Always looking on the bright side of life

UNPOPULAR OPINION

As far as I can understand, I am supposed to love this movie because it was made by deaf cast and crew. And, while I do admire them for the effort, I do not like the movie: it is as full of righteous feelings as it is boring and uninteresting. Though maybe, I should not say that since it is a true story.

The movie is apparently based on the director's life. It tells the story about two girls in love. When the first one comes out to her parents, she is rejected so her girlfriend takes he to LGBTQetc. deaf support group where they all take turns in sharing their life stories in the second half of the movie. They all seem to be in a world devoid of hearing people.

The whole concept of this movie is rather original since is almost entirely silent: only one character speaks while all the others sign. But everything else did not rise up to the occasion. the cinematography is bland and pale and sad. The acting is bad though it is obvious everyone tried their best but it is still not good enough. The music is awful: a sort of hypnotic, sad, repetitive, monotonal piano piece: there were like 5 notes played repeatedly, non stop. I actually fell asleep a couple of times and had to rewind it in order not to miss out on the plot.

You have to admire though, the bravery of these people who do not let their handicap be impediment to their happiness. Ultimately it is a very optimistic movie.

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Knowledge equals protection

If you are looking for a good sex ed course, you have found it! Frankly, this drama should be an obligatory watch for all teenagers and their parents.

What comes out here is the total lack of communication between the kids and the adults be it at home or in school. The adults expect the blind obeissance from the kids who need answers to their questions about life and are not getting them. So they just stumble blindly in the dark, hoping to guess the answer by trial and error. But in this case, the errors can be life changing!

This drama tells the story of three 17 yr old girls on the bring of adulthood but still so ignorant about life. They do not get the knowledge they need from adults, so they confide in each other and try to figure things out.

Sakura is an ordinary girl who feels pressured by articles saying the average age for the first sex experience is when you are 17.3 yrs old. Supported by her two friends she goes to her boyfriends house but bolts at the last minute. He makes fun of her in school so she hides in the biology lab where she meets Yu who confirms to her that she was right to do what she did. She also has an apparently close minded mother difficult to talk to.
Yuna is the sexually active teen, having already had 5 boyfriends the last of whom gave her an STD. She falls afterwards for a handsome boy who is actually a virgin and has no idea what to do.
Tsumugi is a quiet, studious girl not interested in love or dating and confused about her feelings. She is brought up by single father and is convinced he does not care about her but just sees her as a woman who needs to get married and have kids to be happy.
Luckily for them, there is the no nonsense biology teacher who gives them guidance they need.


The characters are a bit of cliché but they serve as examples and they were ultimately well presented. My favourite was Asahi Yu, a smart boy who doesn't are what others think of him (which is so unusual amongst teenagers who live for the likes from others). He is instrumental in helping the girls come out of their confusion.

It seems that this series tackles every problem involving sex a teenager might encounter: the first experience, peer pressure, gender, pregnancy, protection ...and they are all well explained through the stories of these three girls and their friends. They stresses the importance of education and communication.

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Reality x illusion

Attention: 18+ content!

This short movie is the sequel to Sex x Friend?

Yuto is still sleeping with everyone who asks and is halfheartedly being careful until his sex friend tells him he tested positive to HIV. Yuto takes the test and then goes to see his friend.

The movie depicts the utter recklessness some people are willing to do in order to find love and warmth only to realize that everything was make believe and that happily ever afters are few and far between. The crashing of one's illusions can be painful. And though they casually talk about doing the right thing sit is sad to see that good intentions were not completely sincere. Yuto, on the other hand, likes sleeping around and what happened to his friend was a huge wake up call!

These two short movies seem to have been made in the eighties. And though they are fairly recent, it goes to show that the human nature is so hard to change that people often think of themselves as invulnerable. Yuto, being miserable and depressed, seems to go back to making right choices for himself after the HIV scare!

I guess there is an educational message for gays her: cover yourselves, the virus is still out there!

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This short movie has 18+ content. Proceed at your own risk and peril!

Yuto is a deeply unsatisfied and envious man going to see his sex friend in a seaside town. He is crass and rude but is longing for warmth and love. His friend offers him that but Yuto refuses.

This short movie manages to paint the portrait of Yuto just by showing him walking through the town and enviously wishing all of it to break down and disappear. He loves having sex with his friend but does not want to date him. It is not clear why not? He probably does not love him.

