This review may contain spoilers
'If you could freeze time and you weren't dying, what would you do?'This was a very subtle, yet, in my opinion, a most important central piece for this movie.
The story of the movie isn't innovative in any way, it has a predictable central plot, but it brings some unique surprises while it reaches its ending.
I wouldn't have loved it so much if the story didn't twist so interestingly towards the last half an hour. I would have just thought that the movie was nice, but yet another typical, self-sacrificing love from one of the leads towards the other's happiness. And if it were so, then Sweet November would have been the more plausible story for me... but it turned out that the story was beyond that and it made me give this movie a special place in my heart.
Now, what really made this movie such a big hit for me were the actors... I mean, oh my God, the acting was among the best I've experienced, I was absolutely sucked in and I absolutely lived their pain, love and happiness alongside the two. Seldom do I fall in love with both male and female leads in a movie, so allow me to be excited :).
Time to go deeper into the movie!
I have to say that I really enjoyed how the story had, along the line of the plot, scattered interesting visual images that would fixate into my mind and give new meaning to the movie:
The numbers that would suddenly appear before his eyes every time he would waver as to giving up his love, to further enforce that time was running out for him were very interesting, especially when his career goes on the line for him excessively playing Cat Girl's song and his boss threatening his job, the shirt with 88 written on it suddenly popped before his eyes in order to assure him he was doing the right thing.
Also, when she returns from her date a little drunk and she sneaks in his bed, he feels really comfortable, but he gets up an leaves her after he sees 20x on the little pin-board next to his bed, reminding him of his days left.
Another nice image was that of him letting time pass again in the photo studio, when he decides to start on of the clocks, that is the moment when he knows time cannot stop and his love won't find fulfillment.
The cactus he chose as a gift for her is quite unique in its symbolism also: that species of gymnocalicium is a hybrid cactus, the colored top has no chlorophyll, so it needs to be put on top of another cactus, a green one, in order to get food and survive. That is, for me, the nature of their relationship, a symbioses, where one cannot survive without the other, neither can it let any ham come to the other, as the pain would be felt by them both.
Shall I answer the question from the beginning of my review? It's not a spoiler per say, but it will reveal, if you think hard about it, the ending of the movie, so I'd advise you to stop reading, if you don't want to get a glimpse of how the story id finished.
*** When time freezes, they could reveal the storm of feelings that boils in their hearts... Only when time freezes and everyone around them stops, will they be free to love one another, just like to birds flying towards the sky ***
Hope you enjoyed my review, have a great time watching the movie !
P.S.: Did anyone else got creeped out by the doctor after you saw in the ending he was a bit of a stalker?
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I didn't go in with high expectations but i did leave filled with a puddle of tears, a torn apart heart and completeness. I can barely see through my tears as I'm typing this out.
The story was somewhat simple but the way it was carried through was amazing. I'm really not into romantic movies but i gave this a shot and i loved it. The cast was amazing. The music chosen was mostly ballad of course and it was delivered beautifully.
What sets this apart i would say is how you pretty much knew the ending from the beginning because they mention it. But as the story progresses it just becomes heart-wrenchingly beautiful.
The ending was completely satisfying. Everything was pulled together perfectly and no loose ends were left.
Im going to go and continue crying for the rest of the night because im a sucker for devastating romance movies haha
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This review may contain spoilers
My Mini Back-story: I watched More than Blue a couple of days ago. Originally, I was pumped because there were a lot of praises for this particular movie. The rating also seems pretty high on "mydramalist". And since I fairly enjoyed Only You / Always, I thought this would be on par with it. Now I'm stumped. Storyline:
I have to shrug this off my shoulders. Sorry if it starts and ends on a bad note. This is just my humble opinion.
I felt like my IQ level stooped to its' lowest point. Yes, that's an exaggeration, but honestly, this film does not deserve all the praise it is/was receiving.
