Aquel año nuestro (2021)

Mellow and quiet

This is a character-driven drama for sure — if that's your thing, then this drama pretty much does it perfectly. It's just a drama about relationships (family, friends, lovers) and there's never really any outside pressure. The characters and relationships are all pretty unconfrontational; things just happen as they do and this drama is more of a ferris wheel, as opposed to a roller coaster. What that means is that if you prefer a more plot-driven plot, it might feel like the drama is dragging and that there's nothing happening.

With that being said, I definitely skew towards the latter; there were scenes and progressions that I was craving and never really got. At the same time, I really loved how all the characters were portrayed — nobody was over-the-top, there were no true villains, and I liked how even minor side characters had their distinct personalities come through in very little screentime.

Overall, this is just a warm, soft drama — for me, it wasn't a tear-jerker or a heart-wrencher, but it'll make you feel fuzzy and cozy.

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Sweet, heartwarming, and fun to watch

This drama was very heartwarming, sweet and fun to watch. The ML and FL did an excellent job portraying their characters. I fell line love with both of them. I also liked the supporting characters his friend who also had a crush on the FL lead but he never really did anything but have his heart broken because he would not ruin his friendship with the ML. The two ML I loved watching how they became friends and how they were there for each other. I also liked his manger he was fun, goofy and had me laughing. The FL leads friend was also bright and fun to watch. When the manager and the friend where in scenes together they always had me laughing. Also enjoyed the colleagues of who they worked with. Even the star that was in this that liked the ML I even ended up having a soft spot for her. This was a nice drama that showed the value of friendships, relationships and the people around you.

The story was fun to watch it was about the ML and FL in high school they do a documentary she is the smartest in the class and he is last in the class. They are the exact opposites. Years later the document goes viral and they ask them to do another documentary this is how we get flashbacks from high school and find out they actually had dated for a few years and broke up.
Since they are now doing the documentary again we have the ML and FL starting to care for each other again. It is a very nice development of their relationship. I loved the ending I think it wrapped up nicely!

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What a masterpiece!

I'm compelled to write this review because I believe everyone should watch this series. However, if you're new to Korean drama, don't start with Our Beloved Summer, there are a lot of high quality KD, but OBS is on a league of its own and it sets the bar high.

STORY:
How can a simple story be told in such an exquisite work of art? The writer, Lee Na Eun, had a vision and trusted a rookie director, Kim Yoon Jin, to execute. No details were spared, from the cell phones used in the life stages of the characters, the books borrowed from the library when they were in HS, then as adults, and during the proposal. The place where they broke up and where Ungi said the magic words to Younsoo. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the beautiful cinematography of “Our Beloved Summer”. The series showcased the beauty of each of the four seasons.

ACTING/CAST:
Choi Woo Shik and Kim Da Mi are exceptional actors and their chemistry in OBS is un-matched. We can see why their co-star, Kim Sung Chul, referred to it as a national treasure. Choi Ung and Yeon Soo’s characters are typical of any Korean dramas and so is their story. What set them apart were the actors who played them, give all the awards to Wooshk and Dami now. They weren’t even on my radar prior to OBS, I watched IC but didn’t care for Dami then; and decided to watch Parasite in between OBS episodes.

OST:
The music of “Our Beloved Summer” pulled everything together. The story, the characters, each setting, each scene, were all made more beautiful because of the soundtrack. This is the first OST that I purchased, and I had to pay more for shipping than the actual products – I can’t wait!

REWATCH VALUE:
I rewatched most episodes while waiting for new ones to be released. I’m planning on rewatching the entire series, with less anxiety of how it will end, and more appreciation of its artful storytelling.

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One for the new age

First few things that caught my eye:
It was a nice production, drama was shot very tastefully. Choice of music and art direction were very new age, encapsulating the current trends.
Script at the beginning episodes were interesting as it does not have the typical ‘dragging’ and repetitive dialogues, they were bit more realistic and straightforward. That kept me watching…

Then it became obvious that the main characters were a reflection of the ideal life the young adults dreamt of these days.

Not a fan and absolutely didn’t like the idea that the writer/director was affirming the concept of it’s okay to put in minimal effort in life as one could still be successful and be ‘special’ somehow and to top it, one could still live a very comfortable life (luxury lifestyle) yet without needing to worry about any finances struggle at all. The mentality and attitude of the lead actors were really misleading and disturbing.

