A fable about the pointlessness of conforming at all costs

WARNING: review is full of spoilers, and is basically an essay!
TLDR: a fascinating exploration of 'fitting in' at the expense of one's authenticity.

Jung Hyun and Jun Seok like each other, but their romance is short-lived. Min Jae (Jung Hyun’s ‘friend’) senses there’s something going on between the pair, and so sets off rumours at their school, and then tells Jung Hyun about said rumours. In response, Jung Hyun distances himself from Jun Seok, and ultimately brings an end to their relationship.

What’s fascinating is that it’s not the homophobic society, nor Min Jae (who is trying to help his friend in a weirdly homophobic way), preventing the pair from being together. Rather, it's Jung Hyun’s need to conform that brings an end to their relationship. His need to conform is at odds with Jun Seok’s indifference to how others perceive him, and is conveyed subtly on multiple occasions. Perhaps most pertinently, given the title of this short film, the contrast between them is hinted at when Jun Seok asks Jung Hyun why he smokes, and he simply says ’Because…’ He has no real response, because he smokes purely to fit in with his classmates. In contrast, when Min Jae asks Jun Seok if he smokes, Jun Seok says, ‘Why, do I have to?’ He knows smoking is ‘cool’, but couldn't care less.

This all comes to a head as rumours are swirling and Min Jae has proffered his words of warning to Jung Hyun. Jung Hyun can’t stand the whispered judgment of his peers and so brings things to an end with Jun Seok, symbolically smoking with classmates we've never even seen before as he does so.

The film ends with the camera lingering on Jung Hyun standing alone miserably, gazing at his classmates as they happily chat away, completely oblivious to him. Melancholy music kicks in, and one can’t help but sense that Jung Hyun is starting to grasp that he has lost everything and gained nothing. He has ended things with Jun Seok at the expense of his authenticity and happiness, because he couldn’t stand being gossip fodder for his classmates. And yet as he looks around, it’s clear his peers never really cared about his personal life to begin with; it’s old news to them. However, the pain of ending things with Jun Seok will remain. But hey, at least maybe he’ll stop smoking…

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I watched it so you don't have to

My review is basically an essay so the TLDR is: low-quality production with nothing to make up for it

I've numbered the paragraphs for my review if you want to just skip to the topic you're interested in.
1. general remarks; 2. plot; 3. cinematography; 4. music; 5. miscellaneous; 6. main actors; 7. bromance.

1. This series (or short film? only 2 episodes) is thoroughly unremarkable and forgettable. The quality is reminiscent of old-school kdramas, with the cliché plots, cheap cinematography, sub-par music etc. - and yet this a 2021 production, and doesn’t have the ‘makjang’ element which at least makes old-school kdramas fun to watch.

2. The plot was completely predictable, as the student at the bottom of the class becomes close to the number one student who is also (of course) a social recluse. And disappointingly, nothing new or innovative was done with this shitty cliché that abounds in hetero high school cdramas, beyond the obvious of transposing it to a bromance story.

3. The cinematography was bad to the point of being jarring, with inappropriate use of slow motion, the hand-held camera often jolting too much etc. The camerawork consequently detracted from the story-telling, rather than enriching it. A real sign of the amateur filming was also revealed by the way the camera framed Chen Zihao and Yang Yuhang with sunlight streaming over them on multiple occasions (sorry, hard to describe). You see this done a lot in Asian dramas to create a romantic/tranquil atmosphere, but the fact that it was done multiple times shows the real dearth of creativity in this production. I suppose at least some pretty scenery was utilised throughout (the forest was beautiful).

4. The music was often jarring and inappropriate, usually drawing attention to itself rather than heightening the atmosphere in any given scene. The tacky piano smashing sound effect is the best example of this. Sidenote - if you don't get what I mean, check out Bad Buddy (Ep. 5, part 4) to see a great example of music heightening the atmosphere.

5. There are various other small signs of the low-effort/low-quality production. For example, when the word ‘OUT’ pops up on the screen and looks like it’s straight out of some 2010 WordArt. Or the shitty acting from supporting actors, which is more often than not a sign of weak directing eg. when all of the students are completely silent while packing up after their class has ended. That's completely unnatural; the director should've told the actors to chat a bit.

