This is one of the most tragic dramas I have seen. I felt really sorry for Lee Jang-il character.
Lee Jang-il was smart. He was number one student in school and wanted to be a prosecutor in the future. However, after the death of his mother, his father gambled and was in debt. Debt collectors came to his class during the exam and dragged him out. A classmate, Kim Sun-woo, chased those men away. The two boys became good friends.
The debt problem made Lee Jang-il a cold, lonely person. Kim Sun-woo was his only friend. Kim Sun-woo protected him from debt collectors and in exchange, Lee Jang-il tutored him.
Lee Jang-il's father, Lee Yong-bae, was a simple man. He didn't gamble anymore, but worked in a villa construction belonged to Mr. Jin, a rich businessman.
Kim Sun-woo's father, Kim Kyung-pil, was not Kim Sun-woo's biological father. Kim Kyung-pil was dying because of an illness and planned to give Kim Sun-woo to his real father, Mr. Jin. The two men fought, witnessed by Lee Yong-bae. Mr Jin thought that Kim Kyung-pil had been dead and asked Lee Yong-bae to get rid of the body, and in turn he would pay for Lee Jang-il's study.
But Kim Kyung-pil had not been dead yet. Lee Yong-bae could have called for an ambulance if he wanted. But he didn't.
Kim Sun-woo didn't believe that his (adoptive) father committed suicide - as it had been staged by Lee Yong-bae. He planned to send a petition to the police. At first, his best friend Lee Jang-il promised to help him, but after Lee Jang-il found out that his own father and the man who would pay for his study involved in the murder, he prevented Kim Sun-woo to send the petition. He hit his head with a log of wood and threw his body to the sea.
The scene where Lee Jang-il had to kill his only friend was hauntingly sad. He hit his friend's head from the back three times. Why he didn't stop after the first hit? Was he so ambitious and desperate to continue his study? Didn't Kim Sun-woo promise him to play for his study in Seoul? Without Mr Jin's help, he could still go to a university in Seoul. He and Kim Sun-woo might have to work hard, but at least they would have a piece of mind.
Lee Jang-il never forgot what had happened. He became lonelier and colder. He never smiled happily and lived with his guilt.
Kim Sun-woo didn't die from the attack, but he became blind. His late mother's friend came to send him overseas, to treat his eyes so he could see again, then sent him to study and work in mining industry. When Kim Sun-woo returned to South Korea 15 years later (after the attack), he was a successful business man and ready for his revenge against Lee Jang-il and his father and Mr Jin. Slowly he destroyed the life and career of the man who once was his best friend.
Another favourite character of mine is Choi Su-mi, a painter. She met Lee Jang-il in high school and always liked him. When they first met, Lee Jang-il thought she was a daughter of a rich man and wanted to befriend her. However she was not. Her father was a shaman and this made Lee Jang-il looked down on her. Choi Su-mi witnessed the tragedy when Lee Jang-il attacked his best friend, but she didn't do anything. [Later she became Kim Sun-woo's target for revenge, too.] In her pathetic way to keep Lee Jang-il in her hand, she documented the tragedy in a series of paintings.
Money was important to Lee Jang-il because of his experience with the debt collectors, but he didn't go for rich girlfriends. The one he truly loved was Han Ji-won, who didn't have a lot of money. But Han Ji-won didn't love him.
Choi Su-mi witnessed the tragedy between the two boys and her father witnessed the tragedy between the boys' fathers. Like her, he also didn't do anything to prevent the murder.
Kim Sun-woo's girlfriend, Han Ji-won, persuaded him to stop. Kim Sun-woo told her that he would stop if Lee Jang-il apologized. But the two once-best-friends were proud.
Only in the end after he had been completely destroyed, Lee Jang-il apologized. He and Kim Sun-woo returned to the place where he attacked him 15 years ago, with a hope that he could overcome the nightmares. But the nightmares never stopped.
Mr Jin didn't need to kill Kim Kyung-pil from the start. He was not a politician so he didn't need to hide the fact that he had a son out of wedlock. It was okay and he was rich enough to adopt Kim Sun-woo. His wife didn't care, anyway.
Murder was not easy, but the hardest part was to get rid of the dead body. In the scene where Lee Jang-il watched movies with Han Ji-won, one of the movies they saw was Plein Soleil. Perhaps it was where the scriptwriter got the idea of how difficult it was to get rid of dead bodies.
The cast was quite interesting. The young Lee Jang-il was played by Im Si-wan (25 years old) and young Kim Sun-woo by Lee Hyun-woo (20 years old), and the adult Lee Jang-il by Lee Joon-hyuk (29 years old) and adult Kim Sun-woo by Uhn Tae-woong (39 years old). Note that adult Lee Jang-il only 4 years older than the young.
Monday, September 9, 2019
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Scarlet Heart (TV-2011)
I had wanted to watch this for long, but only recently had time. There is also a Korean version with Lee Jun-ki, which is also famous, but after reading the synopsis of this Mandarin version I decided to watch this one first.
I had watched power struggle among Qian Long Emperor and his brothers (like TV series War and Remembrance - with Louis Koo and David Chiang), and there are movies about Qian Long, like The Book and The Sword, Fong Sai Yuk (a.k.a The Legend), The Young Heroes, Chronicles of Qianlong, etc... but I think there had been only 1-2 movies about Yinzhen I had watched, including a short part in The Hitmen Chronicles. There should be some movies about Yinzhen made by Shaw Brothers but I cannot remember now which ones. In The Hitmen Chronicles, a female assassin took Yinzhen's head, so in his burial, the head had to be replaced with gold. I am not sure if this was only fiction because in other movies I've seen, the emperor did not lose his head.
Since this series is about power struggle among Kangxi Emperor's sons, I wonder how the Korean remake would be like.
Here the story centered around Rouxi, a young girl from the present, who due to an electrical accident transported to 16 years before the end of Kangxi Emperor's era in Qing Dinasty. She became the younger sister of the 8th prince's 2nd wife, befriended the princes, and soon became a maid for the emperor. Her duty was to prepare tea and snacks for the emperor.
The emperor had chosen his favourite son (from the late Empress) as the Crown Prince. This Crown Prince, however, was spoiled and disliked by many. So 1st Prince, 4th Prince and 8th Prince fought against the Crown Prince for the throne, but they had to be careful because of their fear of the Emperor.
4th Prince was supported by 13th Prince, while 8th Prince was supported by 9th Prince, 10th Prince, and 14th Prince.
As Rouxi came from the present, she had already known that it was 4th Prince who would ascend the throne. She warned her brother in law, the 8th Prince; but it would only cause a series of tragedy.
I rarely paid attention to the costumes, but here they were beautifully made. I loved especially the embroideries.
The pace of the story was good, especially because before this I watched 'General and I' which I thought was very very slow... 62 episodes and not much happened.
I had thought it was Kenny Ho who played the 8th Prince. But it was, of course, not him. It was a much younger actor, Yuan Hong.
I had watched power struggle among Qian Long Emperor and his brothers (like TV series War and Remembrance - with Louis Koo and David Chiang), and there are movies about Qian Long, like The Book and The Sword, Fong Sai Yuk (a.k.a The Legend), The Young Heroes, Chronicles of Qianlong, etc... but I think there had been only 1-2 movies about Yinzhen I had watched, including a short part in The Hitmen Chronicles. There should be some movies about Yinzhen made by Shaw Brothers but I cannot remember now which ones. In The Hitmen Chronicles, a female assassin took Yinzhen's head, so in his burial, the head had to be replaced with gold. I am not sure if this was only fiction because in other movies I've seen, the emperor did not lose his head.
Since this series is about power struggle among Kangxi Emperor's sons, I wonder how the Korean remake would be like.
Here the story centered around Rouxi, a young girl from the present, who due to an electrical accident transported to 16 years before the end of Kangxi Emperor's era in Qing Dinasty. She became the younger sister of the 8th prince's 2nd wife, befriended the princes, and soon became a maid for the emperor. Her duty was to prepare tea and snacks for the emperor.
The emperor had chosen his favourite son (from the late Empress) as the Crown Prince. This Crown Prince, however, was spoiled and disliked by many. So 1st Prince, 4th Prince and 8th Prince fought against the Crown Prince for the throne, but they had to be careful because of their fear of the Emperor.
4th Prince was supported by 13th Prince, while 8th Prince was supported by 9th Prince, 10th Prince, and 14th Prince.
As Rouxi came from the present, she had already known that it was 4th Prince who would ascend the throne. She warned her brother in law, the 8th Prince; but it would only cause a series of tragedy.
I rarely paid attention to the costumes, but here they were beautifully made. I loved especially the embroideries.
The pace of the story was good, especially because before this I watched 'General and I' which I thought was very very slow... 62 episodes and not much happened.
I had thought it was Kenny Ho who played the 8th Prince. But it was, of course, not him. It was a much younger actor, Yuan Hong.
Monday, July 1, 2019
Count of Monte Cristo: Great Revenge (TV-2018)
Consist of 9 episodes (1st episode 1 hour, 2nd-8th episode appr. 45 minutes, 9th episode 90 minutes), this series was enjoyable to watch. It was not too long and the pace was good.
