In a flashback, during one of their many interactions, Eudoria (Helena Bonham Carter), tells Enola (Millie Bobby Brown), “There are two paths you can take Enola, yours, or the path others choose for you”. This is what Enola Holmes is about, a beautiful movie about the importance of being true to oneself while standing up for whats right. Though it is set in the 1800’s it is still very much relevant to current times and a perfect movie for the young adults of this generation. Having been home-schooled by her free-spirited and independent thinking mother, Enola is everything that is not expected of the women in the 1800s (sadly, while watching I realized how some of it is still relevant today).
On her sixteenth birthday, when Enola finds her mother, Eudoria, missing, she must seek the help of her brothers, Mycroft (Sam Claflin) and Sherlock (Henry Cavill), to find her. However, the brother’s have other plans for her. Mycroft who is now responsible for Enola, wants to ship her off to a finishing school for young women (his misogynistic views and belief that home-schooling is not the proper way to educate a young lady), while Sherlock, convinced that their mother left intentionally, is unsure how involved he should be in regards to Enola. Upon realizing that her brother’s have no intention of finding her mother, and not wanting to go to some finishing school, Enola decides to go look for her mother herself. However, when she meets the Viscount Tewksbury, Marquess of Basilwether (Louis Partridge) on her way to London, finding mother takes a back seat and helping solve Tewksbury problem becomes her priority, making it the first mystery she ever solves.
For me, Enola Holmes couldn’t have come at a much better time. With elections around the corner, and my middle-schooler doing research on the democratic process of elections, and the importance of the women suffrage movement, this was the perfect movie to put a few things she learned into perspective. The one scene that really made an impression on her was this conversation between Sherlock and Edith (Susie Wokoma), regarding the women suffrage movement.
Sherlock: Whatever mischief you two are...
Edith: Mischief?! A poor choice of words. Try not to sound like your brother. You haven't any hope of understanding any of this. You do know that?
Sherlock: Educate me as to why?
Edith: Because you don't know what it means to be without power. Politics doesn't interest you. Why?
Sherlock: Because its fatally boring.
Edith: Because you have no interest in changing a world that suits you so well.
Sherlock: A pretty speech
Edith: A scary one. You're intelligent enough to know that every word of it is true.
This scene and the interesting discussions we had afterwards, made this movie so worth a watch. So, if you want to watch a fun, light-hearted, mystery movie with your family or if you want to watch a movie with some substance, do give Enola Holmes a try. It is available for online streamlining on Netflix.
In 2005, Noh Ae-Jeong(Song Ji-hyo) was having the best time of her life. As a student of Hankuk University Arts department, being among people who were as passionate about filmmaking as she was, it seemed like her future was very much set. Sadly life had other plans for her, and not in a good way. An unexpected pregnancy forces her out of college and into motherhood, and before she realizes it, she is a mother of a young girl, working several odd jobs in order to put food on the table and roof over their heads. It isn’t until 2020 that she finally gets a chance to realize her dream of producing a film. However, as luck should have it, that also comes with many strings attached.
Equally frustrating is life for her 14-year old daughter, Ha-Nee (Uhm Chae-young), who is desperate to find the father who abandoned them. In spite of being raised with a lot of love by her mother and grandmother (Kim Mi-kyung), she still feels a void. Knowing how sensitive her mother is on the topic, she buries this desire to find her father for years. However, when four men show up in their lives fourteen years later, and each seem to have some connection with her mother in the past, Ha-Nee starts wondering if one of them is her dad. Goo Pa-do (Kim Min-joon) is an ex-gangster with a secret and the financier for Ae-jeong’s movie, Oh Yeon-woo (Koo Ja-sung) is Ha-nee’s homeroom teacher and Ae-jeong’s friend from fourteen years ago, Ryu Jin (Song Jong-ho) is a successful actor and Ae-jeong’s senior in college, and Oh Dae-oh (Son Ho-jun) is a famous author, and her boyfriend while in college. When Ae-Jeong is tasked to produce a movie written by Dae-oh, with Ryu-jin as the lead, it stirs up a lot of old unwanted memories and emotions making life hard for everyone involved.
What makes Netflix‘s Was it love a good watch is this emotional conflict that everyone goes through, especially Ha-nee. As a child born out of wedlock, clueless about her father, wondering if someone is her father, but having no one to ask, is an emotional trauma no child should go through. How tangled up all the relations are, and how each on tiptoes around the other with the fear that they might hurt the other person, is what makes this show such an emotional watch. While I wouldn’t call this show flawless (there were a few things that could have been done differently), with some good writing and quite a few humorous as well as emotional moments, it was still a pretty good watch.
