Queen of Ambition

야왕 (Queen of Ambition) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS from January 14th to April 2nd 2013 and consists of 24 episodes with a duration of approximately one hour each. This drama is referred to as "makjang", a genre that is not easy to explain so I might write an extra entry on this one day.

Story: Ha Ryu and Joo Da-hae grew up together in an orphanage until Da-hae was picked up by her mom and her stepfather. A few years later, Yang Taek-bae goes to a house to collect money with Ha Ryu and surprisingly enough they find Da-hae next to her mothers corpse. After this event they stay together and Da-hae lives with Hong An-sim and Ha Ryu and studies for the university entrance exam. After she passes they face the problem of money and Ha Ryu decides to work for Da-hae's tution. They live like this for a while until Da-hae's stepfather who supposedly abused her comes looking for her and the tragic story starts.
Again, a few years later, Da-hae and Ha Ryu have a daughter together and Da-hae gets the chance to work at a huge company. The son of the owner shows interest in her and wants her to go to the US with him to study. Da-hae talks about this to Ha Ryu who decides to make more money and sent her abroad to study. After she comes back, she breaks up with him to follow her ambition and make it to the top of the social hierarchy in South Korea.
Actually there is so much to this story but I don't want to spoil anyone so I'm trying to not give you a lot of information. Just be warned, this drama turns out to be a battle between Ha Ryu and Da-hae with them having nothing to lose in the end. This is much more than a melodrama or a family drama in my opinion but has some thrilling aspects as well even though it is not a thriller.

Cast: Soo Ae as Joo Da-hae. After seeing her in at least two dramas I think she is not a bad actress, no, but in this drama many things seemed a little bit off or unnatural to me. Yes, of course that might be because of the way her character was written and not about her portrayal of the character but it is still not easy to fully point out what it was. As far as I remember she occasionally seemed stiff. It still did not bother me enough to fully hate her acting though.
Kwon Sang-woo as Ha Ryu/Cha Jae-woong. I quite loved everything about his acting to be honest. A loving father and "nearly" husband (or long term boyfriend), a tough enemy and a fighter as well as a good friend. I just really can't find anything I could criticize about his acting.
Jung Yun-ho as Baek Do-hoon. Let's face it, once again many people will watch this drama solely because their beloved idol is in here. Now I have to say that his acting was good enough and if there was something I missed I could usually say that it was based on the way his character was written - carefree and lacking seriousness. Nonetheless I do not think it is worth to watch this drama solely because of him. Yes, he does have a lot of scenes but I think you might start to hate Da-hae at one point.. maybe episode 16 or 18? I'm not sure anymore.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Sung-ryung as Baek Do-kyung, Kwon Hyun-sang as Yang Taek-bae, Go Joon-hee as Seok Soo-jung, Sung Ji-ru as Uhm Sam-do and Lee Il-hwa as Hong An-sim.

Soundtrack: There was not one moment in which I thought the music was terrible or unfitting to be very honest. However, my favorite track has been (long before watching this drama Ailee's "얼음꽃 (Ice Flower)" and this drama changed how I personally interpreted the title of this song without ever reading the translated lyrics (or translating it by myself). Still a very beautiful song I will probably love for the next few years as well and loved ever since it was released.



9/10
Remember when I said I don't like melodramas? I still stay with that. This drama is so much more than a melodrama even though it is usually referred to as one. It has this special, evil twist that is not necessarily about fate or a disease but about a person and her desire which causes the evil in this drama.
If you dislike dramas with a darker atmosphere, this one might not be for you. As all of my regular readers know I love crime, suspense, thriller and horror if it makes you shiver just because of the atmosphere and this drama did not go that far but gave me goosebumps, too.

Kill Me, Heal Me

Yay for my 75th K-Drama!

킬미, 힐미 (Kill Me, Heal Me) is a South Korean drama series consisting of 20 episodes with a duration of one hour each that aired on MBC from January 7th to March 12th 2015.

Story: Cha Do-hyun suffered through a horrible incident in his childhood. He happened to lose all of his memories from when he was seven and eight years old due to the trauma - and created different personalities; Shin Se-gi, Perry Park, Ahn Yo-sub, Ahn Yo-na and Nana, all of them very different in nature. He went to America when he was 17 years old but was suddenly forced to come back after 11 years abroad.
Soon he meets Oh Ri-jin, a young psychiatrist. To not endanger his former psychiatrist, Do-hyun hires Ri-jin as his personal doctor who has to stay with him 24/7. As his memories start to return bit by bit Do-hyun understands how closely entangled his and Ri-jin's fate is while Ri-jin is busy hiding the fact that she is Do-hyun's personal doctor from her family.
Back in 2015 it was obviously DID season with two dramas airing the first episode within two weeks. However easy it might seem to compare the two, when I first started watching Kill Me, Heal Me it was a mess - the first 4 or 5 episodes are a total mess, poorly written, not because of the DID topic but just how extreme everything is. Luckily that got a little better later on. The storyline with DID seemed to be new to Korean viewers at the time, mixed with many totally different personalities and a lot of comedy it does have a certain charm. Some parts of the story were very well done, for example the background story explaining why different personalities were around. However, many of the light-hearted and funny scenes seemed forced to me, and I think especially Oh Ri-jin as a character was poorly written in the beginning. Towards the end I started to enjoy this drama more but it still wasn't the most exciting story I've ever seen.

Cast: Ji Sung as Cha Do-hyun. I did like his acting in the main personality, Do-hyun. As Se-gi, he was okay (that eyeliner looks terrible on him though). Nana was pretty much okay, too, but you don't see him often in that personality. After all I think especially Yo-na and Perry Park were incredibly overacted and I sometimes couldn't even laugh about it. Yo-sub seemed pretty much fine to me as well. So many personalities definitely were a challenge and some were great - others not so much but I see that maybe even the best actor might struggle with 7 totally different personalities in one drama so I would say he did well even though it was not perfect.
Hwang Jung-eum as Oh Ri-jin. Oh boy, I hated her in this role. I can't stand her voice when she's yelling and that happens a lot during the first few episodes so I watched it on mute. As for the rest of the drama, sometimes her acting was overdone as well, sometimes not so much. I mainly think that the way she had to behave according to the writing is responsible for the ridiculousness in some parts. In the end she delivered a solid performance even though I didn't quite like her.
Park Seo-joon as Oh Ri-on. First, I love the name Orion (it's pronounced like that), such a beautiful name! As a writer his character sometimes has is times of ridiculousness I think but it was still pretty much alright. I enjoyed his acting even though sometimes I wished he would behave differently or say things more clearly but of course you can't show all of the secrets right away so he had to keep quiet. I somehow liked him in the beginning and at the end but not so much in between though and I can't really explain why.
Kim Yoo-ri as Han Chae-yeon. You know, in the beginning I was happy this was a drama with a second female lead that was not manipulative, not jealous and not as bitchy as one could've expected according to other dramas. I was wrong and it annoyed the hell out of me. While I think she's not a bad actress I wonder why most of the characters I saw her play seemed the same. Maybe it's just the fact that she has a pretty face that fits those roles. She's not outstanding in this role though but it's not bad either.
Oh Min-suk as Cha Ki-joon. While in the beginning he seems to be the villain he's actually not that bad. I totally believed his acting even though I didn't quite like the way his character was written. I can totally see him as the son of a chaebol trying to protect his position and therefore searching for a way to destroy his opponents. I would probably say that he was the mose realistic actor in this drama.
Kim Young-ae as Seo Tae-im. When you watch the drama you will know what I mean when I say she is also one of those very typical K-Drama characters. I really enjoyed her acting, too, so nothing negative to say about the actress but I wish sometimes those chaebol characters would act a little bit more human and less money-oriented than they do.
Other actors in this drama include Shim Hye-jin, Ko Chang-seok, Choi Won-young, Kim Hee-jung and Park Jun-gyu.

