Cheer
The Morgue
This film is written and directed by Na Hong Jin, the maker and the co-writer of the mega-successful thriller “The Chaser”; he even brought back the two main leads from the 2008 film. I am slowly becoming a fan of the director and I will eventually watch everything he did or will do.
So let’s talk about the film; it’s practically a wronged-man thriller style of story. There’s also a slice of the Korean life and society displayed in moderate amounts. For starters, the title “The Yellow Sea” is the passage between eastern China and western Korea peninsula which leads us to “Joseon tribes” the Korean people who settled in eastern border between China and Korea after the World War II, they have closer relationship with North Korea but they often immigrate to South Korea due to the growing economy. Joseon clan people are unwanted by everyone, they’re poor, desperate and often viewed as criminals and thugs. Our two main leads belong to those people.
The story of the film is engaging with lots of suspense and intriguing questions that will be answered in the most unexpected ways. The storytelling is divided into four major segments that narrate the protagonist’s life in details. On one hand, the first two parts were a set up to explain the characters, the main event and the motives but it also throws little hints. On the other hand, the last two parts contained more complications and excessive speedy events. I must admit that I enjoyed the latter half better; it’s not that the first half wasn’t interesting but the second part outclasses it.
The Yellow Sea is a violent film with gory scenes and bloody killings; there are explicit cutting scenes but for me, it wasn’t extreme gore. It’s at the same level as “The Chaser” and “The Man from Nowhere” and falls a little behind compared to “I Saw the Devil”. But that’s a bit insignificant, what really matters in this film are the exciting chasing scenes, the survival spirit and the suspense to find the truth.
Now if I have to list the shortcomings, I will only mention the exaggerated length that bothered me. Two hours and a half is overlong, I would’ve given this an easy 9 if it was a little shorter.
As I mentioned above, the main actors are the ones from “The Chaser” with reversed roles. It’s no secret that Ha Jung Woo is my favorite young Korean actor, the man is so suited for big screen acting and he keeps drawing me in each time I see him. And what makes me appreciate him even more is the fact that he knows how to choose great roles. Then there’s Kim Yoon Suk a veteran Korean films’ star that knows how to make his character feel so vivid and alive. The acting department is simply top-notch; everyone did what they had to do.
The characters, on the other hand, are hateful; there’s no hero here. Our protagonist is not a saint, he makes many immoral decisions and floats between the good and the bad sides but that doesn’t really matter because you will find yourself rooting for him to reach the end line, the guy is a freaking survival machine. As for the villain, he is one of the best I ever saw; he’s vivid, smart and strong. He makes you thrilled every time he appears on screen. The rest of the characters will make you feel unsympathetic towards them but they add a great taste to the story.
The cinematography is intense, dark, amazing and most of all very well fitting. But the camerawork troubled me a little in some of the chasing scenes where Na Hong Jin decided to use the “unsteady camera” technique; those scenes were an uneasy watch to be honest.
Watch if:
-You admire Korean thrillers because this is one of the best.
-You like “chase” films.
-You like the director and the main cast.
Do not watch if:
-You dislike gory films but this isn’t excessively bloody.
-You’re looking for an easy watch.
The Yellow Sea is an interesting view of some of the Korean society slices mixed with suspense and crime. It’s absolutely one of the better Korean thrillers.
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With that out of the way, I saw the Guinea Pig series a long time ago without even realizing it. I came across it recently and as I was watching it, I came to confirm that I am re-watching a gory horror series that I have totally forgotten its title. However, this re-watch session felt refreshing as I got the chance to view it and judge it from another different angle than from few years back.
First, let’s get one thing straight: this is not real! It’s widespread as a snuff film but it’s not (although this is probably the closest thing you would get to a snuff film), this has special effects and “Making of” that the production team had to go through court to prove their innocence so don’t worry, this is fake. But don’t forget that there are more horrifying deeds than this out there in the real world, read about serial killers idealist dreamers!
The Guinea Pig’s series doesn’t follow traditional films’ making not even like other splatter gore films. No credits rolling or plot and characters’ developments, it’s usually a single setting with a certain deviation of actors and acts all around.
