Cidade Natal (2021)

It might seem slow, but it gets to a point.

All in order:

1) The acting is very good!
The characters portrayed are complex, multi layered, with intense back stories and sometimes unclear path they will go. The cast deals with this wonderfully, portraying the full range of emotions as intensely as needed.

2) Cinematography and soundtrack are also good.
You wouldn't call this a cinematic masterpiece, however the setting, the coloring, the added music add to the eerie, unsettling and often difficult to grasp events and settings.

3) Timeline jumping.
For more than first half of the series we jump between 3, sometimes 4, timelines - what the detective is telling, the interview with him that is taking place, the mass murders interview and different memory sequences.
We also jump between character POVs - the detective, the murder, the teenagers looking for their friend and several more.
All this can be quite confusing and throw one off the plot.
All timelines merge in one near the end and becomes a much easier watch. Apart from some flashbacks revealing character back story.

4) The plot itself.
Cults, brainwashing, hypnosis, gas attacks, mass s**cides and much more. Many of us will recognize elements from actual events and cults inspiring this. The plot is actually very interesting, however the executing with different timelines and the many POVs takes away from it.

Overall - a good background watch that picks up the pace and becomes more clear during the second half. But would I recommend it to everyone? Probably not.

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Why insult India and it's culture for no reason?

At first liked it... Then became very slow and very stale.. the producers tried their best to make it a suspense thriller but ended becoming slow and a bit sleep inducing boring.
Also, y r u creating a problem that never existed?
I mean India and South Korea always had an amazing relationship. We respect each other a lot and find a lot of similarities in each other's culture and so feel very related to each other (most probably cz of the spread of Buddhism in Korea long time ago and also being an Easter race just like Indian-dravidians).

The series tries it's best to target and insult India/Hindu ideologies even tho it doesn't touch any of them at all.. pretty weird.
It's like when America was discovered but mistaken as India which is why we have the racial term "red/native Indians"
This series does the very same by antagonizing hindi that too by totaly mispronouncing and misinterpreting every syllable of Hindi. Showing as sanskrit mantra and yoga as marker of the ongoing "evil force"..
My question is WHY???

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Interesting plot but poor execution

I am a fan of cult and pseudo-religious groups plots myself such as in dramas Save me (2017) and The Guest (2018). When I first read the description of Hometown it felt a bit confusing, tbh. After watching the drama it became clear why. The two timelines thing is totally fine, it's not confusing most of the time. The acting is really good, especially Uhm Tae Goo. He's so good that it's suspicious that he's so good at playing this role. His relaxed and airy way of speaking and the intense look in his eyes really makes him believable for his character. I believe it's my first time watching Yoo Jae Myung and Han Yeri as the main characters of a drama, but they were also really good. Especially Yoo Jae Myung. The younger cast also did a very good job, especially the actress playing Jo Jae Young. The drama has a promising plot but it feels a bit like it's trying to do several things at the same time so it's not focusing on just one thing and that's when the drama becomes confusing. Some stuff happens really fast, some stuff takes a really long time in this drama. It would be better if they balanced it. It feels really unbalanced at some point. I also wish the reveal scenes had more shocking factors in it. I feel like they were really underwhelming considering the reveals. Soundtracks doesn't really stick to mind, really forgettable. It's creepy but I saw comments like "This is a 10/10 for creepiness." Seeing those comments, I expected more but I don't think it was creepy to that extend. I don't know how well this drama was perceived when it was first released but I feel like the acting and the story was a bit wasted because of the poor execution.

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A Convoluted Mess!

Hometown starts fantastically and jumps the rails around episodes 5 and 6. The crew from writing to directing did not have the skills to pull off the myriad of genres they tried to push into the story. After episode 4 it becomes plodding and slow. Had they stuck with the psycho-thriller/serial killer aspect and dismissed all things paranormal, it would have been better. I'm not saying this because I couldn't figure things out. I'm saying it because I lost complete interest in doing so.

Have you ever watched or read something that annoyed you because you could see the lost potential to the point where it bored you? Or you started re-writing it in your head to make it better? If so, then you'll understand my feelings about Hometown. It's boring. Straight up. No chaser. Boring. The crew couldn't bring it home. The lacked the ability to weave a cohesive story and make it entertaining. Instead they went for the WTF. They probably wanted the "mind blown" WTF but what they got was the "WTF happened" WTF.

The cast pulls this story along with sheer will and determination. It's not like they're phenomenal, but they deserve something better than what they received, especially Yoo Jae Myung who played Detective Choi. He was wasting his talent. Three of the 5 stars I'm giving this title are his alone.

The music was ok. I guess. I don't remember it. There's a negative chance that I'd rewatch any parts of Hometown without a paycheck and liquor.

Overall, it's a waste of time. The writing and directing are poor. Don't watch it.

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