Of all the shows I have watched so far, if I had to rank the actors based on how much I enjoyed watching them and their shows, Hyun Bin would tie the top spot for me with Ji Chang-Wook. I have yet to watch a Hyun Bin show or movie that I did not like. While we celebrate his birthday today, I just wanted to look back at the dramas that made me fall in love with this amazing actor.
My Lovely Sam Soon
My Lovely Sam Soon is a super cute romantic comedy and the very first Hyun Bin show that I ever watched. Since it was in my very early days of being introduced to Kdrama, I really did not know who Hyun Bin was. I started watching the show, because Daniel Henney and Gummy were in it (happened to know them from their previous work). Though I started it for them, it didn’t take too long for the lead pair to win me over.
Sam Soon (Kim Sun-a), is a loud, slightly over-weight pastry chef, who is amazing when it comes to cooking, but very unlucky in love. She believes her old-fashioned name is to be blamed for her misery. So, she decides to change her name to Hee-jin when she is hired as a pastry chef in the upscale Bon Appetit. Hyun Jin-heon (Hyun Bin), is the arrogant son of a wealthy hotelier and the owner of Bon Appetit. When Sam-soon finds herself in dire need of money, and Jin-heon needs a fiancé to get his nagging mother off his back, they enter into a contract relationship, to help each other out, with the clause that they should never fall in love with each other, a clause that becomes increasingly hard to stick to for these polar opposites. Things don’t get any easier when his first love, Hee-Jin, returns back into his life. My Lovely Sam Soon is very refreshing because of Kim Sun-a and Hyun Bin. They are so effortless in both their roles, that you can’t help but fall in love with them. I have never seen any actor get beaten up as much as Hyun Bin was in this movie, and that too by his mother and fake fiancé. My Lovely Sam Soon is available for online streamlining on Viki.
Memories of the Alhambra
The next Hyun Bin drama I watched was Memories of the Alhambra, and this one blew my mind. It was unlike any show I had watched so far. In terms of the plot line, performances, set designs, visual effects, graphics and overall production value, this show was in a league of its own. The drama is about an Artificial Intelligence game, that takes the world of gaming to a whole new level.
Upon receiving an email regarding a groundbreaking AR game, set in Alhambra, Yoo Jin-woo (Hyun Bin) travels to Granada, Spain, to meet the creator, Soe-joon. However, when he realizes that Seo-joon is missing, he has to seek the help of Jung Hee-joo (Park Shin-hye), Seo-joon’s sister, to find out details of the game and sign a contract for the rights. The only problem is that Hee-joo has no idea about the existence of the game, or the whereabouts of her brother. So, Jin-woo has to figure things out on his own, while he tries out this one of a kind game, that will change the gaming world forever. However, he is not the only one that knows about the game. When he meets his arch rival in the AR world, and the lines between the real world and virtual world start blurring, Jin-woo realizes that there is something very wrong. He has to find Seo-joon before things get out of hand. You have to watch this drama to know what it really means to be on the edge of your seat for sixteen straight hours. The adrenaline rush you get while Jin-woo races against time to solve the mystery, is unlike any other. Memories of the Alhambra is available for online streamlining on Netflix.
Crash Landing on You
Crash Landing On You is the only show I watched of Hyun Bin’s while it was airing live. While it was one of the shows that I enjoyed the most, it was also one of the shows that made me the most restless. Having become so used to binge-watching shows that had full seasons uploaded, it was very hard waiting for a whole week, to see what happens next. It was especially hard for me when the finale aired. We were away on vacation for the holidays, so I had to wait till I got back home to see how the show ended. If you know what a cliffhanger episode 14 ended on, you will understand what I was going through.
When Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin), a very successful self-made South Korean businesswoman, ends up on the wrong side of the border during a paragliding accident, she meets Ri Jeong-hyuk (Hyun Bin), a captain in the North Korean Army. With the help of some members in his troop, Captain Ri tries to help Se-ri get back to her country safely. What makes Crash Landing so endearing is the amazing ensemble cast in the form Seo Dan, Alberto Gu, Ko Myong Un, the women in North Korea, Captain Ri’s men, and a host of other actors who make their presence felt in varying degrees. You may start watching the show for Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin, but you will end up falling in love with all of them by the time you are done watching the show. If you are not a Kdrama fanatic already, just watch CLOY, and you will become an addict like the rest of us in no time. Crash Landing on You is available for online streamlining on Netflix.
