Reviews

A film that lances the rage and exasperation that can mark a family relationship

At the centre of this very touching social study are a mother and her daughter. They share the apartment mentioned in the title of the film. Besides that, their bond is rather loose. Indeed they could be as well some random flatmates – some that don't get along well. The more Yi-jung (Im Jee-ho) tries to win her mother's affection, the more fiercely Su-kung (Yang Mal-bok), the latter, rejects her.

It's nearly embellishing saying that the relationship between the two is tense. They can't communicate without being passive aggressive or snappish. Yi-jung clearly gets on her mother's nerves, but there doesn't seem to be a particular reason for it. Her mere existence seems to provoke Su-kung. Their mutual frustration unloads itself from scene to scene. One of the first confrontations escalates when the two argue, Yi-jung leaves the car and Su-kung in anger steps on the accelerator and hits her daughter from behind.

As a spectator we could have been prepared for this. The camera sits in the car, we have the same perspective as Su-kung watching out of the front window. We feel the tension, we see the contracted muscles of the protagonist. Still her reaction comes unexpected. Why doesn't she come down as most other persons in her situation would have? But no, she really does it. And this is a feeling that stays with the audience during the whole film.
Su-kung doesn't match our expectations. She does not act like we would like a mother to behave. She contradicts the, in most societies nearly holy, ideal of a mother. There is no trace of tenderness towards her daughter. At one point, Yi-jung says to her colleagues from work that she believes her mother would be capable of killing her one day. That evokes an embarrassed silence among the present ones. And they are heavily relieved when they suppose it was only a joke. But in reality it's not that easy.

Yi-jung's situation is desperate. It is difficult for outsiders to relate to her. The love of a mother is considered by most as one of the few things in life on which we can count unconditionally. It is sure a taboo to scratch this certitude. We feel pity for Yi-jung. She has nobody to whom she can turn to. No father, no friends. She longs for affection. In the relationship with her new colleague at work, it appears clear that she doesn't know how to cope with closeness. At the slightest sign of friendship, she tries to hold on to it with all her might. With the result that she scares away the person in front of her.

Director Kim creates with Su-kung a very complex character. She is not only selfish and childish, it is also clear that life wasn't easy on her and that, as a single mother, she faced a lot of criticism from society. She built a cold façade to protect herself. For her friends, she is an entertaining bird of paradise. They envy her supposed freedom. But at the same time, they can't hide the fact that they look down on her. For them not having an intact family life is like failing life's purpose.

Being the portrait of these two women, the cast is of essential importance. Yi-jung is played by Im Jee-ho with a lot of sensitivity. She shows the fragility of the character and the scars that leave its unanswered needs. Still Yi-jung is not a victim, she knows she has to part ways with her mother and finally finds the courage to do so. Even though at some points we would like Yi-jung to react a bit more, to be more combative, we can relate to her at all moments. And this is exactly due to the capability of the actress. It was indeed not easy to stand up to her counterpart. Yang Mal-bok as Su-kung is namely a force of nature. She has recently played in the series “Squid Game”. She manages to evoke contradictory emotions in the spectator. Her character has something despicable, but also touching. Yang whirls through the film like her character through her life. In the moment of calm, we see in her eyes the deep sadness that lies in Su-kung.
Even though the “The Apartment with Two Women” lasts for 140 minutes, it doesn't feel particularly long. This is thanks the precise script containing a density of narrative motifs. The pace of the film is basically calm and not excited, but still each scene has its statement. The framing is well balanced, the camera under the responsibility of cinematographer Moon Myoung-hwan follows the protagonists closely. But it still keeps a certain distance that is necessary to reflect on your own life experience and the evoked emotions.

There are several apartments that are of importance in the film. The first one is the one shared by mother and daughter. Private space is difficult to obtain there for them. The rooms are very close to each other, there is a lot of personal stuff piling up and giving the impression of suffocation. Little light comes in, and the dark furniture supports a gloomy atmosphere. In contrast to the women's apartment, the flat where Su-kung wants to move to with her new boyfriend is brighter and bigger. Also the home of Yi-jung's colleague, even though small, is much more friendly than Yi-jung's and Su-kung's.

Concerning the décor and the setting, director Kim shows the same sensitivity as for the development of her characters. She creates a particularly intimate movie, which is at the same time uncomfortable and often besetting, but also immensely touching. “The Apartment with Two Women” is bewitching. A fantastic first feature from a talented young director, that hopefully will produce more.