Soundtrack: I sincerely LOVE 장재인(Jang Jae In)'s "환청 (Auditory Hallucination)" with rapper 나쑈 (NaShow). It is a really great song one can listen to a lot even though you might not be very interested in the drama so I sincerely recommend it. Another great song is "Healing Love" by Luna (f(x)) and Choi (Lu:Kus). I really recommend listening to these songs if you didn't know them until now.


5/10
I know I might not have said that much about my personal opinion on this drama but as you can see I didn't like it that much and I don't get why it has such high ratings. While it is not really a bad or uninteresting story at least the first 5 episodes almost had me dropping this drama because I hated every single thing about those episodes, except for the actors and the music. Well, I couldn't stand Hwang Jung-eum to be fair but mainly because of her voice. I still continued watching the drama though because I never drop a drama - I finish what I start no matter how much I hate it. And to be very fair, the story got better and better towards the end. But until you get there you might hate a lot of things. So if you really are a fan of the actors or want something that is mainly funny because it is ridiculous you might go through the episodes without problems.
I know my opinion is an unpopular opinion. Maybe it's because I prefer more mature dramas and at first I found so many childish points that show which audience this drama was supposed to appeal to that I was freaking out. But if you really enjoy love stories that are usually popular among most people you might like this. If you read more than one entry you might have figured out that usually the very popular, hyped dramas are totally not for me.

The Suspicious Housekeeper

수상한 가정부 (The Suspicious Housekeeper; formerly known as House Keeper Park Bok Nyeo) is the South Korean remake of the Japanese drama series 家政婦のミタ (kaseifu no mita; I'm Mita, Your Housekeeper). It was aired on SBS from September 23rd to November 26th 2013 and therefore consists of 20 episodes with an average duration of 60 minutes.

Story: Woo Sun-young, mother of Han-gyeol, Du-gyeol, Se-gyeol and Hye-gyeol and wife of Eun Sang-chul suddenly passes away. 49 days after her funeral Sang-chul tells his children that he hired a housekeeper to help them out while he is busy at work.
Park Bok-nyeo is an extremely serious person that never smiles, has all sorts of things in her bag and does everything she is ordered to do - going as far as killing when she is ordered to do that.
All of a sudden the family receives letters that their new housekeeper is a murderer. The children try to figure out what happened on their own after a fight with their father but even though they keep on following Park Bok-nyeo, Du-gyeol, Se-gyeol and Hye-gyeol fail to find out about her secrets. Bok-nyeo threatens to quit when the children won't stop asking her private questions so that the family who learned to appreciate their housekeeper as a kind of second mother, especially Hye-gyeol, stop and ask Bok-nyeo to stay. But the curiosity stays for sure.
At first this story really sounded interesting to me, especially the title. I never watched the Japanese version so I can't compare them at all and didn't know what I was getting myself into. This story itself is like a rollercoaster - at first it goes up all the way just to let you gain speed during the first drop. When that excitement disappears you have some time to calm down and just let it flow before it picks up speed again to get you to a second exciting point - and after that it slows down and slowly takes you to the end. This was my impression after 11 episodes and after finishing it I can say that the second "drop" is actually really interesting and probably one of the reasons why I kept watching. The main problem I have with this drama, however, that the slow paced parts of the track are just too much. There are so many stories and you know they are just supposed to make this drama longer. It cannot keep up its pace for 20 episodes and that makes it lose some quality.

Cast: Choi Ji-woo as Park Bok-nyeo. Thinking about it Park Bok-nyeo is not the most exciting but probably the most developed character. The background story and the effects she experienced all make sense and I couldn't help but pity her. As for the acting, I think it was outstanding. I see why people might disagree with me but emotionless acting to me would be incredibly difficult. Always maintaining the exact same expression for - just guessing, I don't remember the exact episode - 10 episodes is extremely hard to do. Still, the chemistry (not in a romantic way) she had with the children, especially the youngest daughter, made it seem as if there were some feelings shown. It is difficult to explain but it really impressed me.
Lee Sung-jae as Eun Sang-chul. As a character I still don't know what I should think about him but the development the character went through - from a terrible husband and father to an actually caring person who tries to do what could be best for his children - was a huge step. So I kinda admired the character in that way. From one of my most hated characters he made it to one of my favorites. As for the acting, it seemed true to its nature. Lee Sung-jae was good in this role but I wish he would use stronger facial expressions from time to time. However, it was still a solid and actually good performance.
Kim So-hyun as Eun Han-gyeol. Han-gyeol is a typical teenage girl going through puberty and her first love while being the oldest daughter of the household and somehow taking the role of the mother and a student before Park Bok-nyeo starts to work for the family. The rebel character actually suited Kim So-hyun and her expressions, especially the huge problem with her father, were good. I enjoyed her acting in this drama and don't think they could've found a better actress for this role.
Chae Sang-woo as Eun Du-gyeol. As the oldest son he feels like he needs to act as the head of the household when his father is gone. However, his biggest issue is that he feels like he can't do anything and that gives him quite a hard time. I would say he is going through puberty as well and has to find himself and his dreams. Chae Sang-woo did well in this role, playing sometimes the tough guy and sometimes the emotional boy Du-gyeol is according to his age. So he was good in this role.
Nam Da-reum as Eun Se-gyeol. The younger brother is the opposite of Du-gyeol. Se-gyeol can't fight but is extremely good at studying and wants to make his deceased mom proud while being probably the most rational sibling in this drama. I really imagined Nam Da-reum to be Se-gyeol. Maybe it just suits his character, maybe he's just a good young actor but Se-gyeol was great.
Kang Ji-woo as Eun Hye-gyeol. The youngest sibling, Hye-gyeol, suffers the most after losing their mother. Her character is heartbroken and accepts Park Bok-nyeo as a "second" mother soon. While sometimes children can be quite annoying it was heartwrenching to watch her in this drama. Kang Ji-woo is incredibly cute but she did so well in this drama and was either getting along quite well with Choi Ji-woo or they both are just great actresses. I sometimes wonder how child actors even manage to deliver really good performances but she did.
Other actors in this drama include Wang Ji-hye, Song Jong-ho, Jung Moon-sung, Park Geun-hyung, Shim Yi-young, Kim Hae-sook and Jang Seo-won.

Soundtrack: Actually the soundtrack of this drama doesn't include many songs. About the instrumentals I really loved the one playing everytime Park Bok-nyeo was about to appear - I guess it's one of the Park Bok-nyeo themes.
As for the songs sung for this drama by idol singers my favorite is "Twilight" by Yoo Sung-eun. Except for that, Lim Kim sang a song titled "부탁할게요 (I'm Asking You)" which I personally liked, too. The song I can't stand, however, is sadly the one on the drama performed by Kim So-hyun and the band. I don't know why but I'm not a huge fan of her singing or the song.


5.5/10
I see why the rating might seem bad but it's mostly because of the long times without anything happening that was worth noting. I found myself on my phone way too often while just listening to what was said but this drama failed to keep me focussed. Now you can say that it is just not the perfect drama for me - while I love the mystery and suspense I found myself bored by the daily life of the family and the hint of romance that were supposed to be there but probably wasn't. And for the story itself 20 episodes were too much, 14 to 16 would've been completely fine. The length however might be the main problem about the episodes that were just used to fill in without anything, really. Plus, I personally found the first two episodes incredibly boring so I wasn't sure if I should continue watching at all. I'm still glad I did though as this drama has more to it than one expects.
Recommended to fans of family and melodramas. According to what I heard and read the Japanese version is much better so if you know and liked that maybe you should skip the Korean version as most people were disappointed.