Secret Garden
Having been so used to seeing Hyun Bin play strong male characters in both his dramas and movies (which are mostly action oriented), Secret Garden caught me off-guard. I wasn’t really ready for Hyun Bin’s Kim Joo-woon. However, by the time I was done watching the show, Joo-woon ended up becoming one of my favorite characters ever. He is that one character of Hyun Bin’s that made me laugh as well as cry the most.
When Joo-woon accidentally picks up Gil Ra-im (Ha Ji-won), thinking she is his cousin’s girlfriend, life as he knows it changes forever. Not only is Ra-im the exact opposite of any woman he has ever met, she is also the one woman who could care less who he is. In spite of knowing that she does not check a single box in the qualities he needs in his potential wife, he cannot get rid of her from his thoughts. However, one night when they unexpectedly land in each others shoes, literally, they are forced to learn about the world they each come from. What I loved most about Secret Garden is how these two characters that are worlds apart, evolve as they gradually learn about each others world and understand why they are, they way they are. Definitely check out Secret Garden if you want to watch a really good drama. It has a huge dose of romance, comedy and drama!! And of course, you will also get to witness the brilliance that is Ha Ji-won (she is beyond amazing), and Hyun Bin. Secret Garden is available for online streamlining on Viki.
Hyde, Jekyll, Me
If you had to watch just one show to witness the amazing actor that Hyun Bin is, then you should check out Hyde, Jekyll, Me, a show about a third generation chaebol and heir to a large corporation, suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID).
With good looks, a sharp brain, a theme park under his control, and next in line to his family owned conglomerate, it seems like Gu Seo-jin (Hyun Bin), leads a very envious life. However, what everyone does not know is the fact that he suffers from DID. Every time his heart rate exceeds 150, a new personality emerges, who is his polar opposite. This is his deepest and darkest secret that he has been trying to hide for a very long time. In order to take control of his life, and prevent his alter ego from appearing, Seo-jin lives a very cold, dull, cynical life. Just when he thinks he has everything in control, he meets Jang Ha-na (Han Ji-min), a ringmaster in his theme park circus. Ever since he meets Ha-na, he finds himself waking up as his sweet, kind, gentle, full of life, alter ego, Robin, making it very hard for him to lead a normal life. And when they both fall in love with the same girl, they become each other’s biggest enemy. You have to watch the show to see how Seo-jin and Robin try to co-exist, especially since one personality has no recollection of what happens when the other wakes up. Hyde, Jekyll, Me is a very well-written show, that is sure to touch your heart, and yes, you will need quite a few boxes of tissues towards the end, but it will all be worth it. Hyde, Jekyll, Me is available for online streamlining on Viki.
World’s Within / The World That They Live In
If you want to find out what all goes into the making of a Korean Drama (or any TV show), then you should watch World’s Within. This show gives a very realistic and in-depth look into the broadcasting industry, and the lives of the people that make these dramas that we enjoy so much, possible. This is the first show I watched in which Hyun Bin did not play the rich guy, and that in itself was a refreshing change.
Worlds Within is about Jung Ji-oh (Hyun Bin) and Joo Joon-young (Song Hye-kyo), two very strong minded and ambitious people, who are passionate about filmmaking. This passion for filmmaking is what brings them together. However, when you come from vastly different backgrounds, and work in an extremely competitive field, egos are bound to clash, especially when you work in an environment where it is almost impossible to keep your professional and personal life separate. Worlds Within holds a mirror to show us all the good, bad and ugly that goes on behind the scenes. You have to watch the show to really appreciate the people that make all those wonderful dramas and movies, that make living through even something like this pandemic not just bearable, but sometimes even enjoyable.
While this is my list of favorite Hyun Bin shows, Hyun Bin’s movies are also very good and entertaining. If you love Hyun Bin like me, you should definitely check out Confidential Assignment, Swindlers, The Negotiation, A Millionaire’s First Love, and Late Autumn.