Leia Mais

At first it doesn't even look like an erotic film, but everything develops. I was impressed by the actors of the main roles and also that the erotic scenes were very solidly and convincingly processed, which were really erotic, soft. And very truthfully, no sarcastic kisses and the actors (not porn actors) had to really slap each other, body to body, I was surprised by the Japanese "cheeky" tongues. That's why I give the highest rating to the acting for the persuasiveness. I already liked less the enforcement scenes full of violence, cruelty, torture, but that's my problem, not the movie's problem, brrr. The sound was also solid, classical music, sometimes piano, very soft, sometimes almost inaudible and surprisingly well colored the scenes where it was appropriate. And indeed, the link from tomase106 is with both versions at the end, the blanc version ends at 1:10:37 and the noir starts, but it has no subtitles, so I prefer karcikarl's links.
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Zezačátku to ani na erotický film nevypadá, ale vše se rozvine. Zaujali mě herci hlavních rolí a též, že byly velice solidně, přesvědčivě zpracovány erotické scény, které byly opravdu erotické, soft. A velice pravdivě, žádné štítivé pusinky a herci (ne pornoherci) si museli pořádně máknout, tělo na tělo, překvapily mě japonské "šmejdivé" jazýčky. Proto za tu přesvědčivost dávám nejvyšší hodnocení právě za herecké výkony. Už méně se mi líbily vymahačské scény plné násilí, surovostí, mučení, ale to je můj problém, ne problém filmu, brrr. Zvuk byl též solidní, klasická hudba, někdy klavír, velmi jemná, někdy téměř neslyšná a překvapivě dobře podbarvila scény, kde se to hodilo. A opravdu, link od tomase106 je s oběma verzemi na konci, verze blanc končí 1:10:37 a začíná noir, ale je bez titulků, proto raději doporučuji linky od karcikarla.

Leia Mais

The Japanese series continues with the third film, where the first clouds form between the Takumi - Gii duo. But I still confirm that this series is not for everyone and requires an open mind and that the rules set in the first part are followed here. It is still a fragile Japanese product, where the processing and sound (music) were nice, the reviewer in front of me is apparently deaf and the main motto is love between two boys. But ... in addition to the shonen-ai motifs from this third volume to the last, there is already a yaoi motif, albeit to a limited extent ...
In the third year of school, Takumi is no longer accommodated with his love Gia. After returning from the US, he has changed, including his appearance, and is appointed the head of the student dormitory on the third floor. Gii becomes cold towards others, but also towards Takumi, He even suggests that they stop seeing each other for a while. Takumi's contact phobia is back in full force...



Japonská série pokračuje třetím filmem, kde vznikají mezi duem Takumi - Gii první mráčky. Stále ale potvrzuji, že tato série není pro každého a vyžaduje otevřenou mysl a že se zde dodržují pravidla nastavená v prvním díle. Pořád se jedná o křehký japonský produkt, kde bylo pěkné zpracování i zvuk (hudba), recenzent přede mnou je zřejmě hluchý a hlavním mottem je láska mezi dvěma chlapci. Ale ... kromě motivů šónen-ai od tohoto třetího dílu až do posledního je zde už i motiv yaoi, i když v omezené míře ...
Ve třetím ročníku školy již není ubytován Takumi se svou láskou Gii. Ten po návratu z USA se změnil, včetně vzhledu a je jmenován šéfem studentské koleje ve třetím patře. Gii se stává chladným k ostatním, ale i k Takumi-mu, Dokonce mu navrhuje, aby se přestali na čas vídat. Takumiho kontaktní fobie znovu nastupuje v plné síle ...

Leia Mais

In my opinion, the fourth part of Takumi-kun did not slip in quality, even though it devotes most of its time to the Misu-Shingyouji pair. He still sensitively and in traditional Japanese describes the stories of the boys at the Shidou boys' school, actually we are in a closed "circuit" where no girl performs. The acting is very solid and I have to appreciate that this time Misu-Shingyouji's meringues are juicy and full.


Čtvrtý díl Takumi-kun nijak nesklouzl dle mého názoru s kvalitou dolů, i když nejvíce času věnuje dvojici Misu -Shingyouji. Stále citlivě a japonsky tradičně popisuje příběhy chlapců na chlapecké škole Shidou, vlastně jsme v uzavřeném "okruhu", kde nevystupuje žádná dívka. Herecky velmi solidní a musím ocenit, že tentokráte pusinky Misu-Shingyouji jsou šťavnaté a plné.

