were you there?

There are a lot of Korean movies and shows with a theme of Highschool bullying but this one manages to be original by focusing on students who are standing by and don’t do anything about it, or don’t do enough. So this drama is relevant to all of us. It can be depressing to watch this kind of dramas but it is still important to be reminded about our responsibility to stand up for ourselves and for others. It is a virtue to be meek, but as a song goes “Sometimes you gotta fight when you’re a man”.

There are two versions of English title for this drama: “We Were There” and “Anyone Anywhere”, the first meaning that the witness is also responsible and the second asking if there is anyone anywhere who is willing to help. I can see this drama being a part of educational programs.

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So harsh

Drama Special is a great format, sometimes too short, but sometimes just right. This episode is the later, short but impactful. The main lead is a competent good man but his fate seems to turn everything against him and he is falling deeper and deeper. This is the premise and it is best, not to know more but to just relax and watch it. In fact this is not a relaxing story because the story is so real and while watching i couldn't help but sympathize with people whose jobs are so stressful and complicated.

If you had time to read this review, please find an hour of your life to watch this drama. It has an important message and is very well made.

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A Birth of a Priest

For a long time I was searching for this movie, and finally I saw it and I must give it a 10/10 because I am so happy that it was made. This is not a typically entertainment movie but a historical biographical drama about the "adventures" of Andrew Kim Dae Geon, first Korean Priest.

The film is very long, but I watched it over four days with great excitement and interest, and that's why I wasn't bored at any point. I enjoyed every scene. The cinematography of the film is excellent. Every scene is detailed and beautiful as a photography. The actors are also very good. The flow of the plot is a bit fragmented as it covers a lot of topics and events, but that is understandable for this type of film. I think that those who are already familiar with the life of Andrew Kim will enjoy the film more because they will be able to recognize future saints in some of the characters along with the main character who is the trademark name of Korean saints.

Many elements from the film I already knew before, I have been to many places in Korea that are shown here, even on the small boat Rafael on Jeju Island. As a priest, I had a very emotional experience watching the challenges faced by the first Christians, accused of collaborating with foreign enemies and disrespecting the king, and especially the situation with priests who had to be ready for martyrdom and death.

That is the message of this movie. This is not about the birth of one man, but about the birth of a priest, the birth of a new Korea that will be open to the gospel, and a spiritual birth through baptism and martyr's blood, because what is death if not a new birth? Listen to the last words of the main character of this movie, priest Andrew Kim Dae geon: "I have held communication with foreigners only for my religion and my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is now on the point of birth."

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pleasing fantasy

Dr. Cheon is a likeable guy and the movie rightfully carries his name in the title. He also has his sidekicks, a small group of distinct characters. Unfortunately they weren't used much in the story. They are here mostly for show, but I can imagine them having more responsibilities in a sequel if they decide to make it.

I like this type of movies so the plot holes didn't bother me too much. There is adventure and fantasy, and a little bit of spirituality, and also action. Would like to see more movies like this from Korea. The atmosphere is great, especially in the first part where the comedy and a small bits of horror work well. At the end it becomes more and more generic but still very enjoyable and exciting. The runtime is good, not every movie needs to be 2-ghour long. All in all, not a masterpiece but a great relaxing evening movie.

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I wanted to do good

Oh my, this was a long movie that makes me want to light up a candle and pray for the protagonists - man and woman living together. One of them actually does light a candle while working, maybe even praying, and the other said something that describes the movie for me. He said: I wanted to do good.

The society has an institution of marriage for a reason, for protection and support (the common good) of both husband and wife, and their children. The couple in this movie are just living together, they are friends, partners and lovers, they live in a consensual union where everything is good until it isn't. Paradoxically, the problems seem to start when the woman Jay gets pregnant . Would marriage make it easier for them? I argue that it would. I would say that this movie is an honest depictions of psychological and practical challenges of unexpected pregnancy not only for woman but also for man. The story takes an unexpected turn and the end is both negative and positive. Even if i would want to spoil the movie, i wouldn't be able to decide if the ending is good or bad. It is, just like in real life, the reality of so many relationships. Don't watch this movie for entertainment, watch it if you want to study relationships.

