박수!👏🏻

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WE NEED s2 NOW!!!

🔸A bloody poem of unspoken problems, unborn friendships, and untold concerns. Weak Hero is not any kind of a manifest against violence, unlike Boyhood. It's a clear statement of what everyone could have had and what has lost to domestic and school violence. Friendship, trust, love, happiness, - all of them were wiped out with blood and boiling rage. It's been 1.5 years since the release of this drama, and I attest that the story gets better on the rewatch when you can closely examine the exquisite psychology behind it.

🔸The show proves that warlike personal relationships never bring any profit to anybody. Oh Beom Seok, aka the most hated villain, was adopted for his congressman dad's political influence. In psychology, bad relationship with parents can predict lower friendship quality, and it's exactly what happens in the drama with Beom Seok. His dad doesn't recognize him as an individual and physically abuses him on a daily basis, which results in Beom Seok struggling with social life. He is anxious even around his new friends and expects betrayal from them.

Beom Seok is so traumatized and broken that he can't navigate a regular relationship anymore. His new friends technically do nothing wrong, but they are no psychiatrists and they don't know how to treat Beom Seok in his condition. While therapy isn't going his way, and he reserves to violence as the only way to relieve his mental pressure. Hong Gyeong's performance as Beom Seok gave me chills. It is absolutely stellar.

🔸"Keep on pushin" says the slogan on Ahn Soo Ho's jacket, but, honestly, does he have a choice not to? He is all alone, without parents, working part time and sleeping at school. This life made him independent, taught not to expect anything in return and not to risk recklessly. But despite that, Soo Ho is loyal in good relationships. He trusts his friends enough to keep his phone unlocked. He is a little bit insensitive, but able to admit his fault and give someone a second chance. Exactly this attitude makes Ahn Soo Ho the best character in the show - and the one who's hurt the most.

🔸"You did nothing wrong", says Yeon Shi Eun's dad after his son causes major injuries to the three bullies who hurt his friend. Shi Eun is reluctant to form any relationship since his parents take little interest in his life, but he is considerate and caring in a friendship that accidentally came his way. He found his escape in keeping his brain busy by solving math problems, but math books will protect his friends only if used as weapons. As his rage grows he seeks justice in violence, too.

🔺Be careful when watching Weak Hero. You may find yourself falling for that violence when you start wishing some of the characters to be hit - this is exactly what the drama warns you about. After all the terrible things Beom Seok has done, you may start feeling satisfaction from seeing him being physically abused by his father, forgetting that abuse shaped him that way in the first place. There are many viewers who are angry for justifying Beom Seok's behavior, but there is no justification there, just as there is no justification for Shi Eun's aggression. It's just the way the society works. We cannot stop bullying and abuse if it's a regular part of our life.

That said, can you name Shi Eun the hero of this story? Or antihero? Or maybe this title belongs to Ahn Soo Ho? Or is it all a big irony? The drama wants you to decide yourself, and it doesn't offer a solution to the world peace. This brutality and honesty, in my opinion, along with the brilliant production is the root of its success worldwide.

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"어른들은 진짜 왜 어러냐?"

I successfully forgot all the childhood mishaps not to be reminded here of those..?😅
I acknowledge the hard work put in this movie and the difficulty directing child actors, but I feel like the whole point of the story is to whimper about old traumas and how bad is everyone around. There aren't really any characters who offer strong positive connection with the leads.

This story was written from the position of the weak, and doesn't try to understand the problem of growing up from any other side. I'm sorry, but the debut feature of the director Yoon Ga Eun is immature. It was relatable sometimes, yes, but exhausted itself by the middle. Not to mention the cinematography - there were some overexposed shots. I will watch The House of Us next and hope it's more skillfully made.

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OH. MY. GOD.

As much as I want Joon Ho to get rest and find peace, he has one more year to go, and something tells me there is going to be the next season. In my opinion, season 1 alone was insufficient, but now the story is summarized very well.

Personally, I like the second one better because it finally gives the feeling of each individual story and their meanings on the big scale. The martial arts scenes are great, the cinematography is wonderful, the actors are stunning. The 3rd episode "Curtain Call" - MY. GOD. I haven't seen one so tragic and brutal in ages. Mostly because of Nina, this series makes it to my top-4. Thank you so much.

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Oh, man... OH MAN.

🔸️The most distinctive trait of this movie: uncompromising. Some very decent acting somehow works its way through very weak directing, while some decent fight choreography and a brutal bullying scene are still visible through very unflattering lighting, trembling camera (how tf did you make it tremble when it's on a tripod?), and a terrible music choice.

I was fucking rolling on the floor of laughter watching the characters first kiss scene. A minute ago they were just strangers, and now they're jumping out of their pants and tripping over the table like they haven't had sex for twenty years. (Dang, i wanna see a behind-the-scenes of it) The criminal part of the two assassins' lives didn't make sense for a long time. I couldn't even understand that Ki Tae was a killer too before I read the synopsis.

🔸️What I find different in Long Time No See is that it's not entirely a "Boys Love". It focuses specifically on two gay men and their struggles to find their place in the society they have to literally fight for. BLs though tend to not focus on that struggle but rather on just the relationship and background of the characters (in most of the BLs I've seen). Therefore I can suggest the movie to be assigned to the LGBTQ+ category.

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이젠 단팥빵 먹고 싶어 죽겠다

These 8 short episodes is not really a drama but more like a travel show with a fictional character and her background. Each episode is a separate short story that happens to Ha Gyong on her weekend trips.

🔸We get to know Park Ha Gyong through her relationships with students, colleagues, reactions to unusual situations and life regrets. Each novel is totally fictional, but in the 7th episode there is a long bakery ad, and, you know, it worked. I now want to buy a 단팥빵 when I go to Jeju. Yet that episode-long advertisement was off-putting for the main narrative, leaving me more or less indifferent towards the end.

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나가 느편 해줄 테니 너는 느 원대로 살라! 할망이 모든 거 다 해줄 거야.

For starters, the translation of the title is "Grandma Gye Chun", not Canola. I guess because it might be hard to remember for foreign viewers.

🔸️The Jeju Island atmosphere of the drama Our Blues is one of my favorites in Korean cinema. This movie might have a messy screenplay, a couple of unfinished parts and some misleading unexplained moments, but it also has many beautifully shot scenes and heartwarming dialogues, e.g. Hye Ji going diving with her granny. Later she draws a picture of them holding hands underwater and floating in the deep ocean up to the light. It also reveals another person who was as close to them. Honestly, that picture got me crying. My big admiration for the artist who painted it. If you saw it you know what I'm talking about.

Another great part is acting. Kim Go Eun is incredible as always. She's incredible. That's it. I admire her. I do.

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Wow, so toothless!

It appears the director Kim Joo Hwan has a thing for animals. "Koala", "Lion", "Hunting Dogs", now this. A surprisingly toothless movie about a big load of abandoned puppies.

🔸️It would seem impossible to film a wholesome fluffy Golden Retriever in a neutral manner and make it appear soulless, although they managed to achieve it here. I'm so sick of long rambling descriptions of the characters unhappy lives, I couldn't care less. There soon will be more dogs than kids in Korea, so they thought the movie would sell well. It didn't. It lost a bunch of money in box office. As for me, I'd rather watch some lunatic shit and enjoy it than the blandest tear-jerker marketed for the broadest audience.

And no, I'm not a heartless monster. I had a red cat that I loved the most, then he died, and the story was over. Yes, I miss him sometimes.

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