Why was this not a movie?!

What a lovely 30 minutes I spent. I haven't felt a short story impact me so much before that long after I finished watching it, I still can't forget about it!

So aside from the brief synopsis, lemme tell you why you should invest your 30 minutes in this short film:
- Available for free on YouTube with subtitles
- Super cute & super fluffy romance
- Park Hyung Shik & Han Ji Min
- Brilliant acting
- Learn the importance of understanding the lives of people with physical disabilities
- Understanding the necessity to make the world more easily accessible to people with physical disabilities
- Learn to feel happy and grateful for all the little and big things in your life
- Feel grateful for your body no matter how it is
- Feel light-hearted & happy (there's no crying involved here.....but I still cried)

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A Quickie Fluffy & Light Adult Romcom

>> The plot is nothing new but it's a great way to spend 2 hours. Especially if you recently watched something heavy, you can use this drama as a cushion to feel light again.

>> The initial 5-10 minutes of build-up was so boring that I wanted to drop it (probably coz I didn't read the synopsis). But all of a sudden the build-up made sense, and I was drawn into the storyline and interaction and chemistry of Han Eun Seong and Kim Rae Wan.

>> The emotions and dialogues of the characters are quite realistic. It's not childish and fluffy but very mature. And yet, the whole show gives off a very fluffy vibe ~

>> The direction is amazing! Some scenes stretch for nearly 5 minutes without any shot-change and they pulled it off skillfully.

>> I don't really understand why Kim Sung Joo and Kwon Do Woon are in the poster because their parts are very less and only there to give a boost to the lead couple.

Side Note: Lee Yoo Young's Frech accent is so accurate and dead-sexy!

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Wholesome Dog Movie with a Twist

A classic Japanese Slice-of-life that will serve you all the wholesomeness in a cup of tea with some teary-eyed cake on the side! Something to watch on an Airplane ride or during dusk with some coffee or over the kitchen counter while you prepare lunch.

While there are several "Life of a Dog" movies out there, this may be the first time I've come across the life of a Guide Dog. No need for dangerous situations where the dog heroically rescues the owner's baby from a burning house. The daily life of a blind person is an adventure in itself. You are not only observing Quill's life but even witnessing the feelings of the foster parents, the trainer, the blind people, and their families.

Quill is shown as an oddly stoic personality that gets energized with compliments that make him quite a charming Guide Dog. He's lucky to have had the kindest people around. Don't all dogs have this aura of getting out the angel within us?

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The right balance of Adventure, Drama, & Bromance

[Spoiler-Free]
Just gonna give a few pointers that are less-spoken about since so many folks have already said good and bad things about The Untamed
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Good points:

(1) Although comedy is not the main genre of The Untamed, the humour, banters, and silly side of many character's personalities make the show very light to watch. If you're a cry-er, you will cry. But it won't feel heavy on you and your mood won't go down after watching any of the heavy scenes. I believe this is not easy to accomplish for a director but these folks managed it and I love that!

(2) It's taken from a BL manhua and simmered down for releasing publicly. So there is an element of bromance that is so perfectly balanced that it all depends on the perspective of the viewer. If you want to see Brotherhood, you will see brotherhood. If you want to see BL, you will see BL. If you want to see deep friendship, you will deep friendship. The chemistry between Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo is so much better than any of the regular couples I have seen. If this was a proper BL series, they would be my favourite couple. Actually, they are my favourite couple nonetheless!

(3) If you are a fan of animes like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, The Last Airbender, you will definitely feel similar adventure vibes from this show. Following on their journey through thick and thin was super fun.

(4) Wuji, the theme song. I fell in love. It's sung by the lead actors too. I have been listening to Korean songs for 2 years but never tried learning the lyrics even once. But this song was so beautiful that I had to learn it by heart and sing it out loud. Even if you don't watch The Untamed, do listen to Wuji.
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I have not rated this 10 for 2 reasons:

(1) The plot involved the use of many magic/spiritual items or techniques. Certain fight scenes heavily rely on how the magic works. I felt that it was sometimes explained in detail and sometimes I didn't understand how it worked and got lost in the logic of the magic. There were moments where magic worked conveniently for the fight but I couldn't understand anymore as I got lost. Even though this is not the agenda of the show, as the premise is circled around magic, a decent explanation would have been preferred.
So here it lost half a point.