Honestly, The Devil's Experiment wasn’t that satisfying; as the first part of the series, I expected more than just capturing a woman, hitting her, kicking her, clawing her nails, burning her, throwing worms and some gluts on her. Amongst other things, that is. I don’t know, something turned me off and torture scenes are usually entertaining in my book. It’s probably the episodic pattern of the torturing scenes, one thing at the time with pauses and chances of recovery given to the tortured girl. Or maybe it’s because the three protagonists didn’t reach the highest level of torture exercised on a human body before giving the last blow. At any rate, the main girl’s fake screams turned me off big time even with the highest levels of torturing and pushing a human body to its limits. I am sure if the acting was better then things would’ve been better appreciated. When the victim doesn’t care about torturing then what’s the point of doing it anyway? She rarely screams with that immense amount of pain, that side was a huge let-down.
Pseudo-snuff and gore for the sake of gore films don’t get high ratings from me, despite my huge like for bloody productions; there has to be something else besides splatter gore and torture scenes to make me like that certain film. There has to be some breathing space, some characters to like or even hate and some events to please you. Thrilling with only torture and bloody scenes for the film’s whole running time is not acceptable and this obviously had no plot to talk about.
Now, if I have to talk about the positives of The Devil’s Experiment, I would mention my complete appreciation of not using sexual torturing, mature sex scenes or pornography. Those are usually the down-side of gory films according to me. So for excluding that, I am thankful for the Guinea Pig’s series overall. Moreover, there were some pretty nice effects used in making this to sound less unreal. I liked some of the torturing scenes even if most of them didn’t rise to my interest as I expected them to.
Watch this if:
-You’re a hardcore fan of gory films.
Do not watch if:
-You’re under 18.
-You can only handle a little amount of gore.
-You can’t handle torture scenes.
Just don’t watch unless you’re into brutal, disturbing gore.
The first part of the Guinea Pig’s series isn’t as exciting as it was supposed to be. But The Devil’s Experiment certainly opens the appetite for the rest of the series.
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Full of insanely vivid range of colours, the film is one of the most unique craziest pictures I came across in a very long time. It can be divided into four segments where two of them are strictly connected and the two others don’t belong to the same narration procedure. The film itself is a different depiction of obsessive love and its consequences on the male protagonists. It’s surprisingly a quite deeper and philosophical take than what meets the eyes.
Director and screenwriter Ishibashi Yoshimasa was able to successfully mix a wild variety of genres and styles in one film. The first part was so bright both in visuals and storytelling; it starts off quite peacefully to tell the story of Ovreneli Vreneligare – a very strange name especially in Japanese pronunciation. The narration itself was pretty strong for the most part even if it didn’t matter at all in some areas. The second sequence (my personal favourite) is about a relationships’ counsellor who advices “loser” boys in the strangest ways ever. However, the amusing part must be his “victory” show-off dance after each of those calls, as if he’s congratulating himself for a well-done job. The dancing style and the women by his side are completely hilarious if you manage to grab the essence of his actions. Next is the story of a time traveller Samurai who’s searching for the love of his life who was taken away from him, it was action packed with many engaging scenes. The whole running time was concluded by resuming the story of Ovreneli Vreneligare who grew up to create one fine finale for this piece.
One cannot appreciate this film without over-praising the indisputable star of the whole picture Yamada Takayuki. Being a big fan of his talent and acting style, I am ashamed to admit that it took me this long to watch his best acting performance to date. He’s a freaking chameleon! Yamada played three completely different characters yet he was able to grab the gist of all of them. At one moment, he’s a rude womanizer love coach, the next moment he’s one badass vengeful samurai and at the end he’s a shy boy in a man’s body. This is the best example to witness Yamada’s vast acting range and incredible versatility. All other cast members didn’t manage to shine by his side, not even for a while.
Cinematography and artistic visuals are the heart and soul of this film. Knowing that Ishibashi is originally a multimedia artist is definitely a plus that counts for the picture’s impact. The bright dazzling colours were quite captivating and the fighting sequences in the last part were highly intriguing. Although the length of slow motion action can become heavy after a while, it didn’t bore me a bit. The editing style was quite bizarre and chaotic but it still managed to come out so wonderfully. It’s worthy to mention that the soundtrack was ear-pleasing.
Watch if:
-You’re used to weird Japanese productions.
