Psychometry

사이코메트리 (Psychometry; also known as The Gifted Hands) is a South Korean movie with a runtime of 108 minutes that was directed by Kwon Ho-young and released in 2013.

Story: Yang Chun-dong is a rather unsuccessful detective. One day he takes on the case of a missing child but is unable to find her for one month. He is the only one willing to work on it so there is no special task force but alone he is unable to find the girl alive. 30 days later she is found dead at a playground not far from her home. Trying to find the murder Chun-dong remembers an encounter with a young man in an alley. The graffiti painting the men created looks exactly like the playground which of course leads to the man, Kim Jun, as a murder suspect. But since he was suspended, Yang Chun-dong investigates only with the help of Yang Soo. Soon the two know that Kim Jun has a secret but only his highschool classmate Kim Seul-gi can give Chun-dong a hint on what is going on with Jun.

"Psychometry, also known as token-object reading, or psychoscopy, is a form of extrasensory perception characterized by the claimed ability to make relevant associations from an object of unknown history by making physical contact with that object."

When another girl, Yoon Da-hee, disappears, Yang Chun-dong decides to use Jun to find the little girl before she dies.

Cast: So at the very first we have Kim Kang-woo as Yang Chun-dong. I admire this actor in crime series since Missing Noir M and this role is totally different but very well played. The struggle with the past and the determination to find Da-hee while also protecting Jun are portrayed in a way it kept me hoping for the best.
Kim Jun was played by Kim Bum and he is literally my favorite actor since I started watching K-Dramas. So of course I had to watch this movie and he didn't disappoint me at all. His acting involving the psychometry power was a little bit as if he was obsessed - but I have no other idea on how else it could be portrayed so he honestly got even more respect from me now.
Lee Joon-hyuk played Yang Soo and while he personally isn't a very likeable character I think the acting was good, too. It is just that Yang Soo wants money and is responsible for a bad situation Chun-dong is in so that is how Yang Soo gets dragged into this case.
Kim Seul-gi isn't a major character in this series - but I recognized Esom right away and in her very short scenes she also did a solid job but of course as a side character she is not really important and only appears in a few scenes.

And little Da-hee was played by Kim Yoo-bin. She is so cute I was really praying for her safety until the end. It is hard for me to rate her acting but it seemed like children would really behave that way so it was good, too.


This movie. I just hated it on many levels during the last minutes because it was so exciting. I don't quite know why but it has potential to be one of my favorite movies. The supernatural effect, the suspense, the bromance (no, it is not even close to gay and doesn't disturb the movie), the mystery and the thrill - it was a great movie and deserves its rating with 9/10 quite well. I love it and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested either in supernatural or crime or.. both?

Hidden Identity

신분을 숨겨라 (Hidden Identity) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 16 episodes that aired on tvN from June 16th to August 4th 2015.

Story: The story follows Investigation Team Five, a special team that is said to be nonexistent even in police records. Since it is a secret unit that doesn't always obey the law in order to get what they need, they tend to be criticized for their methods. But only Investigation Team Five led by Jang Moo-won can deal with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations led by the Ghost. It is just natural that the members of the team get themselves into huge trouble as well as personal affairs while working.

Cast: Cha Gun-woo played by Kim Bum is a rather complicated character. I really liked the acting all the time, especially when the past became relevant to him again. While I'd say the acting was great (and I might be biased, I won't even deny it), some of his fight scenes were just funny. Someone who has been through military training and manages to deal with.. a group of people at one time can't even deal with one person later on? To me it seems like someone didn't think about this.
Park Sung-woong as team leader Jang Moo-won was a pretty cold character most of the time. The type of team leaser we often get presented, taking responsibility for everything but not getting too involved. The acting was good, including most of the action scenes but sometimes there was something missing about the character itself. I totally blame the writing for this though.
Jang Min-joo is one of the characters I don't really understand. She has a sense of loyalty and sometimes that seems to be the only reason why she accepts things the way they are. However, Yoon So-yi delivered a solid performance in the end. Yes, sometimes she seemed to accepting though she was opposed to the idea of Gun-woo joining the team (you will understand that later, not in the first episodes) but it's not that bad and her acting therefore wasn't too bad either.
Lee Won-jong as Choi Tae-pyung is someone who already has some experience acting in a crime series. His acting was good, his character a little weird but loyal and there's actually nothing I can complain about.
Kim Tae-hoon is in this series as Min Tae-in and while I wasn't sure about his character in the very beginning I came to like him and was hoping for something more. His character is probably the one suffering the most and I just felt sorry for him. His acting was good regarding the fact that he wasn't around all the time.
Lim Hyun-sung as Jin Deok-hoo was simply lovable, I was happy to see him around. The acting wasn't anything special but worked well with the story and the team.
Other actors in this series include Lee Kyung-young as Choi Dae-han, Choi Jung-woo as President Lee (I simply forgot the rest of his name), Kang Sung asYoo Jin-woo and Heo Jae-ho as Jung Sang-joon.