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The Korean Murphy's Law

In many Korean movies and dramas you just know that the writers want to add suspense by including the worst possible scenarios. If a character can save himself by going right, he will go left. If there is a chance to make the plot more complicated it will be. I felt that way watching this drama. The premise and the plot twists are great but I felt that it could have all been resolved sooner. The show could have ended after 2 episodes, then after 6, than after 7 and half, than after 8, but it kept going until, luckily, it managed to find its resolve and conclusion. I don't want to give anything aways but I can say the ending is a bit generic. Fortunately there is also a short epilogue that i liked.

On the other side i still enjoyed all 10 hours of this drama, especially in moral and psychological themes of the characters and how the situations lead and change them. It was truly a bloody lucky interesting exciting ride that no one would want to experience in reality.

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A Search for Truth

The truth is increasingly difficult to find. Mainstream media choose which side of the story to tell, and individual influencers direct and stage their own truth. Most of the things we hear on the internet are actually fake news. Where does that lead? This film provides a dramatic example of the search for truth. The film contains very valuable messages about the influence of popular streaming stars.

There are some moments in the film that seemed illogical to me, but I have to admit that from the first minute to the last I was closely following the action. How the saying goes: It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time.. The film successfully maintains tension from beginning to end so that no part of the film is just a time filler but has a real effect on the development of the story. And that's why I can only give it 10 out of 10. The main actress Park Ju-hyun did a great job in her role and in the most dramatic moments she looked very cool.

I hear voices that a film like this can be an inspiration to real people to take revenge on streamers in a similar way, but I believe that the story of the film is so unusual that it will be difficult for anyone to imitate it, and from the positive side, the film is a lesson and a warning to be truthful and authentic in real life.

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This is serious

Everyone who tried to buy or sell something on classified ads websites can relate to this movie. Personally I was scammed once when selling something, and almost when trying to buy a console but I can see and detect scammers on a daily basis whenever I scroll the adds online. There are too many scammers out there. Unfortunately they always use new tactics and we should all be careful when shopping and leaving our personal information online. This movie is a great warning for that.

"Target" is a very interesting and suspenseful triller. There are some typical Korean movie cliches inside but they didn't bother me because the story was very compelling and moved quickly. It kept my interest all the time and I would certainly recommend it to everyone.

Btw. anyone here want to buy my Sony MHC V13 Sound System? ㅎㅎ

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Jeju is beautiful

A few weeks have passed since I last watched a Korean movie, and this movie served as a great motivator for me to continue following Korean cinema. While this film isn’t a masterpiece, and I assume I’ll forget the plot within a year, it was still a great way to spend a relaxing evening. The film is short and straightforward, categorized as action, though it’s much more comedy-oriented. I gave it a 9 out of 10, specifically for the humor that really resonated with me. Normally, I’m not a big fan of gag jokes, but it seems I was just in the mood for something like that, and this movie delivered. I found myself laughing at some silly mishap in almost every scene.

The actors have charisma, though it seems they could have expressed the eccentric qualities of their characters even more. At the beginning, each character is introduced with distinctive traits, but these quirks don’t play a significant role later on. In fact, their personalities change into a cliché roles.

Also, since I have such beautiful memories of Jeju, this film was a lovely reminder of my visit to the island. I appreciate that the cinematographers gave us viewers a little glimpse of Jeju’s landscape through this film.

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Do you know what your neighbor is doing?

Living in an apartment where you can hear what's going on with your neighbors through the walls is the everyday life of many people. And of course, when you hear sounds and you don't know what they are, you start imagining different things. I'll never forget one night when I couldn't sleep because the neighbor above me was moving furniture at midnight, and I thought it was a real earthquake. This is also the premise of this film. A young woman who is pursuing a writing career is disturbed by the sounds from the neighbor's apartment, but interestingly, no one else is bothered by it. I liked that for the greater part of the film, as viewers, we remain in ignorance and suspense because we ourselves question what is really happening. Later, when all the elements are revealed, the film shifts the emphasis to another topic, so until the end there is something that keeps us attentive to the plot. But saying more would mean to spoil te movie.

The movie isn't bad, and I liked that it didn't try to over-inflate the tension. It tries to be as realistic as possible, and yet arouse interest in the viewers due to the slowly developing plot. I have some objections to the decisions and actions of the main characters, which seem illogical to me, but all in all, this is a solid film that turns from a social drama at the beginning into a tense thriller at the end.

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Dude, who is a gangster?