This is the concept I grasped from this show:
“It’s okay to live in the world of your ‘perfect’ bubble cause the world and everyone else will give in and see you as the special one.“

This is such a misleading concept to promote and encourage. Second lead however had a more realistic side and depth. But I can see why it gained a lot of supports and views but this is nothing but a nice facade. Just like the main character

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A SERIES WITH A GREAT START & PROMISE BUT SEEMS TO RUN OUT ON STEAM

I can't tell you how delightful the start of the series is. It's like a 'Vantage Point' treatment which onion skins the story. Everything which you saw in the last episode seems to take on a completely new context and hue in the next episode on the basis of what is revealed. Given that it shows no great thrill or disaster or violence or any of the trope high drama, the almost soft grip the story gets on you as the viewer is hard to describe. Well that is at least till the 8th-9th episode. Each week I'd be immersed in the characters hoping, wanting to know more about what happens to them. All this goes on until the 11th episode. When suddenly, the story, which seemed like some smooth champagne till now, loses ALL fizz and then almost becomes long forgotten soda water. I am left wondering, did they change script writers midstream? Or did the script writer suddenly feel lost? But there seems to be a qualitative gulf between how the story started and how it ends. It could have been brilliant, but it isn't. The actors though put up a commendable performance. One leaves the series with. lament of all the potential lost.

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What A Cute Drama!

I have been waiting long for this drama since last year. Since I started to like Choi Woo Sik. And yess....applaused! I love their chemistry, I love all the soundtrack, I love the drawing, I love the friendship between them especially Choi Ung and Ji Ung.

And this story succeed to bring me back to my school life and my crush during that time. How miss crazily to that time. And there's a few scene that makes me nearly to cry.

Choi Woo Sik, I am your fans since I watched you in Rooftop prince and I think I will continue to be your fans. To the director of Our Beloved Summer, please make this drama happy ending. Pleasee. Since this drama still on going. So please make happy ending. And, please send someone for Ji Ung. Don't be too cruel to Ji Ung. I started to like Kim Sung Cheol also. Hehehehe....

Anyway, I love the whole story. This masterpiece really touched my heart. ? 10 stars!!

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Old story, New Packaging

When you've watched many kdramas (romantic) there are just somethings you come to expect. You know the main leads have felt a sense of deep connection since their childhood/adolescence. You also know that the second ML barely has a chance with the FL. Our Beloved Summer plays along with similar tropes. What makes it different from other shows is how the story was executed, the documentary piece and detailed background story of all characters keeps the show fresh and watchable. The lead characters' acting and chemistry also works in its favor. What I didn't like about the show was that the finale seemed rushed. They didn't seem to care about tying all lose ends with the characters other than that of the ML and FL. I rarely feel that kdramas give closure to the second ML and this show is no exception. Also Kim Sung Cheol reminded me a little too much of Lee Sang Yi in Hometown Cha Cha, considering both their characters were documentary filmmakers too.

To sum it up, if you're looking for a light romantic story with great chemistry between the leads, you can consider watching OBS. It's pretty predictable storytelling but Choi Woo Shik and Kim Da Mi do a good job. Oh, and Roh Jeong Eui was adorable. She needs her own show.

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Struck a chord with me....again...and again...and again

LOVE. PLAYFULNESS. MISUNDERSTANDINGS. ABANDONMENT. LONLINESS. HEALING.

Two broken souls (well, maybe 3). Emotional baggage. Opposites. Crazy about each other

I gulped down this drama like a starved puppy. It has been too long since I've seen such a skillfully woven story free of any cliched feeling. To the director, screenwriter, editor, and cast: THANK YOU.

Beautifully written with a beautiful soundtrack. This story had everything. There were some lines in the script that just...it just really struck a chord with me. Some indescribable feeling or thoughts I 've had...captured in a poignant line or moment in this drama. I just found bits and pieces of the characters and emotions so relatable.

Now I have to talk about the amazing cast, especially the two leads. Woo Shik is just phenomenal. He is a criminally underrated actor who deserves more lead roles to showcase his versatility and amazing acting skills. He just become his character. This character could easily have become boring or too much of a wuss, but he made him relatable, layered and endearing. In the emotional scenes, sometimes it's so subtle, but the way he says the lines is just so heart wrenching, but on the other hand, he also can infuse a scene with subtle mischievousness that lends itself to the comedy.

Kim Da Mi, who's been on my watchlist since the Witch, is fast becoming one of my fav actresses. I loved how her character was written with many layers. A snide exterior to hide a girl who's been hurt too much. A girl whose pride constantly gets in the way. Someone who shows her warm side to only the people she trusts. This character and how Da Mi portrayed her was so fresh to me.

I loved the fun bickering between these two, and loved the sweet honest moments even more. They did such a great job of maintaining that history of love and hate with the underlying layer of just being crazy for each other. From being enemies in the Witch to soulmates here, it's clear how gifted these two actors are.