6. The main actors aren’t even that good, but are the best part of this series (tells you how good it is…). The guy playing Chen Zihao is charismatic, charming and likeable. The guy playing Yang Yuhang is somewhat cute, charming, and likeable, though possesses basically no charisma. I think the actors also have decent chemistry. This series would’ve been unwatchable had the actors been worse.

7. And the worst bit of all is that I watched this to the end because I thought it was going to be explicitly LGBT, and I want to support explicitly LGBT Chinese content. But it turned out to be just another one of these Chinese bromance productions to get by the censors - FFS! No kiss, no declarations, nothing. A true waste of time.

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Great chemistry, but a silly plot

Warning, DETAILED SPOILERS!! My review is basically an essay, so the TL;DR is that the lead actor and actress have great chemistry, but there are endless problems with the plot.

This drama had great chemistry between the lead actor and actress, which largely went to waste because one can’t help but be distracted by the silliness of the plot. I’ve seen my fair share of contract marriage dramas because I’m a sucker for this cliché, but never have I seen one which so egregiously fails to justify the reason for the parties entering into the contract marriage. For the lead girl, her “reason” for entering into the marriage is that she’s just come out of a 5 year relationship, with the guy cheating on her, and she just wants to get married and doesn’t care whether or not the marriage is loveless. Uh…what?? That makes absolutely no sense. With no real incentive e.g. financial, it’s completely illogical for someone who has just come out of a long-term relationship to go, ‘oh yes, let me get married to a stranger!’ For the lead guy, his “reason” is that his mum had recurrent breast cancer and he knows she doesn’t want to see him alone. And yet, despite him supposedly marrying to please his mum, she doesn’t even meet the wife until they’re well into their marriage. Oh, and of course, isn’t it oh so convenient that the “recurrent” breast cancer resolves itself, so that his mum is now perfectly fine!

So we’ve already got this ridiculous setup, but to make the plot even more egregious, we’re meant to believe that these strangers married without knowing anything about each other, not even where they work. Simply out of concern for your safety, as if you’d do that! But again, conveniently for the plot, they work at the same company and run into each other regularly at work once they’re married. Funny that, given they never ran into each other before marrying.

Now to dissect the idiocy in some serious detail…the pacing of this drama is ridiculous. We’re only half-way through Episode 1 (24 minute episodes mind you), and the lead girl's already fallen for the guy, with no time jump or anything involved. Also within the first episode, they’re flirting and kissing. The flirting and kissing was so ridiculous in its suddenness, that at first I thought the lead girl was fantasising but alas, despite them not even really knowing each other, I was wrong! There’s also straight-up plot holes, like the fact that in Episode 2 they both say ‘I love you’ (again, they hardly know each other), but then when the lead guy says ‘I love you’ again to the girl in Episode 3, she’s really surprised by it. Another plot hole in my opinion is that in Episode 6 we find out that the lead guy wants kids, even though we also found out that before his contract marriage, he never even wanted to get married. That hardly adds up.

There’s so many more examples of lazy writing. The girl repeatedly calls the guy a sadist, and he repeatedly calls her crafty and says she’s cute. Like, could you vary the dialogue a bit please? Then there’s the whole silly justification for keeping the marriage secret (he “missed the timing” to tell people, and “when my wife is trying to keep it a secret her reactions are cute” - Episode 4) which doesn't add up because it's so nonsensical and childish.

I also can’t help but be disappointed by the female lead. I’m not sure whether this is worth mentioning since it’s omnipresent in jdramas and films and it’s pretty scathing commentary, but we yet again have on our hands a boring, one-dimensional female lead. While the lead guy is (only naturally) a leader in his field, being at the top of sales every month, our main girl is thoroughly mediocre at work and at the end of the day, like all good Japanese women in jdramas, is above all else happy when she can please her man by acting like a good housewife. You know, despite her also working full-time…While she’s super-duper impressed by her husband cooking one meal (that apparently makes him the perfect husband), we see her frequently cooking up impressive meals for him. But not only that, when her husband’s friend comes over to their place, she’s over the moon about being able to impress him (and thereby her husband) with her cooking skills. As she says, ‘I’ve always longed for this’. Wow, isn’t that just fabulous, a woman longing to impress her future husband by feeding his friend. And if you think I’m being too harsh, think about how ridiculous you would find this scenario if the genders were reversed.