Just saw this movie for the second time and it is great to see the actors I didn't see for a long time in any project. The production is really excellent. The movie started with an impressive artistic scene with hundreds of gangsters together so i was expecting a „City of Violence“ type of movie. Then, after some jokes thrown into the story I thought maybe this is more like „The Crime City (The Roundup)“ movie series. But this is another city – City of Damnation where we have gangsters and cops but we don’t have much action, just the comedy so this movie would mostly fit the genre of comedy. The director didn’t bother much with the story but just for the visuals and the comedy. There are hundreds of gags in this 2-hour movie which is too much and so over the top that at the end I just laughed at their stupidity. I was reminded two times on the movie “Dude, where’s my car”. There is a tattoo joke and a scene where a character unsuccessfully tries to translate one English to Korean. Haha.

Anyway, this could have been a great movie but it exaggerated with the jokes and missed some opportunities with the interesting premise of the story.

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Life doesn't get easier

The movie begins with an interesting plot of a man who returns to life after death and gets a new chance. That short introduction takes us back more than 20 years, to 1997, where we relive the high school days of the main character. His mission is to relive his youth by making a lot of money, but reality will teach him about his limitations and what is really important in life.

The uniqueness that the film brings in the original background of the plot with supernatural, even at times religious elements, is diminished due to the clichéd plot and standard, not to say, predictable, story of the students in high school. For me, the best parts of the movie were the first and last 10 minutes, because they try to connect the idea of ​​the story into one, while the main part of the movie fails to profit from the idea of ​​going back in time, but gives one, though nice, but still only a standard high school story.

The message that even with second chance our life is challenging, is actually very noble. I found the movie inconsistent, although it's unique enough that I'm glad I watched it and can recommend it to those who are interested either in the story or the actors.

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Dog?!

First of all there is no dog as protagonist in the movie but there is an artist who dreams in black and white and without sound so his dreams could be his shadows. He is also preparing the exhibition but isn’t doing anything to prepare it?! He is just exploring the small town where he came after a long time. One of his wall painting is actually called: “The Dog Who Eats Shadows”.

Still, I didn't get the movie. What dog? What shadows? Maybe I should check Chinese Mythology? Maybe dog (개) can be intended as a scumbag, a person who is less than human. And shadow (그림자) could be compared with the artist because a painting is 그림. So in my mind 그림자 could be a person who paints. Then we should see, who is the scumbag who eats our painter, haha. Sorry, this is just an interpretation since this movie is open to many interpretations. At least the guessing made me interested in the story.

I missed the story arc of an actress, a woman with a certain charisma that seems to be friendly with men around so she can be considered the one eating, dispersing shadows: the doubts, the sadness, the pains of others. I would like to know what happened to her.

And I want to add a warning that this is a mature film with 3 very brief scenes of nudity.

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The Redemption of a Series

After the mess that was the season 2 I thought this series is dead and I almost didn't want to watch season 3. But man, this was a good show and i liked the most of it. There are still many stupid illogical details but at least the series had a focus and gave each character a purpose and a proper conclusion.

Watching the series, I realized how much I care about the characters and it was very emotional to witness their pain and tragic fates. This is thanks to the actors who looked very attractive and authentic. Also the excellent soundtrack that often sounded like church music contributed to the atmosphere.

I especially liked the use of religious elements and symbols that subtly indicated order in the midst of chaos. All the characters, whether human or monster or specially infected or neohumans, they all found their purpose and a kind of redemption. In my opinion, the authors managed to return the series to its original roots and conclude the story in a great way and i couldn't be happier about it.

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Holy gangsters :)

It is said that spirituality should not be used for jokes, but sometimes that is justified. This film uses different religions and spiritualities in a very good way, for a joke, but also for inspiration. For a moment it may seem that the film makes fun of faith, but in fact it conveys the message that faith has its own strength and meaning, and the message that different faiths together give greater strength is also noble.

The Korean title of the film is 목스박 which stands for 목사 (pastor), 스님 (monk) and 박수무당 (shaman), according to the three main characters who suddenly take on the roles of these holy figures leading to various funny and absurd situations. Since this is a family friendly action comedy after all, I am a little disappointed with the excessive use of curse words. The characters are just as crazy as they should be, to combine the comedy and the action for a fun watching experience. In some absurd way, this is a good movie about religious dialogue and cooperation.

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