The cinematography manages to show us the contrast between the overexposed surroundings and the darkness inside Yuto nothing seems to be able to move. Though the camera movements are sometimes rather shaky, and angles seem to be a bit off, it is well filmed. I was struck by the streets he goes through during his bus ride: they are ugly, dirty, only cars in site and they seem to be reflection of his inner feelings. When he arrives to this rich seaside neighbourhood it feels as if he is attacked by all the sunshine, wealth, cleanliness.

The movie just ends midway through a conversation. There is a second part.

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Refreshing

I could kick myself when I think I almost did not watch this!

I did not particularly like the first season: the over the top acting did not sit well with me. Until I read a few comments and realized it was supposed to be a live version of a comic. Afterwards everything fell in place. But still I did not want to watch the second series since they changed the main actor (he was so hot!!). Last night I needed something light and fluffy and short to watch after finishing a K drama full of corruption and backstabbing.

And I thought of this. And it had made my day! This was really so brilliantly well produced, written and acted. The story is the usual trope filled story of a contract relationship turned love between a cold rich CEO and a poor sweet girl. She is a comic book artist using the real life wheelchair bound CEO as her inspiration. After few silly accidental encounters and they end up in a convoluted contract relationship full of usual tropes.

The originality here is the female character: she is pretty, innocent and sweet but also is smart, brave and has a strong character, not letting anyone walk all over her. How refreshing! I really loved how intelligently she dealt with the usual obstacles put on her way: family, friends, exes of the CEO all wanted to get rid of her. Unlike the usual female character who loses all reasonable brain functions when she falls in love, the FL here stayed smart and actually used her head to think not to swoon.

There is the obligatory third party: another rich man smitten by her sweetness and smarts. But he knows when to back down and they all remain friends. Though beforehand there is the funniest wheelchair race ever: needs to be seen to be believed!

Only one thing: what does the title mean?!?!?

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Singing cookies

This is the second weirdest short movie I have ever seen. The first being Satyriasis (look it up: it is extremely bad weird). Something Crunchy Crunchy is weird but in a cooky, quirky, funny way.

It is a story of three packets of biscuits that, being unsold, find themselves thrown into the shop's cellar. These cookies sing their earnest wish to be eaten slowly by someone who'd buy them. The first cookie mocks the third one so the second one abandons him and goes to be with the third. They are eventually taken home by shop's clerk and eaten with gusto.

First of all, this is a full blown musical: the cookies sing about their feelings and aspirations. The music is not bad, just run of the mill ordinary musical numbers.

Second of all: this is also a cookie bl about love triangles (polyamory?).

And finally; there are animated sequences showing the life of those cookies on shop's shelves. Cute and unexpected!

To be frank, I really do not know what to think about this short movie. I guess it must be an allegory on something with cookies representing people being neglected, overseen and yearning for recognition and acceptance.

Or it just could be an ad to make you choose those biscuits?

Or an original way to have a hot bl in Korea 10 years ago?

This short movie is practically an obligatory rewatch if you want to figure out what the author wanted to say.

Anyway, it was an original watch, musical bls are very rare (another one I can think about is Just Friends? made at about same time!). Characters bursting out in song is really not something you see in dramas here...

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"Everything you do, they were all yellow" (Yellow, Coldplay)

"If we can dream, then why are we wide awake?" Doing It For The Money by Foster the People

Yellow is a predictable short webdrama about the four members of a rock band called Yellow. Ji Hoon is the lead singer still upset over a breakup with his longterm girlfriend a year earlier. Tae Min is a guitar player but unable or afraid to say what's on his mind either to his father or to the girl he likes. Japi is a drummer who suddenly finds out why his girlfriend dumped him two years ago.Dong Woo is the youngest member and he is just there. Soo Ah is a fan who's had crush on Ji Hoon for a long time

It is about their love lives, adversity and ultimately deep friendship between them.

This is a romance between Ji Hoon and Soo Ah. The second lead syndrome is very present. Soo Ah is a very annoying character, a happy go lucky, very intrusive fan who does everything in her power to get close to Ji Hoon.She made me think of Yoko Ono and I was afraid she was going to have the same effect on the group i.e. that they would break up because of her. But their friendship was stronger than the jealousy.

The music was really good here. And every episode ended with a quote from a popular rock song illustrating events in the episode. Clever!

And finally, my pet peeve -HAIR: Ji Hoon's cut is just atrocious, so much so I had trouble concentrating on the drama when he was on screen!