Hyde, Jekyll, Me

Okay, at first I feel like I need to warn all of you. You will read my personal opinion on this drama below (I think I should change the style a bit but you will see that soon) but I've read quite mixed reviews about this drama.
This is solely my opinion in this entry. I see why some people maybe don't like it at all but I've seen much worse.

하이드 지킬, 나 (Hyde, Jekyll, Me) is a South Korean drama series that was aired on SBS from January 21st to March 26th and consists of 20 episodes. The drama is based on a webtoon.

Story: Gu Seo-jin is the Director of an amusement park called "Wonderland". He's very cold and rude towards most people while trying to please his father. Only very few people know that he suffers from DID, more commonly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. Robin, the second personality, is the total opposite of Gu Seo-jin; polite, always smiling, caring and "saving others is just his personality". Five years ago, Robin disappeared after an incident but suddenly he struggles to come through again on the same day Jang Ha-na arrives at Wonderland.
Jang Ha-na came back after spending five years in the USA to take her fathers' position in Wonder Circus, one of the attractions at Wonderland. Gu Seo-jin plans on closing the circus and firing the people working there but Jang Ha-na fights back as much as she can. Right on the day she arrives the fate of Gu Seo-jin and Jang Ha-na becomes more and more entangled as Ha-na is the only witness in the case of Dr. Kang Hee-ae, Gu Seo-jin's psychologist. Ha-na is the only one who saw the culprit and suddenly Gu Seo-jin needs her to find the doctor and finally get rid of his second personality.
- I personally don't know much about DID and how treatments work or the way people behave but I believe that this was just one point of the story and it was not totally ridiculous what happened, at least if you're not an expert. There is much more to it and while the writing could've been better it was quite nice to not have a purely evil second female lead. Also, the side stories where not the best but definitely interesting enough to make me finish this drama within 4(!) days. It is true that it loses its pace towards the end it turns more into a melodrama than the comedy drama it is supposed to be though. 

Cast: Hyun-bin as Gu Seo-jin and Robin. I'm not really sure what I should tell you about his acting. While he did have some chemistry with the female lead Robin and Ha-na seemed more like kids playing around in the beginning. Also, the character Robin seemed just overacted but that might be because of the writing. So between Ha-na and Robin there was no romantic chemistry whatsoever. On the other hand Gu Seo-jin's change was well-portrayed, and he did have a way better chemistry with her than Robin. I don't know, maybe two totally different personalities were a little bit too much for Hyun-bin as an actor but he was way more realistic as Gu Seo-jin, and it was way easier to believe it. He definitely improved towards the end as Robin, too, but I think it was not the best role for him.
Han Ji-min as Jang Ha-na was - excuse me for being straightforward - bad. Between 70% and 80% of the time she looked lost and dumbfounded. I kinda see that her character might have been confused often because of Robin and Gu Seo-jin but this definitely was not a good role for her. As mentioned above she does have some chemistry with Gu Seo-jin but it's not strong. Also, I did mind her character being a little bit slow and stupid partly. Again, something to criticize about the writing but it could've been slightly better if they chose another actress.
Lee Seung-joon as Secretary Kwon Young-chan was one of my favorite characters. He's caught between a fear of losing his job and his sympathy for Robin who was like a younger brother to him. As the responsible person trying to connect Ha-na with both worlds his acting was sometimes too much (I know, I'm repeating myself but writing - can't blame him for that) but in total his performance was one of the best ones.
Sung Joon as Yoon Tae-joo was the better villain in this. As he is a charismatic actor in a strong role he managed to shine in his spot as a side character. Now if you plan on watching this you won't understand why I wrote "villain" but just wait. At first I wasn't really suspicious of him but in the end this is a K-Drama and he started to seem too nice at some point.
Hyeri as Min Woo-jung was totally not my style. As a quirky, playful little girl she took over an annoying part at first but I believe she was supposed to be like that. She would be the one that is the closest to a second female lead but not as bad as others. I also think she had a great chemistry with Eun-chang.
Speaking of Lee Eun-chang, Lee Won-geun did a pretty good job in my opinion. Being part of the circus he met Min Woo-jung and eventually became the person watching over her. He was a ray of light more than once and definitely did a good job.
Han Sang-jin as Ryu Seung-yeon was - again - simply bad. Now I don't want to believe that it was actually the actor but the character and the way it was portrayed in the webtoon. As a villain I can't take him seriously, the music, the acting - he just seems like the "I-want-to-be-a-villain-and-I'm-jealous-as-hell-but-I-can't-do-it"-character you see in comics. A villain that is bad at being a villain.
Other actors in this drama include Lee Deok-hwa, Kwak Hee-sung (who is quite good-looking btw, need to check him out!), Oh Na-ra, Shim Eun-jung and Lee Joon-hyuk.

Sountrack: The very first thing I would like to say is that the instrumentals in Han Sang-jin's scenes were terribly chosen. No, it was literally horrible. It made the comic-like villain come out even more and it would've been funny if it didn't make me facepalm all the way through.
As for the songs sung for this drama there are two songs you keep hearing all the way through: Baek Ji-young's "Because of You" and Park Bo-ram's "Falling". I can't say that I didn't like the songs (I even have Baek Ji-young's song stuck in my head) but they are also not really special. To be very honest those songs are the typical ballads you hear here and there and everywhere in K-Dramaland. The only thing that really stood out was Snuper's "하이드 지킬 (Hyde Jekyll)". While it is for sure not the best OST song it is the most listenable outside of the drama and the most unique showing also Snuper's cuter style.


7.5/10
I know many people will actually have a "What in the world..."-moment now reading my rating. I did have things to criticize, mainly about the characters and the writing but also the soundtrack. But as I mentioned in my very short, small written introduction I have seen worse and I legitimately enjoyed this drama until episode 16 at least. Well, I enjoyed the majority until then. After that it did make a melodramatic turn that I personally didn't like that much but it's still okay and it was obvious that things needed to be resolved.
I don't know who I should recommend this to. As I also mentioned above it might depend on your expectations but many people dropped this drama, found it too slow-paced or simply poorly written. I checked some profiles on MyDramaList (sorry not sorry) and some of them seem to like dramas I loved as well while others who liked this drama didn't have much in common with me at all.
I'd say: If you want to watch this, keep your expectations low. Maybe that's the whole point, that after reading so many bad reviews my expectations were so low that I found this to be way better than I expected. And maybe that works for other people, too.

The Housemaid

하녀 (The Housemaid) is a South Korean movie that was directed by Im Sang-soo and released in 2010. It is a remake of Kim Ki-young's movie "The Housemaid" that was released in 1960.

Story: Lee Eun-yi starts to work as a maid in the house of a rich family. Her task mainly is to take care of the daughter Nami but also do the housework and cook together with Byeong-sik, a woman who has been working for the family for a long time.
On a family trip Eun-yi gets into an affair with Hoon, the son of a rich family and her boss, who is married to Hae-ra. Hae-ra is pregnant with twins.
Soon Byeong-sik finds out that Eun-yi is pregnant with Hoon's child and tells Hae-ra's mother about it. So the women in the family are trying to get rid of the dark secret.

