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namjhyun · 1 year

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MOVIE REVIEW | Dream (2023)

In this film about broken dreams and second chances, a professional football player finds himself in a difficult position due to a mix of bad decisions and bad luck. He also has no real support system in his mother (who is on the run for scamming people) and his agency wants him to quit the sport to become a celebrity.

Is in this moment of his life that to rehabilitate his image he is forced to become the coach of a football team conformed by homeless men that will compete on a charity tournament.

Reluctantly, he learns the reasons why these men found themselves living in the streets. Addiction, bad decisions, abandonment, grief, among other motives. What they all have in common is that through this tournament they are looking to become a better version of themselves.

To record every moment of their journey, a documentary director (deep in student debt and stress) needs to find the right angle to have this film be a success for her and them.

It’s through teamwork and sharing their problems, that this team of odd men out find -perhaps for the first time in their lives- a real support system and even a family.

Dream is a solid comedy with really touching moments that brought some tears to my eyes. The film tries to shed some light on current social issues in South Korea through the housing problem these men are going through.

Park Seo Joon gives a good performance going from disheartened to finding a new dream and people to fight for. His chemistry with IU is hilarious to watch as they play entirely platonic teammates throwing jabs at each other, even long after they start to get along.

IU’s character as the documentary director who is forced to believe in herself into success is both fun and oh, so real.

The heart of the film, however, is Heo Joon Seok, whose character never lost hope and fought from beginning to end so the team could achieve their dream. The rest of the actors bring some emotions though the respective stories that makes the comedy more grounded.

Overall, I enjoyed this film.

#kmovie #dream #park seo joon #IU #lee hyun woo #kim jong soo #ko chang seok #jang seung gil #yang hyun min #hong wan pyo #heo joon seok #kang ha neul #park myoung hoon #movie review #review #namjhyuns review

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phant0m-l0rd · 2 years

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(I should’ve learned my lesson the first few times this happened, never to edit big chunks of text on tumblr because sometimes it’ll refresh for no reason and I’ll lose everything right before pressing send. Anyway, off to rewriting this whole thing I go!!)

I felt like doing this because I watched a lot of kdramas this year. Everything will be after the “keep reading” line. Some prompts will be edited because I didn’t watch any dramas actually made in 2022, so if you see things being crossed out like this and [inserted text], that’s what that is.

(featuring a bunch of gifs I made over the course of this year and never posted anywhere)

→ First drama completed in 2022: Black (2017).

→ Favourite actress discovered in 2022: Kim Hye-soo. I absolutely loved her in Hyena (2020) and fell in love with both her acting and her (she's literally the perfect woman). She was fabulous in Signal (2016) as well. Her ability to nail both comedic and serious acting is a testament to her amazing range.

→ Favourite actor discovered in 2022: Honourable mention to Ji Chang-wook, whom I adored in the 3 series I watched him in this year.

However, my favourite actor I discovered this year has got to be Lee Joon-gi. Truly a master of his craft; I’m convinced there isn’t a single thing he cannot do. His acting range is amazing, from subtle and subdued to incredibly emotional.

→ Favourite original song from a drama [discovered in 2022]: Adrenaline (Vincenzo OST). I feel like this song fit the series so perfectly, but also sounds really good as a stand-alone song. I love its brooding, ominous, yet entrancing atmosphere.

→ A visually beautiful kdrama [discovered in 2022]: I’ll be mentioning this series a lot in this post, if only for the reason that it’s become one of my favourite series of all-time, from the second I watched it, the series being Flower of Evil (2020). The cinematography of this series is one of the many elements that makes it stand out from a lot of other dramas I’ve seen. It’s so beautiful, the lighting is always stunning, the colours are soft, the framing is always on-point…

Take this shot, for instance, which is from the opening scene of the drama (I just had to gif it). It instantly draws you in and sets the tone for the rest of the series.

→ A drama you dropped in 2022: Strong Girl Bong-soon (2017). I’m actually surprised I made it this far into this series before dropping it considering how uncomfortable the humour made me feel. From thinly veiled homophobia to crass humour to making light of domestic abuse, this series shocked me, especially considering it isn’t that old. So many series have had narratives of female empowerment and have done so so amazingly well that this series feels very subpar in comparison, in my opinion.

→ Favourite character [discovered in 2022]: Do Hyun-so in Flower of Evil (2020). He stood out to me the most because of how complex and multidimensional he was, and how well all the different facets of his character were portrayed by Lee Joon-gi. I felt so empathetic for his character, angry at the tragic circumstances that had shaped his life, and endeared by the kindness and softness he retained despite all he had been through. His character is tragic but is also an exemplification of resiliency in the face of adversity.

→ A [drama discovered in 2022] with an interesting story: W (2016) had a very interesting premise that was actually executed surprisingly well, in my opinion. In brief, it centres around a webcomic that has somehow come to life, with there being a portal between the real world and the world within the comic book. It’s very entertaining.

→ Oldest drama you watched in 2022: Time Between Dog and Wolf (2007) which I’m currently watching (only 1 episode left). I started it because of Lee Joon-gi and have honestly not been disappointed one bit. Sure, the filming and editing is dated, but that doesn’t detract from the quality of the narrative and the acting. Nowadays, this premise (a revenge undercover story) feels like it might’ve been done many times, however it does not feel boring in this series at all, quite the contrary. It’s been incredibly engaging.

Furthermore, I just have to say… I love 2000s fashion and hairstyles. I mean, look at this. Oh and how could I forget the single earring.