I'm not even going to bother listing things that you should be looking forward to because it was truly disappointing. Instead, I'll just list a number of factors that frustrated me.
a) Illogical. Everything could have been solved within 15 minutes, but then that wouldn't be a movie, right? I don't know what the writers were thinking. I understand that it's a "melodrama", but at least make the direction in terms of story plausible/logical for the audience.
b) Draggy. I haven't seen a movie that dragged on as much as this one in a long time. There were too many unnecessary scenes, especially at the beginning with the manager and "Cat Girl"?
c) Nerve-wracking characters. Why on Earth did both the protagonists have to do that? I can't mention much, since even a minor detail would be a spoiler. Besides, what was the point of this movie? Did the doctor have to be dragged in? Poor man.
d) Fail attempt at being emotionally driven. I felt rather sleepy after watching this movie. There was no raw emotion that I felt from our OTP. Initially, I did think they were cute, but their idiotic actions took a toll and I changed my mind. A lot of people thought the twist was nicely done because it enhanced the quality of the movie. I think otherwise. It threw me even further away from the bell-curve.
e) Lack of originality. Sure, the twist did make me go, "Ohhh" and "Ahh", but I've seen this written in short stories / fan-made fiction before. I love Korean dramas/movies despite the fact that they can be too melodramatic. Though, I cannot stand the over-emphasis of excessive melodrama in More than Blue.
f) Pointless.
One thing I'll say though... some of the dialogues were kind of witty. I believe that's where most of my points are going in this category anyway.
Acting/Cast:
The acting wasn't bad. Our three main leads played their characters nicely, despite their characters are half-dead most of the time. Truthfully, it was the characters that threw me off. I have not felt such hatred for so many characters in a movie/show in a long time.
Kwon Sang Woo plays as K. He's a dull character, let me say that. For half of the movie, he looks high. I guess that's plausible under his circumstance and situation.
Lee Bo Young plays as Cream. Her character annoyed me. She's not a straightforward character when she needs to be and she's too direct when she doesn't need to be. I just don't understand her actions. The acting from Lee Bo Young complemented the annoying character. I don't know if that was done on purpose. If so, she's an extremely talented actress.
Music:
It's only been a couple of days, and I don't remember any of the music scores. Then again, I don't remember it being horrible.
Overall:
Need I say more? It's a A Story More Stupid than Stupid.
Horrible script in terms of storyline direction, frustrating characters, dreadful/nonsensical meaning, but good acting with good casts (at least the 3 leading actors). Sadly, the actors cannot make up for it. No matter how great the actors are, if the storyline and characters are annoying, what can the actors do?
If you want to stay away from something that will waste about an hour and a half, this is the movie to stay away from. Perhaps, I'm just not a sensitive person.
I'm baffled that there's a recommendation of this with A Moment to Remember. No way is it on the same level nor are they similar. The characters in More Than Blue inflict depression/sadness/pain upon themselves with their own stupidity, whereas what happened to the characters in A Moment to Remember was out of their control.
Overall rating for review: 3/10
Purely for entertainment: 2/10
My Dramalist rating (avg): 2.5/10
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STORY: The story is plain to say the least.
It feels like the screenwriter said "Hey, I'm a sadist and I want to make bitches cry. What's the best way to make bitches cry? I just have to put a guy on the edge of dying, some unselfish love on top of that and, of course, a loooooooooot of crying scenes. Bitches love this kind of things." And maybe he was right since so many people seem utterly in love with this movie but I personnally think it's not enough.
The dialogues are plain but I guess it's logical since every single character is plain with no real personality...so don't expect to find any witty quotes in this movie. Of course the main character uses pretty good metaphors to explain love (and damn doesn't he love toothbrushes?) but even this isn't enough.
And all these unneeded scenes. It feels like they wanted to fill the lack of action by adding random scenes. And, once again, it failed.
Honestly speaking, the more I look at it, the more I feel like the screenwriter really thought a movie only needs someone dying, some twisted way of loving and, of course, crying scenes to be a good movie. But it doesn't, it simply doesn't.
And talking about the crying scenes, all this makes it so obvious that they want to make you cry your soul out and so we have a epic fail because all this is just ridiculous...story why you so plain and obvious?
However, I have to say that the base of the story wasn't bad, it had some potential but still, not enough is not enough.
ACTING/CAST: I have to admit the cast was good. Not flawless but good. But, again, it's hard to judge since the characters were so plain. It would have been hard, even for a outstanding actor, not to look just "okay" in this kind of movie. Because of the storyline and the way it's handled, everything is dragged down.