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From brilliant to...whatever!

What a rollercoaster ride! Unfortunately NOT in a good way!

This drama went from comedy to tragedy to mystery to crime to whatever! I am a difficult customer for comedy: I cannot stand the slapstick and humiliation kind of it. But here it is smart and clever banter between the characters. The opening credits are brilliant: it looks like an anime! Perfect!

It is a story of a quirky lawyer charging only 1000 wons (or 1 dollar) for his services. Baek Mari joins him as a probationary lawyer and for about 6 episodes they solve different cases using their smarts and humour. And this half of the drama is brilliant! The relationship between the three leads is cracking fun as they go around bickering and trying to get their clients off the hook. Perfect comic timing for the trio!
And then the drama takes a 180° turn and for the next three episodes, it is a completely different drama involving: rotten politicians, creepy chaebols, weak prosecutors and a lot of corruption and death. Here we find out the lawyer's story, who he is and why is he working for only 1000 wons. This part is so often seen in makjang dramas, family secrets and righteous hero trying to fight the windmills like Don Quichotte: and it is sad and serious. And sadly so predictable!
The drama then manages to combine the comedy with the revenge plot for the last three episodes managing barely to keep it in balance but never attaining the brilliance the first half of the series was. Because instead of the lawyers fighting for the little men we get lawyers watching as the rich fight each other. It ends with the corniest of cringy speeches you can imagine!

Namgoong Min as the lawyer Chun Jihun, was appropriately funny or serious or lovey dovey or fighting as need be. There are a lot of references to his other dramas which is fun, so pay attention to see if you notice those easter eggs! Kim Ji Eun was perfect as a high class, heiress lawyer who realizes there is more to life and law than her rich corporate clients. Her relationships with her grandfather and mother are so sweet and cute. She is the character who changes the most as she works with the lawyer and sees the change the law can bring. They are helped by a sort of a office manager/drycleaner serving as a balance between the two.
The support characters were varied: from the bad guys obviously bad to law office landlady and her friends to clients. I would like to mention two prosecutors friends to both lawyers. Seo Minhyuk is Mari's childhood friend who wants to marry her because his father told him to. So I thought we were getting another rich creep. Fortunately that is not the case: he is kind and smart and loyal and righteous. And he has a great relationship with his boss, Na Yejin (far a moment I thought something was going to develop between them but nothing!). She is an experienced prosecutor knowing how to balance well her own boss's demands and the need for in depth investigation. What did not sit well with me was that she, apparently a friend of Jihoon's, tells Mari his story. I was expecting more discretion from a lawyer.

This is a very colourful drama: it being a comedy it is understandable. The costumes, the cinematography is day shots, the music: everything is full of energy and joy. Things completely change for the next three episodes when everything is dark and ominous: black suits, night shots, sinister music. Then everything changes again....it is like this drama does not know what it wants to be! Unfortunately! If I remember correctly, the drama was shortened by 4 episodes and towards the end it was visible: at the end of episode 11 I wondered how they were going to wrap everything up in one episode. They actually did that rather well.

And if you are looking for romance, it is not here you will find it. Which is a shame because the two bickering lawyer have great chemistry. Nevertheless it is still a fun watch, just be aware you might be disappointed a bit.

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Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

A writer is told his scrip was not honest enough so he asks his actor friend to read it. The actor decides to enact the script and incite the writer to be honest about his feelings!

What a beautiful short movie telling a story of a couple of friends afraid to take a step further in their relationship. The question is asked: what does it mean to be honest to yourself? The actor recites Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 (written for an anonymous young man known as Fair Youth) as his confession of love. The writer realizes he needs to accept himself for who he is and be open with his feelings in order to be happy.

This movie is a bit on the gloomy side: the colours are subdued, the lights for the most of the movie, are dimmed: we only see the light of the day once they are honest with each other. The music is just as gloomy: a series of classical piano waltzes.

And yet, it leaves you feeling happy and optimistic: if you are honest enough with yourself , you can grab your own happiness with both hands!

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Beauty & the Beast

A naive, inexperience and innocent young woman falls for a brash, rude and fake rebellious girl in her class. They are put together for an assignment where they have to pretend they date. The first girls kindness melts the second girl's icy heart.