(2) This is actually my first C-drama. I was aware that Chinese dramas acting/directorial skills cannot be compared with K-drama, but I still have a little expectation. There were moments where the acting was exceptional by the lead actors as well as the side actors. But it JUST didn't hit the mark sometimes. That plus the action scenes were decent. Production was focused more on the beautiful sets and costumes, but they could've actually spent a little on animation and graphics to depict the action scenes better.
So here it lost half a point.
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I'm nitpicking so much because I loved The Untamed. I loved Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji. I loved Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo. I loved it a lot more than Kdramas tbh. I was a Cdrama skeptic before this. Now, I cannot wait to watch more (^_^)

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Food, Flavour, Fashion & lots of Bittersweet Melodrama

FEELING:
Love is Cursed truly makes the viewer feel that love is cursed. The plot is focused on 3 characters, Nao the FL, Tsubaki the ML, and the Evil Mother-in-Law. The relationship between the lead couple is riddled with misunderstandings and pride. It swings like a pendulum smoothly from bitter to sweet to bitter to sweet to bitter to sweet and so on. The sparks and tensions began since their childhood and lingers throughout the show. It was truly fun and frustrating at the same time.

SWEETS:
We cannot NOT mention the sweets! The whole premise is about sweets. In every episode, we see the leads create and present a fashionable sweet. I say fashion because these aren't typical sweets for them. It's ART. The sweets are not only beautifully crafted but also hold deep meaning based on the theme of each presentation.

CASTING:
Great casting! The leads are adorable and have a knack for portraying broken-heart faces. The support characters suit their roles too. But the main recognition should go to the evil Mother-in-law whose evil radiates 300 miles away ~

PRODUCTION:
I loved the production of this show. Despite having a modern-day setting, almost every character is in a traditional Yukata or Kimono. The entire set of the main sweet shop Kogetsuan is completely traditionally styled with paper doors, tatami mats, wooden verandas, and bonsai-styled gardens.

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A Warning To All Parents & Guardians

Overall: Quite a simple short movie, low budget, small cast, but definitely got me worked up. Makes you wonder how there is always a dark bleak side even in the happiest neighborhood.

It depicts the worries of a single parent and how the fear of her daughter's safety follows her in her actions and her dreams (or nightmares rather). It truly represents the reality of what every parent/guardian goes through for their children and how they must never stop thinking about their child's safety no matter what happens or who they may be with.

Cast & Production: The acting was on point and all 3 actors played out their part well. The production was simple and realistic.

[SPOILER-ISH but not really]
The Ending: Some folks may find the ending vague. Some may consider it kinda indie or artistic so the viewers can make their own assumptions. It certainly leaves you hanging no matter what your perspective is.

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Most Accurate Depiction of Realistic Thoughts, Actions & Reactions (+) Superb Acting

3 thoughts about Coffee Prince [Spoiler-free]

1. In real life, if you are holding your lover's hand playfully, you don't touch slowly, looking into each other eyes, blushing the whole time while your heart thumps loudly and intense music plays in the background. Instead, you randomly touch them, put your fingers in between theirs out of sync, slap each other, smile a bit but not the whole time, and just look away and lose your attention.
These are the kinds of small actions and reactions that are portrayed throughout all 17 episodes and it made me admire this series so much due to such an accurate depiction of realism. I truly admire the director for their great work!

2. Love is usually not the most epitome emotion for each person. In fact, very few people can keep love above all else. Coffee Prince made sure to not ruin the viewer's hopes with unrealistic romances while showing various storylines of different couples.

3. It wouldn't be so well displayed, of course, without the brilliant performance by each and every cast member. Especially KUDOS to Gong Ji-Cheol for taking us through each and every complex emotion. It almost felt like he went through it personally.

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Very good show (But! last 2 episodes were rushed)

If you want to enjoy this show, you cannot be a perfectionist, and you will have to keep some logic aside. If you do so, you will be guaranteed to like TKEM.

Character Development:
All characters directly jumped from one feeling to another without any explanation. Basically no character development.
They had too many elements to explain. They put their feet in all directions like profound timeless romance, evil villain, mixed-up timelines, past characters, the logic behind how the magic works but none of these were completely justified because those last 2 episodes were rushed and they could not explain everything and close it with a cute ribbon. Because the show was good for 14 episodes, my rating for the show won't be dominated by those last 2 episodes.

Chemistry:
Also, there was no chemistry between the lead couple throughout. This was because there was no scene that showed any initial spark between them.
People out there are saying that Kim Go Eun should not have been cast with Lee Min Ho. You can even say the other way around that Lee Min Ho should not have been cast with Kim Go Eun (#psuedo-feminism). Kim Go Eun is really pretty and I definitely felt she looked so much better with Kim Kyung Nam.
There was also some good amount of bromance. But even that was one-sided!

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