Soundtrack: I personally came to like the OST even though I wasn't impressed at first. The songs go well with the atmosphere of this drama and I especially liked Chul Gu's "신세계 (New World)" and Mad Soul Child's "It's Over". After all it's not one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard but pretty good.



My rating for this series is a 8/10 after all. There are some things I really enjoyed, a lot of things I just accepted and things I didn't like at all. So what is it I criticize the most?
1. The logic. Mostly it's about the fights. Usually the agents are quite good but all of a sudden they lose each and every single fight? Once again, if someone has been through military training the person usually is good at fighting but still loses against some gangsters? And, if you lose against someone while fighting three times, does it make sense to even fight one more time instead of simply using your gun? Because as far as I've seen they do have guns. The fact that it's a serious drama makes the logical flaws worse.
2. The story itself. This drama was said to be about undercover cops. And that's misleading in fact because only one of them has been undercover. The others usually just take roles for a few hours, maybe a few days, but I wouldn't define that as an undercover thing.
Some things were obvious, others were only added to make the story longer than it actually would have been. Was it really necessary to make Jang Min-joo's father a part of the story? The family background didn't help the whole story.

Those are the things that bothered me the most. I also noticed that it started off pretty fast and exciting, lost it's pace somewhere around Ep.9/10 and started to change again in Ep. 15. Episodes 13/14 were the weakest point in my opinion since the suspense is destroyed when one figures out who's involved with the Ghost.
What else can I say? Regarding the whole "undercover" description I've had high expectations and thought it would be somehow similar to Line Walker but it wasn't.
Do I recommend this? If you don't expect much you won't be disappointed and I openly admit that this drama has a rewatch value solely because of the music, the cast and some interesting things within this series itself.

Death Bell

"One will die

for every incorrect answer"

고사: 피의 중간고사 (Death Bell) is a Korean horror movie that was released in 2008.

Story: The movie is set in a high school were twenty elite students take an extra class to prepare for their college entrance exams. After the heroine Kang I-na is nearly strangled and another student is throttled in the restroom, the screen in the classroom changes to to the image of the top-ranking student being caught inside a fish tank that's slowly being filled with water. A voice announces that her life depends on the exam questions he will set for them, and for every wrong answer a student will die. Head teacher Hwang Chan-wook and English teacher Choi So-yeong are trapped with the students.

The group realizes the students get killed by their ranking. But what's still a mystery is: Who's murdering the students and for what reason?

Cast: Regarding the fact this is a movie, there's a huge number of characters in this movie.

At first we have Nam Gyu-ri as Kang I-na, the heroine. We have Kim Bum as Kang Hyun, Lee Bum-soo as Hwang Chang-wook, Yoon Jung-hee as Choi So-yeong, Lee Chae-won as Uhm Ji-yang and Moon Woong-ki as Kim Hyung-jin.

Of course there are many others but I don't want to list everyone on here. Those are just the most important characters, and I have to admit they did a damn good job. I started watching this movie around 10PM in my dark room and it was actually easy to get caught be the action and the characters who were sometimes desperate to try and safe their classmates but couldn't really do anything.

My personal rating is a solid 8/10 just because there were some aspects that weren't good enough for a better score but it's good. The end is kind of surprising though because - I think I can reveal that much - the students weren't the actual target. They were innocent victims, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Did this movie really scare me? Well, I'm a scaredy cat but love horror movies - how this works out, I can't tell you either. Usually all I do is turning the light on when walking around in the house at night and since that only happens after watching horror movies or games, I think this movie managed to scare me but I couldn't help but find the ways how the students were killed rather interesting. Whoever got the ideas should probably go and see a doctor.. It's creepy.