Cast: Jeon Do-yeon as Lee Eun-yi is the main character in this movie. While her acting was good I also think just by her looks she reminded me of what I would imagine a nanny to look like. Except for a few moments of definitely overdone acting she was good in this movie.
Lee Jung-jae as Hoon is the son of a rich family who always got what he wanted when he wanted it. The acting was good, too, but in some way his character confused me a bit in the end. Anyway, I think it was not about the acting itself but the character.
Hae-ra was played by Seo Woo and I think her acting was too flat. There were some emotions missing in the daily stuff, not only when acting like a jealous wife. So personally I didn't believe in the relationship between Hae-ra and Hoon because of her acting.
Park Ji-young as Hae-ra's mother has a similar problem in my opinion but it is not about a lack of emotions shown. It is more or less a too ruthless way of behavior her character showed and while I was able to believe her acting in that way the interactions with the family members were a little bit strange.
Lastly, Yoon Yeo-jeong as Byeong-sik seems cold and hard as stone but showed a nice change in character especially towards Eun-yi. I personally really think she is a good actress in these type of roles - she seems to become something like a mother or aunt and portrayed that change well.


I saw some really bad reviews of this movie because, yes, it is slow paced. Yes, the story itself is kinda obvious and some people don't even see a story (I don't know how though?). Yes, the ending really is ridiculous and totally influenced my rating but I'm not sure if it happened that way because of the original version from 1960.
However, I gave this movie a 5.5/10 for everything. While it did lack in aspects and definitely does not deserve the genre tags "thriller" and "suspense" it is a good, classical drama/melodrama and if you like those kind of movies you should go for it.


BE WARNED though since this movie has some nudity. So I would say watch it if you think you don't mind sexual scenes.

Postman to Heaven

천국의 우편배달부 (Postman to Heaven) is a South Korean movie directed by Lee Hyeong-min and released in 2009 with a running time of 108 minutes. The movie actually was a Japanese-Korean collaboration written by Eriko Kitagawa.

Story: Jae-joon is a mailman delivering letters to heaven which makes him the heaven's postman. One day when emptying the mailbox he meets Ha-na, a woman who keeps on writing to her deceased ex-boyfriend. During the next two weeks they become closer and try to ease the pain of those who are in pain after someone's death - but Jae-joon has a secret that is the reason why they can't be found out.

Cast: Kim Jae-joong as Jae-joon is a really interesting character and actor. It is soon obvious that he has a secret but the acting keeps his character mysterious and somehow interesting. Also the character develops and changes slowly which was portrayed well.
Han Hyo-joo as Ha-na was a little bit too childish as a character sometimes but her turning into a happy and bright person was really good to watch and the light-hearted kind of thing that is popular among audiences in both Japan and Korea. The acting was good but not perfect so her overall performance was a nice thing but still not perfect.
However, they had a good chemistry on-screen which was easy and nice to watch.


The way this story was told somehow fascinates me, the idea of a heaven's postman who helps to ease people's pain is something I would wish for in a real life. The way Jae-joon's personal background was revealed and what or who exactly he is in fact is very interesting. While this movie maybe included not enough action to be one of my overall favorite movies, it is definitely worth watching.
So my personal rating is a 7.5/10.

Days With You

恋極星 (Koikyokusei; Days With You) is a Japanese movie directed by Amiy Mori and released in March 2009.

Story: Natsuki Kashiwagi lives in Sapporo, Hokkaido, and takes care of her autistic brother Daiki Kashiwagi. One day she is reunited with her childhood love Souta Funabiki who moved away to Canada when they were young. The two fall in love again but Souta suffers from a serious disease and decided to not get surgery again since the disease is always returning.

Cast: Another movie with Erika Toda in it, this time as Natsuki Kashiwagi. Her acting is really good in my opinion, she manages to portray the happiness and the hope as well as the sadness and the burden of caring for her brother alone after her fathers death well.
Kazuki Kato delivers another great character as Souta Funabiki. The way he portrayed the struggle with the disease and the hopelessness but also the will to fight for his love and his parents was portrayed well and really made me hope the best for him (and the fact that I just hate sad endings of course makes me hope for the best all the time as well).
And Ryuya Wakaba as Daiki Kashiwagi did a great job portraying the autistic younger brother. I don't know much about autism, just that there are of course different forms, and I was wondering if what he was portraying was a real form of autism but I think it fit the story well in total and did highlight the fact that he somehow needed his sister to help him.


I can't say I loved this movie but I kinda liked it so it got a 7/10 from me. It is not necessarily a movie I would rewatch even though I do love the setting and the acting a lot but the story doesn't really offer a big surprise. I honestly knew what disease they would use right when I read about a 'serious illness', it is just what usually happens in dramas and movies.
But what I have to admit is that the Japanese movie producers know how to make a heartwrenching melodramas just by using some stereotypical things.

Voice of a Murderer

그놈 목소리 (Voice of a Murderer) is a South Korean crime-thriller drama movie that is the fictionalized version of a real kidnapping in 1991. The movie was released in 2007.

Story: Han Kyung-bae is a famous news anchor of the 9PM news. His wife Oh Ji-sun is a Christian who tries to make their chubby Han Sang-woo lose weight. One day Sang-woo goes out to the playground and doesn't come back home. His mother tries to reach friends and family but during the night it becomes clear that Sang-woo disappeared without a trace. The kidnapper calls the father and gives clear instructions on what to do so the parents will get their son back alive. However, soon Ji-sun informs the police and a special task force is set up under detective Kim Wook-jung to find the young boy.

Cast: Sol Kyung-gu as Han Kyung-bae and Kim Nam-joo as Oh Ji-sun were really good in the roles of the parents who try to do everything to save their son. It was a realistic way of portraying desperate parents and both actors put their feelings into those roles.
Kim Young-chul as Kim Wook-jung was also really good when it came to portraying the feelings of his personal situation - for example in a trunk to always be with the father in his car - showing how much energy this case cost the police force as well. While he was of course not as emotionally involved as the parents having a child himself he did work hard to try and get the boy back.
Ko Su-hee as Cha Su-hee brought some funny aspect to this movie in parts while it still kept it's serious atmosphere. Song Young-chang as Captain No tried to keep a rather calm atmosphere around him and to give the parents some hope and safety.
Other actors in this drama include Kim Kwang-gyu, Kang Dong-won and Yoon Je-moon.

So I did like this movie in some way. The story was interesting and it is definitely not something to take lightly. It was good to watch but left a bitter taste behind. Some parts were filmed very shakily so it would've been nice to hold the camera a little more still and pay more attention to the way it was filmed. As the story, setting and acting were good I would give this a 7/10 rating.

Eighteen

회오리 바람 (Eighteen) is a South Korean movie directed by Jang Kun-Jae and released in February 2010. The movie has a duration of 95 minutes.

Story: Tae-hoon and Mi-jeong travel to the East Coast during their winter break to celebrate their 100th day anniversary. After coming back to Seoul problems begin to arise as Tae-hoon gets scolded for travelling and Mi-jeong's parents call Tae-hoon's parents. While Mi-jeong's parents don't want the two to meet anymore and Tae-hoon is ready to fight for his relationship, Mi-jeong simply gives in and listens to her parents.
This movie pretty much includes forbidden love, highschool times and teenagers, and of course the first love.

Cast: Seo Jun-young was in this movie the male protagonist Tae-hoon. He is stubborn and willing to fight and do all he can but it makes things even more complicated. As for the acting, it definitely wasn't his strongest role but it could've been a lot worse in my opinion. It is just that there was some exciting element missing when it came to his character and his acting. I can say pretty much the same about Lee Min-ji as Mi-jeong. I don't know much about her but I think she was a little bit boring in this situation. And so was her character who just gave in to her parents wishes and doesn't even try to stand up for herself and her wishes.
As for the other actors not many of them are known internationally. Choi Hyo-sang played Mi-jeong's aggressive and over-protective father. Which he wasn't doing too bad so I wanted to give him some credit. While the aggression the character showed towards his daughter is never what a parent should be like that I do know that some parents especially in Korea are like that.
Kwon Hyuk-Poong as Tae-hoon's father seemed more calm and understanding at least and the acting was also very much descent so he is another actor from this movie I know about.