The side characters were great as well, specifically Park Jin Joo as the Unnie BFF and Ahn Dong Goo as Woong's manager. Both were so funny and created a lot of the comic relief. For once, the side characters didn't feel like filler and were used to support the leads instead of going on their own tangent. The only exception is Ji Woong's character. I found his relationship with his boss or mom a bit boring which is why I couldn't give this a complete 10 rating.

I look forward to other projects this director or screenwriter may have as I think they did such a fantastic job creating a humanistic story without the corniness of cliches.

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My type of drama

I really love this drama. It's heartwarming and fun to watch. I don't know but I really have a thing with seeing two characters with a past and suddenly meeting again and sparkling their feelings which never really ended. I loved each and every character here. Gook Yeon Su was a character I can relate to in some way. She's seen as a strong, nonchalant, person but she's actually in pain and has a lot of sadness inside. Choi Ung on the other hand, was nice to see as he looks clueless, slow-witted, but definitely warm to people around him. I love how their love for each other bloomed after letting out their thoughts and emotions which were once untold. It makes me think that this kind of situation, actually happens in real life where a relationship falls apart because of misunderstanding and not being open to one another. I love how they lowkey care for each other even when they already broke up. I think they were the cutest! Can't get enough of them. The side characters were also fun to watch. Kim Ji Ung was not your toxic second lead who forces his way to the FL's heart. Rather, it was more realistic of them to focus his attention to his current situation; his loneliness and emptiness. I think it was a bit frustrating to watch that almost everyone has a sad story with them, but also, quite interesting and not over done. I think everyone was well written, with depth, interesting, and worth your time. I cried a couple of times and was feeling all emotional because this drama was well done. The reason why I'm not giving it a full rating because I admit, sometimes, I also felt like it was too sad for me as almost every character feels lonely and sad in the drama. But that's it! Setting that aside, I love everything about this drama. The cinematography, OSTs (try not to cry while they play challenge), plot, script, and the characters. It was an overall great watch to me. Might need to rewatch this in the future. Highly recommended.

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Its like a soft summer breeze

i suggest you to watch all episodes without much gap, so that you will get that feel, Feles like a nice realstic story line , there no bad characters or bad people in the drama, kind of pure love story, from high school to adulthood.

Watching the drama feels like , spending time in nature,like i told like a cool summer breeze.

But the last episodes are good, but kind of felt like, little bit boring, i really felt sorry for the NJ character, i heard many fans supported a different story line, Korean dramas never stop doing these triangle love stories, it hurts when all the characters are good ones like in this drama

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A lil talking and trust is what it takes to make that Summer “Beloved”.

This review contains very little spoilers and is written in rather uncomplicated language.

So Let's Begin........

What could've been just a bunch of rather heartwrenching and traumatic memories for the Leads, turned out to be the most Beloved and Cherrished times of their Lives.

This show began at our Leads meeting again after 5 years since their break-up cuz of a Viral Documentary that they shot when they were in high school 10 years ago and how they ended up being together again after dating for 5 years since high school to breaking-up and finally understanding what Love and Life is.
How it just takes a lil more effort to look at things from a slightly different angle.

Life gave them a chance not to undo the past but to learn from the mistakes and not to repeat those again.
Like how Yeon-su said that "the more you try to run away from past, the more it traps you in and that it makes you repeat the mistakes again".

That documentary actually came as a gift for them and that's how they found out when they actually fell in love 10 years ago and how they loved each other but due to their own pride and prejudice they presumed things and let go of each other which could've been resolved with just a lil talk face to face which they eventually learnt. They learnt to trust each other and communicate.

Yeon-su found out that she wasn't all alone like she thought all her time instead she had someone to rely on at each phase of her life, someone came in as a friend, some as colleagues while someone as the love of her life. All she had to do was to look at them and let go of her presumptions.

And Woong learnt to let go of his traumatic past and being afraid of getting abandoned again.
Ji-woong learnt to accept his life too. They all embraced their past while learning to love their present.

This show dealt with a lot issues.
From Childhood Negligence by Parents to growing up in poverty without Parents and abandonment by loved ones. A messed-up break-up and it's consequences.
The drama showed how trusting yourself and your loved ones is the most important thing.

• Cast and Acting :
The Cast of this drama was top-notch. Each actor did justice to their respective characters. You could totally feel the emotions that the characters felt.
I've been a fan of Choi Woo-shik since "Hogu's Love" and Kim Da-mi since "Itaewon Class". Kim seong-chol is one great actor too, I remember him from "Prison Playbook" where he made a brief appearance. Roh Jung-eui did a fabulous job too.
Other cast members were perfect too.
While some were familiar faces like Woong's Mum and Dad who played such warm and kind people.
Sol-ri played Park Jin-joo, the perfect actor to play that eccentric best friend of the FL did full justice to her skills by bringing much needed laughter to our screens.
While others like Eun-ho, Chae-ran, Park PD, Yeon-su's colleagues were new faces to me. They all were so good as well.