Leia Mais

I think the final part of this Japanese series was the most solid in terms of acting, and the story of the main character didn't bind so much anymore. The music was good as always and used sensitively where it should have been. Just a little thing - the creators didn't teach Takumi even the most basic thing about how to properly pull the bow on the strings when he "played the violin", but it's a minor thing. In this last volume, the yaoi elements clearly predominate (but only subtly) over the shonen-ai. I don't know why the creators changed the cast of both main heroes after the first part, on the contrary, I liked the actor Gii-a from the first part much more in terms of acting and appearance.
When I was preparing for this series, I wanted to read the reviews to prepare a little for the series. The only reviewer covered all five volumes but they gave me nothing at all, they are totally about nothing, to rate why he gave the sound sometimes 2 sometimes 3, they do not express themselves at all and the Japanese style of yaoi and shonen-ai manga that was made for a Japanese audience and not for a few scumbags from Central Europe, messing with fairy tales.
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Závěrečný díl této japonské série si myslím, že po herecké stránce byl nejsolidnější, rovněž příběh hlavní postavy už tolik nesvazoval. Hudba byla jako vždy dobrá a použita citlivě tam, kde měla být. Jen drobnost - tvůrci nenaučili Takumiho ani nejzákladnější věc, jak tahat správně smyčec po strunách, když "hrál na housle", ale je to nepodstatná drobnost. V tomto posledním díle už převažují jasně prvky yaoi (ale jen decentně) nad šónen-ai. Nevím proč po prvním díle tvůrci sáhli po změně hereckého obsazení obou hlavních hrdinů, mě se naopak představitel Gii-a z prvního dílu líbil herecky i vzhledem daleko více.
Když jsem se chystal na tuto sérii, tak jsem si chtěl přečíst recenze, abych se na sérii trošku připravil. Jediný recenzent se věnoval všem pěti dílům, ale nedaly mi vůbec nic, jsou totálně o ničem, k hodnocení, proč dal za zvuk někdy 2 někdy 3, se nevyjadřují vůbec a japonský styl yaoi a šónen-ai mang, který byl vyroben pro japonské publikum a ne pro pár zabedněnců ze střední Evropy, si plete s pohádkami.

Leia Mais

I'm not really a viewer of Miike's films, because it's a bit out of my taste. However, even so, I realized that it is definitely not a B-movie and I do not regret the time spent watching it, so I did not take into account the recommendation of one reviewer here at all. I lower the rating a little for the story, because I don't need shootings, beatings and killings, and also for the gay component that showed through here and there, but it was minimal. The other aspects were solid, I definitely liked both main characters and their acting, overall it comes out as solid average.


Já nejsem úplně divák Miikeho filmů, neboť je to trošku mimo můj vkus. Nicméně i přesto jsem poznal, že to určitě není béčkový film a času za zhlédnutí nelituji, takže doporučení jednoho recenzenta zde jsem vůbec nebral v potaz. U příběhu malinko snižuji hodnocení, neboť střílečky, mlácení a zabíjení já nemusím a též za gay složku, která sem tam prosvitla, ale byla mizivá. Ostatní aspekty byly solidní, rozhodně se mi moc líbily obě hlavní postavy a jejich herecké ztvárnění, celkově mi vychází solidní průměr.

Leia Mais

Kaido Kohei, a former competitive swimmer (actually actor Nakamura Joe, who looks absolutely perfect at 45) lives an ordinary life with his wife and daughter until the daughter is about to graduate and the wife decides to divorce him. Kaido meets Yutaka, a young man with whom he temporarily lives. The two worlds of a retired elderly swimmer, living a peaceful straight life until now, and a young gay man who wants to live his own life meet here. Nicely acted, the story creaked a little for me in how the two completely different people were still looking for a way to each other, the processing is excellent and I can only recommend it to those who don't mind Japanese films...


Kaido Kohei, bývalý závodní plavec (ve skutečnosti herec Nakamura Joe, který ve svých 45 letech vypadá naprosto dokonale) žije běžný život se svou ženou a dcerou až do doby, kdy dcera má promovat a manželka se rozhodla se s ním rozvést. Kaido se setkává s Yutakou, mladíkem, u kterého začne přechodně bydlet. Setkávají se zde dva světy vysloužilého postaršího plavce, žijícího doposud poklidným hetero životem a mladého gaye, který chce žít podle svého. Pěkně zahráno, příběh pro mě malinko skřípěl v tom, jak ti dva naprosto odlišní lidé k sobě stále hledali cestu, zpracování bezva a těm, kterým nevadí japonské filmy, mohu jen doporučit....