After all I would love to tell you that this movie was good but it was more average to me. I read a review on MyDramaList and expected it to be way worse than it actually was. I feel like they put in some stuff just to make the movie longer like some accident that occurred - that didn't have any connection to the rest of the plot. The story in general could've been much shorter since they added scenes that weren't needed. But in the end I felt like I missed out on something.
In total I would say if you like stories about first love and the tragic Romeo and Juliett part, than a 6.5/10 is okay for this movie. After all it does have a story and the way it is filmed seemed very independent but gave beautiful impressions and pictures of South Korea's East Coast.

Kang Koo's Story

강구 이야기 (Kang Koo's Story) is a South Korean drama special that was aired on March 29th and March 30th 2014 on SBS.

Story: Kyung-tae is considered a good-for-nothing gangster and goes to Kanggu, a place at the coast. After a friend of his died, he wants to take care of his friend's older sister Moon-sook and her son Kang-koo. As the story goes, Kyung-tae falls in love with Moon-sook and also becomes closer to Kang-koo but there are two problems - the two of them don't know that his friend and Moon-sook's brother, Jung-soo, died and Moon-sook is sick..

Cast: Lee Dong-wook as Kyung-tae showed a huge variety of emotions in this drama, at least this was my personal feeling. I liked his acting as well as his character after all though it wasn't a kind of character one would expect in a series dealing with "gangsters".
Park Joo-mi as Yang Moon-sook was nice to watch in this movie as well. She seemed to soft in some parts I think, for a strong woman who's working even though she's sick and who raised a child mostly on her own it's just that it didn't work that well.
Shin Dong-woo as Kang-koo was just the perfect son. His acting was good, the way his character changed was portrayed in a nice way and in general his acting seemed stable. Regarding the fact he's one of these "child actors" (he was like 15/16 when this was filmed) he's definitely an actor to look out for in the coming years.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack supported this drama perfectly! The only problem about this soundtrack is that basically no one knows all of the songs that were included and I couldn't find any information on that! Grrrrr..


In general I gave this drama special a 6.5/10 rating solely because I did have some.. too melodramatic aspects. It's not that much my style but I still enjoyed watching it after all. The scenery is incredibly beautiful in this drama so if you want to see some wonderful places in South Korea, this drama might also be to your liking.

Recommended if you like sweet but sad love stories and not that much blood!

My Love Eun Dong

사랑하는 은동아 (Beloved Eun-dong) is a South Korean drama series that aired from May 29th to July 18th 2015 on jTBC. The drama consists of 16 episodes.

Story: After "The Beginning" this drama shows how actor Ji Eun-ho/ Park Hyun-soo meets his first love Ji Eun-dong again. However, Eun-dong lost her memory and therefore doesn't remember what happened before an accident. There are only hints that her memory is still hidden somewhere and just waits to come out. There are only some problems: Jo Seo-ryeong liking Ji Eun-ho doesn't make things easier since she tries to keep them from meeting. And Eun-dong's husband isn't happy about Eun-ho looking for her either..

Cast: The main cast in this drama consists of Joo Jin-mo as Ji Eun-ho and Kim Sa-rang as Ji Eun-dong/ Seo Jung-eun. While I liked their acting after all, I have a feeling they did lack some kind of chemistry from time to time. I don't really know how to put this in words so I'll just leave it like this and stay with "they lacked something but delivered a solid performance at the end of the day". My personal respect for Kim Tae-hoon as an actor is growing anyways. As Choi Jae-ho I felt sorry for him at first anyways but his character was one I honestly started to hate later on - something was fishy.
While I think she's really pretty, I just start to think Kim Yoo-ri can't do anything but stick to annoying female side characters just like Jo Seo-ryeong. I started to skip her scenes not because of poor acting but because I wasn't able to deal with her character at all.
Of course there are many more actors but it feels like things only deal with those few characters. Watching the last few episodes I don't even remember any deep dialogues but characters just seemed to disappear.

Soundtrack: The soundtrack was okay. The songs were beautifully used in the certain situation but it's not like I really fell in love with those songs and will listen to it over and over again.


After all this drama received a rather poor rating with 4.5/10 from me because I was SO close to dropping it after Ep. 11. It's a romance drama. There's literally nothing else about it even though there are some funny moments and the story turns out too obvious too soon.
To me it felt like they just showed everything they had within 10 episodes and suddenly noticed they had to fill more episodes so they had to slow things down and come up with some basic things. Sitting through the last episodes was a torture for me but some people might enjoy it. If you like an emotional, sometimes even melodramatical romance drama, this might be perfect for you. If you're looking for more comedy this one might turn out boring. Oh, and if you're a fan of Baek Sung-hyun or Jr. - just watch "The Beginning", you'll be fine with that.

Pained

통증 (Pained, also known as Pain) is a South Korean movie that was released in 2011.

Story: Nam-soon works for a loan shark as a human punching bag to scare people into paying back their debt. He lost the ability to feel pain after a car accident in which his family died. Since he feels responsible for the accident he lost his will to live as well.
Dong-hyun is a young woman who's parents died both because of illnesses. She has high debts left to pay though she only makes money selling handmade items and additionally suffers from hemophilia.
One day Nam-soon and Bum-no visit Dong-hyun to collect a debt. Bum-no has to leave, and Nam-soon quietly waits outside until Dong-hyun comes out of her house. The police soon arrives and finds the two of them fighting which makes Nam-soon leave.
When a few days later a group of homeless approach Dong-hyun because of her father owing them money, Nam-soon helps her out and since she had to left her apartment because of him, he decides to let her live with him..

Cast: Kwon Sang-woo as Nam-soon wasn't too bad of an actor. Same goes for Jung Ryeo-won as Dong-hyun. But their chemistry could have been better and I honestly felt like something just wasn't right. Their acting in itself was pretty much okay anyways, so there's nothing special to really say about them.
However, Bum-no played by Ma Dong-seok was the highlight in this movie. The acting overall was great and I did like his character and how he worked with Nam-soon. I can't really explain the reason but I just liked it.

Soundtrack: While I don't know the title of the song, I did like the song at the end of the movie. The music was one of the things I enjoyed about this movie.


I'm sure a rating of 5/10 is kind of surprising to some of those who read this post thus far. There are a few reasons to it but let's just start with the most obvious one:
This is a melodrama. It's also categorized as "tearjerker" and I was far from crying. There were romance-comedy dramas that brought me closer to tears. Besides I'm not a huge fan of melodrama but still ended up watching this movie (that's my bad but I still have hope I'll find a melodrama that captures my attention).
The whole plot isn't that unique as well. A man who can't feel pain and a woman who thinks stuff over and over again because of her disease. But really, it doesn't feel like there's a unique touch to it. The story itself wasn't really able to keep me interested.
The fighting scenes were nice and also some scenes with the two leads but I still got the feeling they just lacked something.
And what was worse to me was the ending. I don't get why they did that. First, it would've made sense for all those people around to call an ambulance. If you've watched this movie before, you might understand what I mean. Secondly, it would only make sense for Dong-hyun to die. Of course we don't know that (I won't tell you what's exactly happening) but the part including Nam-soon's prayer just seems randomly placed there. It's not like a prayer could heal a genetic disease. Well, yes, of course, a melodrama should be more based on emotions than on logic but still, that's what actually bothers me.