In 2003, a fisherman, Saimon Dan, was arrested by the police when he was about to marry his fiancée Sumire. Saimon Dan was betrayed by his friends: 1. Kagura, a fisherman -who wanted to be the new captain 2. Nanjo Yukio, an actor - who wanted Sumire 3.Terakado, a land speculator - who wanted Saimon's land. Kagura provided the idea, Nanjo Yukio made an anonymous call to the police, and Terakado didn't do anything to stop them.
Iruma Kouhei, a police detective, led the arrest. Saimon Dan was to deliver a secret letter to Iruma Kouhei's father. Saimon Dan was accused of being a terrorist. He was taken to a foreign country's prison where he was tortured many times. It was kind of stupid, in my opinion. Couldn't they tell that he could not speak English? [The prison looked like Château d'If.] Years later in his cell he met Faria Shinkai, a former president (of the prison's country), who taught him languages and arts and knowledge, and gave him his hidden treasure.
In 2017, Saimon Dan broke prison dan returned home to begin his revenge.
There were some differences from the original novel, like Saimon Dan's old boss; here Morio was dying when Saimon Dan finally broke prison. So Saimon Dan repaid his old boss's kindness to his son Morio Shinichiro. Shinichiro also happened to be the first person to help Saimon Dan after he landed in his hometown. Another difference: Nanjo Yukio and Sumire had a daughter, not a son. There was also a difference in how Saimon Dan handled the conclusion of his revenge against Kagura and Nanjo Yukio. Plus, Saimon Dan didn't use any disguise and used a single identity as Monte Cristo Shinkai.
This series was definitely worth watching, although I don't like the ending. I wanted Saimon Dan to be happy in the end. I think they wanted to send a message that even if you succeed with your revenge, your heart will still be empty and you will not ever be happy. Just leave space for God's anger.
The original book's ending is better. The Chinese version (The King of Legend - 2012) also had a good ending, the main character was a sailor, wasn't he?
What I like about this series, is how they put the character's name and occupation on screen many times. It's very useful for forgetful viewers like me.
In 2003, a fisherman, Saimon Dan, was arrested by the police when he was about to marry his fiancée Sumire. Saimon Dan was betrayed by his friends: 1. Kagura, a fisherman -who wanted to be the new captain 2. Nanjo Yukio, an actor - who wanted Sumire 3.Terakado, a land speculator - who wanted Saimon's land. Kagura provided the idea, Nanjo Yukio made an anonymous call to the police, and Terakado didn't do anything to stop them.
Iruma Kouhei, a police detective, led the arrest. Saimon Dan was to deliver a secret letter to Iruma Kouhei's father. Saimon Dan was accused of being a terrorist. He was taken to a foreign country's prison where he was tortured many times. It was kind of stupid, in my opinion. Couldn't they tell that he could not speak English? [The prison looked like Château d'If.] Years later in his cell he met Faria Shinkai, a former president (of the prison's country), who taught him languages and arts and knowledge, and gave him his hidden treasure.
In 2017, Saimon Dan broke prison dan returned home to begin his revenge.
There were some differences from the original novel, like Saimon Dan's old boss; here Morio was dying when Saimon Dan finally broke prison. So Saimon Dan repaid his old boss's kindness to his son Morio Shinichiro. Shinichiro also happened to be the first person to help Saimon Dan after he landed in his hometown. Another difference: Nanjo Yukio and Sumire had a daughter, not a son. There was also a difference in how Saimon Dan handled the conclusion of his revenge against Kagura and Nanjo Yukio. Plus, Saimon Dan didn't use any disguise and used a single identity as Monte Cristo Shinkai.
This series was definitely worth watching, although I don't like the ending. I wanted Saimon Dan to be happy in the end. I think they wanted to send a message that even if you succeed with your revenge, your heart will still be empty and you will not ever be happy. Just leave space for God's anger.
The original book's ending is better. The Chinese version (The King of Legend - 2012) also had a good ending, the main character was a sailor, wasn't he?
What I like about this series, is how they put the character's name and occupation on screen many times. It's very useful for forgetful viewers like me.
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
The Return of Iljimae (TV - 2009)
Finished watching this last night. I love both 2009 MBC version of Iljimae and the 2008 SBS version with Lee Joon-gi.
There are viewers who don't like this version (2009) because the story was narrated, but I myself don't mind. I think the narrations make the story clearer and easier to follow. They were even helpful in fighting scenes.
This was titled with the word 'return', as if it was the sequel to the 2008 Lee Joon-gi version, but this was not. The title was only to make us easily differentiate one version to another.
MBC won the comic strip rights so I suppose this version is the one closer to the book. I love the beginning of each episode, how they made it like the beginning of a new chapter. In the end of each episode, a drawing appeared - probably taken from the comic strips. The ending song in the first half of the series, the 3/4 song, was nice and had a simple melody, like a children song.
In this version, the story began with a rising politician had a son with his servant. The servant got kicked out and became a gisaeng (courtesan). The baby was put in a basket, thrown in a river, and saved by a beggar and a monk. Knowing that the baby was alive, the politician's men wanted to kill him, so the monk took the baby to China, where a rich couple adopted him and gave him the name Iljimae. Iljimae means a branch of peach blossom. In China he learned some martial arts and mastered qing gong (=levitation art).
16-17 years later, China sent a spy to Korea and the spy asked Iljimae to accompany him so he could enter Korea easily. This was after he told Iljimae that he had been adopted. So Iljimae went to Korea and looked for his father, but his father refused to acknowledge him. Iljimae was living desperately until he met a girl name Dal, whom he fell in love with. However, Dal was charged with treason and put to death. This was because her father had been slandered by corrupted officers as a traitor. After witnessing what happened to Dal, Iljimae swore that he would defend the weak and the poor.
From Dal's guard, Iljimae learned a rare sword art; and later when he was stranded in Japan, he learned ninja art.
In his journey, he became a hero for the people and befriended the deputy chief police - even though they were enemies, one a thief and one a cop. He robbed the greedy corrupted officials and gave the money to the poor. Every time he made a move, he would leave a branch of plum blossom made of gold. He met another girl who looked like Dal and was looking forward to reuniting with his mother.
I think scenes with Iljimae and his mother were the best. It was not a really happy ending but it was better than the Lee Joon-gi version. In Lee Joon-gi version, Iljimae never had a scene where he reunited with his mother.
Iljimae's main enemy was a corrupted official named Kim Ja-joem. Kim was actually a traitor who worked for China.
Next, after knowing that China (Qing Dynasty) would attack Korea after Korea's failure in making cannons; Iljimae went to China under the pretext to meet his Chinese fiancée. His task was to find Qing's war strategy. His efforts were in vain because the secret letter fell into the hands of Kim Ja-joem. Korea lost the war, while Iljimae was unconscious after suffering a grave injury. When he regained his health, he helped the Korean crown prince - who was held hostage in China - to return as many as possible war prisoners to Korea. When at last Iljimae returned to Korea, his son - whom he never had met - was 9 - 10 years old, and the Chronicles of Iljimae had became a popular book.
Jung Il-woo made a calm, sad Iljimae. He chosed to be silent and rarely smiled. Lee Joon-gi's Iljimae was passionate and would laugh to disguise his sadness.
Lee Joon-gi's Iljimae was the son of a high official who was a close friend to the king. The king was suspicious of everyone and he killed Iljimae's father, then sold his wife and daughter, and was after Iljimae's life. An ex-thief and his wife took care of Iljimae. Iljimae at nights searched high officials' houses, looking for a certain sword (and its owner) that killed his father. To disguise his true intention, he robbed the house and gave the loot to the poor. He would leave a painting of plum blossom branch.
I prefer the idea of Iljimae leaving a painting than a gold of plum blossom branch. Wasn't it better to distribute the gold among the poor? Or am I thinking like Judas Iscariot?
Lee Joon-gi's Iljimae was more frustrating to watch. He indirectly sent his own sister to die and most of the time he lost in fighting (except in the end), not to mention his habit of having his back facing the enemy.
China also has an Iljimae version: 2010 The Vigilantes in Masks a.k.a. Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei, starring Wallace Huo. This is my least favourite among the three. Here Yi Zhi Mei was an ex high ranking official whose family had been executed because of a false accusation. He became a fugitive. Then a former colleague asking him to retrieve the stolen gold for disaster relief. He recruited 3 helpers for the job. The costumes here didn't make sense, in my opinion. They wore the masks on the nose. In this way, the enemy could still recognize them, right?
There are viewers who don't like this version (2009) because the story was narrated, but I myself don't mind. I think the narrations make the story clearer and easier to follow. They were even helpful in fighting scenes.
This was titled with the word 'return', as if it was the sequel to the 2008 Lee Joon-gi version, but this was not. The title was only to make us easily differentiate one version to another.
MBC won the comic strip rights so I suppose this version is the one closer to the book. I love the beginning of each episode, how they made it like the beginning of a new chapter. In the end of each episode, a drawing appeared - probably taken from the comic strips. The ending song in the first half of the series, the 3/4 song, was nice and had a simple melody, like a children song.
In this version, the story began with a rising politician had a son with his servant. The servant got kicked out and became a gisaeng (courtesan). The baby was put in a basket, thrown in a river, and saved by a beggar and a monk. Knowing that the baby was alive, the politician's men wanted to kill him, so the monk took the baby to China, where a rich couple adopted him and gave him the name Iljimae. Iljimae means a branch of peach blossom. In China he learned some martial arts and mastered qing gong (=levitation art).
