The story is good, but really sad. I thought it was a murder mystery, but I figured out what was going on in the first ½ hour. I don’t think there is much mystery to it. I thought the way they filmed it was really well done. The acting is extremely intense and dark . Son Ye Jin plays a part far removed from the only other thing I have seen her in which is Personal Taste. She is a very versatile actress. I had never seen Han Seok Kyu or Go Soo in anything else. I think they did well in their respective roles as a cop and criminal. The ending was off the hook!!!
Again due to certain scenes and because the premise of the movie is not light, I’m not sure if I would recommend just anyone watch this. Watch at your own risk.
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The thing that really bothers me is that Kim Hyun Joong's character is so static and unmoving, it eventually makes me feel bitter and resentful towards Jung So Min's character.
Jung's character is adorable and hard working. I'm not sure why everyone is expecting her to change, since the obvious purpose of this show is to illustrate how Kim's character opens his heart after unconditional love and kindness. I think ultimately people get upset with Ha Ni because it seems like she loses all respect for herself.
Beyond that, Kim's acting is almost worse in this show than Boys Before Flowers. It's like he doesn't even try to be a different character with different mannerisms. Kim's starring role in shows should just be for him to stand and look pretty since it hurts whenever he tries to act. It's okay if you hate me for saying that.
I should try to say something nice about this drama.... I like the parents, Jung's character and her friends. I liked the mother-daughter relationship that Ha Ni and Seung Jo's mom have. I think the story itself has the potential to be good. It's just not.
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The drama was not able to carry my emotions as the story proceeded. But the emotions I felt was annoyance and disappointment. I should have dropped it. For a melodrama, the story didnt moved me at all. Unlike the first season drama, Autumn In My Heart which gave me tears from the first episode down to the last one.
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The acting was very good. I especially enjoyed the main couple's and Jiang Shan's (Shiqiao's mother) performance in the movie.
I love the soundtrack, most of the songs were created for this movie. I especially love the ending song, too bad I can't find it for download yet :(.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable movie. I`m glad I decided to watch it.
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i gave story 8 because it was an interesting one
i didnt like the music at all
the acting was oo but at times i seriously felt like they were OVER reacting .
i gave rewatch value a 2 cuz well i didnt watch it to the end so theres not even the point of rewatching ...
overall it was an interesting one so 7..
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I feel like there were major gaps in the characterization. It might just be a result of the manga that it's based on, but I didn't get a clear view of the characters' mindsets really... I dunno.
The acting was pretty good as far as I could tell. I mean the actors didn't really have that much to work with, but they did well. I thought Dongho was actually very good. Someone compared him to Kristen Stewart- maybe just because his character is sort of like that. He seems really dead inside for reasons we never really get. That's something i wish they would've delved into more deeply. I would have understood Yoo's motivation to keep fighting more if we really got a look at his background, his father, his home situation.
The music was pretty badass. Definitely one of the best parts of this drama.
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In all honesty, I liked this show. I thought it was hilarious at points and heart breaking at others. The arguments and situations were sometimes so far fetched it was hard not to laugh. I liked the slapstick and more nuanced, subtle humor as well. The thing I liked about this drama was that it seemed like a parody of itself. The show was unabashedly cliche and was able to derive humor from all of those cliches.
Ultimately, I wish there were more episodes that showed more depth in the other characters. The problem with some Japanese dramas is that they seem like a summary look into a character. This drama is not much different.
The other thing was the lack of creativity in dramatic events. It's like two things happened in the first two episodes, and then the rest of the show was on repeat.
Overall though, a fun drama with some awesomely funny and ridiculous scenes.
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Cast was alright...and music too! nothing top notch but just perfect along the storyline!
But, what drew my attention was Shun's acting! You won't see that typical Shun here with an introvert character, but something totally different from his usual genre! He was cheerful...actually more than cheerful! hmmm...what should I say to make it exact?! hmmm...maybe a "feisty" kinda character...which somehow went JUST FINE with him!! and that's what made me give more attention to the movie! And, guess what...I enjoyed it...from the second I saw Shun smiling...if I'm to note exactly then from 07.54min of the movie 'till the end...haha!! His smile was really something...watch the movie and you'll know exactly what I'm trying to say!!
