Doce e Amargo (2021)

A realistic portrayal of modern day relationships

The last 10 minutes of the movie will leave you mind-blown. That's where the twist is, and you need to watch it again to get a complete grasp of the story. Thank goodness it's on Netflix! We can rewatch the scenes until we fully understand what's going on (lol). This is a well-executed film, with three equally talented stars at the forefront. It has a good balance of seriousness and humor as the characters matter-of-factly tell their story, a characterization of why relationships in this fast-paced world are short-lived. This is rated 13+ by Netflix, but it tackles a more mature topic apt for, perhaps, a more open-minded perspective on dating and relationships. If you are expecting a feel-good happily-ever-after romantic comedy sort of thing, this, without a doubt, will disappoint you. Watch something else.

Chae Soo Bin impressively portrayed her role as the lively and cheerful turned lonely and weary nurse, Da Eun. She's one of the younger stars whose acting prowess is commendable. The camera immaculately captures her sweetness. A real beauty who's a class act of her own. Jang Ki Young (Jang Hyuk), nailed his role as the struggling young professional climbing up the ladder. An imperfect guy with a perfect smile. Such a charming young man! I've watched him portray different roles in dramas, he never disappoints, always a pleasure to watch. His scenes with Krystal (Bo Young) were fun and light in contrast to the serious and heavy scenes with CSB (Da Eun), yet he wonderfully delivered. He's got good chemistry with both CSB and Krystal, too. Krystal as Bo Young was exceptional. She playfully and brilliantly brought the character to life.

I love this movie. I like how it ended. I let out a satisfying chuckle at the final scene yet, at the same time, heartbroken for the sweet romance that turned sour in the end. I was left with an afterthought of what could have happened if they had done things differently. The main leads are not bad, they're just young people who still have so much to learn--perfectly flawed humans who are newbies in the real world and still have a lot of growing up to do.

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an underwhelming and confusing result

all i knew before watching this movie was that it had an incredible cast and iffy plot. i had no idea how they were planning to make a man cheating on his girlfriend watchable entertainment.

lo and behold, the entire time we were simply watching a guy thats on the borderline of cheating on his girlfriend, with a plot twist that didnt make anything better. the script didnt evoke any emotions, the characters werent well developed, the plot was cliche, and the ending tied this all into a lopsided bow. i dont know who looked at the sweet and sour proposal and said "yes, this is so good it needs to be made into a movie."

it was minimally interesting to see the relationship between ML and FL being paralleled with ML and SML. the only other positive i can think of is the incredible team of actors. they tried to make the plot and characters relatable but i never felt any emotions except annoyance for the ML and the plot never reached peak satisfaction. i think its because they focused too much on building up for the ending, but the ending was the weakest part of the movie and a different ending mightve made it a more watchable, relatable, slowburn romance.

i especially disliked how the directors set the narrative on ML to make him appear more internally conflicted and less of a shitty cheater. i couldnt tell if they wanted us to sympathize with ML or hate him, which was probably done to help the ending flow better. unfortunately, 7 minutes of explaining and backtracking isnt enough time to "fix" or settle anything. the plot twist doesnt help the movie either, it kind of just leaves us off on an unsatisfied note, like "what just happened?". it makes me feel like i should rewatch the movie to understand it, but the movie wasnt good enough for me to want to rewatch it.

all in all, the writing and plot werent strong enough to do what the director/writer intended for it to do. the actors were great but absolutely wasted on this mediocre and confusing movie. even though i had no expectations, im still disappointed.
if you read the description and expect the "refreshing romantic comedy" it claims to be, youll be even more disappointed than i was.

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