16-17 years later, China sent a spy to Korea and the spy asked Iljimae to accompany him so he could enter Korea easily. This was after he told Iljimae that he had been adopted. So Iljimae went to Korea and looked for his father, but his father refused to acknowledge him. Iljimae was living desperately until he met a girl name Dal, whom he fell in love with. However, Dal was charged with treason and put to death. This was because her father had been slandered by corrupted officers as a traitor. After witnessing what happened to Dal, Iljimae swore that he would defend the weak and the poor.
From Dal's guard, Iljimae learned a rare sword art; and later when he was stranded in Japan, he learned ninja art.
In his journey, he became a hero for the people and befriended the deputy chief police - even though they were enemies, one a thief and one a cop. He robbed the greedy corrupted officials and gave the money to the poor. Every time he made a move, he would leave a branch of plum blossom made of gold. He met another girl who looked like Dal and was looking forward to reuniting with his mother.
I think scenes with Iljimae and his mother were the best. It was not a really happy ending but it was better than the Lee Joon-gi version. In Lee Joon-gi version, Iljimae never had a scene where he reunited with his mother.
Iljimae's main enemy was a corrupted official named Kim Ja-joem. Kim was actually a traitor who worked for China.
Next, after knowing that China (Qing Dynasty) would attack Korea after Korea's failure in making cannons; Iljimae went to China under the pretext to meet his Chinese fiancée. His task was to find Qing's war strategy. His efforts were in vain because the secret letter fell into the hands of Kim Ja-joem. Korea lost the war, while Iljimae was unconscious after suffering a grave injury. When he regained his health, he helped the Korean crown prince - who was held hostage in China - to return as many as possible war prisoners to Korea. When at last Iljimae returned to Korea, his son - whom he never had met - was 9 - 10 years old, and the Chronicles of Iljimae had became a popular book.
Jung Il-woo made a calm, sad Iljimae. He chosed to be silent and rarely smiled. Lee Joon-gi's Iljimae was passionate and would laugh to disguise his sadness.
Lee Joon-gi's Iljimae was the son of a high official who was a close friend to the king. The king was suspicious of everyone and he killed Iljimae's father, then sold his wife and daughter, and was after Iljimae's life. An ex-thief and his wife took care of Iljimae. Iljimae at nights searched high officials' houses, looking for a certain sword (and its owner) that killed his father. To disguise his true intention, he robbed the house and gave the loot to the poor. He would leave a painting of plum blossom branch.
I prefer the idea of Iljimae leaving a painting than a gold of plum blossom branch. Wasn't it better to distribute the gold among the poor? Or am I thinking like Judas Iscariot?
Lee Joon-gi's Iljimae was more frustrating to watch. He indirectly sent his own sister to die and most of the time he lost in fighting (except in the end), not to mention his habit of having his back facing the enemy.
China also has an Iljimae version: 2010 The Vigilantes in Masks a.k.a. Strange Hero Yi Zhi Mei, starring Wallace Huo. This is my least favourite among the three. Here Yi Zhi Mei was an ex high ranking official whose family had been executed because of a false accusation. He became a fugitive. Then a former colleague asking him to retrieve the stolen gold for disaster relief. He recruited 3 helpers for the job. The costumes here didn't make sense, in my opinion. They wore the masks on the nose. In this way, the enemy could still recognize them, right?
Wednesday, June 5, 2019
Korean Drama Series (part V)
Lookout (The Guardians)
This was quite good and entertaining. A prosecutor built a secret team consisted of an ex female cop (a fugitive) and two young people who were good at computers. Sometimes a priest helped them. They were against the prosecutor's boss who thought that his past crimes had been forgotten. The actor who played the prosecutor was quite good, although there were bizarre moments when he laughed and cried at the same time. The main actress who played the female fugitive was 35 but looked like in her early 20's. I didn't like how she played her character. It was immature for a cop, I mean with all her trainings she should be stronger in handling matters. When she talked to her female cop friend, it was more like talks between housewives than cops. The two high-school students were very bad, made me wonder how they recruited the actors.
Triangle
I like this very much. Three brothers got separated after the death of their father - the mother had run away. The eldest became a policeman, the middle a useless gambler who slept with someone's wife for money, and the youngest adopted by a rich man to be his heir at a big casino. They had lost contact with each other for years. Now the middle and the youngest fought each other, competing in work and in winning the heart of the same woman.
I like Im Si-wan (who played the youngest brother), so this series was a sad one for me, to see the middle and youngest brother fought many times. At first the series was similar to the ones made in Hong Kong, you know: brothers separated, gambling, casino, construction... but Hong Kong series usually have faster paces (for them time is money) and more details scenarios. The eldest left his younger brothers at the orphanage for 2 weeks, but why he left? It must be for something important. This was never explained. The youngest also was said to be a cruel director at the casino, but why? Was it something about the dealers' salaries? Or just because he had transferred personnel staffs who supported his enemy? It also didn't make sense how the middle brother suddenly won every game because in the past he was a loser.
Babel
I don't like this one. The pace was too slow and not many things happened in 16 episodes. A reporter became a prosecutor to find the truth behind his father's mysterious death. Tower of Babel was a symbol of human arrogance, and in this case it represented the big company which was the center of this story. The characters were all nasty and not convincing as well. I think I had picked a wrong series to watch. Not my cup of tea.
Pied Piper
When I first read the synopsis, it did sound boring: "...solve the problems without violence". But this series was far from boring and I enjoyed it very much. It was about a team of crisis negotiators vs a character named 'Pied Piper', who whistled before phoning 112 (equivalent to 911 in the U.S.). Pied Piper persuaded suppressed people (who were angry to powerful people) to commit terror in order to be heard. The last terror (the hijacked plane) was great that I couldn't believe this was made by Koreans.
Confession
This one was very good. I liked its serious ambience and its pace. The central character was a lawyer who tried to prove his father's innocence in a murder case. But this is not Remember: War of the Son, this one has better actors and script.
IRIS
NSS (a secret anti-terrorism organization) vs IRIS (a mysterious organization that loved world chaos. In this matter, it was against the unification of Korea). The story centered around a NSS female team leader and two of her male subordinates, Kim Hyun-jun and Jin Sa-woo. Kim Hyun-jun received a direct order from NSS director to assassinate North Korean prime minister, and he succeeded, but later he learned that the order was actually from IRIS. Hunted by both North and South, he then sought revenge by joining North Korean agents, not realizing that they wanted to bomb Seoul.
This series was interesting and exciting, although I think the love story slowed it down.
Doctor Prisoner
This was entertaining, although not as good as I had expected. This reminded me of Chief Kim / Manager Kim, which also starring Namkung Min. In Chief Kim, he was in rivalry in the financial director, now he was in rivalry with a doctor in prison. He wanted to take over his position in order to seek revenge against Taekang group's director. Comparing this to Confession, I prefer Confession; but perhaps because I prefer law-investigation genre.
Jung Yak-yong
I liked this a lot. Only 8 episodes and in each episode every case was solved. Jung Yak-yong was a prosecutor, loved by the king but had lots of enemies in the palace. The king demoted him and sent him to a far place, where he helped local police to solve cases.
Hidden Identity
This was interesting and quite enjoyable. They were supposed to have hidden identities, but were found out many times. The main enemy was someone called Ghost. There was another TV series with the same name, so I wonder if Ghost was a likeable name for enemy.
The lead character joined Team Investigation 5 - but it's a 'secret team', not a part of the police or any known organization - to find a missing team member, who was also the brother of his late girlfriend who had got killed by Ghost's man.
Crime Squad
First episode was boring and I almost gave up, but I thought the lead actor was good. It did got better. The cases were not excessive -- I heard they were based on real life cases. I didn't like how a 'weak' policewoman could enter into the crime squad team, but she died soon and was replaced by someone better. The reporter thing also didn't work, in my opinion. Her co-workers also never seemed to do any work. The main character joined the police and worked under the very detective who indirectly caused his daughter's death - to have a better understand of the situation.
Queen of Mystery
It's like Miss Marple Korean version. At first it looked like a regular drama with basic detective stories, but as the story progressed the cases got more serious. It started with a simple mini market theft to serial murders to perhaps a political case. The last case was not completely solved to make a way to season 2. Cast were good because none of theme was wooden or gave blank stares. It did frustrate me at first because the lady investigated cases without her mother-in-law's knowledge - thus the mother-in-law called her all the time.
The Good Wife
I haven't seen the original American version. This was about a house-wife whose prosecutor husband went to jail because he had been suspected to receive bribery and sexual favours. It was horrible to see his sex video played on national TV. [Here such video was not allowed to be shown on TV - even the blurred version - since 2010]. She took a job in a lawyer office where her ex-school friend was one of the presidents. She did a good job. She began to forgive her husband, but she found out that he had had another affair with her recent co-worker. Then she began an affair with the company's president. First episodes were fine. I enjoyed watching the cases and trials. But as the story went, I didn't like how she became a bit cruel to his husband and began her own love affair. The plot was too American. The way the kids discussed things with the parents, the settlements outside trials, a wife against her husband - those ways American ways.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Korean drama series (part IV)
Duel
First episode failed to impress me because it started abruptly - the main character's sick daughter had been kidnapped. However, it was getting better as the story progressed. In the end I think it was quite good. I don't like the female prosecutor: she was more like a psychopath with her smiles and big eyes. The main character also swore too much; this is something because I don't speak Korean. The plot itself was interesting, about stem cell vaccine and human clones, and a greedy millionaire who wanted to live forever. What I like about this series is that there was this young killer and I understood the reason why he did those killings. I think the audience would end up sympathize with him.
