ibisfeather
Dark, idealistic, funny and romantic
An amazing watch. Ji Chang Wook 10 years ago, lanky and sweet, scrambling over rooftops when parkour was hot. 2014, 20 eps at 1hr ea. A perfect antidote to politics. Dark, funny, romantic, and in its way, even idealistic.
On a cautious trawl through pre-2018 shows, the good ones mostly involve famous MLs, here JCW. Healer has the synergy of a good script, excellent central cast, non-murky cinematography with strong dark/light contrasts and great experienced directors, writer and music editor, which lifted it right into the stratosphere. Altho in 2014 it was not preproduced, it has a strong dramatic ending and only one glaringly odd self-video scene which goes nowhere.
The setting is partly in the media world -- television news/online news -- and partly in the criminal world where Healer and his partner work, so questions of truth and justice are important, but the central romance is between two people who, having lost their families, want to live a normal life together despite the enormous obstacles in their way.
The villains, large groups of 'security personnel', one really peculiar mastermind and a duplicitous brother, all somehow do not dominate the action. The focus is on the recovery of family history for the two leads who knew each other as children in a group of young activists running a pirate radio broadcast in the 90s. Both lost their parents and any other contact with the group, and are reunited when one (Healer) is hired to find the other.
Park Min Young, as Chae Young Sin, is able to take on yet another damaged FL role but to successfully foreground the character's toughness and ability to love. Yoon Gi Tae, playing a star reporter, does a nice slow crawl from falsity towards sincerity as the third child of the group. I think that the solid presence of Park Sang Myun as Young Sin's adoptive dad really anchors the found family which emerges. JCW's performance of vulnerability in love is something to behold, and the pair's sensuality is sharp and sweet.
There are some points midway through the series where the physical interaction of the lovers is so graceful it made me blink. The editing of a pas de deux sequence when they are sleeping (in pure white sheets) is amazing; one wakes, reaches for the other blindly and falls asleep again -- then the other wakes and reaches out in turn.,,, Sometimes as they walk past each other a hand stretches out grasping the air...
On a cautious trawl through pre-2018 shows, the good ones mostly involve famous MLs, here JCW. Healer has the synergy of a good script, excellent central cast, non-murky cinematography with strong dark/light contrasts and great experienced directors, writer and music editor, which lifted it right into the stratosphere. Altho in 2014 it was not preproduced, it has a strong dramatic ending and only one glaringly odd self-video scene which goes nowhere.
The setting is partly in the media world -- television news/online news -- and partly in the criminal world where Healer and his partner work, so questions of truth and justice are important, but the central romance is between two people who, having lost their families, want to live a normal life together despite the enormous obstacles in their way.
The villains, large groups of 'security personnel', one really peculiar mastermind and a duplicitous brother, all somehow do not dominate the action. The focus is on the recovery of family history for the two leads who knew each other as children in a group of young activists running a pirate radio broadcast in the 90s. Both lost their parents and any other contact with the group, and are reunited when one (Healer) is hired to find the other.
Park Min Young, as Chae Young Sin, is able to take on yet another damaged FL role but to successfully foreground the character's toughness and ability to love. Yoon Gi Tae, playing a star reporter, does a nice slow crawl from falsity towards sincerity as the third child of the group. I think that the solid presence of Park Sang Myun as Young Sin's adoptive dad really anchors the found family which emerges. JCW's performance of vulnerability in love is something to behold, and the pair's sensuality is sharp and sweet.
There are some points midway through the series where the physical interaction of the lovers is so graceful it made me blink. The editing of a pas de deux sequence when they are sleeping (in pure white sheets) is amazing; one wakes, reaches for the other blindly and falls asleep again -- then the other wakes and reaches out in turn.,,, Sometimes as they walk past each other a hand stretches out grasping the air...
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