Today is indeed a very sad day. None of us can come to terms with the fact that SPB is no more. The whole country is in mourning, and rightfully so. He was no ordinary person. With over 40,000 songs to his name, in 16 different languages, he was a Guinness World Record holder, an icon and a huge part of all our lives. He was a legend in every sense of the word, and I am so glad to have lived during his time. Not a day goes by that you do not listen to his voice. Whether you are listening to the radio, music on your favorite device, channel surfing on the television, or browsing the web, you are sure to catch a glimpse of SPB or his voice, any given day. If you are someone living in India, then chances are you will wake up to his soothing voice, singing some religious song either in your house or a nearby temple. There are a few people in this world who do not have to be a part of your family for you to feel like you grew up around them, SPB is one such person in most of our lives.
I still remember the conversation I had with my husband when SPB was touring US. He really wanted to go see him perform live, but I had other commitments that I could not get out of, so I told him we can go next time. I still remember my husband saying, what if there is no next time, and me replying that he is SPB. He was there when we were born and he will be there singing just the way he has always been doing for at least ten more years. Little did I know then that this beast of a disease Covid-19 would come and mess everything that was dear to us.
To all those morons who say, that Covid-19 is not dangerous, and that people are dying because of their pre-existing conditions and not the virus, well guess what, even with his pre-existing conditions SPB was totally fine, living a very active life, entertaining us just the way he had been doing for so many decades. Had he not be contracted by the virus, I am sure he would have lived for at least a decade, if not more, doing what he did best, singing and entertaining us. What killed him was not his pre-existing conditions, but the virus! He may have been cured of the virus at the time of his death, but the irreparable damage it did to his body was too much to overcome.
I’ve had so many family members battle this virus, some even having a very close call. We’ve even had some close family friends and acquaintances who were unable to survive the virus. I don’t think anyone who has ever gone through it with a loved one will ever forget the nightmare they lived through. Trying to get a hospital bed in a decent hospital, then hoping and praying that the doctors are trying to do everything they can, hoping your loved one is being taken care off (unlike other illnesses you can’t even be close to them to comfort them while they are sick), having to make those decisions for every treatment being provided knowing that if something goes wrong the side-effects could cost them their life (all treatments are still experimental), and the most dreadful of them all, when the doctor says that they may have to put them on an invasive ventilator, every single step is a nightmare. Chances of survival when a patient is put on an invasive ventilator is around 10%. When you are helpless, and there is hardly any hope, you are willing to take even that 10% chance. You know that once your loved one goes on the ventilator they will become unconscious and may never wake up from it. So, you end up having that very painful and tearful final goodbye call, hoping against hope that everything will work out for the best. And heaven forbid if it doesn’t, the aftermath is another nightmare of a whole new level that you wouldn’t wish even on your worst enemy. This is a pain only those who have gone through will understand. It is a virus that will drain you emotionally, physically and financially. So, please trust when people tell you not take the virus lightly, because once the virus reaches your doorstep, it is really very late. The only thing you can do at that point is educate yourself with the treatment process so you can ask the right questions and make the right decisions to save yourself or your loved ones.
It really breaks my heart every time I hear of a Covid-19 related death. SPB deserved to live a much longer life, and so did everyone else who lost their lives to this dreadful virus. RIP dear sir. You brought so much joy into all our lives. Your smiling face and beautiful voice will live forever in our hearts.
I have always wondered why people were so addicted to Asian drama, and Korean drama in particular. It wasn’t until I was sucked into this world two years ago, did I really understand. They have really cracked the code when it comes to telling beautiful, feel-good, heart touching stories, that stay with you long after you have watched them. Post series depression is very real when it comes to Kdrama. They are so addictive that in order to get over that depression, you end up diving into another show, and before you know it, you have become a Kdrama fanatic. But of all the things that the Koreans have mastered in their art of story-telling, the one that they have perfected is the character development of their second male leads. Though I wouldn’t say that their second male leads are perfect in all the shows, but they definitely are in majority of the cases. I sometimes feel like they put more effort into developing the second male lead character, than they do the main lead. Though I have watched movies and shows before, where I felt sorry for the second male lead, it wasn’t until I started watching Korean drama did I understand exactly what a Second Male Lead Syndrome (SMLS) really feels like. Like any Kdrama fanatic, I have felt this very real emotion multiple times in varying degrees. But of all those second male leads the three that really left me heartbroken and sad for a very long time are Yoon Ji-hoo from Boys Over Flowers (/ Boys Before Flowers), Choi Young-do from The Heirs (/ Inheritors) and Kim Jung-hwan from Reply 1988 (/ Answer me 1988).