Time Between Dog and Wolf
I watched this because of Lee Joon-ki, but the main three young actors were all good. It was about NIS vs organized crime from Thailand. First episode was lame and the actress who played the mother was clumsy, but episode two onward were very good. I like the pacing: there was no boring moments, even when the main character lost his memory, it didn't slow down.
The Slingshot
First episode was promising. I liked the idea of the story: A young businessman (later we found out that his name was Chae Do-woo) needed money to take over his father's construction company, to built his dream city. He by chance chose a dumpling company to mess with. A small dumpling factory was also affected, went bankrupt and the owner committed suicide. The owner's brother, Kim Shin, found out the source of his misery, so the two (Kim and Chae) became arch enemies. The problem with this series was, I sympathized with the bad guy (Chae) who was mentally sick and alone. The good guys, together with Chae's father and sister, and later Chae's wife, were all against him. Kim Shin was unemployed, and along with his American lawyer friend, these two lived off another friend. The pace was slow but I liked the ending. Spoiler: Chae Do-woo pretended he was really mentally ill so he wouldn't be send to jail.
Hero
This was tagged as comedy, action; so I was hoping for something light and entertaining. First episodes were indeed funny, but as the story went it turned out that it got serious theme. It reminded me of Falsify/Distorted - but in a lighter tone (Hero was made 8 years earlier): small newspaper vs big media company. The big media company's chairman (Choi) became a candidate for presidential election, but a small newspaper reported that he had committed atrocious crimes.
A mistake that I spotted: Choi had assigned his subordinates to do dirty jobs and the police found proofs of the crimes, including a kidnapping and a murder; but they didn't arrest the kidnapper and the murderer, but went straight to arrest Choi (it was when he was arrested for the first time).
Ghost (a.k.a. Phantom)
Oh this one was very good. It's about a cyber investigation unit and the cases started out with the death of an actress. A famous hacker took his dead police friend's identity to make things right. The enemy, by chance, was played by the same actor who played the enemy in Hero.
The Devil
The idea of the story was actually good, but I don't believe psychometry so this was a wrong choice for me to watch. Kang Oh-so, now a detective police, 12 years ago accidentally murdered his school mate but declared innocent after putting the blame on the victim. In the same year, the victim's mother and brother died in a car accidents. Now it looked like the victim's brother had arisen from the grave and started to seek revenge. Those related to the murder died one by one after receiving a tarot card.
This series was slow and the actor who played the lawyer was not impressing. The police also depended on supernatural power too much, rather than do real detective works.
Joseon Gunman
It's conservative vs enlightenment political factions in King Gojong era. The king at first supported enlightenment, but after the first rebellion, he only focused on how to maintain his power. At that time, China and Japan had opened the ports to foreign influence, but Korea hadn't followed their suit. Li Jun-ki played the main role and I always love to see him in action scenes. This role reminded me of his role in Iljimae, because here he played a Japanese businessman by day and a gunman at night. Some of the romantic scenes felt slow, though, and there was a stupid scene where he fled with his girlfriend into the woods - where she lost her shoe - although it was unnecessary to take her along. It was him only whom they wanted.
Mister Sunshine
The cinematography was breathtaking, but I hoped the pace could be faster. Actually this reminds me of old Italian movies. Coincidentally, this series continues where Joseon Gunman left off. Queen Min had been died and the King was powerless against Japanese occupation. The central character was a noble lady, Ae-sin, a gunman from Righteous Army - and the three men who loved her: a Korean-American, a Korean Japanese, and a rich Korean. I didn't know that Korean patriotic movie could be enjoyable.
Live
This series about police procedural was quite depressing to watch. It focused on a team of patrol division. To become a policeman was a way of living, to earn money, but the risk was higher. It makes me appreciate police officers now.
Mad Dog
I like this a lot. There was a great scene portraying a plane crash. This was about insurance scams. The main case was how an aviation company, a insurance company, a chief police, and Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs involved in a plane crash accident with 190 victims - and put the blame on the co-pilot. It's rather unbelievable, though, how the bad guys could hide the result from the blackbox - because in Indonesia, public transport accident cases would be handled by a nonstructural committee (KNKT).
Bad Guys
A detective police formed a team consisted of 3 prisoners: a mob boss, a professional killer and a serial killer, to solve cases. If those 3 could solve the cases, they would get remission. I don't really like this one. This was dark and gloomy and I don't like the way the story was told. It was rather confusing from one scene from another. Also the actor who played the serial killer had wooden expression with empty stares.
First episode failed to impress me because it started abruptly - the main character's sick daughter had been kidnapped. However, it was getting better as the story progressed. In the end I think it was quite good. I don't like the female prosecutor: she was more like a psychopath with her smiles and big eyes. The main character also swore too much; this is something because I don't speak Korean. The plot itself was interesting, about stem cell vaccine and human clones, and a greedy millionaire who wanted to live forever. What I like about this series is that there was this young killer and I understood the reason why he did those killings. I think the audience would end up sympathize with him.
Time Between Dog and Wolf
I watched this because of Lee Joon-ki, but the main three young actors were all good. It was about NIS vs organized crime from Thailand. First episode was lame and the actress who played the mother was clumsy, but episode two onward were very good. I like the pacing: there was no boring moments, even when the main character lost his memory, it didn't slow down.
The Slingshot
First episode was promising. I liked the idea of the story: A young businessman (later we found out that his name was Chae Do-woo) needed money to take over his father's construction company, to built his dream city. He by chance chose a dumpling company to mess with. A small dumpling factory was also affected, went bankrupt and the owner committed suicide. The owner's brother, Kim Shin, found out the source of his misery, so the two (Kim and Chae) became arch enemies. The problem with this series was, I sympathized with the bad guy (Chae) who was mentally sick and alone. The good guys, together with Chae's father and sister, and later Chae's wife, were all against him. Kim Shin was unemployed, and along with his American lawyer friend, these two lived off another friend. The pace was slow but I liked the ending. Spoiler: Chae Do-woo pretended he was really mentally ill so he wouldn't be send to jail.
Hero
This was tagged as comedy, action; so I was hoping for something light and entertaining. First episodes were indeed funny, but as the story went it turned out that it got serious theme. It reminded me of Falsify/Distorted - but in a lighter tone (Hero was made 8 years earlier): small newspaper vs big media company. The big media company's chairman (Choi) became a candidate for presidential election, but a small newspaper reported that he had committed atrocious crimes.
A mistake that I spotted: Choi had assigned his subordinates to do dirty jobs and the police found proofs of the crimes, including a kidnapping and a murder; but they didn't arrest the kidnapper and the murderer, but went straight to arrest Choi (it was when he was arrested for the first time).
Ghost (a.k.a. Phantom)
Oh this one was very good. It's about a cyber investigation unit and the cases started out with the death of an actress. A famous hacker took his dead police friend's identity to make things right. The enemy, by chance, was played by the same actor who played the enemy in Hero.
The Devil
The idea of the story was actually good, but I don't believe psychometry so this was a wrong choice for me to watch. Kang Oh-so, now a detective police, 12 years ago accidentally murdered his school mate but declared innocent after putting the blame on the victim. In the same year, the victim's mother and brother died in a car accidents. Now it looked like the victim's brother had arisen from the grave and started to seek revenge. Those related to the murder died one by one after receiving a tarot card.
This series was slow and the actor who played the lawyer was not impressing. The police also depended on supernatural power too much, rather than do real detective works.
Joseon Gunman
It's conservative vs enlightenment political factions in King Gojong era. The king at first supported enlightenment, but after the first rebellion, he only focused on how to maintain his power. At that time, China and Japan had opened the ports to foreign influence, but Korea hadn't followed their suit. Li Jun-ki played the main role and I always love to see him in action scenes. This role reminded me of his role in Iljimae, because here he played a Japanese businessman by day and a gunman at night. Some of the romantic scenes felt slow, though, and there was a stupid scene where he fled with his girlfriend into the woods - where she lost her shoe - although it was unnecessary to take her along. It was him only whom they wanted.
Mister Sunshine
The cinematography was breathtaking, but I hoped the pace could be faster. Actually this reminds me of old Italian movies. Coincidentally, this series continues where Joseon Gunman left off. Queen Min had been died and the King was powerless against Japanese occupation. The central character was a noble lady, Ae-sin, a gunman from Righteous Army - and the three men who loved her: a Korean-American, a Korean Japanese, and a rich Korean. I didn't know that Korean patriotic movie could be enjoyable.
Live
This series about police procedural was quite depressing to watch. It focused on a team of patrol division. To become a policeman was a way of living, to earn money, but the risk was higher. It makes me appreciate police officers now.