Leia Mais

The movie didn't quite suit me, it wasn't to my taste, I felt a kind of slight emptiness while watching it, even though it describes three periods of homophobic Young-Taek. High school and the first encounter with a young student who fucked his father, then college and his gay senior who was "made into" and the war, where his bisexual sergeant wanted to cut him. The film wanted to show how a homophobe can change and start at least a little tolerating the sexualization of a minority, and for that I appreciate him. But the way the creators showed it is just average for me.


Film mi úplně nesedl, nebyl dle mého gusta, cítil jsem při sledování jakousi mírnou prázdnotu, i když popisuje tři období homofobního Young-Taeka. Střední školu a první setkání s mladým studentem, který šukal s jeho otcem, potom vysokou školu a jeho gay seniora, který byl do něj "udělaný" a vojnu, kde ho chtěl přeříznout jeho bisexulání seržant. Snímek chtěl ukázat, jak se dokáže částečně homofob změnit a začít alespoň trošku tolerovat sexulání menšiny a za to si ho cením. Ale jakým způsobem to tvůrci předvedli, je pro mě jen akorátním průměrem.

Leia Mais

Morning Mo (Tzu-Yi Mo), who we know as the main star of the beautiful movie Dear Tenant from 2020, played the character of Sung Hai's gay son x years ago. His partner was the likeable Gary Tang.
But the film is not only about a gay son, as written in the Details about the film. It is a psychological probe into a multi-generational and incomplete Taiwanese family headed by mother Ai-Tsao. She must gradually cope not only with the growing suspicion that her son is gay and with a greedy mother (grandmother, very well played) who pays attention to the social "conventions" of Taiwanese society in the first decade of the twenty-first century, but also with her daughter, who returns from studies abroad and, as a single mother, brings home a black girl (whom she conceived while studying with a dark-skinned man, with whom she then did not agree on living together). In fact, even the mother herself (Ai-Tsao) did not live a conventional life. Maybe someone will find the story slow and long-winded, but it didn't seem like that to me, and on the contrary, it nicely conveyed the not-so-simple fates of several characters through film.

Leia Mais

"Best Filipino Movie Ever". Well, in my opinion, it no longer applies. Yes, I can include it among the better films of this country, so much tested in the past by the immense poverty that was already sown by the Spanish colonizers of the time and perfected by the Americans. On the other hand, this country is the only island of Christianity in the sea of Buddhism, Taoism and Islam that is coming from the south, many inhabitants have parts of words or whole Spanish words in their names and speak completely differently than the surrounding countries, including the fact that they speak a second language after filipino and tagalog is filipino english. The film gave me a lot, but it has already shown the ravages of time. What I appreciate most is the conveyance of that time, poverty, lack of law and crime, solid acting. The story isn't bad either. It is worse with the feeling itself, the perception of the whole story, because I only had a very bad copy at my disposal, otherwise it would certainly be much deeper.
So goodbye, Julio and Ligayo (the actors of the main characters are still alive today).



"Nejlepší filipínský film všech dob". Tak to už dle mě dávno neplatí. Ano, mohu jej zařadit mezi ty lepší filmy této země, tolik v minulosti zkoušené nesmírnou chudobou, kterou už zaseli tehdejší španělští kolonizátoři a dokonali Američané. Na druhé straně ale tento stát je jediným ostrovem křesťanství v moři buddhismu, taoismu a z jihu se ne něj valícího islámu, mnozí obyvatelé mají ve svých jménech slovní části a nebo celá slova španělská a mluví úplně jinak, než okolní země včetně toho, že druhým jazykem po filipínštině a tagalogštině je filipínská angličtina. Film mi dal hodně, ale už se na něm projevil zub času. Nejvíce si vážím zprostředkování tehdejší doby, chudoby, nedostatku práva a zločinnosti, solidních hereckých výkonů. Příběh také není špatný. Horší je to se samotným pocitem, vnímáním celého příběhu, neboť jsem měl k dispozici jen velmi špatnou kopii, jinak by byl jistě daleko hlubší.
Tak sbohem, Julio a Ligayo (herci hlavních postav dodnes žijí).

Leia Mais

The Filipino film smelling of novelty about the fate of two young men, Gene and Mark, intrigued me and also made me sad. It's a shame that the ending is the way it is, because it might give mainstream society the impression that this is how it should be for two gay men ...(?).
The acting is solid, the Asian theatricality in the norm and the already very familiar Pinoy style of processing for me. I originally wanted to give a six for the music, but in the end I gave it a point more when the film's songs are played at the end of the film, especially the tender Akala ko ay ako - Ford Valencia.