-You’re tuned to mangas, anime and online games.
-You like a special experience and a very distinctive definition of love.
Do not watch if:
-You completely dislike strange Japanese films.
-You dislike crazy plots which can go completely overboard.
Milocrorze: A Love Story is a very special experience about the common theme of love and separation. It evokes an enjoyable light-hearted experience that’s bound to leave you with a big smile on your face.
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Khun Chai Puttipat is the third part of the Suparburoot Juthatep’s series. Unlike the previous two brothers; Chai Pat’s story was more exciting to follow; there wasn’t the traditional Thai love story’s telling or the unbearable indecisiveness and rejection from the male lead part. Okay, the female lead contributed in the rejection part but it wasn’t as serious as Chai Yai’s indecisiveness and Chai Ruj’s rejection. This story started fun and ended cute.
Unlike the other two female leads, Kaew wasn’t nobility or royalty; she was a country pumpkin who won the beauty pageant and stole Chai Pat’s heart. Moreover, our male lead’s transformation from a serious workaholic doctor to a lover-boy was such an entertaining watch; Chai Pat’s character caught my eyes in Chai Ruj’s story where he was highlighted as the closest brother to him; of course, that was a way to introduce the following part’s male lead and it succeeded. I found the doctor’s character less interesting than his brothers to be frank but he got the type of personality that makes you want to see him in action. Therefore, his love story was anticipated and somehow it didn’t disappoint.
I think the part that ruined the drama partially was the evil guys’ persistence and deviation to illogical acts. Of course, the second female lead was enormously annoying - as expected. Plus, the overall absence of Chai Yai and Chai Ruj from the story bothered me; I know they wanted to pay extra attention to Chai Lek and Chai Pee’s characters since their stories are coming up and I really like them the best amongst the rest but I wished they would show the harmony, the bromance and the brotherhood once again in this part.
Some parts of the love story didn’t connect but I give the chemistry a high score; Chai Pat and Kaew were a great fit to each other. Although he was only a newbie in this drama, Jame did a nice job with the character. The female lead on the other hand was a little better than him when it comes to acting. The second male lead was a nice one too, as a character I mean, I just love heartwarming second male lead who understand their limits without anyone telling them to.
Watch if:
-You like love stories between different classes.
-You’re looking for good chemistry.
Do not watch if:
-You’re looking for a different type of love stories.
-You dislike slow development.
Khun Chai Puttipat is by far my favorite amongst the three parts I saw. Even though it’s not perfect or impressive by any mean but it was better executed than the other two parts. Of course this is only a temporary judgment until I see my two favorite brothers Chai Lek and Chai Pee.
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I saw this film by chance when I was browsing through some pages and I realized that I forgot to add it. You see even the newbie me didn’t like this and found it quite ridiculous; I am sure I would’ve rated it 5/10 at the time but now, even 3/10 is still too much. I am being a little bit nice.
Well, I don’t usually write negative reviews; I prefer publicizing the good dramas and films instead but this time around, I just had to go a little against my general rule and I don’t mind being hated for my straightforward thoughts. I will try to keep things shorter than usual because this doesn’t deserve any length.
This film’s story felt so unoriginal at first, and then it failed to deliver anything that grabs the attention, it was seriously boring to follow. Those who are watching this for romance would find this quite lacking and very disappointing. Yes, I am not romantic stories’ lover but I can list several average films that would beat this one to pulp. I am sure that even the fans of the genre would find this film’s story absurd if not unwatchable.
The acting was unbalanced, untrue and absolutely unbelievable. I felt like the director was putting a knife on the actors’ throats to make them act or something, they just couldn’t grasp their characters. But maybe the actors are originally bad that the director who’s already in deep trouble for creating a bad storyline didn’t care any longer what happens with his movie. The chemistry was disastrous, obviously forced without any feelings to portray.
Watch if:
- Well, I am going to leave this blank because I don’t want to recommend it to anyone except those who accept any type of romantic stories.
Do not watch if:
- You want to watch a good romantic story.
- You want to watch it for Mike He. Really, this doesn’t deserve the trouble.
- You’re looking for chemistry or something cute.
Love at Seventh Sight had storyline issues and major acting problems but the main element to blame for this foolish film is the director who failed to make things balanced.