Happy WATCHING!!! ^o^*
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I chose to watch different dramas before I decided to start on The Princess' Man, since I was not particularly enticed by the few synopses and plot introductions that I read beforehand. However, as with each new drama that I watch, more and more do I learn not to trust but a single word of these short introductory summaries. I'm not sure who writes these, but they don't do a very good job of quickly explaining what the drama is going to be about. As such, this drama was above my expectations, though I could have known a little better since there we many reviews on this and the ratings were very high for this drama.
Now I do believe these ratings are somewhat justified, however the reviews for The Princess' Man do overstate things slightly, in my opinion. Dramabeans' Dahee whose writings I often enjoy due to their down-to-earth (and often cynical) approach to reviewing was far too positive in the Year-In-Review piece that was posted a few days ago, in my opinion. In the same series of Year-In-Review, javabeans goes even further to call the main leads' performances their career best, impassioned and fierce. Now while I did enjoy quite a few aspects of this drama, the acting performances of the leads was definitely not what I would highlight as an example of why this series is so good. Good it is though, that is without question. I hesitated between a 7 and an 8 for this drama, but there are simply too many small things that I take issue with, that keep me from rating this drama higher than others that I have previously reviewed here.
I'll start with these issues, so we may end with the positive aspects of this drama. One of the first bones I have to pick is the OST. While there are individual tracks that are excellent, especially the Italian style songs such as Vola and Destino, they become repetitive and almost annoying quite quickly. Fortunately, we have our unofficial OST Queen (sorry to those who put value on that poll from last May, Taeyeon is great, but there is just one OST Queen;) Baek Ji Young with I Love You Too. (Granted, my bias towards Baek Ji Young in kpop is comparable to my bias towards Son Ye-Jin in kdrama, but with her work from IRIS, Secret Garden and A Thousand Day's Promise combined with this song, I have plenty of excuses!) Where the tracks by unnamed artists were used repetitively and excessively though, songs such as I Love You Too and Missing You by Park Jung Min hardly make it into the drama, which is unfortunate. Missed opportunities overall, since the individual tracks from the released OSTs are all quite good.
My next issues are with the directing, costumes and overall production. If you are going to take on a Shakespeare story and turn it into an epic sageuk (historical drama) then I do expect a little more than the regular cable family drama style directing. Sure, it is not easy to find original camera angles when your drama lasts a full 24 hours as opposed to a 2 hour film, but when it is just the same as every other sitcom, it becomes exhausting to sit through. The costume design appeared to be flawless, but that also leads me to my criticism. While I understand that it is necessary to show the clear difference between distinguished nobles and slaves, everything was a little too perfect and a little too colorful in this drama. Especially within the historical context that this story moves in, I thought the costumes were just a bit too much at times. A little bit more realism would not hurt! Where it was a little too much on costume design, it was not enough in overall production. The Princess' Man was undoubtedly limited in budget and therefor choose a colorful approach to both costume design and interior decorations, as soon as the drama moves outside, we can quickly see that not much money was left to spend on scale. The 'palaces' are one example, but particularly the forces lead by friend-turned-enemy Sin Myeon, the few sword fights and the battles that play an increasingly important role as the drama progresses are inadequate in scale as well as acting skill. It may be perceived as extraordinarily unfair to draw in Hero as an example, but when we disregard the impressive special effects and immensely superior cinematography but purely look at the costume design and the scale of production in that film, The Princess' Man falls short even when taking into account the series smaller budget and historical context. In a historical drama, these are important issues that ought not to be overlooked so easily. From the individual sword fights to the production of the sets and the directing of the larger fights, this drama is seriously lacking. If any conclusion is to be drawn from this, it ought not to "reignite hope for Korean dramas", but rather serve as a reminder that they still have a very long way to go when it comes to assigning priorities in production value.