Mad Dog
I like this a lot. There was a great scene portraying a plane crash. This was about insurance scams. The main case was how an aviation company, a insurance company, a chief police, and Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs involved in a plane crash accident with 190 victims - and put the blame on the co-pilot. It's rather unbelievable, though, how the bad guys could hide the result from the blackbox - because in Indonesia, public transport accident cases would be handled by a nonstructural committee (KNKT).
Bad Guys
A detective police formed a team consisted of 3 prisoners: a mob boss, a professional killer and a serial killer, to solve cases. If those 3 could solve the cases, they would get remission. I don't really like this one. This was dark and gloomy and I don't like the way the story was told. It was rather confusing from one scene from another. Also the actor who played the serial killer had wooden expression with empty stares.
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Les Misérables - An Endless Journey (2019)
I personally like this new Japanese version than the 1998 version (the one with Liam Neeson). I'm going to write a long synopsis so those who are curious and want to compare this with the book could get an idea. For those who want to watch the movie, you'd better not continue reading. There will be spoilers.
1994 - Kobe
18 year-old Baba Jun escaped from prison because his younger brother needed a transplant, but he was too late. His younger brother has been dead. He then found refuge in some kind of youth center, where he met Watanabe Takumi and the two became friends. Takumi died during the Kobe earthquake in January 1995 and Baba Jun used Takumi's identity to begin a new life.
Baba Jun had gone into a juvenile detention center as a minor because he accidentally killed Mr Saito, who had cheated Baba Jun's mother out of her money. With a good attorney, Baba Jun actually should not have gone into prison; but unluckily his family was poor.
The late Mr Saito had a son, Saito Ryosuke. He was harassed by society because of his father's crime. Thus he held a grudge against Baba Jun, who had killed his father.
2004 - Tokyo
Baba Jun - now known as Watanabe Takumi - worked as a lawyer. He lived with Takumi's girlfriend. In the course of his work, he met a young woman, Fuwa Yui, who had a little daughter named Kozue. Fuwa Yui, due to her work, entrusted Kozue to an illegal child care, managed by Mr & Mrs Tanabe. When Fuwa Yui died, Baba Jun took Kozue away and left Tokyo; after reporting the illegal child care to the authorities. Meanwhile, Saito Ryosuke - now a police detective - had found out Baba Jun's real identity, but there was no proof.
2018 - Fukushima
Kozue was now a beautiful young lady, met Usui Shin - a young politician, and the two fell in love. Shin's grandfather was against the relationship because Kozue's father's identity was unclear.
The Tanabes, now bicycles thieves, found out about Kozue and Shin - from their daughter Erika, who worked at Shin's office. [Erika was much luckier than Éponine. She was clean and educated, not a beggar. Later she realized that her parents didn't love her as much as Baba Jun loved Kozue.] The Tanabes blackmailed Baba Jun: if he didn't give them money, they would announce that Shin's future wife's father was a murderer and a fugitive.
Baba Jun told Kozue to break off her relationship with Shin. She later told Shin that if she had to choose between Shin and her father, she would choose her father, because he loved her even though she was not his natural daughter.
When the police raided those bicycles thieves, the Tanabes attempted to kill Saito. They went into the woods to bury him, but Baba Jun came and saved the detective.
Shin suffered from hepatitis and needed a transplant. Baba Jun became the donor. It was then he realized why he had been living. Baba Jun asked Shin's grandfather to give consent to Shin - Kozue's marriage, and he himself would leave to avoid future troubles.
The scene where Baba Jun met Saito Ryosuke in the hospital showed the contrast between the two: one was serene and peaceful, while the other hateful and angry.
It ended with Saito Ryosuke rode a car together with Baba Jun, perhaps heading to prison.
1994 - Kobe
18 year-old Baba Jun escaped from prison because his younger brother needed a transplant, but he was too late. His younger brother has been dead. He then found refuge in some kind of youth center, where he met Watanabe Takumi and the two became friends. Takumi died during the Kobe earthquake in January 1995 and Baba Jun used Takumi's identity to begin a new life.
Baba Jun had gone into a juvenile detention center as a minor because he accidentally killed Mr Saito, who had cheated Baba Jun's mother out of her money. With a good attorney, Baba Jun actually should not have gone into prison; but unluckily his family was poor.
The late Mr Saito had a son, Saito Ryosuke. He was harassed by society because of his father's crime. Thus he held a grudge against Baba Jun, who had killed his father.
2004 - Tokyo
Baba Jun - now known as Watanabe Takumi - worked as a lawyer. He lived with Takumi's girlfriend. In the course of his work, he met a young woman, Fuwa Yui, who had a little daughter named Kozue. Fuwa Yui, due to her work, entrusted Kozue to an illegal child care, managed by Mr & Mrs Tanabe. When Fuwa Yui died, Baba Jun took Kozue away and left Tokyo; after reporting the illegal child care to the authorities. Meanwhile, Saito Ryosuke - now a police detective - had found out Baba Jun's real identity, but there was no proof.
2018 - Fukushima
Kozue was now a beautiful young lady, met Usui Shin - a young politician, and the two fell in love. Shin's grandfather was against the relationship because Kozue's father's identity was unclear.
The Tanabes, now bicycles thieves, found out about Kozue and Shin - from their daughter Erika, who worked at Shin's office. [Erika was much luckier than Éponine. She was clean and educated, not a beggar. Later she realized that her parents didn't love her as much as Baba Jun loved Kozue.] The Tanabes blackmailed Baba Jun: if he didn't give them money, they would announce that Shin's future wife's father was a murderer and a fugitive.
Baba Jun told Kozue to break off her relationship with Shin. She later told Shin that if she had to choose between Shin and her father, she would choose her father, because he loved her even though she was not his natural daughter.
When the police raided those bicycles thieves, the Tanabes attempted to kill Saito. They went into the woods to bury him, but Baba Jun came and saved the detective.
Shin suffered from hepatitis and needed a transplant. Baba Jun became the donor. It was then he realized why he had been living. Baba Jun asked Shin's grandfather to give consent to Shin - Kozue's marriage, and he himself would leave to avoid future troubles.
The scene where Baba Jun met Saito Ryosuke in the hospital showed the contrast between the two: one was serene and peaceful, while the other hateful and angry.
It ended with Saito Ryosuke rode a car together with Baba Jun, perhaps heading to prison.
Monday, March 18, 2019
Korean drama series (part III)
Misty
This was quite interesting, although the pace was rather slow. A famous news presenter was accused of murder. There was no evidence, but she was arrested after reporting corruptions which involved 2 big companies. The lead actress's present was dominant and it was easy to see why she was respected and admired by many. However, I didn't like the silence and gap between dialogues. The dialogues were also slowly delivered. It was unrealistic to me. It's also the same reason why I hate The K2: The main female characters, in both series, could not control themselves in live shows.
Lawless Lawyer
This series was entertaining - until someone mentioned that in the year 2000 microSD had not been existed 👿. But, really, the poor boy obviously could not swallow a floppy disk. I think I like Lee Jun-ki now. [With long small eyes and pointed chin, he reminds me of male characters from Japanese manga, like the ones drawn by Riyoko Ikeda..] His female partner had an alto voice that was nice to hear. Plot: A lawyer returned to his hometown to avenge his mother's death. He named his office 'Lawless Lawyer' - perhaps because he was a gangster before. He fought the female judge and her cronies, who ruled the small city.
Falsify
This one was very good. What if a respected newspaper's director instructed his journalists to fabricated news? A media jackal believed that his brother, a journalist, had been murdered because of one of his articles. So he followed his late brother's journey to unravel the mystery.
Iljimae
I wanted to watch this to see more Lee Jun-ki. This was a classic. The king killed everybody whom he thought as a threat to his throne. Iljimae, the hero of this story, was searching for the sword -and its owner - that had killed his father, and to hide his true intention, he robbed the houses and gave the money to the needed. For the poor, he was their Robin Hood. The setting was in 17th or 18th century and it was interesting how Mandarin characters were widely used.
Whisper
In my opinion, this one was a mess. I didn't like the lead actor, especially in the first episodes where he knitted his brows too many times. He looked like he was carrying the problem of the world on his shoulders. An upright judge and a righteous policewoman turned evil. Along with other corrupted characters they cheated and deceived each other. It began with a death of a reporter and another reporter was framed for the murder. Every time a new evidence was found, it would soon be gone, either due to blackmail or threat. The case just went round and round and didn't make a progress.
Misaeng (=Incomplete Life)
Love this very much. It's about white collar workers in a trading company. The central character was 26 year-old Jang Geu-rae (it's his name). He only had a GED (=I think it's equivalent to a high school diploma) and could became an intern because he had connection, and this made everybody looked down on him - at first. However, he showed that he was indeed competent and was contracted for 2 years. His co-workers grew fond of him and wanted to help him to become a full timer.
The cast is great. It's the first time I saw Im Si-wan who played Jang Geu-rae. He's a pretty boy who seems to act without effort. The senior actor who played his boss Mr Oh, had bags under his eyes, made him believable as hardworking team-leader.
Misaeng was based on webcomic series by Yoon Tae-ho. The movie Inside Men [It was a great movie.] was also based on his work.