That Winter, The Wind Blows

그 겨울, 바람이 분다 (That Winter, The Wind Blows) is a rather well-known drama that originally aired from February 13th to April 3rd 2013 on SBS and consists of 16 episodes.
The drama is based on the Japanese series 愛なんていらねえよ、夏 (I Don't Need Love, Summer) that was aired in Japan in 2002.

Story: Oh Soo is on of the best gamblers in the Cheongdamdong neighborhood but lives a rather meaningless life: He was left behind by his parents under a tree when he was a baby and lost his first love. There's another man called Oh Soo who takes care of his home.
The gambler Oh Soo is in a relationship with the actress So-ra who's nearly obsessed with him and doesn't realize that he doesn't love her as much. When she has to leave for one year, she plans to get him arrested for embezzlement afraid he might leave her for another woman when she's not with him.
One day, Oh Young, the heir of a company, appears at Oh Soo's apartment door and asks for him but he realizes that he's looking for the other Oh Soo. Later he reads out a letter the brother of that woman wrote to her because she is blind but has to run away soon. The other Oh Soo returns and dies. At the same time Oh Young's father passed away and she left.
One year later Oh Soo is in a difficult situation but suddenly a company attorney appears mistaking him for the dead Oh Soo who would've been another heir for the same company as Oh Young since they were siblings. Thinking he might be able to repay a debt he has left because of So-ra he decides to become the Oh Soo that died one year ago..

Cast: The cast is actually a really good one, the main reason why I watched this drama. At first we have Jo In-sung as Oh Soo. I've never heard about him before but I think it was actually a good drama for him to become more popular. Song Hye-kyo is seen as Oh Young. I don't know if it's really that difficult but I still think it's rather hard to act as if you're blind. I mean you can't show any reaction to the things you can't here and feel and remaining emotionless while 'looking' straight ahead needs a lot of proficiency. Oh Soo's best friend and partner Park Jin-sung was acted by Kim Bum, the main reason why I watched this drama. He's not a coward, quite the opposite, and he wants to take every risk to save his life. I quite like Kim Bum taking the roles of impulsive characters, it fits him well. Especially if he's confronted with a woman like Moon Hee-sun who was played by Jung Eun-ji of A Pink. Watching the two of them fight is actually one of the funniest things in the drama. And yes, Eun-ji did a good job as well.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was performed by good and popular ballad singers who participated in many many many soundtracks before. My favorite track was sung by Yesung of Super Junior and is called "먹지 (Gray Paper)". I've been listening to this song without a break for hours because it's so beautiful. Another really good song was "그리고 하나 (And One)" by Taeyeon of SNSD. Though I'm not a huge fan of SM Entertainment artists, I really liked those two songs. But I'm not that much into the ballad genre so to me, the OST was a little bit boring after some time.


My personal rating: 6/10

Why such a 'bad' rating? It might be because it's a melodrama but from time to time I almost fell asleep.. some dialogues were written in an incredible boring manner, there weren't that many exciting scenes - and usually I've heard a melodrama should make people cry? If that's the case it definitely didn't work. I think it's good if you're into that genre but I doubt I would've finished this if it wouldn't have been for the cast who put a lot of effort into this. The soundtrack is nice but if you're more into dance pop or rock ballads it's definitely not the right OST for you.
On the other hand, the scenery, the filming and the characters are nice so.. take those really beautiful gifs for now.

Dream

드림 (Dream) is another drama that aired in the awesome year 2009, from July 27th to September 29th. It also has a length of roughly 20 hours.

Story: Nam Jae-il is a sports agent who once was really successful but when one of his clients gets involved in a drug scandal he gets fired by the company he's working for. When he lost everything he meets Lee Jang-seok who is a huge trouble maker. Because of his good fighting skills he wants to become a K1-fighter. With the help of Park So-yeon Jae-il tries to make that happen and also earn money and get back to the top once again.

Cast: Since I'm a huge fan of Kim Bum who's character Lee Jang-seok is one of the main characters in here I decided that it's a must-watch. I knew Son Dam-bi as a singer before but never were a huge fan of hers. However, she's doing a good job as Park So-yeon and was also one of my favorite characters. Joo Jin-mo as Nam Jae-il became almost a father to Lee Jang-seok. The deep friendship those three show in the series is actually awesome. Park Sang-won as Kang Kyeong-tak is the bad guy who's close to loosing everything because of Nam Jae-il and he's desperately trying to keep his empire.