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This is practically a prequel instead of a sequel; we get to go in depth of Yan and Ming’s past as well as Sam, Wong and many other characters. So you can guess that this movie will explain the beginning and the background of our characters. As much as I hated the premise at the beginning, I came to enjoy it afterwards because of one reason only: The idea was pretty well executed!
The writers succeeded at making the past stories interesting even though we know all of their destinies. The main reason why this movie felt intriguing to watch is because of the new obstacle that the screenwriters were successful at integrating it without ruining the future story (what we already know from the first movie). The fact that the younger Yan has to spy on his half-brother as his first mission was really absorbing. And let’s not forget the gangs and the fights to take over the reins of Hong Kong’s triad.
Just like the first Infernal Affairs, this movie had absorbing action, good thriller as well as pretty cool suspense which I highly appreciated it. Just a heads up though, I believe that this movie was more violent than the first one but I still wouldn’t consider it a “Violent movie”.
The negative point that I found about this movie’s storyline is the fact that we know almost all the characters’ destiny from the first movie so no matter how hard the screenwriters tried to manipulate their fate, we would know that nothing will happen until it’s the first movie’s era. I thought that was somehow handicapping on the suspense level.
Now let’s talk about the acting, Yue Shawn and Chen Edison can’t be at the same level as Andy Lau and Tony Leung but they were surprisingly convincing. I do believe that they did a good job as the younger versions of Yan and Ming. Besides, Anthony Wong and Eric Tsang were left untouched which was relieving. As for the added actors, they were also good enough.
The characters were well-written. The younger versions of Yan and Ming were nice to follow but I must admit that the younger version of Yan was way more interesting than Ming’s no matter how much you think about it. That’s because Yan was involved with his half-brother Hau, who I believe is the best written character in this movie and the reason behind its fascinating events. Hau is such an attention-grabbing character! He’s so calm, intelligent, well-mannered and never acts without thinking twice. He’s the villain alright but I never managed to hate him; actually, I came to love the way his character was executed. So the fact that Yan was spying on him was highly cool to watch. Other than that, there were other characters that I didn’t appreciate their addition especially Mary who ruined Ming’s character for me.
Basically, if you saw the first Infernal Affairs then you should give this prequel a shot. You will be able to understand the characters’ motives and you will get to know many behind stories as well as new events that will keep you interested.
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That brings us to Big Match. They were obviously trying to make one of those Hollywood films. You know, the ones intended for the market without actual depth, loaded with action, big special effects and same old cliché dialogues. It’s regrettable and doesn’t represent the growing South Korean cinema at all.
Leaving that aside, the film was purely a mean of divertissement. The general concept isn’t off. It had the entertainment keys due to a good mixture between humour and action. Well, the comedy part wasn’t exactly ‘hilarious’, but the action half was rather good. Nonetheless, the pacing wasn’t always attention-grabbing. The run time was too long for an action packed-film.
The main reason I watched this summarises in two of my favourite ahjussi’s and Korean cinema veterans: Lee Jung Jae and Shin Ha Kyung. Well, they both did what they had too. I wouldn’t say it took much effort with the kind of characters they were offered. Lee Jung Jae wasn’t a stand-out action lead but he was faithful to the characterisation which is more than enough. Shin Ha Kyung’s ‘funny psycho’ character didn’t come out funny or impressive but the actor’s way of personifying it was perfect. Only a veteran in Ha Kyung’s calibre can make you like (or at least appreciate) an uninteresting character.
Other performers didn’t stand out at all –except for Lee Sung Min. And there were too many useless, repeated, cliché characters to stand.
The action sequences were fittingly edited –a nice work of fiction. The music was nothing different from the usual South Korean films’ soundtrack and the cinematography work didn’t stand out much.
Big Match is by no mean a remarkable Korean film. It doesn’t even hold the identification of South Korean cinema. It was basically a forgettable action comedy led by two big stars.
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I am really a good fan of the God’s Quiz series; it’s one of rarest medical dramas that I can handle with full joy. It also focuses on forensic medicine which is my real life field of study. Although they can dramatize it but centring the investigation procedural on finding criminals and the blowing mystery for each season were definitely my favourite parts of the whole series.
