A whole lotta Korean dramas
Beethoven Virus
Available on mysoju.com
This really had the premise to wow me to heaven and back. Some people really can't be bothered with classical piece after classical piece but I grew up with that (ex-ballerina) so this was enjoyable from the start. Our female lead (it's been a while since I watched this so I can't quite remember her name) is a violin major working long stupid hours in the town hall (?) and she feels she's devoted her life to music for nothing. When it comes time to turn in some ideas for events to spotlight the city, she draws a blank... until she receives a link to a musician who is returning to the country, natch, the town! In a last-minute bid, she turns in her project: Seoul, Busan, etc, are all known for their actors and animation artists. [Name of Town - 'scuse me, forget it!] will be known as the City of Music!
She gets the project, and cheerfully hires the returning musician, who... uh... takes all the money and runs (or something to that effect. Woe! In order to keep face, she tries to reason with all the paid musicians that she's going ahead with the project and could they please please understand that "we all love music... it's not about money"?
They don't.
Desperate to keep face with her boss the idiotic wanna-be music-lover mayor, she pretends everything's all right, while inside she's panicking and has to find 1) replacement musicians and 2) a conductor worth his salt. But oho! She hears Kang Gun-Woo is going through a rough patch. He's a tyrannical maestro, but anything will do at this point. In passing, she overhears someone playing the trumpet in the big mansion near where she lives. Her landlady smiles, says it's her nephew and he's staying there while the owners are away, but girly, he's not interested... "but he has a soft spot for people in need." Hey, he's a policeman. Fits the profile.
His name's Kang Gun-Woo, too, by the way. Beginning to see where this is heading? No? Well, let's just say that throughout the series Junior and Maestro butt heads on more than one occasion. Junior's got music in his blood, and when Maestro goes all diva about how shitty his unpaid, this-is-a-hobby ensemble is, Junior decides to take it upon himself to lead the ensemble into after-practice rehearsals. Let's just say Junior initially swore off music as a kid when he met the Maestro who belligerently told him in so many words that if he really had to ask what music was about (he had an assignment in school and wanted a pro's opinion and he was a fan, for Christ's sake - you don't fucking do that to a fan, much less a kid) then he shouldn't even be there in front of him. WOT. Anyway, he'd given up on classical music, but he still practised on his trumpet years later, I suppose to vent his frustration through the years. He's a bloody genius, by the way. Can pick up any musical piece just by listening to it once, and copy it perfectly.
And yep, the female lead falls for both guys. Now, hear me out, I have absolutely nothing against age differences in relationships. These things happen. But when the guy repeatedly belittles you and treats you like yesterday's socks, then get the message, guuuurl. I mean yeah, turns out the older Gun-Woo has trouble expressing his tenderer feelings and verbal violence is his way of dealing with them, but he doesn't even change all that much in the end (which is what we all want our gruff bastard of a softie asshole to do, at least a little bit), imo. He's still a venomous diva, albeit somewhat dubdued due to the fact that the ensemble kind of knows his mood swings by then and have become impervious and understanding. But I still hated that the girl chose Maestro instead of Junior, who was nothing but sweet and god, it's heartbreaking how he gave her up because he wanted her to be happy (although, how? Excuse me I still can't fucking believe the WTF).
Despite all that (urgh), the musical scenes were gorgeous. You can tell the main characters aren't really playing their instruments for real. Jang Geun Suk (Junior) wasn't too bad actually -- the trumpet isn't technically difficult like, say, the violin -- but I played the trumpet so I know you need to purse your lips, which he wasn't. The female lead I let slide because, yeah, the violin's tough. I think the others were real musicians, though I wouldn't know. I know, however, that two of the violinists were for real because they're part of the Bellatrix electric quintet. And oh hell are they amazing.
A clip from Beethoven Virus (hahaha ignore the trumpetist, he's the comic relief in the drama and he's, like, weird ;)
Click to viewAll in all, a good kdrama? Yes, absolutely. Artists (e.g. musicians) are always going to cause much drama and diva behaviour and "my art is Art!" etc etc. It was wildly entertaining, kept you on the edge of your seat, and if you ask me the deaf and Alzheimer storylines really drove the show after the initial buzz. Because, like I said, the love triangle didn't end the way I would have liked. Yes, I'm sulking. I loved that Junior and Female Lead ended up helping each other towards the end (reworking the score, that is) and if you ask me that's a hell of a lot better and sweeter than Maestro essentially telling her she has to improve (artists know they always need to improve; it's the condescending/ tone I hated)
(By the way, I found the scene where the girl tries to teach Junior English kind of hilarious. The actress grew up in the States, that's true, but Jang Geun Suk studied English in New Zealand and he's still pretty good. Another proof coming soon)
Boys Over Flowers (aka Boys Before Flowers)
Available on mysoju.com
Okay, it has been even longer than BV since I saw this, so what I remember is that basically the four guys you see on the cover are F4, a group of rich asswipes who terrorise their school pretty much for fun and to assess their authority. Our male lead, Gu Jun Pyo (middle) is the leader, and he's an arrogant asshole doesn't know better. Our female lead is a bit of a kook but she stands up well enough on her own, although her naïveté can sometimes border on *facepalm* territory. Like, hey, standing up to your bullies is great, but unknowingly provoking them ain't that great.
Anyhow, I can't quite remember why the girl gets sent to the elite school the F4 rule over, but it's something about buying her silence about a scandal she uncovered or some such. Ah, politics.