Soundtrack: Let me just mention that SHINee sang a song called "Countdown" for the soundtrack. I liked that song a lot because it fits the drama after all. And Bobby Kim sang "죽기 아니면 살기 (Die or Live)". I admit that I don't remember a lot about the soundtrack so the lack of memorability is definitely a minus but at the same time I've never hated any of the songs so after all it's really good.

After all I enjoyed this one a lot though it was different from what I've expected at first. It's still nice. But took me ages to finish this, I don't understand why.
Rating? 8/10 please, just because some things aren't perfect but in the end it's still nice.

Boys Over Flowers

꽃보다 남자 (Boys Over Flowers or Boys Before Flowers) is the Korean remake of the Japanese dram Hana yori dango (花より男子) that aired originally in 2005 and 2007 in Japan. The Korean remake first aired from  January 5th to March 31st 2009 on KBS.
As far as I remember it's one of the most famous Korean dramas internationally and I think I haven't met anyone who didn't watch it.


Story: Oh, if you hear about the story now - believe me, it'll seem quite familiar to you. Why? Uhm, well, that's simple. In short a poor girl, Geum Jan-di, is delivering dry cleaning for her parents shop. One day she saves a student of the prestigious Shin Hwa High and gets a scholarship because of being good at swimming. Being the poor girl surrounded by rich students she has to deal with some issues. Soon she gets terrorized by the leader of the F4, Gu Jun-pyo. He and his friends are the most popular and richest boys in school. While bullying her Jun-pyo begins to realize he's attracted to Jan-di, but Jan-di has a crush on his best friend, Yoon Ji-hoo. And so the drama starts.
If you're looking for THE typical K-Drama - well, congrats, you've found it, though it's actually based on a manga and the Japanese series. Don't believe me? Well, look at this:

Please pay attention to.. well, almost all of those points explained on there. You'll understand when you've finished this drama.
Don't get me wrong, talking about Boys Over Flowers as THE typical K-Drama makes it sound worse I think. Because actually I really adored this one. I remember I had trouble with the first episode and had to wait a few.. well, weeks, until I started the second. But after watching the second episode I've finished the drama in around three days (which is a lot considering I've watched 23 episodes in three days, makes about 8 episodes per day.. now you can guess what else I did during that time except for sleeping and eating and watching this drama).
I admit there are a lot and I mean a whole freaking lot of misunderstandings and after some time you might feel like it's just a strategy so they can produce more episodes and therefore make more money - which might be true up to some point - but everything actually makes sense.

Cast: When I started watching this I didn't really care about actors at all. Sure I knew that Kim Hyun-joong as Yoon Ji-hoo was in it but that was basically everything. Oh, and I've heard about Lee Min-ho who took the role of the male lead Gu Jun-pyo here before but couldn't really connect him to any popular drama. However, this drama was the first one I've watched with Kim Bum who's my absolute favorite actor. As So Yi-jung his smile made my heart melt like.. icecream. This sounds weird but it IS actually really weird (and I'm embarrassed to admit that I was really squealing like a 12-year-old back then). Anyways, the last member of the F4 missing on here is Song Woo-bin played by Kim Joon. Sadly I couldn't find that much info on Kim Joon, the last thing I've heard was that he went to the army after his group T-MAX disbanded (they were good, I remember I've downloaded some songs).
Well, after mentioning all of the F4 now we can't leave out our Geum Jan-di played by Koo Hye-sun. I admit I've also become a fan of hers, I like those princesses who can protect themselves. Don't get what I mean? Watch the first few episodes of this drama and you'll understand that.
The last one I'll name on here would be Kim So-eun who took the role of Jan-di's best friend Chu Ga-eul.

Soundtrack: Well, the soundtrack.. While I sincerely loves some songs like Lee Jung-sik's Saxophone instrumental "I Know" and Kim Bum's "지금 만나러 갑니다 (I'm Going To Meet You Now)" there were some songs that seriously pissed me off after hearing them about 15 times per day just like T-Max's "Paradise" which is the title song. Listening to it now it's actually a good and cheerful song but used way too often. And that's weird because the actual soundtrack consists of two CDs with a total of 26 songs PLUS there's an F4 Special Edition which includes 10 tracks as well. Why did they have to overuse one song that much? I really don't know and I'm not sure if I'll ever find out.


So in total I gave 9/10. Like, come on, I've already told you how fast I've finished that. If that doesn't qualify as being addicted to a drama then.. I don't even know.