yeongjinchae
Singapore
This review may contain spoilers
Dramedy with a good share of blood and slapstick humour
Although I was a longtime Song Joong Ki fan (since Sungkyunkwan Scandal), I wasn't initially drawn to watch Vincenzo. I thought the premise was a bit ridiculous, a Korean in the Italian mafia?
However, I decided to give it a shot, and I was not disappointed. I found the mix of comedy (albeit more slapstick than wit), drama, action, and melodrama (the bits with the parents of the main characters in particular), a very refreshing addition to the K-drama universe. I am honestly very tired of the usual K-drama tropes and melodramatic romantic stuff that has been seducing audiences for years, and continue to do so, while now masked into different time periods or mixing it up with the military or fantasy genres.
Cast and Acting
The entire cast was STELLAR, to say the least. I do agree there are many missed opportunities to develop the two main characters (I honestly really wanted Vincenzo's Korean/Italian childhood storyline to take off), however, I think they made up with the very solid performances of all of the support cast. I was endeared to most, if not, all of them, at certain points of the series, and each support character had a great contribution to the plot. They each brought a unique flair to their character, and I found myself chuckling quite a fair bit at the interactions they had with each other.
The main cast, however, tried their best with what little they had to work with. Nevertheless, I think the noteworthy performance by Song Joong Ki is during the scene where he threatened the Babel group after his mother got murdered. Ok Tacyeon deserves a lot of credit for managing the two personality extremes, though I much prefer his evil side. Jeon Yeo Bin's best performances were in the first half of the series; I think she fell a bit flat in the second half just because of how the storyline progressed. As for the romance portion, I was very satisfied with the lack of focus on this; it is somewhat forced into the storyline just because, but I think it makes sense that the two leads endeared to each other because of all the trauma they experienced together. I disagree that the acting fell short here: Vincenzo was already someone who kept his feelings to himself and is not someone who displays emotions easily, Song managed to capture this and expressed a lot of the subtle displays of affection quite well. As for Hong Cha-young, come on, who wouldn't fall in love with an invincible, intelligent, wealthy man, who supported her emotionally throughout, and with a cute face like that, seriously?
Storyline
Generally enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game between Babel and Jipuragi, but I felt the absurd number of deaths attributed to Babel too unbelievable. But then again, being the dramedy that it is, I don't expect all things to make sense. There's a lot of wacky comedy weaved into the serious topics of corruption in the business and legal worlds, justice and morality, and grief and death. I did not feel this was done in bad taste, though it might appear slipshod to some folks. Episodes were about 80-90 minutes, and this is the first time I've felt they were not too long. Perhaps it might be because there were so many characters and plots involved that I could not get enough of them. I really liked how this show presents us with the challenge to re-think what justice and morality ought to be (the juxtaposition between Hong senior and Vincenzo, Hong junior and Vincenzo, etc.). I am generally a Hong Yu Chan type, rosy-eyed and idealistic, and this drama helped me to explore different motivations that others might have in life. Pacing of the drama was an interesting mix of fast (for the action and comedy) and slow (for the sentimental parts).
Production
Cinematography and editing was another hit for me. I think the production team was experimenting a lot of the camera angles, and they were mostly successful in their attempts. Some individual shots of Vincenzo thinking or sleeping were questionable to me, but with the addition of the BGM, they didn't bother me as such. The CGI team really did a good job as well.
Music
The OST was commendable, and I actually went ahead and bought it on iTunes. There's a wider variety of musical genres in this OST, compared to most K-dramas (which feature mostly ballads). I particularly enjoyed Questo edificio è mio, Aalia's version of Adrenaline, and Holy Anger.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Vincenzo, and I am currently re-watching it. It might not be on par with the greatest black comedies ever made, but I think it does well enough. I actually prefer this series to Parasite (the movie). My personal favourite is Keeping Mum (2005) with Rowan Atkinson. Oh well, to each her (his) own.
However, I decided to give it a shot, and I was not disappointed. I found the mix of comedy (albeit more slapstick than wit), drama, action, and melodrama (the bits with the parents of the main characters in particular), a very refreshing addition to the K-drama universe. I am honestly very tired of the usual K-drama tropes and melodramatic romantic stuff that has been seducing audiences for years, and continue to do so, while now masked into different time periods or mixing it up with the military or fantasy genres.
Cast and Acting
The entire cast was STELLAR, to say the least. I do agree there are many missed opportunities to develop the two main characters (I honestly really wanted Vincenzo's Korean/Italian childhood storyline to take off), however, I think they made up with the very solid performances of all of the support cast. I was endeared to most, if not, all of them, at certain points of the series, and each support character had a great contribution to the plot. They each brought a unique flair to their character, and I found myself chuckling quite a fair bit at the interactions they had with each other.
The main cast, however, tried their best with what little they had to work with. Nevertheless, I think the noteworthy performance by Song Joong Ki is during the scene where he threatened the Babel group after his mother got murdered. Ok Tacyeon deserves a lot of credit for managing the two personality extremes, though I much prefer his evil side. Jeon Yeo Bin's best performances were in the first half of the series; I think she fell a bit flat in the second half just because of how the storyline progressed. As for the romance portion, I was very satisfied with the lack of focus on this; it is somewhat forced into the storyline just because, but I think it makes sense that the two leads endeared to each other because of all the trauma they experienced together. I disagree that the acting fell short here: Vincenzo was already someone who kept his feelings to himself and is not someone who displays emotions easily, Song managed to capture this and expressed a lot of the subtle displays of affection quite well. As for Hong Cha-young, come on, who wouldn't fall in love with an invincible, intelligent, wealthy man, who supported her emotionally throughout, and with a cute face like that, seriously?
Storyline
Generally enjoyed the cat-and-mouse game between Babel and Jipuragi, but I felt the absurd number of deaths attributed to Babel too unbelievable. But then again, being the dramedy that it is, I don't expect all things to make sense. There's a lot of wacky comedy weaved into the serious topics of corruption in the business and legal worlds, justice and morality, and grief and death. I did not feel this was done in bad taste, though it might appear slipshod to some folks. Episodes were about 80-90 minutes, and this is the first time I've felt they were not too long. Perhaps it might be because there were so many characters and plots involved that I could not get enough of them. I really liked how this show presents us with the challenge to re-think what justice and morality ought to be (the juxtaposition between Hong senior and Vincenzo, Hong junior and Vincenzo, etc.). I am generally a Hong Yu Chan type, rosy-eyed and idealistic, and this drama helped me to explore different motivations that others might have in life. Pacing of the drama was an interesting mix of fast (for the action and comedy) and slow (for the sentimental parts).
Production
Cinematography and editing was another hit for me. I think the production team was experimenting a lot of the camera angles, and they were mostly successful in their attempts. Some individual shots of Vincenzo thinking or sleeping were questionable to me, but with the addition of the BGM, they didn't bother me as such. The CGI team really did a good job as well.
Music
The OST was commendable, and I actually went ahead and bought it on iTunes. There's a wider variety of musical genres in this OST, compared to most K-dramas (which feature mostly ballads). I particularly enjoyed Questo edificio è mio, Aalia's version of Adrenaline, and Holy Anger.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Vincenzo, and I am currently re-watching it. It might not be on par with the greatest black comedies ever made, but I think it does well enough. I actually prefer this series to Parasite (the movie). My personal favourite is Keeping Mum (2005) with Rowan Atkinson. Oh well, to each her (his) own.
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