The acting however in The Princess' Man is overall very acceptable. From the large cast, I will highlight those individuals whose performances were most notable, be it in a good or a bad sense. To keep the thought of unfairly comparing Hero with The Princess' Man just a little longer, I will start off with Gisaeng house mistress Cho-Hee (played by Chu So-Young. It reminded me instantly of Zhang Ziyi's role in House of Flying Daggers. When she appeared for the first time in The Princess' Man, I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't actually her. This role was made for her and I hope casting agencies will take notice of this small support role that she plays so well. I was not so impressed by the performances of the supporting antagonists to the story, mainly the father of officer Sin Myeon but also the other conspirators (and later ministers). They all came off as flatly written narrow minded characters that were further impeded by uninspiring performances. The same goes for many of the other elder support cast (with the exception of Se-Ryung's parents and Seung-Yoo's father) whose performances I normally value in drama series. Perhaps they were instructed by the director to force their emotions too much, as they all suffered from this same issue. The acting of the two leads was decent, though main lead Kim Seung-Yoo (Park Si-Hoo, the Romeo of the story) pulls off yet another stiff performance much like in Prosecutor Princess. I am more pleased with Moon Chae-Won's performance as Lee Se-Ryung, Juliet of the story. Her emotions most likely brought in the largest part of the high ratings that this drama has enjoyed. She forces it a little too much at times as well, but does adequately well overall. Many have praised main antagonist Kim Yeong-Cheol as Grand Prince/King Sooyang for his acting in The Princess' Man and even though I am not sure if it is entirely worthy of the title of Best Supporting Actor given in this years dramabeans.com Editors' Picks, he does perform very well as he fights his personal battles and conflicts with those around him, but also with himself. In order to not make this review even longer, I'll skip the rest of the cast save for the most spectacular performance done by Hong Soo-Hyun as Princess Kyung-Hye. Without a doubt the best of the entire cast, her character is well written but the way in which she conveys the various transformations of her character over the course of the series is not rivaled by any other member of this cast. I will make sure to see more of her films and series and definitely hope that she will star in many more to come.
I'll finally spend a few words on the script and the overall writing. It's a mixed bag, as is this entire drama really. A properly executed Romeo & Juliet is unlikely to be unsuccessful and that is translated in the series well deserved ratings. There were however, moments when I felt that the series was starting to repeat itself. Especially after Se-Ryung admits to siding against her father the series paces up so quickly that it becomes meaningless. Then she's captured, then she's not captured, imprisoned, not imprisoned, in the palace, with the princess, hiding somewhere. All this over the course of two or three episodes is simply too much. Luckily most of that can be overlooked since it coincides with the introduction of a whole new support cast from the Gisaeng house. This additional dimension is very much welcomed as the other story lines were becoming tiresome. This contrasting experience resembles for the rest of the script as well and overall it manages to keep you interested, but at the same time it does very much draw out up until the very last episode. For some odd reason, that comes across as very much hurried as if they suddenly had to cut down on the number of episodes. The ending comes off a little bit of a cop out, but by then you've already had a hell of a ride, so it doesn't really hurt the series too much.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this drama to anyone who is looking for one to entertain themselves. As per the criticisms I mentioned above, I can't give it more than a 7 out of 10, but whoever isn't looking at the details and just wants their addictive drama, this is a great stuff.
7/10
http://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/nti3d/the_princess_man???_??_2011kbs_the_joseon_romeo/
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Right from the start, I'll explain that I choose to watch this drama solely because of Son Ye-Jin. I consider her to be my favorite (and possibly the best) Korean film and drama actress, bar none. High expectations as a result, and quite unfortunately Spotlight does not completely live up to them. The success of Alone in Love (2006) is not repeated until Personal Taste (2010), which is a little unfortunate since Spotlight's plot had more potential than either.