At some point, I began to wonder if it’s the same writer who delivered the previous thrilling mysteries. Did he lost his touch or something? Maybe stretching the story to four seasons’ length can actually affect his writing style and ideas. For starters, the rare diseases weren’t exactly that complicated but I can be lenient with that side because I am medicine major so I could’ve figured most of them in one glimpse and they didn’t write this for people who know about the field. However, what I could not forgive was the main plot; it was plain boring and predictable that you can’t call it a mystery any longer. It’s unlike the previous seasons where the two (or three) last episodes were too exciting and suspenseful. God’s Quiz 4 was unsuccessful in building the thriller suspenseful part.
The individual cases were pretty much acceptable, many of them managed to reach the satisfying level and even went further above it. I believe that what gives this season a good slack but it’s a fact that some of them weren’t even that interesting. Something else bothered me on a personal level: Romance. I know that many people like to insert that part everywhere but I always thought that OCN crime thrillers don’t need that, because most of the people who come to watch are here for the thrills not for the lovey-dovey part. That’s one of the reason why the 3 rd season is my favourite.
The acting was fine; Ryu Deok Hwan and Yoon Joo Hee were good as usual. Even their characters witnessed some pretty good developments such as Dr. Han’s background and Detective Kang’s feminine side. I can’t say the same about the two idol additions; I really don’t see why they were casted for this type of drama. Idol acting don’t suit this sort of drama at all even if their characters were well-written. That super Junior dude was so awkward throughout the whole drama and the girl next to him wasn’t any better.
The cinematography played a very good part in this drama even of it wasn’t different from the previous seasons. I can’t exactly remember the music note so you can guess the rest.
Watch if:
-You liked the previous season but don’t expect a lot from this.
-You like Medical/Forensic/Mystery dramas.
Do not watch if:
-Just don’t watch this unless you saw all the previous seasons.
God’s Quiz Season 4 wasn’t exactly that captivating but it wasn’t a total bore either. Now, I would like OCN to make an end for this series; stretching it more than this will be over-doing in a very bad way. It was a good run; I hope this will be my last goodbye with the God’s Quiz series.
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Following the usual espionage formula with spies, vengeance, betrayal and secrets; this film managed to stay intense for a very long time. It was fast-paced and too packed that it doesn’t allow you to blink an eye. Heck, it was even hard to follow subtitles. Many characters and events were thrown in an immense amount which felt quite entertaining and eye-catching. The car chase scenes were absolutely one of the better car scenes I’ve ever seen. Moreover, the violence, the bloody killings and many hand-to-hand combats were highly involving.
This film’s main issue was its over-length. For an action-thriller that problem can be a killer, The Suspect obviously fell prey to the usual Asian films’ shortcoming: The screenwriting is frequently unable to handle the running time making it incoherent with plot elements. If this film was 30 or even 20 minutes shorter then things would’ve been absolutely better. The second half was so slow which disabled the fast-paced impact of the first half to persist. It was unavoidable that some explanations would be inserted, like the main character’s background and reasons for vengeance but that drama was clearly overdone. It practically killed the action suspense mood so when it finally came back on track near the end, it was already too late for the viewer to go back to that high paced mood.
It was unfortunate because this film could’ve been a remarkable Action thriller if the screenwriter knew how to divide his narration approach and flashbacks on a 2 hours 20 minutes scale. It felt like he was working on a 2 hours version of this film. However, it’s appreciated that he didn’t try to turn this into an intelligence fight with his viewers. The plot wasn’t any complicated because it focused on action sequences and violence instead. I wouldn’t call it gory violence though; I mean that’s the right amount of blood splashing in Korean action thrillers.
The acting was good enough, Gong Yoo’s commitment to his role showed through his character’s movements. The martial arts sequences showed a nice side of him, his character was well written to fit a dark super spy. On the other hand, Park Hee Soon amazed me once again. Although his character wasn’t as important and as penetrating as Gong Yoo’s character but he was very convincing in showing the traits of his hot-blooded personality.
Other characters did well, even if their developments were plain obvious. At least they contributed in the coherence of the packed events.
The cinematography is your standard current-days Korean thrillers’ style. Occasionally, I feel like the same guy is doing the cinematography in all recent Korean thrillers, with some exceptions of course. Although the direction can be marked as decent but the camerawork bothered me in many takes, sometimes it doesn’t allow you to know what’s happening on screen.