Perhaps what surprised me the most about this drama is that there's no character that I could hate. I was reading the interview of the writer of this show and how she chose to write 3-dimensional characters with no-one solely bad or good, which I agree with.
After all, all humans have multiple sides to them.

• The OST :
I can say that this show had one of the Best OSTs of all time. Each song played in the background conveyed and aroused emotions. Every song went well with the over-all vibes of this drama.

My Favourite Tracks are:-
#1 Christmas Tree by V (OST Pt.5)
#2 Home by Janet Suhh ( OST Pt. 6)
#3 Drawer by 10cm ( OST Pt. 1)
#4 Maybe if by BIBI ( OST Pt. 2)
#5 The Giving Tree by Lee Seung Yoon ( OST Pt. 7)
#6 Summer Rain by Sam Kim ( OST Pt. 8)

I have these tracks on my Spotify Favourites now and on loop listening to these. Idk why but I cry when listening to Giving Tree, Home, Maybe if and Drawer.

Now what I didn't like:
The only thing that could've been better was if they had only 12 Episodes or if they showed a lil more of their school days and if the last episode gave a lil more elaborate ending to us than just throwing a lot at once.
No, I am not saying that it felt rushed or messy rather I felt that our Mains had a very lil time having those cute couple moments.

Besides that Product placement by Samsung lol ? every character had a "Z-flip".

• Conclusion: This drama is truly a gem. From great acting, writing, cinematography, direction and OST, this show had it all.
This drama has truly become one of my favourite dramas of all time that I like to call "Soulful" Dramas which I can watch multiple times.
I felt all the emotions while watching this. From crying to getting frustrated, from having that smile on my face unconsciously to feeling butterflies in my stomach. It had it all.
What made this show so special for me was how it reminded of my own life, being grown up as a single child of a single mom in a not so affluent family and being perceived as an aimless and lost cause person. I could relate to all three characters... Yeon-su, Choi Woong and Ji-woong.

I hope they make a season 2 of this perhaps 3-4 years from now like how in the very last scene they started filming again after finding that the sequel to their documentary went viral too and told the viewers that they're married.
Wouldn't it be interesting seeing Yeon-su and Woong married and their reactions to what life has in the box ready to be thrown at them. Also I want a true happy ending for Ji-woong and NJ too.
On that note let's wrap this up.

Hurry and go watch it now.

I didn't give away a lot of what actually happened cuz I want you to watch the show yourself and experience each emotion that the characters felt.

BTW, am so grateful that I watched this show in just 38 hours and got outta my K-drama slump.

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Our Painfully, Pain, Pain, Pain with a side of flufff

Prepare yourselves for some pain, and I do not just mean a little pain, I mean a lot of it as the team for this drama truly do all in their power to make you feel the prolonged suffering of the main couple with the use of dialog, visuals and a pretty painful OST.
I was honestly surprised over how much could feel their pain, as I spent most of this drama with a lump in my chest. And as the true drama masochist I am I LOVED every moment of it... yep I did! If you are not a fan of pain step away and do not come near this drama.. because it has so many different types of pain and levels of brokenness, fear and pain making it one of the most painfully, pain, pain, pain dramas I have watched of course with some humour, cuteness and beauty... but did I mention pain?

I think I read someone say this reminded them of Reply 1988 and I am willing to agree, I am just not going to tell you in what way, so I won't spoil it for you... But there is deffinetly a familiarity between the two dramas.

This drama has a few (very few) slightly annoying scenes, but I would say this is a meet after a break up drama done right. though I did want to yell at the cast from time to time to TALK TO EACH OTHER... There was not a single character (ok one) that was not lovable at least once.

"My mother is dyeing and I don't feel the least bit sad" made me forget every single flaw in this drama...

Extra points for the way they portray how poverty affects people, as well as some pretty raw lines about bad parenting... minus for some other parts about parenting but then again some more for the good parents and what makes a family...


Extra points for the OST, showing how much ones mood affects the way you hear a song, as some of the songs felt sad and dark in some of the episodes but happy, fluffy and romantic in others... yes the same song, same piano... same tone, same voice... completely different emotion. Now that takes talent and color me impressed!

It also has some well done product placement, some a bit too obvious that will make you laugh, and some PPL that is just in the way... Also wrong botle of Soju... it was blue! very confusing. They make good use of umbrellas too...

This drama is not for everybody, so do not be fooled by the name Our Beloved Summer... there is very little beloved and even less summer (it is mostly fall and winter). But for all you fellow drama masochists out there, this will have you felling stuff, biting your nails and screaming at the screen!

Oh and most of the episodes are named after movies from the 90s... kind of cute.

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