MUSIC: There are movies that when they end you just search like crazy for their soundtrack...More Than Blue isn't one of them. The soundtrack is just average. It goes well with the movie and this is it. It's not bad but it's not exceptional either.
REWATCH VALUE: Personnaly, I will never rewatch this movie and if I do, it will only be because I really love the way it was filmed...which leads us to my last point.
OVERALL: Everything is average in this movie. Everything? Maybe not...
Indeed, you just can't deny the film director has some really good ideas: the random beginning which leads to the story being told, the silent countdown, the use of the clocks...I have to say I really enjoyed it. It's too bad the rest didn't follow because More Than Blue could have really been a masterpiece if they handled the story differently. So to put it in a nutshell, yes MTB is bad, no it won't make you cry (except if you really feel like crying...but if it's the case, I guess even watching a tomato on a table can have the same effect) but you should still watch this movie because:
1) I have my opinion but I'm not you
2) The realisation is really good
3) I'm a troll and I want you to suffer as much as me from all this plainness
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It's strange because I wasn't really invested in the story at first. The movie is actually quite fast-paced which has its pros and cons. The pros are, of course, you don't get bored and don't feel the urge to skip any scenes. The cons are the lack of depth and you find it hard to connect with the story and the characters just because you don't really know anything about them.
But somehow, the second half managed to catch my full attention and gosh that ending... I mean, yes, it's not the most original movie out there. It doesn't have the most shocking plot twist I've ever seen. But every second of it, every spoken word, every shared moment... it was perfectly done. The writing of this movie is no joke. Simply beautiful and heartbreaking.
Of course we, viewers, can easily say ''They should have talked more'', but what do we know? What do we really know? What would we do in this kind of situation?
The acting was absolutely brilliant. Kwon Sang Woo never ceases to amaze me, he always delivers amazing performances and the same goes for Lee Bo Young. Lee Bum Soo though... this man is HOT. The kiss was just... out of this world lol.
So yeah, More Than Blue is a masterpiece. It's very meaningful and thought-provoking. I'm sure it will be hard for me to forget it and trust me, I forget movies veeeeery easily. But this one touched me deeply.
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PROS
+ Unconventional storytelling that avoids being cliché and stale
+ Excellent plot twist that changes everything about the film
+ While it has a emotionally dense tone, it's not a challenging watch
+ The lead character, Cream, is especially charming and is like an intriguing mystery to figure out
+ Surprisingly, there are some cool and abstract shots that are meaningful, metaphorical, and dream-like
+ There is some A+ writing that is outright beautiful with flawless delivery
CONS
- Admittedly, there are some slow moments that require some patience and attention to get the most out of the story
- The opening scene sets a contrasting, light-hearted atmosphere, that wears away so quickly that it's jarring
- The conclusion is one of those indirectly impactful endings that hits you after you've turned off the TV [spoilers for why this is a negative]
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More Than Blue seemed like an interesting movie and it certainly was, but also it was so bitter sweet and meaningful that I think it could actually be life-changing to some viewers.
Just don't expect a nice, romantic drama.
"I want to live a happy life... But, that's just a dream. A sad dream. I'm done with dreaming." [tears begin to fall]
9/10
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The only thing that will not let me watch it again is the amount of sadness that is in my heart now ??
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This review may contain spoilers
Get your tissues ready
A beautiful touching yet very sad love story. Heart wrenching & be prepared to cry especially at the end part. A selfless sacrificial love than I won’t even think of. As I was watching, I asked myself, ‘Is there really such love in this world?’ And the other thought was, can a guy & a lady has such a close friend-family like relationship & stay together without anything happening??? They even had a short kiss at the beginning before staying together. Well…, don’t overthink & just watch & cry.Was this review helpful to you?
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I watched it three times and I cried like a little bitch, every single time!
Before you start watching just make sure you have enough tissue! That's the review.Apparently a review can't be less than 500 characters, so let me tell you this- This movie is better than the other two Taiwanese remakes. The girls are cute in the Taiwanese drama. They showed the school life of K and Cream and how they actually fell in love with each other so that was cool. But they made some changes to the main storyline which I didn't like. So you can watch it if you want. But it's nowhere near as good as the original Korean movie.
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