→ Have you rewatched a drama in 2022? Oh yes. I tend to rewatch series quite a bit once they’ve graduated to being comforting series for me. Not sure if I rewatched The Guest (2018) this year or if it was in very late 2021, but I know for sure that I rewatched Her Private Life (2019) (my comfort series at the moment), Vincenzo (2021), Flower of Evil (2020), Sell Your Haunted House (2021), and Suspicious Partner (2017).

→ A drama that kept you on the edge of your seat: Most action/thriller series I watched this year kept me at the edge of my seat, so I cannot list but one. The 3 that stressed me out the most were Signal (2016), Mouse (2021), and Voice 1 (2017).

→ A drama friendship that stole the show: There’s actually quite a few so narrowing it down to one is hard. I think the friendship between the 3 lead girls (Yoon Ji-ho, Woo Su-ji, and Yang Ho-rang) in Because This is My First Life (2017) was really great and heart-warming.

I must also mention the amazing friendship between the two leads (Hong Ji-a and Oh In-beom) in Sell Your Haunted House (2021).

→ A drama you found boring: Nice Guy / The Innocent Man (2012). I watched this series for Song Joong-ki and sadly found it quite boring past the halfway point, which is a shame because it was really great up until that point. I kept with it until the end for both Song Joong-ki and Moon Chae-won but I’ll admit I did fast-forward quite a few scenes near the end and just wanted it to be over.

→ A writer or director who caught your attention: I’ll admit, I didn’t really look up writers or directors this year, but I was really impressed by the writer of Black (2017), Choi Ran (who, it turns out, also wrote Mouse (2021), which I’m only now finding out). Her writing in Black impressed me because of the sheer amount of plot twists and details that were in the series and the fact that there were still very few plot holes.

→ Favourite drama poster of 2022: Flower of Evil (2020) has some of the most memorable posters, to me.

→ Standout secondary character [discovered in 2022]: Choi Yoo-jin in The K2 (2016). I don’t know if she can really be considered a secondary character given her prominence in the series, but nonetheless I absolutely adored her. The perfect antagonist, not one-dimensional at all, on the contrary. Song Yoon-ah’s acting was stunning.

I must also give an honourable mention to Mo Tae-Goo in Voice 1 (2017), whose portrayal by Kim Jae-wook was both haunting and captivating.

→ A drama that made you laugh: Quite a few dramas actually did manage to make me laugh this year, and one of these is Live Up to Your Name (2017). Kim Nam-gil is truly an amazing comedic actor (I loved him in Fiery Priest (2019), which I watched last year). I have yet to watch his more serious roles, but I will.

→ A drama that made you cry: I don’t know why but, despite watching quite a few depressing series, the one that has made me cry the most this year is Time Between Dog and Wolf (2007). I don’t know what it is but this series has made me sob, whereas I know more recent series with similar premises haven’t tugged at my heartstrings in this way. I don’t know if it’s the nostalgia factor but safe to say this drama is making me feel all the emotions.

→ A drama that was better than expected: Simply because I was apprehensive when I saw it was about sports (as a non-sports fan), I did not expect Hot Stove League (2019) to be the absolute masterpiece that it was. Goes to show, you truly cannot judge a book by its cover. This series may be centred around baseball, but it’s so much more than that. It truly amazed me with how realistic it was, with the characters feeling like very real people whom I greatly empathised with.

→ Shortest / longest dramas you completed in 2022: None of the series I watched were shorter than 16 episodes or longer than 20.

→ Favourite costumes of 2022: Simply because I loved Hong Ji-a’s fashion style in Sell Your Haunted House (2021) and would wear it myself, I’ll go with her wardrobe.

→ Sweetest romance of 2022: Toss-up between Healer (2014) and Suspicious Partner (2017). I guess the key to a good romance, for me, is for either Park Min-young or Ji Chang-wook to be involved haha.

→ Most disappointing drama of 2022: Strong Girl Bong-soon (2017), for all the reasons listed previously.

→ A [drama discovered in 2022] that deserves a shout-out: Hot Stove League (2019) simply because I’m afraid people might glance over it simply because, in appearance, it’s about sports, but it’s truly spectacular and I think more people should give it a shot. Another drama that I want to shout-out even though I know it’s already incredibly popular is Itaewon Class (2020), simply because it’s great and heart-warming (despite it getting depressing at times).

→ Something you want to see more in dramas: I’m enjoying seeing more and more lgbt representation in dramas and hope it’ll keep going in that direction because it’s just a nice thing.

→ A 2023 drama that you’re excited for: I don’t really look at future releases, I just find out about them after everyone else…

→ Was 2022 a good drama year for you: Yes- I believe I watched a total of 23 kdramas this year (not counting rewatches) and the vast majority of them were quite enjoyable. Other dramas I watched this year but haven’t mentioned in this post were Crash Landing On You (2019), Lawless Lawyer (2018), Descendants of the Sun (2016), 38 Task Force / Squad 38 (2016), and What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (2018).

→ Favourite drama [discovered in 2022]: Flower of Evil (2020) (*pretends to be shocked*). Honestly though, this series was such a masterpiece that it’s second only to Stranger / Secret Forest (2017) when it comes to kdramas, in my mind. Everything that it set out to accomplish it did so well. It’s one of those rare series where I struggle to find any flaw in it. My mom, who also watched it (and has watched even more kdramas than me at this point), also said it might just be the best series she’d ever seen right after she finished watching it.

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