Two Weeks
This was more like The Fugitive and you could even see Tommy Lee Jones for a couple of seconds. Starring by Lee Jun-ki, his character was named Jang Tae-san [which reminded me of Michelle Yim's dad's name in 1983 Tiger Hill Trail]. Jang Tae-san was framed for murder and he escaped while being transported from police to prosecutor, because he had to donate his bone marrow to his daughter -whom he had never knew existed - in 2 weeks. (If he went to jail, someone would kill him.) He was chased by the cops and the bad guys. I really enjoyed watching this one.
Chief Kim (a.k.a Good Manager)
At first it was boring and since i's a comedy, the actors tend to overact. I hated to see Chief Kim and the gluttonous finance director sabotaged each other. They worked at the same company, so why? I forgot again that this was supposed to be a comedy. But when they started to help each other and then work together against the corrupted chairman and his people, it got interesting and I started to enjoy the series. I also loved the comic drawings at the end of each episode.
Bad Guy
This was so bad. I had choosen a wrong drama to watch. The synopsis was interesting, it was about revenge. Little Choi Tae-song had been taken from his parents and it had been said that he had been the illegal son of the Haesin group's owner. His name had been changed to Hong Tae-song. A year later they said he had been an impostor because they found the real boy, and they threw him out on the street, just like that. It was so cruel that those people should have been arrested by the authorities. 20 years later, he came back to get his revenge.
This series, however, focused on a love triangle among two Hong Tae-songs and a girl. It's just not my cup of tea. I dislike this kind of drama. I almost gave up after 3 episodes, but finally decided to get on with it. It was so boring that I started to notice how the director loved short shots. In a dialogues, for example, he would do close ups on the character who was delivering the line, and changed to the other character, and so on. It really had got on my nerves.
The actress who played Hong Mo Ne was very bad. I think it was her eyes. I was not sure if she had been sleepy or she hated her own character.
Prison Playbook
Loved this so much. One of the best dramas I have seen. I had imagined a dark prison with dirty inmates, but the prison was clean like in 'Innocent Defendant'. I have no idea if real prisons in South Korea are like what has been described in this series, but I really enjoyed watching this. The main character was a famous pitcher who went to prison for a year for beating the man who had assaulted his sister. This series was full of interesting characters and in fact this is the first South Korean series that could make me laugh a lot.
Hello Monster
This one was also good. I forgot what the main character's profession. I think he was a professor in criminology, and helped the police as a consultant. When he was little, he met a serial killer who later killed his father and kidnapped his younger brother. The cases in this series were interesting and the relationships among the characters were well portrayed. I liked how the stories were divided into chapters with a catchy song in the beginning of every chapter.
This was quite interesting, although the pace was rather slow. A famous news presenter was accused of murder. There was no evidence, but she was arrested after reporting corruptions which involved 2 big companies. The lead actress's present was dominant and it was easy to see why she was respected and admired by many. However, I didn't like the silence and gap between dialogues. The dialogues were also slowly delivered. It was unrealistic to me. It's also the same reason why I hate The K2: The main female characters, in both series, could not control themselves in live shows.
Lawless Lawyer
This series was entertaining - until someone mentioned that in the year 2000 microSD had not been existed 👿. But, really, the poor boy obviously could not swallow a floppy disk. I think I like Lee Jun-ki now. [With long small eyes and pointed chin, he reminds me of male characters from Japanese manga, like the ones drawn by Riyoko Ikeda..] His female partner had an alto voice that was nice to hear. Plot: A lawyer returned to his hometown to avenge his mother's death. He named his office 'Lawless Lawyer' - perhaps because he was a gangster before. He fought the female judge and her cronies, who ruled the small city.
Falsify
This one was very good. What if a respected newspaper's director instructed his journalists to fabricated news? A media jackal believed that his brother, a journalist, had been murdered because of one of his articles. So he followed his late brother's journey to unravel the mystery.
Iljimae
I wanted to watch this to see more Lee Jun-ki. This was a classic. The king killed everybody whom he thought as a threat to his throne. Iljimae, the hero of this story, was searching for the sword -and its owner - that had killed his father, and to hide his true intention, he robbed the houses and gave the money to the needed. For the poor, he was their Robin Hood. The setting was in 17th or 18th century and it was interesting how Mandarin characters were widely used.
Whisper
In my opinion, this one was a mess. I didn't like the lead actor, especially in the first episodes where he knitted his brows too many times. He looked like he was carrying the problem of the world on his shoulders. An upright judge and a righteous policewoman turned evil. Along with other corrupted characters they cheated and deceived each other. It began with a death of a reporter and another reporter was framed for the murder. Every time a new evidence was found, it would soon be gone, either due to blackmail or threat. The case just went round and round and didn't make a progress.
Misaeng (=Incomplete Life)
Love this very much. It's about white collar workers in a trading company. The central character was 26 year-old Jang Geu-rae (it's his name). He only had a GED (=I think it's equivalent to a high school diploma) and could became an intern because he had connection, and this made everybody looked down on him - at first. However, he showed that he was indeed competent and was contracted for 2 years. His co-workers grew fond of him and wanted to help him to become a full timer.
The cast is great. It's the first time I saw Im Si-wan who played Jang Geu-rae. He's a pretty boy who seems to act without effort. The senior actor who played his boss Mr Oh, had bags under his eyes, made him believable as hardworking team-leader.
Misaeng was based on webcomic series by Yoon Tae-ho. The movie Inside Men [It was a great movie.] was also based on his work.
Two Weeks
This was more like The Fugitive and you could even see Tommy Lee Jones for a couple of seconds. Starring by Lee Jun-ki, his character was named Jang Tae-san [which reminded me of Michelle Yim's dad's name in 1983 Tiger Hill Trail]. Jang Tae-san was framed for murder and he escaped while being transported from police to prosecutor, because he had to donate his bone marrow to his daughter -whom he had never knew existed - in 2 weeks. (If he went to jail, someone would kill him.) He was chased by the cops and the bad guys. I really enjoyed watching this one.
Chief Kim (a.k.a Good Manager)
At first it was boring and since i's a comedy, the actors tend to overact. I hated to see Chief Kim and the gluttonous finance director sabotaged each other. They worked at the same company, so why? I forgot again that this was supposed to be a comedy. But when they started to help each other and then work together against the corrupted chairman and his people, it got interesting and I started to enjoy the series. I also loved the comic drawings at the end of each episode.
Bad Guy
This was so bad. I had choosen a wrong drama to watch. The synopsis was interesting, it was about revenge. Little Choi Tae-song had been taken from his parents and it had been said that he had been the illegal son of the Haesin group's owner. His name had been changed to Hong Tae-song. A year later they said he had been an impostor because they found the real boy, and they threw him out on the street, just like that. It was so cruel that those people should have been arrested by the authorities. 20 years later, he came back to get his revenge.
This series, however, focused on a love triangle among two Hong Tae-songs and a girl. It's just not my cup of tea. I dislike this kind of drama. I almost gave up after 3 episodes, but finally decided to get on with it. It was so boring that I started to notice how the director loved short shots. In a dialogues, for example, he would do close ups on the character who was delivering the line, and changed to the other character, and so on. It really had got on my nerves.
The actress who played Hong Mo Ne was very bad. I think it was her eyes. I was not sure if she had been sleepy or she hated her own character.
Prison Playbook
Loved this so much. One of the best dramas I have seen. I had imagined a dark prison with dirty inmates, but the prison was clean like in 'Innocent Defendant'. I have no idea if real prisons in South Korea are like what has been described in this series, but I really enjoyed watching this. The main character was a famous pitcher who went to prison for a year for beating the man who had assaulted his sister. This series was full of interesting characters and in fact this is the first South Korean series that could make me laugh a lot.
Hello Monster
This one was also good. I forgot what the main character's profession. I think he was a professor in criminology, and helped the police as a consultant. When he was little, he met a serial killer who later killed his father and kidnapped his younger brother. The cases in this series were interesting and the relationships among the characters were well portrayed. I liked how the stories were divided into chapters with a catchy song in the beginning of every chapter.
Monday, February 4, 2019
Korean drama series (part II)
Just wanted to write about some Korean drama series I had watched. In my previous posts I have written about Criminal Minds, Signal, Stranger, Voice, and Life.
As I have mentioned before, I would avoid those romantic dramas. I also don't like ghost stories - vampire included. I love watching thrillers and detective stories.
1. Tunnel (2017)
This series was recommended for those who loved 'Signal'. A 1986 police detective who tried to catch a serial murderer, went through a tunnel which took him to the year of 2016 - where he would again meet the murderer. This was nice to watch.
2. Missing Noir M (2015)
This one was very good. An ex-FBI went back to Korea and partnered with a local police detective to solve missing person cases. What I like about this was, the ex-FBI guy and the local detective often worked separately looking for clues; it was faster that way. The local detective was as smart as the ex-FBI guy. I hate it when police is described like they have no brain and only uses strength, when they are supposed to be detectives but acted like thugs.
3. City Hunter (2011)
Watched this because my sister often mentioned Lee Min-ho's name, like he was the most handsome and popular actor in South Korea. So I looked up his works, and among them, only City Hunter looked interesting. Well, I must say that I enjoyed watching this very much. I knew City Hunter comic books - a private detective who loved everything female, and the movie version with Jackie Chan. But this Korean drama was something else. They had created this to be a whole excellent story, that City Hunter avenged the death of his father. He hunted 5 politicians to destroy them. It seemed like 'the Count of Monte Cristo' to me, so yes, I liked this very much.