Novotou vonící filipínský film o osudu dvou mladých mužů Gene-ho a Marka mě zaujal a také rozesmutnil. Škoda, že je konec takový, jaký je, protože může navozovat u většinové společnosti dojem, že tak by to u dvou gayů mělo být ...(?).
Herecké výkony solidní, asijská teatrálnost v normě a pro mě již velmi známý styl pinoy zpracování. U hudby jsem původně chtěl dát šestku, ale nakonec o bodík více, když na konci filmu jsou uvedeny filmové písně, především něžná Akala ko ay ako - Ford Valencia.

Leia Mais

Hardly anyone will understand this movie the first time. I didn't understand much either. And this, I think, is the biggest disadvantage of the entire film, when from the outside it seems unclear, rambling, but at the same time it tells us so much. This piece requires reading about it BEFORE and watching it a second, third time and not immediately condemning it. So I give it, even if I rate it decently overall, "REALLY NOT RECOMMENDED", because many people just want to quickly watch it, skim through it, and I don't take seriously the opinions that the film is only about the physical dimension. I understand that the film has a lower rating on world servers, because heterosexuals did not give it because of the complexity and 100% gay component. That's why I give the Story the lowest rating for the targeted "outrageousness". It is based on the theme of a Chinese novel from the 18th century. Dream of the Red Chamber, which is also the second title of the film, transformed the story from the Chinese imperial court into the present day and the current capital of Taiwan, so it must adhere to certain prescribed rules (more characters, not creating a comprehensive dramatically graduated plot, etc.). That it is such a deliberately non-story and its development can be read by everyone, I liked the film after the third viewing, there are several gaps in it that the viewer can guess and it shows gays as they are without napkins (not all of them are saints, faithful to one partner until death, do not smoke, drink, or fart). There is beauty, love, hope, selfishness, ignorance, irresponsibility, ruin, sickness, death, just everything that life brings. As the greatest strength of the film, I cite the fact that the cast played it extremely well, humanly, UNTWISTED. Now I don't mean that most of the actors were handsome Taiwanese including the main trio of Josh, Lin, Sean, which is true, that's an added bonus. One of the main roles (Lin) was played by the star of the great series Dark Blue and Moonlight (this series is also shown here on MDL) - Eric Chen. I wanted to give a nine for the processing, but I reduced it by one for the fact that many scenes were dark, dark, I know that was the intention of the creators, but it made me uncomfortable.
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Leia Mais

Languid Countryside Friendship

Cute and simple, but it used clichéd short-cuts to tell the story and was ultimately not that memorable. I didn't feel like I wasted my time on this, and it did bring a gentle smile to my face, but I won't watch it again. You might enjoy it if you're in the mood for something gentle, innocent, straightforward, sometimes cute, and with a focus on parental figures and finding purpose.

The acting was decent but the actors weren't given that much to work with. Most characters are pretty 1-dimensional. We learn more about Yamato by what other people say about him in exposition than anything else. That's telling and not showing a story, so it's hard to feel emotionally engaged with it. The main character, Mitsuomi, fairs a bit better because the story follows him, but his character arc is, sadly, very predictable with nothing new.

The pacing is languid, which suits the characterization of the countryside vs the city, but the end wraps up so quickly that there's a noticeable imbalance in the arc of the story, character, and relationship progression. The soft cinematography with naturescapes as cut scenes suits the mood, but I can easily see why some people find this movie too slow.

The lead actors are able to convey a basic, growing friendship with unexpected curiosity for more, but the screenplay gives them very little beyond that. The character interactions are written simply so there's not much depth to their self-discovery and not much sense of romance.

Using instrumental British Isle folk songs (like The Water Is Wide) for the background music was an interesting choice. It goes with the countryside theme, but it felt odd to me. Probably because my mind could'nt disassociate what I recognized from the culture it came from to let it blend fully with this Japanese story.

Leia Mais

Unbelievably patriotic historical setting

Extremely good screenplay that covers the whole background story of the political situation within sports, plot is rich enough to highlight the hardships of getting into the marathon competition itself, pacing is smooth throughout the movie and the details are so precise that you could really feel the significant amount of pressure along with the journey of the team, more so for its patriotic reason. The buildup for the marathon race has amazing suspense with soundtrack that's thumpingly brilliant, and I've cried so many times watching it. The production value is simply too high for this movie.

Leia Mais