Let's start off with the brighter side, because I don't want to give the impression that this is somehow a bad drama, not at all. There's little room for criticism in the casting area, there are many familiar faces from dramas that I have seen before, especially among the support cast. Seeing as this is not a teen drama like Heartstrings, the cast's average age is significantly higher than your average Korean drama, even higher than in Midas. Son Ye-Jin herself delivers a solid performance, but I'll level some criticism at her character because even though it has been said she has been trying to get rid of her "nice girl" image from The Classic, A Moment To Remember and April Snow (all excellent films, go watch them) in her role as supposedly aggressive reporter Seo Woo-jin she keeps falling back into her vulnerable and uncertain character that we're so used to seeing (it fits well in Alone in Love, but not really in this drama). This makes her character a little unbalanced in my view, especially in the final episodes. If I were to recommend any work from Son Ye-Jin to convince others that she's the best Korean actress, I would stay away from mentioning this one. Another quite critical issue is that I would consider her character to be too young for her to be cast as. Son Ye-Jin simply does not come across as 25 in Spotlight, unlikely in Personal Taste from 2010. This makes for some weird moments with the two year older actor Jin Goo, who could come across as 10 years her junior in this drama. Well done on his part, but questionable on whoever decided on the background of reporter Seo Woo-jin.
Next to Son Ye-Jin, Ji Jin-Hee is cast as Oh "Cap" Tae-suk who apparently came out of a time machine from the 90s judging by his hairstyle. He delivers a good performance as well and his character is not burdened by an unbalanced nature. Also starring in this drama are Kim Bo-Kyung (not the singer) as "Vice" (who makes up these titles?) who unfortunately remains too much in the background as Son Ye-Jin dominates the female cast. I would like to have seen more development in her character. This goes for Cho Youn-Hee as well, who plays the female "antagonist" and fellow reporter Myeong-eun Yang. Her acting is done well, but unfortunately her character is flat and doesn't really change too much throughout this drama.
The rest of the support cast performs well, although I would like to have seen some more depth into the group of antagonist characters from the government and the construction company. Unlike the hostage taker/robber Jang Jin Gyu (played by Jung Jin) who showed off an interesting character, the politicians and the company executives just come across as greedy men, a rather flat character. I liked the group of employees at the GBS news station more, but let's not forget the group of police detectives either though they get phased out half way into this drama. As such, no real major complaints about the cast.
The trouble lies more with the script of this drama. Unlike Midas, this drama lacks a romantic element completely. If you can't appreciate the cheesy Korean romance, then this is a recommended drama. However, if you're used to it and enjoy it, then this drama will most likely come across as boring, especially for a younger audience. The story has to rely entirely on the development of Seo Woo-jin's character as a reporter. This development is rather fragmented and lacks coherence. On one site, the synopsis states that this drama follows Seo Woo-jin in her quest of becoming an anchor. This is simply untrue, but also a little unfortunate. Instead it focuses on the development as a reporter. While this may allow for more suspense, it isn't done in an exceptionally streamlined fashion. In the beginning the viewer simply gets dragged around from one story to another, until finally after a few episodes it settles down on the issue with the construction company. That too changes into something different after a few more episodes, but at least we're focusing on the same villains now. The fact that it takes so long to get somewhere makes this drama a little confusing and will leave viewers feeling detached. It's not until the last 2 episodes that we finally get to see a plot that develops along the lines of what we're used to of City Hunter, IRIS or Midas.
This drama is already three years old as this review is written, so it is unsurprising that the production value is not up to par with current dramas. The fact that I couldn't get hold of a high definition release did not help either. It isn't too important for this drama, but it does leave to be desired. The same goes for the soundtrack, which is barely notable aside from Yi SongYol's Stand 4 U.
In conclusion, I am a bit torn on how to rate this drama. While the performances of all the cast are definitely good enough by any standards, the story is quite flawed in various ways and will make this drama too boring for a lot of potential viewers. I feel the script writers let the cast down and thus in the end I can't give Spotlight a rating that is equal to say Scent of a Woman or Shining Inheritence. Despite Son Ye-Jin's effort, she can't bring this one home.