4. Innocent Defendant (2018)
I enjoyed watching this very much. Both lead actors who played the defendant and the bad guy were excellent. A prosecutor had to confess to have murdered his own wife, to save his kidnapped child. His cell mates were hilarious, especially in a musical scenes. If I had to be picky, I didn't like the actor who played Prosecutor Kang because he was bland.
5. Life On Mars (2018)
This one was also good. A forensic scientist traveled back 30 years and saw his own childhood days and why the murderer he was trying to catch in 2018 became what he was to be. This was different from Tunnel. In Tunnel the hero traveled back in time through a tunnel, but in this, the time traveling was in the hero's mind. Interesting to see how a 1988 female police officer was described in here: their main job was to serve coffee for male officer.
6. 14 Days God's Gift (2014)
This was very good. A child was kidnapped and found dead, drown in a lake. The anguished mother committed suicide by throwing herself into the same lake. She wake up and found that she was taken back to the previous 14 days before the day her little girl was found dead. So she tried to prevent the disaster to happen. Because she tampered with this and that from day 1, we would see that the next events would be different from what she had experienced before. This series was so intense and the two leads, Lee Bo-young and Cho Seung-woo, were convincing. Many had complaints about the ending - including me. I saw that an alternate ending was available, [spoiler] but any ending with the death of Cho Seung-woo's character would always be disappointing. Why couldn't they let him live? Just because a shaman had said so, they had the heart to kill him. Didn't they know that Hezekiah, King David and the people of Nineveh could change God's mind.
7. Remember (2015)
This was a so-so series. A young man with a photographic memory became a lawyer to clear his father's name. The alzheimer's father had been accused of rape and murder of a university student. I think it would be better if this had shorter episodes --> it was 20 episodes. The real murderer was the heir of a conglomerate; and with corruption in the justice system, it seemed impossible to put him in jail. The actor who played the bad guy (Nam Koong Min) was very good, and his looks was something I can't forget in a long time.
8. The K2 (2016)
I thought this would be similar to City Hunter, but I was wrong. The lead actor was good looking and the fighting scenes were very good (especially the fight in the bathroom), but the story was .... not good. Four of the main characters were overacting (this excluded the good looking lead actor) and at least two of them loved to laughed hysterically. Two presidential candidates, one was worse than the other. I even wondered whether the writer of the drama loved his motherland, that he created two bad guys as presidential candidates. It happened that our hero was a mercenary soldier whose future wife got murdered in Iraq. She was a bright independent woman who could speak many languages. Now he fell in love again with a girl who couldn't do anything - couldn't even cook instant ramen, who perhaps had a mind of a 9 year-old. It just didn't make sense to me: a war veteran exchanged sms text messages with his girlfriend. I hated this series that I hoped every character died, except the hero and the JSS security guys.
9. 38 Task Force (2016)
This one was quite good. A tax collector worked with a group of frauds to collect taxes from delinquent taxpayers. It was a bit slow at times, but quite enjoyable.
10. Heartless City (2013)
Wanted to watch this because of the reviews. It turned out that it was not so good as I had expected, although it was not bad either. It was about police undercover in drug dealer organizations. In my opinion, if we talk about TV series about undercover, Hong Kong's Line Walker is much better.
11. Return (2018)
I like the pace and tone of this series. It showed us how ugly a revenge could be, because the bad guys became the victims - I did feel sorry for two of them (the doctor and the family guy). It was hard for me to sympathize with the original victim. For me the hero was the police, who tried to catch the murderer. He looked not so bright, but actually he was quite smart. This series showed us that we should be an honest person. A wrong decision (a lie) could make us fall deep and deeper. In the end, it would be better to forgive, don't you agree?
This series reminded me of Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave, where 3 friends killed each other over a suitcase of money -- and it began because they simply wouldn't come forth to the police.
So far, I only dislike Voice and The K2. Remember and Heartless City are so-so. The best one is still Stranger.
As I have mentioned before, I would avoid those romantic dramas. I also don't like ghost stories - vampire included. I love watching thrillers and detective stories.
1. Tunnel (2017)
This series was recommended for those who loved 'Signal'. A 1986 police detective who tried to catch a serial murderer, went through a tunnel which took him to the year of 2016 - where he would again meet the murderer. This was nice to watch.
2. Missing Noir M (2015)
This one was very good. An ex-FBI went back to Korea and partnered with a local police detective to solve missing person cases. What I like about this was, the ex-FBI guy and the local detective often worked separately looking for clues; it was faster that way. The local detective was as smart as the ex-FBI guy. I hate it when police is described like they have no brain and only uses strength, when they are supposed to be detectives but acted like thugs.
3. City Hunter (2011)
Watched this because my sister often mentioned Lee Min-ho's name, like he was the most handsome and popular actor in South Korea. So I looked up his works, and among them, only City Hunter looked interesting. Well, I must say that I enjoyed watching this very much. I knew City Hunter comic books - a private detective who loved everything female, and the movie version with Jackie Chan. But this Korean drama was something else. They had created this to be a whole excellent story, that City Hunter avenged the death of his father. He hunted 5 politicians to destroy them. It seemed like 'the Count of Monte Cristo' to me, so yes, I liked this very much.
4. Innocent Defendant (2018)
I enjoyed watching this very much. Both lead actors who played the defendant and the bad guy were excellent. A prosecutor had to confess to have murdered his own wife, to save his kidnapped child. His cell mates were hilarious, especially in a musical scenes. If I had to be picky, I didn't like the actor who played Prosecutor Kang because he was bland.
5. Life On Mars (2018)
This one was also good. A forensic scientist traveled back 30 years and saw his own childhood days and why the murderer he was trying to catch in 2018 became what he was to be. This was different from Tunnel. In Tunnel the hero traveled back in time through a tunnel, but in this, the time traveling was in the hero's mind. Interesting to see how a 1988 female police officer was described in here: their main job was to serve coffee for male officer.
6. 14 Days God's Gift (2014)
This was very good. A child was kidnapped and found dead, drown in a lake. The anguished mother committed suicide by throwing herself into the same lake. She wake up and found that she was taken back to the previous 14 days before the day her little girl was found dead. So she tried to prevent the disaster to happen. Because she tampered with this and that from day 1, we would see that the next events would be different from what she had experienced before. This series was so intense and the two leads, Lee Bo-young and Cho Seung-woo, were convincing. Many had complaints about the ending - including me. I saw that an alternate ending was available, [spoiler] but any ending with the death of Cho Seung-woo's character would always be disappointing. Why couldn't they let him live? Just because a shaman had said so, they had the heart to kill him. Didn't they know that Hezekiah, King David and the people of Nineveh could change God's mind.
7. Remember (2015)
This was a so-so series. A young man with a photographic memory became a lawyer to clear his father's name. The alzheimer's father had been accused of rape and murder of a university student. I think it would be better if this had shorter episodes --> it was 20 episodes. The real murderer was the heir of a conglomerate; and with corruption in the justice system, it seemed impossible to put him in jail. The actor who played the bad guy (Nam Koong Min) was very good, and his looks was something I can't forget in a long time.
8. The K2 (2016)
I thought this would be similar to City Hunter, but I was wrong. The lead actor was good looking and the fighting scenes were very good (especially the fight in the bathroom), but the story was .... not good. Four of the main characters were overacting (this excluded the good looking lead actor) and at least two of them loved to laughed hysterically. Two presidential candidates, one was worse than the other. I even wondered whether the writer of the drama loved his motherland, that he created two bad guys as presidential candidates. It happened that our hero was a mercenary soldier whose future wife got murdered in Iraq. She was a bright independent woman who could speak many languages. Now he fell in love again with a girl who couldn't do anything - couldn't even cook instant ramen, who perhaps had a mind of a 9 year-old. It just didn't make sense to me: a war veteran exchanged sms text messages with his girlfriend. I hated this series that I hoped every character died, except the hero and the JSS security guys.
9. 38 Task Force (2016)
This one was quite good. A tax collector worked with a group of frauds to collect taxes from delinquent taxpayers. It was a bit slow at times, but quite enjoyable.
10. Heartless City (2013)
Wanted to watch this because of the reviews. It turned out that it was not so good as I had expected, although it was not bad either. It was about police undercover in drug dealer organizations. In my opinion, if we talk about TV series about undercover, Hong Kong's Line Walker is much better.
11. Return (2018)
I like the pace and tone of this series. It showed us how ugly a revenge could be, because the bad guys became the victims - I did feel sorry for two of them (the doctor and the family guy). It was hard for me to sympathize with the original victim. For me the hero was the police, who tried to catch the murderer. He looked not so bright, but actually he was quite smart. This series showed us that we should be an honest person. A wrong decision (a lie) could make us fall deep and deeper. In the end, it would be better to forgive, don't you agree?
This series reminded me of Danny Boyle's Shallow Grave, where 3 friends killed each other over a suitcase of money -- and it began because they simply wouldn't come forth to the police.
So far, I only dislike Voice and The K2. Remember and Heartless City are so-so. The best one is still Stranger.
Life (TV-2018)
The ER doctor, Ye Jin-woo, was the main character in this series. Everything was in motion because of him. However I must say I was not impressed with his character at all. It seemed to me Ye Jin-woo had lost his will to live. The way he said his lines was flat.