Watch if:
-You like Korean action thrillers.
-You like intense films but beware of the events slowing down.
-You like spy films.
Do not watch if:
-You’re looking for a masterpiece out of the action thriller genre.
-You dislike action thrillers.
The Suspect is nothing more than an alright Korean action thriller. But being influenced by the intense high-paced first half, I came to appreciate this film for its entertainment values.
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MOZU Season 2 - Maboroshi no Tsubasa
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Although this was shorter with only 5 episodes, it felt as heavy as the first season. The reason I gave Mozu no Sakebu Yoru a slack despite some displeasures was because the hope in the second season. The story was incomplete but alas, there’s a second season to make it up for it, the answers weren’t fully provided by TBS but WOWOW will do the job. That’s what most of viewers were thinking after finishing off the first part. It’s safe to say that they didn’t give answers, or better said not satisfying enough.
Mozu is one heck of a high-produced drama compared to other Japanese shows. It’s closer to films’ production value instead of TV dramas which unconsciously built tremendous expectations in viewers’ mind, thinking that this drama will actually change the concept of J-dramas’ making in the future. It’s neither the channels fault nor the audience fault either; it’s the freaking screenwriter’s mistake. This was adapted from novels’ series that were pretty famous so for the sake of dramatization, he could’ve just changed few details and everything would’ve been more than great. But no, he had his own philosophy that we were made to understand. I tried to cope along but that wasn’t fun at all.
Back to the second season, the plot took a major change but the lead’s chase after the truth was still the main point of the drama. A high-scale conspiracy again, a suspenseful race for the truth again, many questions again, too many suspicions again but the outcome was not satisfying…Again! When you play a mystery/suspense game with your audience then you have to put all your cards on the table by the end, this drama only revealed half of its cards by far. And the problem is, the revealed cards weren’t even a surprise. After watching the first season, it becomes so easy to predict the screenwriter’s pattern, which is quite irritating for the genre’s lovers. But thankfully, due to its short amount of episodes; the drama wasn’t slow like in the previous season. Or at least not unbearably slow.
The star-studded cast wasn’t put to its full use and I hate that! Come on, beside Nishijima and Ikematsu whose skills were used, Kagawa and Maki who were marked as main didn’t serve anything but the lead’s supporters. As if they were his cheerleaders or something. Give me a break! Such amazing actors could’ve been better used than that! Now let’s talk about characters, since the plot was too focused on revealing the truth, characters’ development was almost inexistent. Compared to the first season, Kuraki stayed the same without practically any change, Osugi is no different, Akebochi had the chance to change a little due to the events surrounding her but it wasn’t that obvious. Higashi became crazier and other added characters were absolutely useless most of the time.
The dark cinematography still captured me though, it was immensely used in this part and I completely appreciated it. The music note was no different from the first season.
Watch if:
-You liked the first season but don’t expect much.
Do not watch if:
-You didn’t like the first season. It’s a waste of time in that case.
I think a third season should be in the making for this drama, to provide explanation for unanswered questions that it. This season did answer some from the first part but it still left many things opened. Heck, it even added many others to the mysterious cloud.
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This drama is one of those dramas that have a full ride story : It's the kind of storyline that's not common, it can sure give you another sense of entertainment and mixed up feelings.
The story was devided : before episode 6 and after episode 6 : it sure gave it another spirit with time passing by and all, even though there were some dramas like that but this one was diffrent, it had another concept that you feel like you've never seen it before.
The storyline development was amazing even the little things sounded very important.
The cast was perfect: i can't imagine a diffrent one, both lead actors were awesome not to forget the cute little child, he gave the drama another diffrent cute perspective. Even the supporting roles have made the drama much enjoyable.
I remember the music and i do believe that this drama is very rewatchable, at the matter of fact, i think about rewatching it sometime soon.
2)Subjective :
This drama is one of my favorite taiwanese dramas of all time ! I felt like i was in a great ride, going through all the details and amazing events withut a blink of an eye.
At every ep, i feel like i've waited for it forever and i keep expecting more and more from it.
All the romantic moments were enjoyable for me, wether it was at the beginning, in the middle or at the end.