However, it's not a waste of time if you're bored and have nothing else to watch. Though you might need to like melodramatic love stories. I probably won't watch it again or maybe when I'm in a bad mood because of being love sick.

Mimi

미미 (Mimi) is a South Korean drama series that aired on Mnet from February 21st to March 14th 2014 every Friday at 11PM. The series consists of four episodes with a duration of 70 minutes each.

Story: Han Min-woo is a webtoonist who recently gained popularity because of "December 8th" but he suffers from a partial loss of his memory. All memories until December 2003 disappeared but it feels like the webtoon he's working on tells his own story. To be able to complete the story he tries to restore his memories of his first love that were erased by someone to save him from the pain. While he finds out what has happened, the viewer watches his past self as well as Mimi as high school students and understands what exactly happened.

Cast/Acting: Han Min-woo is a quite complex character who had to deal with loss before. Shim Chang-min actually did a good job portraying him though I'm not familiar with his acting itself. I enjoyed seeing him in this series after all. Moon Ga-young as Mi-mi was quite good as well, though my personal feelings towards her character changed within 30 minutes in the last episode (some humans are just stupid and not romantic but hey, that's my opinion) but her acting throughout this drama was solid.
Jang Eun-hye portrayed by Shin Hyun-bin was good in the beginning as well. While the acting was okay, in the end I felt like her character was just the most senseless one in this series. Yes, sure, there had to be a love story with a happy ending but besides for that I missed something about character development and the importance of her character. She didn't seem like a main character/actress at all.
Jung Ji-soon delivered as one of the side characters, to be more exact he was the team leader Min-woo was working with.
The last actor I really NEED to mention is Baek-hyun. No, not the one from EXO though someone confused them already (I had a good time laughing about wikipedia) but his voice and charisma as the "umbrella guy" is no joke. I loved him and I'm looking forward to maybe see him in more dramas.

Soundtrack: The actual soundtrack only includes one song performed by two singers, it's just a male and a female version. "슬픔 속에 그댈 지워야만 해 (Because I Love You)" was performed by Wendy and Chang-min and isn't a bad song but I found it rather boring after listening to it a few times. The other songs are actually a part of the S.M. The Ballad Vol.2 project. I personally loved and still love Yesung's "내 욕심이 많았다 (Blind)" to death and it really works well with this drama.
After all, the music in this series is really good and nothing else was to be expected since that's what Mnet is known for.

I decided to rate this drama with a 6/10 though. The story was nice but I personally missed some logical aspects and just started complaining about why some characters just started acting the way they did. The drama itself lost the mysterious aspect after the first episode, especially due to the flashbacks it possible to guess what's actually behind everything. So if you're looking for something mysterious with a hint of romance this drama just fails to deliver the mystery part at some point and develops into a typical tragic love story. But what really bothered me the most is how they actually just put Eun-hye in this drama while her character lacks sense, there was literally no reason why another woman had to be there. She didn't support the romance between Min-woo and Mi-mi nor did she have any impact on the whole mystery.
However, the music, the scenery and the acting itself saved a plot that was actually based on a good idea but not delivered the way they could have. It's beautiful to watch if you're in the mood for some tragic first love and don't want to spend much time on it.

Secert Love

시크릿 러브 (Secret Love) is a South Korean drama series that aired on Dramacube network from June 13th to July 11th 2014. The series consists of 5 episodes telling different stories. It is also known as KARA's Secret Love because a member of Kara starring in each of the episodes.

Story:
1. Min Ji-hye is a model who lost her longterm boyfriend Jang Hyun-jin because of a car accident. In a bar she gets offered to travel to the past and stop them from meeting to save Hyun-jin. However, the price she has to pay for changing the past is high: She has to give up all of her memories involving Hyun-jin.
2. Lee Hyun-jung is diagnosed with cancer and the doctor tells her she only has three to six months left to live. She writes a bucket list and starts to do what she really wants to do before her time has come. One day she meets Yoon Joon-moon who's currently a soldier and has three months left until his discharge. When he finds out that Hyun-jung will probably die he decides to help her fulfill her wishes.
3. Park So-yeol collapses on a highschool festival one day and is brought to the hospital. There she meets Hyun-joon, a man who's a lot older than her. But the two of them start going on short trips together and So-yeol finds herself becoming attracted to a man only she can hear and see...
4. Melly/Mary Jung comes back to Korea after hearing that her birth father died. While she never met him as far as she knows, she has to solve a puzzle in order to receive the money he left behind. The only hint she got is Tae-yang, a boy she has been playing with when she spent one week in Korea years ago.
5. Park Sun-woo is helplessly in love with her senior Woo-bin but got turned down for four years. After graduating from university she starts working for the same company. One night she makes an earnest wish that she'll end up with Woo-bin. Her guardian angel Chun Sa-nam has to help her and can only return to heaven when her wish came true.
All of the stories are completely different and, as far as I know, written by different writers, too. What bothered me the most, though, is in fact, that cancer played a huge part in two of five stories, while another deadly disease is mentioned in another episode. Now if someone really has seen people deal with those diseases or lost beloved ones.. I don't like how often they used this without considering that the repeated use might hurt people a lot.

Cast: 1. Han Seung-yeon as Min Ji-hye did a far better job in this series compared to Her Lovely Heels. I liked her acting overall, in some scenes I still thought she seemed to be a little cold but she has improved her acting. Yeon Woo-jin as Jang Hyun-jin was excellent in this series, I really enjoyed his acting and the end of this series almost made me cry because of him.
2. Goo Ha-ra as Lee Hyun-jung was a lot better than I expected her to be. I somehow found her acting a little bit too much from time to time as well but since it was my first time seeing her in a series I think it was a solid performance. Kim Young-kwang as Yoon Joon-moon was good as well but his character changed within five minutes completely. Sure that's because they lacked time but it could've been portrayed better.
3. Kang Ji-young as Park So-yeol simply delivered. I was impressed with her acting, especially in the end. There's nothing I can really criticize about her. Bae Soo-bin as Hyun-joon was a good counterpart and his acting especially when he finally learns the truth was simply awesome.
4. Nicole Jung as Melly/Mary Jung was pretty much alright. I can understand her feelings towards the father she never had but then again in the end she took the shocking message who her father was and why he died to lightly though. Humans are different but I would've imagined something more emotional, especially since she seems to have quite a temper. Lee Kwang-soo as Tae-yang is a chaotic personality in need of money. He seemed goofy but has a serious side to him as well that was kind of interesting to watch.
5. Park Gyu-ri as Park Sun-woo is probably one of the characters I really disliked at first but came to like in the end and her acting was good. She might be one of the few female idols I like to see in K-Dramas. Ji Chang-wook as Chun Sa-nam or Guardian Angel No. 2013 (this sounds so weird though) did a great job. Especially when complaining about humans and scolding Sun-woo.


Rating this series as a whole is rather difficult to me so I somehow calculated an average that happened to be 7.5/10. There are some things I feel I need to mention.
Some things (for example the disease-topic) became repetitve. Of course the writers just used topics that are typical for K-Drama but it's actually annyoing to see how often it's used.
Even if episode 3 deals with this topic, it managed to be memorable and is my favorite episode of this series.
Episode 5 was probably the most interesting one for me since I loved the angel-part of that. I sincerely hope for a longer series probably dealing with the topic of guardian angels or fallen angels since aliens and vampires already were a topic in K-Drama.
Why didn't I mention the soundtrack? Well, it didn't do much for me in this series and I felt like there were loads of different songs involved so I decided to just leave it be.

And I just HAVE to mention how much I loved the settings in Ep. 1, 4 and 5. Those pictures shown are really beautiful.