Ye Jin-woo was the good guy, while the president director, Gu Seung-hyo, was the bad guy. But my sympathy lied with the Mr. Gu. Ye Jin-woo tried to get the truth behind the death of the hospital director and refused the new changes made by the new president director - whom he thought was money oriented. He was the good guy in this series, but I disliked him for stirring things and made things difficult for Mr. Gu. The poor Mr Gu, on the other hand, tried to do his best making money for the company and made the doctors safe. He was misunderstood by many, because of the wrong start, and squeezed between the doctors and the CEO.
In the end, I enjoyed watching this drama about a big corporate. It was interesting to see how a big company in Korea worked.
Wednesday, January 2, 2019
The Legend of Chu Liu-hsiang 2012 (TV)
I really enjoyed watching this series. The stories are like in the books. This TV series are based on 4 Chu Liu-hsiang books by Gu Long: The Love Story of A Ghost and A Swordsman (1970), The Legend of The Bat (1971), The Legend of The New Moon (1978), and The Legend of The Peach Blossom (1972).
I read the first 2 books when I was in junior high school and that time I was mesmerized by them. They were much more interesting than Agatha Christie books. The Legend of The Bat, in particular, was quite scary; because the characters went into a cave where they couldn't see anything. So among the 4 stories, The Legend of The Bat is my favourite.
Only recently I found the first 3 Chu Liu-hsiang books: Lingering Fragrance in the Sea of Blood, The Great Desert, and The Thrush. These three books are a trilogy and must be read in correct order. The trilogy is, until now, one of the two best books I have ever read. --> the other one is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
I also have read the rest of Chu Liu-hsiang books, but I don't really like them. Perhaps it is the translation... Translators nowadays have different style than those in the old days.
But in The Legend of The New Moon, the mystery is not intriguing. And in the end, it is not Chu Liu-hsiang who solves the problem how to kill the enemy.
When you think about it, in the Legend of The Bat, Chu Liu-hsiang also doesn't have to fight the master of the Bat island. So there is no big fight in the end. However, they are many puzzles to solve in this story... and I really enjoy the conversations among Chu Liu-hsiang, Hu Tie-hua, and Zhang San.
The Legend of the Peach Blossom, I don't like it. I don't want to see Chu Liu-hsiang gets married...
But I'm glad they made series about The Legend of The New Moon and The Legend of The Peach Blossom, because when I read the books, I didn't really get the meaning. It was the translations.... And since this 2012 series are faithful to the books, I at last can see what are the books about.
I really want to see the team who made this series make a series based on the first 3 Chu Liu-hsiang books. So far, I think the closest version ever made perhaps the 1979 one. It was a pity that Adam Cheng fell sick during the making, so that the lead character had to disappear in several episodes, leaving the supporting cast doing the investigation.
The fighting scenes in this 2012 version are not many, but in the books they are just like that. We can see that Xue Yi-ren, the #1 swordsman, earlier killed his enemies with only 1 stroke only. Then we see Xue Yi-ren chases Chu Liu-hsiang in a fight and never gets him, so we can see that they both are very high skilled.
When I was watching the part of The Legend of The Bat, they were just talking and talking... When I read the book, I really enjoyed it. But when it's made into a movie... well, now I can understand why the other versions of The Legend of The Bat are changed so much. The producers usually want their money back, plus profits.
This 2012 version was perhaps made with low budgets. I wish they hired more beautiful actresses, and it would be great if a more good looking actor could play Zhang San. Zhang San is a fisherman, so I wasn't imagining an overweight guy. Zhang San in this version has eaten too many grilled fish. --> I hope the actor who played Zhang San never read this. He did well, anyway, with the dialogues, also with the gesture of imitating Chu Liu-hsiang rubbing his nose.
I think it was also due to low budgets that they had to change some locations. Like when it should be in a river or a ocean, it was changed to a land or an island. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes not. In the legend of The Bat, after the ship was destroyed and they had to use coffins, they reached a land and met Yuan Sui-yun. They stayed in the land, in Yuan Sui-yun's, until the messengers from the Bat Island arrived. Jin Ling-zhi mentioned that she had spent 7 days with a ship before reaching the Bat Island, but after they left the shore, floating using those coffins and met Yuan Sui-yun, it had been only 2-3 days. In the book, they were picked up by Yuan Sui-yun's ship and continued the journey until they reached the Bat Island.
I love Ken Chang Tzu-yao here. In some parts, he looks older and thinner, but it's okay. This Chu Liu-hsiang is patient towards women (but not all of them). While Adam Cheng and Ti Lung were more humorous, Ken Chang is calmer. He often pauses before delivering his lines, though. [I don't like Michael Miu's Chu Liu-hsiang. He killed.]
I checked out Ken Chang's filmography to see if I had seen his works before. So he was in The Lost Tomb (with bristles) and in Lu Xiao-feng with Cheung Chi-lam. I didn't remember him in Sha Po Lang at all, until I watched a clip in YouTube. The filmography only mentions Inspector Lee Wai-lok in Sha Po Lang. Which one was Lee Wai-lok? It should be written like this: Good-looking cop whose throat slitted by Wu Jing.
I read the first 2 books when I was in junior high school and that time I was mesmerized by them. They were much more interesting than Agatha Christie books. The Legend of The Bat, in particular, was quite scary; because the characters went into a cave where they couldn't see anything. So among the 4 stories, The Legend of The Bat is my favourite.
Only recently I found the first 3 Chu Liu-hsiang books: Lingering Fragrance in the Sea of Blood, The Great Desert, and The Thrush. These three books are a trilogy and must be read in correct order. The trilogy is, until now, one of the two best books I have ever read. --> the other one is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.
I also have read the rest of Chu Liu-hsiang books, but I don't really like them. Perhaps it is the translation... Translators nowadays have different style than those in the old days.
But in The Legend of The New Moon, the mystery is not intriguing. And in the end, it is not Chu Liu-hsiang who solves the problem how to kill the enemy.
When you think about it, in the Legend of The Bat, Chu Liu-hsiang also doesn't have to fight the master of the Bat island. So there is no big fight in the end. However, they are many puzzles to solve in this story... and I really enjoy the conversations among Chu Liu-hsiang, Hu Tie-hua, and Zhang San.
The Legend of the Peach Blossom, I don't like it. I don't want to see Chu Liu-hsiang gets married...
But I'm glad they made series about The Legend of The New Moon and The Legend of The Peach Blossom, because when I read the books, I didn't really get the meaning. It was the translations.... And since this 2012 series are faithful to the books, I at last can see what are the books about.
I really want to see the team who made this series make a series based on the first 3 Chu Liu-hsiang books. So far, I think the closest version ever made perhaps the 1979 one. It was a pity that Adam Cheng fell sick during the making, so that the lead character had to disappear in several episodes, leaving the supporting cast doing the investigation.
The fighting scenes in this 2012 version are not many, but in the books they are just like that. We can see that Xue Yi-ren, the #1 swordsman, earlier killed his enemies with only 1 stroke only. Then we see Xue Yi-ren chases Chu Liu-hsiang in a fight and never gets him, so we can see that they both are very high skilled.
When I was watching the part of The Legend of The Bat, they were just talking and talking... When I read the book, I really enjoyed it. But when it's made into a movie... well, now I can understand why the other versions of The Legend of The Bat are changed so much. The producers usually want their money back, plus profits.
This 2012 version was perhaps made with low budgets. I wish they hired more beautiful actresses, and it would be great if a more good looking actor could play Zhang San. Zhang San is a fisherman, so I wasn't imagining an overweight guy. Zhang San in this version has eaten too many grilled fish. --> I hope the actor who played Zhang San never read this. He did well, anyway, with the dialogues, also with the gesture of imitating Chu Liu-hsiang rubbing his nose.
I think it was also due to low budgets that they had to change some locations. Like when it should be in a river or a ocean, it was changed to a land or an island. Sometimes it worked, but sometimes not. In the legend of The Bat, after the ship was destroyed and they had to use coffins, they reached a land and met Yuan Sui-yun. They stayed in the land, in Yuan Sui-yun's, until the messengers from the Bat Island arrived. Jin Ling-zhi mentioned that she had spent 7 days with a ship before reaching the Bat Island, but after they left the shore, floating using those coffins and met Yuan Sui-yun, it had been only 2-3 days. In the book, they were picked up by Yuan Sui-yun's ship and continued the journey until they reached the Bat Island.
I love Ken Chang Tzu-yao here. In some parts, he looks older and thinner, but it's okay. This Chu Liu-hsiang is patient towards women (but not all of them). While Adam Cheng and Ti Lung were more humorous, Ken Chang is calmer. He often pauses before delivering his lines, though. [I don't like Michael Miu's Chu Liu-hsiang. He killed.]
I checked out Ken Chang's filmography to see if I had seen his works before. So he was in The Lost Tomb (with bristles) and in Lu Xiao-feng with Cheung Chi-lam. I didn't remember him in Sha Po Lang at all, until I watched a clip in YouTube. The filmography only mentions Inspector Lee Wai-lok in Sha Po Lang. Which one was Lee Wai-lok? It should be written like this: Good-looking cop whose throat slitted by Wu Jing.
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