That Winter the Wind Blows - ep 1 thoughts and caps
My two-month old kdrama slump is over, courtesy of the intense and artistic That Winter the Wind Blows. One ep in, and it owns my hear
Jo In Sung is back on my screen! I am hyperventilating here!!!!!! One minute in, and this drama owns my heart for that fact alone.
Granted, I am barely a few minutes into the first episode, but what strikes me is how alive Jo In Sung’s character is, with all his issues and anger, and not-caring. And how princess-frozen Song Hye Kyo is, sleepwalking through life. In a way, this plays to the actors’ strength - SHK’s porcelain elegant beauty and JIS’ wildly vivid, emotional screen presence.
Kim Bum held his own against Jung Woo Sung in Padam Padam and here he is holding his own against Jo In Sung. The boy is pretty damn good! The high-strung nervous energy of his performances does remind me of a younger JIS, so I see how that works. I really love the edgy, crackling chemistry between their characters - friends with reckless, self-destructive streaks. It’s so unhealthy, what they are doing, yet so alive.
Once again, the contrast between his aliveness and her withdrawal...
Their scene pretty much killed me - their chemistry is insane, but it is the little looks he keep sneaking her, little glances and a smile and looking oddly more innocent and open than he does at any other time. They combust the screen with barely a touch.
The whole intercut of these two strangers having these horrible days feet from each other, for seemingly different but interconnected reasons. I barely met these people, but it's still like a punch in the gut.
And the winner for the most insane girlfriend is - !! Can someone strangle her?
The sheer magnetic fierceness of Jo In Sung's performance blows me away. There isn't anything quite like him, really. I could watch an hour of a camera just on his face as his character thinks and feels.
But he is not the only thing that elevates this drama - the camerawork, the writing, the acting and cast chemistry in general (JIS and KB play so well off each other), they all contribute.
The episode does a great job of showing the grounds for JIS' desperation, how off-kilter and shockingly violent his new world is. The casting is pretty much perfect because I always associate JIS with beautiful suffering, if it makes sense. It's not that he looks composedly-gorgeous in grief, far from it - but it somehow becomes more than real - his pain, his fear, his very state of desperately being alive, and I just want to reach in there and make it better even as I drink it in, eyes helplessly glued to the screen.
To end on a shallow note - Damn, I've forgotten how insanely intense Jo In Sung is, and how mesmerizing in that intensity. I think the real tragedy of this drama is that Song Hye Kyo will be dating him without being able to see him - because, damn! :)
Jo In Sung is back on my screen! I am hyperventilating here!!!!!! One minute in, and this drama owns my heart for that fact alone.
Granted, I am barely a few minutes into the first episode, but what strikes me is how alive Jo In Sung’s character is, with all his issues and anger, and not-caring. And how princess-frozen Song Hye Kyo is, sleepwalking through life. In a way, this plays to the actors’ strength - SHK’s porcelain elegant beauty and JIS’ wildly vivid, emotional screen presence.
Kim Bum held his own against Jung Woo Sung in Padam Padam and here he is holding his own against Jo In Sung. The boy is pretty damn good! The high-strung nervous energy of his performances does remind me of a younger JIS, so I see how that works. I really love the edgy, crackling chemistry between their characters - friends with reckless, self-destructive streaks. It’s so unhealthy, what they are doing, yet so alive.
Once again, the contrast between his aliveness and her withdrawal...
Their scene pretty much killed me - their chemistry is insane, but it is the little looks he keep sneaking her, little glances and a smile and looking oddly more innocent and open than he does at any other time. They combust the screen with barely a touch.
The whole intercut of these two strangers having these horrible days feet from each other, for seemingly different but interconnected reasons. I barely met these people, but it's still like a punch in the gut.
And the winner for the most insane girlfriend is - !! Can someone strangle her?
The sheer magnetic fierceness of Jo In Sung's performance blows me away. There isn't anything quite like him, really. I could watch an hour of a camera just on his face as his character thinks and feels.
But he is not the only thing that elevates this drama - the camerawork, the writing, the acting and cast chemistry in general (JIS and KB play so well off each other), they all contribute.
The episode does a great job of showing the grounds for JIS' desperation, how off-kilter and shockingly violent his new world is. The casting is pretty much perfect because I always associate JIS with beautiful suffering, if it makes sense. It's not that he looks composedly-gorgeous in grief, far from it - but it somehow becomes more than real - his pain, his fear, his very state of desperately being alive, and I just want to reach in there and make it better even as I drink it in, eyes helplessly glued to the screen.
To end on a shallow note - Damn, I've forgotten how insanely intense Jo In Sung is, and how mesmerizing in that intensity. I think the real tragedy of this drama is that Song Hye Kyo will be dating him without being able to see him - because, damn! :)