Magic mirror? Or no magic mirror?
I was ready to absolutely hate Pond. I didn’t like the way the character was introduced, he appeared arrogant and very out of touch with reality. And while the later stuck through the series, I realized that I mistook his confidence for arrogance. He was quite sweet and caring, not only to those close to him but also others. A big part of the series is spent on him doing his best to make Mawin happy.I don’t really know what to think about Mawin, his story is not exactly thought through. It might be just two episodes, but it needed more background and a strong basis to make it all believable. What exactly does he have? Why can’t he hang out with his friends? Why doesn’t he keep in contact with them in a different way? I just don’t think the plot around him held any water.
The mirror was kind of an interesting addition to the story. I guess it was a good connecting factor between Pond and Pawin. I just wish it actually had the power we were led to believe it does. With how things are, it didn't really serve any real purpose.
I also have a little bit of a problem with the cast. I did think Pond looked much older than 29 and with Mawin looking quite young, it was a bit of a strange choice. Looking at the cast, I realized that the actor playing Pond is actually 44 years old. Which I don’t think was the best choice. I guess it would also explain that the chemistry between the two might have been better than with some other couples, but it wasn’t exactly great either.
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Magic mirror...what magic?!?
I was actually really afraid of watching this last instalment of My Universe anthology because of the director who made three of the arguably worst parts, where story amounted to 15 min of footage filmed and the rest are those 15 min shown as flashbacks repeatedly. I did not think I could live through another flashback hell.Well, lo and behold, a miracle happened: not one single flashback in these two episodes. But now I've seen this, I actually wish there were more flashback and less of the story which was messy, incomprehensible and just plain boring and extremely cringy(the proposal in the pizza place had me running for the door screaming!)!.
The synopsis made me expect a fantasy story which would have made a lovely ending of the series. Yeah, well fantasy...I don't think they understand the genre!
Pond is a narcissist, always looking at himself in the many mirrors he owns. One day he breaks one by accident. With a friend's help, he finds another one dumped behind the building. He brings it home but the mirror turns out to be weird since Pond keeps hearing noises and seeing shadows in it. Until one day he recognizes the person in the mirror: a student he used to tutor long time ago and with whom he lost touch. He goes to see him and discovers that Marvin is dying so he takes it upon himself to make Marvin's last days memorable. They kiss. The end!
The first problem is the casting of a 44yr old actor to play a 29yr old Pond: him acting cute and cheerful was not convincing: he just looked like an immature kid - ridiculous! The second problem is the storyline. With the magic mirror involved, I was expecting a major twist in the story, using this mirror. Nothing happened: the mirror was just the device to get them to contact each other again. And that's it! Wasted potential! But maybe it is only my mind refusing to admit the existence of sad stories. Somehow this kind of a story does not fit into this bl genre, this is just a tragedy without happy ending but with Pond finally figuring out what he wants to do in his life. So this is actually the story of Pond and his search for a meaningful employment.
This is quite bad: I liked Fake Love more which was so badly filmed (endless silent shots, flashbacks of flashbacks of flashbacks... Watch this video, it is hilarious: https://youtu.be/i60dsk4m_vc) and written but the story made sense somehow. This is just a mess trying to be meaningful but completely loosing the plot! This director just does not have luck with scripts! Don't give up! This one should have been good
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Mirror mirror on the wall..
Why weren't you used at all?! I genuinely thought the mirror would play a bigger role than simply making all the characters dream, but I'll let it pass because they did actually use it to set up the story.I Wish You Love is the story of Pond, who takes extreme pride and caution in his looks and the way he presents himself. Naturally, he has a huge collection of mirrors and takes extremely good care of them. When he accidentally breaks one of his mirrors and obtains a replacement from a second hand store, he discovers that he can see his old junior Marwin in his dreams.
Initially terrified and later curious, he visits Marwin in person and finds that he's sick and confined himself to his house. Seeing all this, he decides to help Marwin step outside and hopefully fulfill some unresolved wishes he has.
The rest of the series pretty much follows all the things Marwin wants to do, and them doing it which is sweet yes, but.. that's it. It's difficult to create emotional depth and a steady story in two episodes, but it's definitely possible. While the message they tried to get across with all the scenes was obvious, it only managed to be displayed in bits and pieces. There was a lot of time wasted on unnecessary scenes, heavy dialogue that didn't quite cut it and a plot that was half baked to give room for another plotline. This is the kind of story that required either a longer runtime or more episodes, but in a bid to keep it interesting and short, they messed up the execution.
They tried to do the best they could and you can see they put some effort into it, but unfortunately it was just missing that spark that takes it from an okay story to "okay, this story is heart breaking and amazing".
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