I’ve honed in on all of the bad things with this show deliberately, because I think it has an inflated rating on MDL and others have covered the good things already. However, I should briefly mention the good things. I absolutely love the chemistry and sensuality in the relationship, and love that they regularly have sex, like a normal couple does! I also love that the girl wants it just as much as the guy, even if he’s the initiator. I think it's great that their relationship is healthy, even with all of the plot holes. The show is sweet, with no over-the-top conflict. It's also the perfect length, great for a binge watch. While I was frustrated the whole time I was watching it, there’s something addictive about it (I’d say because of the leads’ chemistry).

So if you’re someone who just wants good chemistry between the leads and don’t care too much about a well-constructed plot, I’d say go ahead and watch! Otherwise, I’d say go into it without any serious expectations.

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Worth it if you're looking for a fun, clichéd film to pass the time

SPOILERS for both this film and another Korean film, My PS Partner.

TL;DR - This film is just the ticket if you're looking for a fun, clichéd romance with a charismatic lead, but if you don't want to see cheating being justified, then stay away.

This film was fun to watch even with all of its clichés, particularly because of the male lead, but I'm not going to discuss the fun or the clichés because I want to hone in on other aspects of the film that annoyed/interested me.

So this film gave me vibes of a PG version of My PS Partner. I had the exact same problem with this film that I had with My PS Partner, which is, why is cheating being presented as justified? At least in My PS Partner the girl cheats when her boyfriend is a scumbag and had already cheated on her. Here, the female lead's cheating is acceptable because she is bored in her 10 YEAR RELATIONSHIP and is tired of the lack of serious commitment on both ends. So of course she cheats and ONLY THEN breaks up with her boyfriend of 10 years. I'm sorry but I don't approve of a character being presented as sympathetic when she's cheating under such circumstances. If you're so unhappy in your relationship that you want to cheat, then break up first ffs! This really got under my skin.

Yoo Yeon Seok (plays the male lead) made this film for me. He's got great charisma, is so attractive etc. Moon Chae Won (plays the female lead) was fine, but there's something about her acting (perhaps her intonation?) that marks her out as a mediocre actress. I don't know if she was better in Flower of Evil or if the vibe of that series suited her more, but I thought her acting was worse here.

It's also worth noting another significant similarity with My PS Partner, which is the sort of Hollywood vibe you get when watching this. The slickness that comes from the style of editing and the plot, plus the frankness surrounding sex - I can't help but see the overlap.

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Completely forgettable mediocre watch, though perhaps a good time-killer

SHORT REVIEW: This movie is fine to pass the time, but completely forgettable. I kept pausing while watching to do other things and eventually forced myself to finish the film because I was so disengaged, particularly in the second half.

LONGER REVIEW: I think the actors were well cast and had really good chemistry, but my God am I sick of female leads in Japanese dramas/films who are so incredibly one-dimensional. Of course, yet again we have a female lead here who is extremely shy and friendless, but opens up to the guy she likes. She is of course either really quiet and sweet or, when worked up, shouting her lungs out. These female leads feel like a copypasta at this point. Just a few days ago I saw another Japanese film (From Me to You) with a female lead who also fits this exact description.

SPOILER...I thought the wedding scene was slightly ridiculous. So you're getting married out of nowhere, with no officiant, when it's questionable whether you're even old enough to legally marry...Perhaps the "wedding" was dress-up? Which I think would only make the scene more stupid. Anyway, a thoroughly mediocre watch.

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Great if you're looking for a fun, clichéd film

SPOILERS!

SHORT REVIEW: This is a really fun movie to pass the time because the leads have great chemistry, and it's a fun, cliché plot. I also really loved how open this film was about sexuality. I found that really refreshing.

LONG, WHINY REVIEW: I can't help but find it frustrating that the main girl stays in her relationship with her scumbag boyfriend when she's clearly unhappy. I don't care if you've been together for 5 years and want to marry, if your relationship has reached the point where you're cheating, break up!! And the way the male lead went out again straight away with his ex once it seemed clear to him that the female lead would never leave her boyfriend...I just can't relate to such neediness. I mean ffs, there's nothing wrong with being single, people!

Also, this was only a small moment in the movie but I really didn't like the weirdly casual reference made by one of the male lead's friends to paying for prostitution. He makes some whiny comments about how he's sick of paying for sex because you only get fake moans etc., and he wants the real deal. I understand that the attitude towards prostitution may be different from what I'm used to in South Korea, but I'm not up for such trivialisation of prostitution.

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