When you talk about SMLS the first character that comes to mind for most of us is Yoon Ji-hoo (Kim Hyun-joong) from Boys Over Flowers. For a very long time he was everyone’s favorite second male lead. Ji-Hoo is that soft-natured, kind hearted, all around good guy that you can depend on any time, and to see such a beautiful character end up empty-handed, was a little too hard for most of us to handle. Especially since we know that Ji-hoo and Jan-di (Ku Hye-sun) connect with each other on a much deeper level from the very beginning, a connection she does not share even with Jun-pyo (Lee Min-Ho). They can sense when the other is happy, sad or in agony. Most importantly he loves her unconditionally, a love that feels more powerful than even the love Jun-pyo has for Jan-di. Last but not the least, she never feels inferior to Ji-hoo and is very comfortable around him and his family. They are a perfect fit in every possible way. So, in the end when Jan-di chooses Jun-pyo over Ji-hoo, you can’t help but cry for him. It was just too cruel to keep Ji-hoo by her side till the very end, while she waited for Jun-pyo and walked into his arms.
The next character that always comes to mind when I think of SLMS is Choi Young-do (Kim Woo-bin) from The Heirs / Inheritors. Young-do is the polar opposite of Ji-hoo. He is the typical bad guy turned good, that you can’t help but fall in love with. What makes Young-do stand out from other second male leads, is his vulnerability. You know he is longing to be loved, and he is willing to go to any lengths, even at the risk of hurting himself, to protect Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), the girl he loves. There are so many scenes where your heart goes out to him, like when he finally finds Eun-sang in the police station, or when Eun-sang’s mom feeds him. For Young-do’s sake and my poor heart, I was really hoping for either Eun-sang to have a change of heart or for the writers to introduce a new character so he wouldn’t be so lonely. Sadly that never happened 😦
Another show that left me devastated because the second lead did not get the girl is Reply 1988. Actually it is unfair to call Kim Jung-hwan (Ryu Jun-Yeol) the second lead of the show. He was the one that had the most screen time with Sung Deok-sun (Lee Hye-ri), and his was the love story that we watched very closely from the very beginning. It was a case of many missed opportunities in Jung-hwan’s case, making us think of all the “if only”s. Like, if only Duk-seon was not misled by her friends regarding Sun-woo, if only she paid more attention to Jung-hwan’s actions, if only she knew who really bought the other pink shirt, if only he wasn’t so shy or hesitant about sharing his feelings, if only he had arrived at the concert first, if only…. However, I think the main reason this hurt so much was because I feel the writers had started writing the series keeping Jung-hwan in mind as the male lead, but switching it half way through the show. Why else would they mislead us with the older husband character looking and acting more like the younger Jung-hwan, and why would they make us aware of his feelings first, and get us invested in their love track way before Taek’s feelings for Deok-sun are revealed? Being misled so much from the very beginning, made accepting the fact that Jung-hwan does not end up with Deok-sun that much more painful.
So what about you guys? Did you also suffer from Second Male Lead Syndrome? Which character left you devastated the most?
PS: All three shows are available for online streamlining on Netflix
Reply 1988 is a coming of age story of five childhood friends living with their families in the same neighborhood of Ssangmun-dong, Seoul. Sung Deok-Sun is cheerful, full of life and the only girl in the group, Choi Taek is a genius Go player but dull when it comes to everyday life, Kim Jung-hwan is cold on the outside and warm on the inside, Sung Sun-woo is the most normal and dependable of the five, and Ryu Dong-ryong is the entertainer and counselor of the group. It is a high school drama like no other. What makes Reply 1988 so special is that, unlike most Korean dramas, this is a slice of life story about real people going through real life situations. There is nothing fake or over the top about Reply 1988, and if you are someone that is born in the seventies, you will relate so much to it, that you will end up taking a trip down your own memory lane.
The show opens with Sung Deok-Sun saying the following, while events of the 1980s flash in the background.
"1988 - It was the time when it was chilly, but our hearts were fiery. We didn't have much, but people's hearts were warm. Of course, if you were to compare it to how things are now, it was clearly the Age of Analog, not much different from the Paleolithic era. Even so, we were living cutting edge 18 year-old lives. For the first time in history we wore the slip-on sneakers, and lots of denim. We listened to Shin Hae-chol's songs on our Walkmans. Guys were crazy about Jaime Sommers (Bionic Woman), Joey Wong, Sophie Marceau and Teacher Jimena. And us girls were crazy about Pierce Brosnan, Tom Cruise, Richard Gere, and the New Kids on the Block. However, putting gender aside, there was a movie that the youth of our generation all loved. And that was "A Better Tomorrow II"
This was just an intro for the show, but that was enough for me to know that I was going to love it. As someone who grew up in the 1980s I could relate to everything she was saying. Except for a few names here and there, she might as well be talking about my life in the late eighties and early nineties.