How would I rank the episodes based on my personal preference?
1. Kang Ji-young/ Bae Soo-bin - Ep.3
2. Park Gyu-ri/ Ji Chang-wook - Ep. 5
3. Han Seung-yeon/ Yeon Woo-jin - Ep. 1
4. Nicole Jung/ Lee Kwang-soo - Ep. 4
5. Goo Ha-ra/ Kim Young-kwang - Ep.2

ToGetHer

愛就宅一起 (ToGetHer, also known as Superstar Express) is a Taiwanese drama series that first aired on CTV from February 15th to May 3rd 2009. During the following months it aired on various other broadcasting stations.

Story: Mars is a star who has to face a crisis after a few scandals. Since the articles weren't telling the truth he feels like the bad treatment following those articles is not fair. One day because of him not earning enough money anymore his company asks him to move out of his apartment and he starts living with the quiet student Chen Mo Mo, who only has interest in her manga Prince Kashaba, and her sister Chu Chu. While Chu Chu is overly excited, Mo Mo doesn't even know who he is. It turns out that Mars and Mo Mo not only go to the same school but are also classmates so they meet quite often and fight a lot. Mars only wants to get back his status as a star and works hard. However, Mo Mo and Mars become closer while they're supporting each other more and more..

Cast: The second Taiwanese drama I've watched and again there's Jiro Wang in it as Mars/ Zhuang Jun Nan. Regarding his character.. well, I have to admit that at first he was full of himself and an arrogant star. Nothing we haven't seen in other series involving idols but that still doesn't mean that it's too bad. I love the way his character changes though and I enjoyed seeing the actor actually portraying that change well. Jiro Wang in fact is a familiar face (as some of you who have been reading my blog for some time) know but I think seeing his emotions displayed in this drama gives a good impression of his acting.
Next there's Rainie Yang as Chen Mo Mo. Personally I've known Rainie Yang as a singer since 2012 so I don't really know if the quiet, shy character of a person that's often forgotten and left behind suits her but I enjoyed her acting in this one in general as well though I really didn't like Mo Mo at first and thought that it was just overacted because her character was supposed to be that way.
George Hu as Wei Jia Sen was a far more complex character simply because he has the intelligence of a boy. While mental health issues weren't a topic Asian drama talked about for quite some time (if I remember right) I found the way Wei Jia Sen was portrayed rather interesting though as a character some of his scenes were annoying simply because of his behavior. However, the actor did well in fact so there's nothing I would criticize about him since I've never met a person showing that behavior. (Note: As far as I remember we don't get to know what happened to Jia Sen or in which way his physical and mental conditions lead to his lack of development. I'd guess it's more of a mental health problem than physical health.)
Linda Liao as Chen Chu Chu was unbearable to me sometimes. Mo Mo's sister seems to love gossip, is noisy, a little shallow and worries about completely different things than Mo Mo but causes a huge problem but runs away. Regarding the fact she's supposed to be the older sister she's more of a teenager than Mo Mo. The acting was nice but then again I don't feel like it was extremely diffcult. Probably except for the fact that Chu Chu always seems to be really energetic.
The last person I want to name on here is Jin Qin as Ke Yi Zhi who was a supportive and incredibly cute friend even willing to risk his job at times. We all need a manager/ co-worker/ friend like him in my opinion since he's loyal and worries about what might be best for Mars and not only for economic purposes.

Soundtrack: I really liked the soundtrack after all, there's no song that really got on my nerves. But I loved the opening song as well as the ending song of this series, "越來越愛 (Love You More and More)" and "默默 (Silently)" by Fahrenheit. Especially the ballad, Silently, or also pronounced as "Mo Mo" was really nice and I loved Jiro Wang singing the song in the drama series himself.



So now that I've said a lot of positive things about the soundtrack and the actors, what's my rating? A 6/10 doesn't seem to low at first but I was really struggling on judging this.
Now there might be some spoilers included when I'm explaining what I personally didn't like about this series so if you don't want to read those, just skip this part now.
The first point was the chaos. I didn't really get the point of the first episodes and they just seemed randomly put together. I know that Taiwanese production companies probably can do better.
Secondly, certain characters disappeared at some point, and were never to be seen again. If there would be an explanation why it would make sense. But for example for Ivy she just appears and suddenly disappears though she signed a contract and is therefore under the same company as Mars. Same basically works for Ben.
Speaking of Ivy before, why did they even have to come up with the story of an ex-girlfriend? Things were complicated enough before and it would've been complicated enough without her as well so why did she have to appear in about two episodes (maybe? I'm not even sure anymore).
And what really got on my nerves that they could've ended everything with episode 10. But then again only to be able to produce a few more episodes they added a family story including cancer, a car accident and - oh, scandal! - an idol caught dating. Those are just things that appear in basically every second or third K-Drama at least. I don't know about Taiwan but it doesn't have a feeling to it that makes it that different. At some point I was just able to laugh it off because it was ridiculous.
Those are however things I need to consider when rating a series but that doesn't make it entirely bad.

One Night Only

!Warning! This is a Boys Love movie - don't like it? Then ignore it.

원나잇온리 (One Night Only) is a Korean movie that was released in 2014. It consists of chapters, each about 30 minutes long, and therefore gives a hint on the lives of a few young man.

Story: The first story is called "Night Bug". Han-jae organizes meetings in a bar in Jongno for gay men with a group of others where they get drunk. He and his 'business partner' then take their money. Not long ago he met Hoon who became his bait. With Hoon longing for his love it's easy for Han-jae to control him - but maybe also to lose him.
The second story, One Night, deals with the hopes of three students from the a Southern province who want to go to Seoul to be able to date properly, at least compared to the rather small town they're living in. One day, Geun-ho almost gets into a car accident but a man, Joon, saves him. Later that day they meet in a small gay bar again and Joon takes Geun-ho to Seoul the next day. But isn't it naive to trust someone you barely know and leave with him?

Cast: The cast of this movie consists of, as far as I know, rather unknown actors, most of them acted in a few movies but only as supporting characters.
In the first part we have Jang Yoo-sang as Choi Hoon and Park Geun-rok as Han-jae. While I did like their acting Han-jae as a character seemed too cold and only opened up in the end when you feel like it's too late.
The second part evolves aroung Geun-ho played by Yoo Min-kyu and his friends Yong-woo played by Jo Bok-rae and Sang-soo played by Kim Dae-joon. And the characters have been too sassy from time to time! WHY? I actually did like the story. But come on, gay men aren't like that. At least not the majority. That's why I actually liked the sometimes really shy but cute Geun-ho, and of course Jeong Won-jo as Joon. They're acting felt much better and the behavior of the characters seemed way more natural.


Why did I rate this movie with 7/10? Well, it's worth a watch but I kept wondering why they just put both parts in one movie. Of course it's not helpful that the audience is only introduced to the characters for one night.
But we would need to analyze the reason why this movie was made at first - to show how gay men live in Korea? Simply to talk about a topic that was and still somewhat is a taboo? Some more plot or even info on why exactly they put to completely different stories together would've been nice since it didn't feel like a clear cut to me.

Friend

친구 (Friend) is a South Korean movie that was released in 2001. Most commonly people refer to this movie as a gangster movie but it's also said that it's one of the most important movies about friendship in general.