I enjoyed the leads performance and i really liked the cute child and wanted to see him everywhere.
Autumn's Concerto is one of the dramas that i'm unable to forget not even the little details, because when i was watching it, i was really excited and felt all kind of feelings that the actors were delivering.
3)Overall :
This drama is recommandable to everyone specially romance lovers : It won't fail you expectations.
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To be able to enjoy this film, you first need to prepare yourself mentally, open your imagination, widen your horizons and forget about the usual filmmaking. If you’re unable to do that then it’s unnecessary to even think about watching this.
This film talks about one of the most famous Japanese folklore tales; Goemen who’s almost a splitting image of Robin Hood with some changes. This also takes historical events and figures from the 16th century into consideration but this should never be considered a reference to Japanese history because it’s inaccurate most of the time.
The film’s pace was really fast; sometimes it doesn’t even give you a chance to think twice. It’s action packed and quite bloody and violent. It’s a samurai/ninja tale so you can pretty much expect a lot of fighting, killing and blood splashes all over the place but it wasn’t overdone. Beside the martial arts and swords clanks, there were also bromance, humor and even some little romance moments so it doesn’t leave you room to complain about the extra-focus on action.
The casting of this film was spot on. Eguchi Yosuke is such a talented actor and one of the best older actors in Japan; he has a strong onscreen presence which made the role suit him very well. The other actors where quite good especially Osawa Takao; I really loved his interactions with Egushi.
The characters were also rather enjoyable with all of their interesting developments. It’s true that most of the characters in this film are real historical figures but that doesn’t specifically mean that every character development and destiny is historically accurate.
Now, let’s speak about the cores of this film which are: CGI, visuals and realism. This film is packed with CGI, it’s a fantasy alright but it’s not a Hollywood fantasy; this is made in Japan. I am not saying that as a bad thing, I actually mean it as a good thing because no one will dare to make or even give the green light for a similar film to be made in Hollywood. The CGI in this film was never meant to be real; it’s not only unreal but it’s also mythically surreal. Just think of it as if you’re playing a Samurai or a ninja video game or watching an animated book being made into a film; that’s the best way to get used and to accept the effects in this film. And yes, creativity has no limits; Kiriya Kazuaki deserves all the respect for taking his chances and making this film.
The visuals where eye-catching and the somewhat dark cinematography was very well done. Maybe the costumes used for this film aren’t historically accurate. Because after all, those armors aren’t what samurai lords and vassals used to wear but that’s trivial for the storyline’s flowing. And just for the record, this film was made with a low budget so it’s pointless to compare it with visually proclaimed Hollywood films when it doesn’t even get 10% of their budget.
Watch this if:
-You’re an action lover but as I mentioned, you should keep your imagination alert.
-You like Samurai and Ninja stories.
-You’re into somewhat weird Japanese cinema.
-You like to watch an impressive Japanese tale that resembles a fairytale without the exaggerated storytelling.
Do not watch if:
-You don’t appreciate creative filmmaking; it’s useless to waste your time on this.
-You dislike Japanese weird films and you find them strange and a waste of space.
-You think you can compare this to other films you’ve seen before.
-You like to watch historically accurate productions because this one isn’t.
Goemen is a film against standards; it has its own genre and needs its own viewers. Needless to say, this is absolutely not directed for everyone.
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The presumption of revenge was something attractive and I can say that it was executed quite well in this drama; without doubt this is not the best revenge drama out there but it’s definitely watchable for the revenge theme. The story starts off slow; the first episodes felt like fillers without many events going on, then things started picking up little by little, the plot started building up and the premise began to show up. However, this is not so different from the usual melodramas out there since elements like the scarred past; the troubled family, the typical evil guy as well as the teary female lead were present. What was added here was the little mystery, suspense and some thriller moments that flipped the tables occasionally and created few great twists every now and then which I have to give writers credit for making them happen but still; there weren’t any amazing turns of events that would make you jump of your seat considering the fact that most of them were pretty much predictable.
Do not watch this because of romance; the whole concept wasn’t catching at all even the little moments between the leads were sometimes overdone and not well matched with the story’s development. I believe romance was one of the storyline’s weak points.