6/10
http://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/negr2/spotlight??????_2008mbc_good_cast_cant_salvage/
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When it comes to TV ratings, there are a few different explanations for why a show can have high or low ratings. High ratings or low ratings do not necessarily correlate 1 to 1 with the quality of a show, but there are some connections that can be made. I like to place the most obvious options in these categories;
High Ratings
- Good show! (1) The high ratings are due to excellent and innovative script writing, good acting, quality production/soundtrack, not necessarily shying away from taboos, proper advertising in advance, etc. (Examples; My Name Is Kim Sam-soon, The Wire, Fawlty Towers)
- Bad show! (2)The ratings are high due to excellent advertising, the use of teen idols, (ab)using taboos and sexuality, innovative production and/or script, etc. (Examples; Full House, Big Brother, Beverly Hills 90210)
Low Ratings
- Bad show! (3) The low ratings are due to the lack of quality with regards to just about all the aforementioned variables. As a deserved result, the ratings for these shows will be very low. (There are countless of examples for this, most of them you will never have heard about, and most likely never will)
- Good show! (4) The low ratings for these shows are not due to the lack of quality, but have another issue. Usually this is either inferior advertising, crossing genres or addressing taboos, but there can be other culture related issues. These shows are rare but do exist. (Examples; Firefly)
If you imagine many shades and bridges of gradations between these categories, you can pretty much fit in any TV show. This MBC drama is notable for its mediocre/bad ratings, possibly the worst ratings of any Korean drama I have seen so far. Unfortunately for Heartstrings, it does not fit into category 4. It's neither innovative, nor taboo breaking. In just about every respect, this drama is mediocre at best.
The script is mostly just what you'd expect. No twist really comes as a surprise, and for the instances that it was not expected, it's inexplicable and illogical. I will give the writers credit for the fusion music element though, that's quite daring. Unfortunately the transition from the script to the screen doesn't really work out so well. The separate musical performances are alright (CNBLUE is certainly not without talent) and the main track You've Fallen For Me is quite catchy even. However, the actual fusion music is uninspiring and not very well composed. When you're picking up an alternative element for the main plot (fusion music/musicals), I personally believe you're obliged as the production team to put more than enough effort into the compositions. Failing this is critical in my opinion. The rest of the story and plots on the side are not very original either, nothing that we haven't already seen 20 times before (and done a lot better).
The cast of Heartstrings is limited in its size, but also in its abilities. CNBLUE's Jung Yong-Hwa is spectacularly lacking as male lead Lee Shin except when he is lip syncing a prerecorded version of one of the drama's tracks. More acting experience is needed before anything positive can be written about his abilities on screen. I'll not go into his or CNBLUE's music, that's best left in /r/kpop. Park Shin-Hye as female lead is alright. Both played together in You're Beautiful but Shin-Hye's performance is not enough to make me want to see more than the 1 & 1/2 episode that it took me to give up on that show. She has her cute moments, but it's not really noteworthy when there are so many other shows with better actresses. I'm usually more generous about the performances of actors and actresses above the age of 25-30, which is why the secondary leads So E-Hyun and Song Chang-Ui work better for me than the rest of the cast. Their relationship develops at a much more tranquil pace and they manage to come across as warm, reflective of their roles as teachers (director Kim Suk-Hyun also acts a bit as a teacher). Particularly So E-Hyun's character Professor Jung Yun-Soo is a relief to watch compared to the rest of the cast, because she's not so easily deceived and has the common sense that every single other character in Korean drama land seems to miss. I would like to have seen some more of her ballet dancing but unfortunately that got phased out after the first few episodes.
The third couple consisting of President's daughter Hee-Joo (Woo Ri) and drummer Joon-Hee (CNBLUE's drummer Kang Min-Hyuk progresses with unnatural and implausible developments. Neither is able enough to portray their character without becoming too extreme. Kang Min-Hyuk is also responsible for providing most of the comedy in this drama, but his trick wears of after the first few episodes and ceases being interesting for the following 12 episodes. The rest of the supporting cast is not special (Shin Goo as Kyu-Won's father, Im Se-Mi as Kyu-Won's best friend) or just bad (Lee Jeong-Heon as antogonist and Department Head Im Tae-Joon and the three girls that don't like Kyu-Won).
Heartstrings is exemplary of a drama where a lot of focus is set on teen idols and not so much effort is put into the rest of the drama. As a result, it's simply a mediocre drama that I wouldn't recommend spending your time on. There are plenty of other dramas out there that deserve your attention more than this does. If you like any particular member of the cast, then you should still see this. It's not all bad, but don't expect a quality drama.
5/10
http://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/n8vbr/heartstringsyouve_fallen_for_me?_??_???_2011mbc/
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