Story: The movie follows four childhood friends through their lives. Joon-seok is the leader of the group and his father is a gang boss. Dong-su is an ambitious man who wants to be more than an undertaker like his father. Jung-ho was known as the clown in their class and lastly Sang-taek who is an ambitious student. They've been playing together as children already, get reunited in high school and meet each other over and over again after graduating. While Jung-ho and Sang-taek went to college, the other two get into careers in rival gangs which leads to them fighting against each other. Jung-ho and Sang-taek find themselves helplessly watching their childhood friends pointing weapons at each other.
What I personally found impressive about this movie actually is the ending in court. Now I don't want to spoiler too much to those who haven't seen the movie yet but it's interesting to see how the friends still try to protect each other (as much as they can of course).

Cast: Jang Dong-gun is in this movie as Dong-su! While he became popular mainly through his roles in this movie as well as in Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War he has been playing in another gangster movie back at that time as well. I did enjoy his acting a lot in this movie anyways and will probably watch some other movies soon.
We see Yoo Oh-seong as Joon-seok, a character to whom friendship is more important than anything and who lives up to some kind of code within the gang business. Actually I found his acting to be best in this movie, fitting the story and the emotions I would imagine a character like his to feel.
Then there are Seo Tae-hwa as Sang-taek and Jung Woon-taek as Jung-ho. I don't remember much about them but together with the others they made up the main cast of this movie and I think no one stood out in a bad way.


I've rated this movie as a 7.5/10 though just because I found it interesting but not completely unique and I couldn't take some parts seriously. It's worth a watch if you're interested in the history of Korean cinema and movie analyzes but also if you just want to watch something about friendship. Be warned though, it's not a peaceful perfect world shown in this movie.

1 Litre of Tears

1リットルの涙 (1 Litre of Tears, 1 Litre no namida) is a Japanese drama series that aired from October 11th to December 20th 2005 on Fuji TV.

Story: The drama tells the story of Aya Ikeuchi, a young girl at the age of 15 who enters the highschool she wanted to along with her best friend. After tripping often lately, her mother, Shioka Ikeuchi, is worried and takes Aya to see a doctor, Hiroshi Mizuno, who diagnoses her with spinocerebellar degeneration. Though Shioka meets many other doctors as well as the specialist about this disease, the reality that it cannot be cured remains. She didn't tell Aya, but in the meantime the girl is able to figure out what's going on with her body on her own. One day when visitting Dr. Mizuno again, the information she found becomes reality - she won't be able to walk or speak or write and will be bedridden someday. "Why did the disease chose me?" As her everyday activities become more difficult, she even has to leave her friends and can't realize her dream to graduate from Higashikou anymore. But the young woman refuses to give up hope, also because of Haruto Asou whom she met on the day of her entrance exam and though the two of them didn't get along that well at first became a reliable friend.

Cast: Erika Sawajiri does a brilliant job as Aya Ikeuchi. She's fighting for her freedom, her life and in the end for her body to remain hers. Not being able to control her body anymore is a nightmare and I usually felt how thankful she was towards her friends and family but in the same time she was so sorry for being a burden to those around her. Also Ryo Nishikido as Haruto Asou is good in this one. I don't know if I would describe his acting as excellent. Sometimes he seems a little too cold, especially when he's more or less rebelling against his father but the scenes with Haruto and Aya were always nice to watch and I loved their friendship - I won't say love because not even once it is officially stated they are dating - we only know that they like each other. A lot.
My favorite actors in this series were actually Hiroko Yakushimaru and Takanori Jinnai as Aya's parents, Shioka and Mizuo Ikeuchi. Parents fighting for their child, trying to comfort her though they are in pain as well. Especially Aya's father has difficulties accepting the truth about the disease and though he tries to not show that he's in pain sometimes, when Aya's not around, it still comes through. As for Aya's mom, it's almost the same. She's trying hard to be strong in front of her children so they won't worry too much but then again her pain comes through while she's still fighting.
Naohito Fujiki as Hiroshi Mizuno is the doctor caring for Aya and while at first he's the one to accept the fact that he can't cure the disease, Aya becomes someone to make him go forward and work and research much more than before because he wants to cure the young woman.
Riko Narumi as Ako Ikeuchi at first seems like a rebellious teenager who wants attention from her parents because Aya always was the number one in the family. As she didn't seem to care too much at first, she's trying hard to help her sister later and even wants to try and get accepted at Higashikou so she can fulfill her sister's dream. The development of her character is really good and actually something one can understand. Yuma Sanada as Hiroki Ikeuchi has a lot less screentime but I somehow found him to be an interesting character as well. While he was somewhat embarrassed at first when his team mates found out about his sister 'walking strangely' he changed due to something Ako said and was sorry for hurting his precious older sister.


Soundtrack: One song became incredibly popular and I knew it belonged to this drama even before watching it - "Konayuki" by Remioromen! I still love this song a lot, especially the various versions shown in this drama. It's also known to be Aya's and Haruto's theme song.
But honestly one song made me cry. Once. "3月9日 (Sangatsu Kokonoka/ March 9th)", originally performed by Remioromen as well usually appears as a choir version. When watching Ep. 8, the very end of that episode, you might understand why this got me. Thinking about this scene still makes me cry.
Just to complete the soundtrack, there is one ballad track on the OST performed by Korean singer K/ Kang Yoon-sung called "Only human" which actually is the theme song of this drama. Combined with the pictures at the end of each episode it's beautiful but makes me feel sad as well.
After all it's a well-chosen soundtrack in my opinion.


My rating for this series is a definitely strong 9.5/10. I'm not a person who cries often when it comes to series but I admit that there were some episodes (or more endings of episodes) that got me. It's a good and strong series but with a rather slow development, especially in the beginning but it's a melodrama after all and it's not surprising. In the end, it became a lot faster and there were many times when suddenly months or even years passed by. I see why they did that though. Only watching Aya's daily routine in the hospital wouldn't have been interesting - at least not that much.

As for the special from 2007, I think it's worth watching if you enjoyed this drama a lot and want to see some moments again. The special is about two hours long but I'd just guess that roughly half of this are only flashbacks. That's why my rating for the special is only 6.5/10. It's interesting though to see how the family and Haruto dealt with the happenings as well as all those people coming to 'meet' Aya.

Green Fish

초록 물고기 (Green Fish) is a South Korean movie released in 1997 that has become noticed for being a pretty untypical gangster movie.

Story: The story starts with Mak-dong being released from the army. While trying to give back a scarf he caught he starts a fight with some guys in the train but doesn't manage to give back the scarf. That's why he searches for the woman, Mi-ae, the lover of gang boss Bae Tae-gon. Through those events and his feelings for Mi-ae, Mak-dong enters the gang and rises to a high position quickly. But since he has no ambitions, Mak-dong can't answer whenever he's asked about his dream and that just doesn't fit the times of huge social changes and modernization. A simple dream like his, building up a restaurant for his family, doesn't work with the ideals in such a fast changing world which gets him into trouble.

Cast: Han Seok-kyu did actually a good job as Mak-dong. He's actually not a hero as you would see in most gangster movies, he's more like an anti-hero and it's refreshing to see a character with human weaknesses and human emotions in a movie. Shim Hye-jin as Mi-ae kept me shaking my had though, she seemed not only weird but completely drugged most of the time. I feel like the movie could have been a lot better when they left out her completely strange behavior. Moon Sung-geun as Bae Tae-gon did well in this movie though. I feel like his character wasn't too bad of a person actually but was more of a hero than the actual main character.


To be completely honest, it took my group (yes, we had to analyze the movie in a group project) days to find the movie online. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad but then again it's definitely not worth the chaos and the stress. And I don't know if it was because of me watching this movie with four others but we just ended up laughing about some things that were said to be rather tragic. Mission success? Well, no, if it should make you feel bad for the characters and you end up laughing harder than before something's wrong. That's why my rating actually is 6.5/10 which is not entirely bad but not that good either.