So nothing new and revolutionary here: just a simple story of opposites attract, enemies to lovers. I found the characters a bit extreme in their kind: the nice girl is extremely nice, the rude girl is extremely rude. So one evening they meet in a club. The nice girl cannot dance (I always thought that you just needed to listen to the music and move but I guess there are tone deaf people who cannot do even that! granted!) so she sits and downs half a bottle of vodka (aaahhh, liquid courage!) and that helps her stake a claim on the rude girl who is oh! so touched by that!

Even though this is a short webdrama, it is just a string of romcom clichés starring unlikable characters. That's what I did not like about it: not the clichés but just bad writing. The talk by the teacher at the beginning of the class, though was excellent and I think we should all listen to those wise words about love and relationships and respect. But then they went down the politically correct woke university road asking about pronouns, gender etc. Nice thinking!

Production obviously did not have much money and it shows: it is cold and sharp and it sounds empty. I did not notice any particular song or music, if you do not count the one it the club.

It is a correct single watch which has the merit of being a GL which are few and far between so as more are made, the better they will get!

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Too much romance, not enough ghosts!

I love me a good ghost story and this one had everything going on for it. So why did it turn out so bad?

Kevin, born and raised in the US comes to visit his aunt and cousins in Thailand and do some ghost hunting while there. He falls for her aunts handyman. Lots of fluss ensues. And a little bit of angst. But then they reconcile...

It starts really well, with a minor mystery but it is unfortunately abandoned by the episode 4 and after that we only get the usual romance with the usual problems and misunderstandings.

The title is a bit cryptic but everything is explained by the end of the first episode: the aunt and her family have been ghosts for about a month before Kevin arrived but nobody seems to know that (how come!). The unfinished business kept them from passing on. They were the most interesting characters of the lot.

Kevin and Pleum, the handyman, got together fairly quickly for a drama: they were sleeping together from the ep.4. I have to give it to the actors, their chemistry was good and they were really at ease with each other. The skinship scenes were some of the best I have ever seen in a BL; filmed in soft light and well choreographed. After they got together the focus of the story shifted to the couple and the ghosts were left far in the background serving as means (the cousins wasting their merit points on them!) of making the lovers' relationship stronger.

As I was watching this, I kept wondering if there was anything more to this story. I was waiting for a big twist, something along the lines: one of the boys is a ghost but does not know it. But no, no such surprise so the story chugged along those well known romance lines including a break up and a time skip! I did not like how they dressed Kevin: through his costumes they showed him become softer as he was getting to be more and more in love: large flowy blouses, shorts, purses while Pleum was always dressed in black. Is it really necessary to shove it in our faces top/bottom distribution of roles, in case we did not understand. At least we do not hear wife/husband in Thai bls anymore, so I guess we should thank god for small mercies!!!

And lastly, I did appreciate the fact that this was a ghost story where the ghost was not the love interest. But I would have prefered this to be more mystery than fluff orientated ghost story!

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Everything is in this microdrama

Zui Ai overall length runs to about 60min therefore this short drama is a perfect watch! I find this chinese concept of short dramas with micro length episodes (here less than 2min each!!!) amazing and confusing! Really, why make 2min episodes that you'll end up editing into a movie eventually? I guess these are dramas for today's tiktok generation!

The story is a bit convoluted and since it is so short, they did away with in depth explanations which is fine. Ming JieJie is a private detective trying to discover the truth behind a huge arson her father had been accused of setting 10years earlier while she was still a child. There are two men involved with her but also connected to the fire and eventually we discover how while both of them hit on her! There is everything in this story: crime, mystery, corruption, conspiracy, investigation, romance, revenge! They did well!

As for the production values, this was quick: editing was good since they managed to keep the essential of scene though sometimes the transitions between sequences were not clear enough. The sound editing was bad: surrounding noise and music mostly drowned the dialogue so thank god for subs! Music was nice; there was a selection of chinese, western and korean songs (I recognized the languages, that's all! not the songs!) which were really good. I am going to look some of them up. The costumes were elegant but whats with the ML's messy hair? It's not even styled "out of bed" it just looks like they forgot to comb it!
All three leads had good chemistry with each other. The rest of the cast was bit on a caricature lever which is understandable considering the length of the drama: so the obnoxious people looked so(clothes!) even before doing anything! Nice solution in order not to waste time!

I watched this because I needed something beginning with Z for my alphabet watch drama challenge and I am glad I saw it!