I have to admit, it was fun to see Jun Pyo struggling to teach the girl a lesson (oh wait, struggling with his feelings because, yo, what's love?) but ultimately this show fell flat on its face imo.
- The actors: there were some excellent moments, there's that, but then there were some horrifyingly ick moments where you wished the director had given them some words.
- Speaking of, the directing: *winces* It was all over the place.
- Story: Great moments intersperced with halting wah-wah moments
- Music: Almost Paradiiiiiiise -- oh holy hell, SHUT UP.
- Soulmates: I heard something about how the girl's soulmate wasn't even Jun Pyo but rather the quiet brooding dude on her left? What?!
- Seoulmates: After having given up I recently found some videos of the show's other pairing and, while the acting wasn't amazing, I think at this point I'd even root harder for them than for Jun Pyo and whatsherface. I love love love their unrequited love story. Kim Bum is a gorgeous player, too.
Ogamdo (aka The Five Senses of Eros)
Sadly, not available with English subtitles (I think the version on youtube is with Vietnamese subs... so if you speak it, watch it ;)
Whoa. Double whammy. Because, you see, I've watched quite a few kdramas (some I haven't listed) and they're usually very conservative. To the point where you want to smack the characters silly for being so... so... shy. Kissing, from what I'd seen so far, was a peck and/or an awkwardly long kiss with stationary lips (but it's so meaningful!) I have to say that some are much more realistic than others but, seriously, if you're thinking of venturing into kdrama-land, don't expect the kinds of natural kisses that Americans try to do organically. You'll be sorely disappointed. (That said, Koreans do everything else pretty damn beautifully)
Ogamdo was a revelation. A rather hot one, actually, because er, it's an anthology about love, sex and relationships. Carried by a star-studded cast. No, really (I recognise about half of them). And each segment was filmed by a different successful director. That is so cool.
I checked this movie out particularly because I was wondering if they'd actually go there (they do), if it'd be done realistically (it is), and because of the younger cast (the guy on the bottom right is the lulzy fashionista in Sungkyunkwan Scandal), who participate in a date swap to test the strength of their relationship with their respective partner (and their friendships, too).
The version (youtube) I watched didn't have English subtitles, and you can be sure I scoured the internet trying to find one to stream, to no avail. (I have to say, we had a bunch of Disney movies in English when I was a kid and I didn't understand the words but I got used from a young age to figuring out the general lines... which I suppose is why I'm fascinated by other languages and love figuring out words and stuff :)
The Case of the Itaewon Homicide
Available with English subtitles on youtube
Ooookay a dark, kind of boring film. But, based on a true story. A Korean was found stabbed to death in a Burger King in the summer of 1997, and two Korean-Americans on vacation were prime suspects. Both denied allegations and blamed the other, and so to this day no one knows who killed the kid. I think both of them returned State-side since.
Jang Geun Suk plays one of the suspects to a tee, complete with sullen behaviour, psycho eyes and deadly intent. I was told he's the main reason anyone would want to watch that movie, and it's true -- it's a boring crime thriller whose focus rests on the prosecution. But the scenes taking us back to the night of the murder are what drives the film. And what it does well is that you're left still wondering at the end who did it. And that's remaining true to the real story: no one knows! At the end Alex starts spilling to a girl he's dating but then he goes "but I don't remember". And who can forget the slight smile-smirk Peason (Geun Suk) delivers when he's acquitted.
Another thing that bothered me: how can the American kids who were with the suspects understand when they're asked questions in Korean? That made no fucking sense. I suppose I can understand Pearson answering in English despite being questioned in Korean; for the longest time I wasn't comfortable enough with English to speak it but I still understood everything that was being said to me. I can totally understand that. But nothing really excuses the suspects' true-blue American friends answering questions without need of an interpret... That was a stupid directorial decision! That said, props to Jang Geun Suk (playing Pearson) for his English. He definitely doesn't sound American but good job for trying. (Also, I watched a vid last night of a recent interview where he spoke English with the Korean host and his English sounds less forced so maybe he felt some pressure while filming this movie)
Not really a memorable flick, but if you're into grungy/bloody thrillers, then this might be something to get your teeth into.
One Missed Call Final
(this is a Japanese film, actually, but stars a Korean actor so heh, I get to list it as a kdrama if I want ;P )
Available with English subtitles on youtube.
Another yuck thriller with Jang Geun Suk (yes I'm obsessed thanks no need to remind me). A group of Japanese students goes on a graduation trip to Korea. A girl they tormented and bullied back in Japan named Pam hanged herself and a mysterious girl named Asuka is out for revenge. She forwards a cursed call to Azusa, the girl whose name Pam called out before she hanged herself. The cursed call now includes a message saying that you can get a death exemption by forwarding it to someone else, forcing them to choose between being killed or condemning a contact to death. A girl named Emily figures out who's behind the calls and tries to put a stop to it herself.
The premise sounds neat and all, but it's executed rather poorly (not to mention the special effects are meh) and the only reason I watched was Geun Suk. His character seems initially to be a secondary character but he ends up being pretty damn important to the story when he starts helping Emily. And then at the end... :*( why. That was useless. But so meaningful, too. Waaaah...
He also learned sign language for this movie, which I think just totally speaks of his devotion to whatever project he involves himself with :) There are some behind the scenes videos where you can see him practising over and over the gestures and it's quite cute.
Also, holy crap, I just figured out the little girl he hung out with at the beginning was PAM. Wot. She looked so cute. Murderer! Those Japanese people really like their cute little deadly girls don't they.
Ahhhh, so now I get why the phone calls began... because of him. Aww bb :( RIP.