ibisfeather
This is not a romance. It is about love.
Whoa. Great binge. 2025, 8 eps at 50mins ea. An elegant piece about the universally crazy search for love when we are very young. Some people are found by love, others are not, others really make a mess of things. A BL but it might be a bit too toasty for the Aunties who like mostly the cute little BL romances. Definitely for grown-ups and literary fans, this is not, I repeat not a romance. It is about love.
Excellent cinematography, script and cast. One of the choicest things-- this series exactly and economically fits into its 8 ep. frame, unlike several other shows lately who shall not be named. This one neither bores nor confuses.
The frame is classic -- a young writer transmutes his/her own personal love life into great fiction. The voice-overs as the series follows his stories are just right -- not too intrusive, but they follow his evolving perspectives. The story is set in Seoul and the writer is a young gay man, Go Young, played brilliantly by Nam Yoon Su.
The series is not an ensemble cast. The three other 'princesses' are his drinking buddies for troubles and joys, but in the show they function as a chorus, not individually. They can be very funny -- a 'visit' to Go Young in the hospital is a classic. Mi Ae (his friend and roommate at university), his lovers one by one, they all come onstage and then off they go. Go Young experiences so many almost-love-but-not relationships; look for the live-in lover blues, a form of marriage fatigue. You will love or hate each trope -- really icky, the leftist who wanted to hide the relationship away --but most are not two-dimensional characters, to give Go Yeong (as the writer's alter ego) his due in perception.
Nam Yoon Su is one of those actors whose face the camera adores, all angles and mouth and eyes. He uses his lanky frame well, too -- the shambling choreography with the wonderful Jin Ho Eun was great. He is so good at vulnerability, at sulkiness, at joy -- what good memories I have from this show. Just wonderful. Nevertheless there is a lot of pain in the show. Family division and homophobia, HIV (the crisis may be somewhat past but for those who have contracted it it's a real cross to bear) complicate the decisions Go Young and his friends have to make. In essence this is a realistic portrayal of a place and time.
I prefer to think that Go Young ends up ready for true love, after having gone through all of these negative experiences, some of his own making! Ever the optimist I hope it will be Gyu Ho who comes shining in the door.
Excellent cinematography, script and cast. One of the choicest things-- this series exactly and economically fits into its 8 ep. frame, unlike several other shows lately who shall not be named. This one neither bores nor confuses.
The frame is classic -- a young writer transmutes his/her own personal love life into great fiction. The voice-overs as the series follows his stories are just right -- not too intrusive, but they follow his evolving perspectives. The story is set in Seoul and the writer is a young gay man, Go Young, played brilliantly by Nam Yoon Su.
The series is not an ensemble cast. The three other 'princesses' are his drinking buddies for troubles and joys, but in the show they function as a chorus, not individually. They can be very funny -- a 'visit' to Go Young in the hospital is a classic. Mi Ae (his friend and roommate at university), his lovers one by one, they all come onstage and then off they go. Go Young experiences so many almost-love-but-not relationships; look for the live-in lover blues, a form of marriage fatigue. You will love or hate each trope -- really icky, the leftist who wanted to hide the relationship away --but most are not two-dimensional characters, to give Go Yeong (as the writer's alter ego) his due in perception.
Nam Yoon Su is one of those actors whose face the camera adores, all angles and mouth and eyes. He uses his lanky frame well, too -- the shambling choreography with the wonderful Jin Ho Eun was great. He is so good at vulnerability, at sulkiness, at joy -- what good memories I have from this show. Just wonderful. Nevertheless there is a lot of pain in the show. Family division and homophobia, HIV (the crisis may be somewhat past but for those who have contracted it it's a real cross to bear) complicate the decisions Go Young and his friends have to make. In essence this is a realistic portrayal of a place and time.
I prefer to think that Go Young ends up ready for true love, after having gone through all of these negative experiences, some of his own making! Ever the optimist I hope it will be Gyu Ho who comes shining in the door.
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