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Sweet and already seen

Location is a 1h movie, atypical trope filled story about two neighbour high school kids falling for each other. Sun, with an eternally sunny (get it?) disposition moves next door to moody and taciturn Earth (subtle, right?) under a lot of pressure from his parents to study when all he wants to do is write music. Sun manages to find cracks in Earth's armour and they become friends and then more. And of course, just in that moment a third boy appears and has a crush on Sun, who being kind does nothing to reject Mog's slight advances but Earth gets very jealous and ends all contact.

This is a cute little movie, practically a single location: in and around the outside of the house telling a story seen already a million times. Sun's sunny disposition, always sporting a huge smile even when Earth is rude, can be rather annoying. I was there practically shouting at him, show that you are human! Well he did, but it took almost the whole of the movie.

Earth's overbearing parents, who really have no idea who he really is, make him rebel at the end and it takes a day for them to completely change their attitude towards their son. Well I wish that parents were so manageable in real life! On the other hand, Sun's mother is the model of understanding, knows really well her son without him needing to shout out!

The film was made three years ago and the actors have remained unknown (according to the MDL database): they look teenagers, and their performance is lackluster at most, nothing different from majority of Thai bls at that time. What is impressive, though, is the ease with which they kiss: they are obviously very comfortable with each other. I'd love to see them in another movie or series.

Surprisingly, for me at least, was a total absence of second hand embarrassment which was rife in thai bls at the time!

All in all, a good fluffy unoriginal short watch...filler kind of a film, when you need a change of pace between other stuff .

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Are you no longer afraid?

Afraid of... is a short 20min webdrama telling the story of Hyuna and her struggles in coming to terms with her sexuality and everything it entails regarding the prejudiced society we live in. Hyuna is torn between the peer pressure to go on group blind date and the wish to finally live her own sexuality when a girl from her class suddenly asks for her number.

Not knowing what to do, Hyuna downloads an app which puts her in contact with other similarly minded girls and she has a long conversation with Yunji. That call sounded more like a talk one would have with a professional on a help line. I liked how the life choices that are put before us were explained and how Hyuna was encouraged to be herself. Easier said than done, but a good advice nevertheless.

This webdrama is too short to give us a better background into Hyuna, we do not know anything about her family and very little about her friends (who mock "those people").

Afraid of... encourages people to be themselves, be proud, be happy and not to be afraid of others and their opinions.

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Once More, With Feeling

When I read the title in english, it made me immediately think of the famous musical episode of Buffy though this movie has nothing in common with it except for the title. And dancing!

Mara is a trainee architect successful in everything she does. All of a sudden she fails an important exam everyone though she was going to ace. Ashamed, embarrassed and depressed she meets her neighbour Gali who happens to be deaf and whose attentive behaviour helps her out of her misery. Even though they fall in love can their two worlds meet?

This is one of the rare movies/dramas dealing with handicap and how the society perceives it.
Gali is at ease with his deafness, he's got dreams and works towards achieving them. But unfortunately most of the people do not know how to deal with sensitive situations like this and are either aggressive (car driver) or dismissive (delivery guy) and sometimes even Mara, when surrounded with her friends, forgets about him.
Mara is someone who does not know the meaning of failure and when it hits her, she latches on a first person showing her kindness, understanding and asking nothing in return. That is Gali.

The romance was nice but I was not convinced of Mara's sincerity. She seems to love him but only when they are just the two of them in their bubble. That's where the movie is lacking as well: apart from one scene at a party at her work, Mara does not introduce Gali to her family. This is actually good material for a drama in which we could see the development of their relationship and the impact it has on their respective surroundings. Because, while Gali's deaf friends accept he and include her, her friends do not know how to address him so they pretend they do not see him. That party scene at Mara's work was painful when she abandoned him.

Carlo Aquino who plays Gali was outstanding showing kindness, sweetness, understanding and optimism of that character. Maine Mendoza was just the right amount of smugness and the incredulity when she was cut to size by destiny. Or more likely, by her own shortcomings.

The cinematography of this movie is rather good: playing a lot with lights and shadows and soft lighting and water. The effects are calming, fluffy, feeling good. The sound editing was extraordinary too often showing us the silence Gali lives in and how uncomfortable it makes everyone feel when they do not understand what is going on around them. Mara had the same experience when she went to the silent birthday party barely knowing sign language. But she felt welcome. Not Gali, rejected because of the silence.

Kudos for giving us a movie with an amazing character such as Gali showing us the daily struggles of non hearing individuals fighting for acceptance.

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