Another storyline’s weak point: The ending since it was very strange; let’s stop there. It took me a while to figure out what the writers were thinking and then I concluded that they weren’t thinking at all.
The acting was good; Kim Nam Gil proves once again that he’s very suited for revenge dramas, Son Ye Jin had a nice performance too but I can’t say the same about her character. The rest of the cast were good too; nothing to complain about, only that their characters weren’t captivating enough probably because Yi Soo was always in the spotlight and no one managed to take it away from him.
All in all, this drama had potential to be much better than this. Nonetheless, it’s still very recommendable for revenge dramas lovers but make sure to lower your expectations, expect the unexpected and never forget that you’re about to watch a MELODRAMA.
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As a huge fan of twisted dramas, whenever I am looking for hardcore mystery; I always run to Japanese productions because they’re so professional at making those types of stories. Namonaki Doku is a mystery drama alright but it can never be considered an intense mystery.
The drama is divided into two big stories; the first one takes the five first episodes while the second one takes the rest of the drama. Namonaki Doku can be differently judged basing on the two stories which obviously contain two unrelated mysteries. The mystery build up in the first part was quite disappointing since it got a little amount of the run time and contained some slow events, but the facts revealing at the end was exciting and a bit surprising. As for the second part, the built up was impressive and rather interesting to follow that’s because the second mystery was deeper and relatively more twisted than the first one. However, its fact reveal wasn’t very outstanding.
Mystery in this drama flew like cool water; it can rarely make you jump of your seat despite the fact that it had a respectable amount of twists and turns. I am not saying that’s a bad thing but being used to hardcore mystery/suspense dramas; Namonaki Doku felt a bit unusual for me at first but at the end of the day, I realized that calm mysteries without many major flips and turns can also be thought-provoking in its own way, mainly because this drama handled some great psychological relations through its mystery built up.
This drama’s set of characters changed a bit between the first and the second story but our main lead was left untouched. Sugumura Soburo is nothing like other male leads in mystery dramas; he’s so honest and timid, he’s the kind of character that you can never imagine him solving other people’s problems and getting involved in big mysteries. That’s what characterizes this drama: An honest heartwarming man purifying poison in a non-sly way. The rest of the characters were pretty alright even if some of them weren’t very necessary for the story’s development. The acting was acceptable as a whole but some actors failed to deliver feelings especially in the first story.
Now let’s talk about the stunning music! It outclasses any other mystery drama’s music. I had to mention this strength point; the violin and the instrumental soundtracks were amazingly played at the right moment that I had to replay those parts.
As a last thought, I would say that Namonaki Doku is exclusively made for mystery dramas lovers but even so, I am sure that not all of them will appreciate it, essentially because it had a slow built up and it’s not considered an intense mystery.
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Let’s get things straight; Ghibli Studio’s film is still superior in every way. But this version is also quite enjoyable. Unlike what the general audience might think, this isn’t a remake of the 1989 animation; it’s actually based on the original novel. As a consequence, many things are entirely dissimilar from the animated version. The character and the general climax were untouched but once Kiki arrives into the village, almost everything goes into a different way. This is considerate as a positive point since Shimizu didn’t try to copycat Miyazaki’s version. The little witch still tries to find her way into the world as she goes through puberty and deals many conflicting emotions. The thing about Kiki’s Delivery Service that it inserted stimulating subplots. Of course, it’s not that all of them were successful but it was enough to distinguish itself from the Ghibli Studio’s version.
Koshiba Fuka who played Kiki was convincing acting wise but that doesn’t apply on the aging criteria. She didn’t look like a 13 year-old in any way. However her co-star Hirota Ryohei was very believable as Tombo, he definitely shined better than the main character in this version. Some other characters were altered but it wasn’t very serious.
The CGI could be acceptable but the talking cat looked so fake that my eyes got hurt. Shimizu Takashi, better known as one of Japan’s horror films master decided to go with a family production this time and he did rather well with his angles and settings, if only the CGI was better handled.
Watch if:
-You like to see another version of the outstanding Miyazaki piece.
-You like family films in general.
Do not watch this if:
-You’re looking for a replicate.
-You dislike live action adaptations.
Kiki’s delivery Service is an okay family film. It differs from Ghibli Studio’s iconic animation even if it shares the same concept.
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