While this was a pleasant surprise, what really caught me off guard was when the intro ended and the actual show started. It was like having one deja-vu after another. Visuals of my childhood kept flashing in my mind, with almost every changing frame. From piling into a neighbor’s house to watch a movie on a rented VHS tape, while the neighbor provided snacks and drinks, to sharing dishes made for dinner with the neighbors, I could relate to everything that was happening on screen. It was interesting to see how similar my life was to that of a story being told 3000 miles away from where I grew up. It seemed like irrespective of which part of the world you were in, life was pretty much the same during that time. It was a time when cable did not exist, so everyone watched the same shows and movies, and ice cream and sodas were reserved for special occasions. It was also a time when everyone was shifting to cooking on gas stoves, dishwashers and washing machines did not exist in homes, and the small store at the end of the street was the go-to store for all your household needs.
But that is not all that makes Reply 1988 so relatable. Even the characters in the drama feel like someone you know. It could be a family member or a friend, but there will be at least one character you will be able to relate to in this drama. For me, it was Dong-il and Il-Hwa, and to an extent their family. We were the Sung family and my dad was Sung Dong-il. Except for the fact that he never drank alcohol or smoked, my dad was Dong-il through and through. He was a hardworking middle-class man, who loved his kids dearly, but just could not turn a blind eye to those in need. Just like the Sungs, for the most part of my youth, we were debt-ridden, because my dad had to help everyone that came knocking. Co-signing loans or borrowing money for someone else in need, made it really hard for him to be debt-free for a very long time. Even the events leading up to the voluntary retirement, and emotional after-effect were eerily similar to what my dad went through. Just like how Dong-il was my dad, Il-hwa was my mom. A sweet but strong woman trying her best to manage the house with the meager salary brought home, after paying off interests on the loans. My mom was always very patient and kind, making sacrifices so we could have more. Like Il-hwa my mom was also not very well educated, and loved spending her afternoons, hanging out with our neighborhood aunties, catching up on the latest gossip, or cooking. As for us children, though we were not exactly Bo-ra, Deok-Sun or No-eul, (we never ever fought the way they did 🙂 ), coming from similar backgrounds, there was quite a lot that I could relate to with their lives.
Of course the main reason I love Reply 1988 is not because of how much I relate to the show, but because it really is an awesome show. With great characters and brilliant performances, this coming of age drama about friendship, love and being there for each other, is hands down one of the best shows ever to come out of the South Korean entertainment industry. Every time I watch Reply 1988, I end up with tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat, especially while watching the last scene of the show. Seeing the camera pan through the deserted street and homes of Ssangmun-dong, where the five friends lived, reminded me of a time long gone. As I saw those homes that were once filled with life and laughter, I realized that it is all in the past, a time that will never come back. It reminded me of my youth and the wonderful time I had growing up. This nostalgia that you feel after watching the show is what makes Reply 1988 so special for everyone that watches it.
If you are someone that grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you should definitely check out the show to see if you relate to it as much as I did. Reply 1988 is available for online streamlining on Netflix, and Viki.
A few minutes into the movie, when all we saw were chats, followed by video calls between the two leads, my husband jokingly asked if that was how the entire movie was going to be. Little did we know then that that is exactly what director Mahesh Narayanan had in mind when making C U Soon. A brilliantly written and executed movie shown through a medium that is most familiar to all of us, especially now that we have been in home quarantine for more than half a year.
Fresh out of a breakup when Jimmy (Roshan Mathew) opens a Tinder account with a hope of finding someone suitable, he is matched up with Anu (Darshana Rajendran) a girl living in UAE, just like him. When he starts a conversation with her, he finds himself liking her very much, and falling for her very quickly. Within a week, he proposes to her, raising some serious red flags in his family. However, when his mother asks his Cousin Kevin (Fahadh Faasil), a cyber security specialist to check up on the girl, nothing alarming pops up, giving Jimmy a green signal to proceed forward happily with the matters of his heart. It isn’t until shortly afterwards do they realize that everything is not exactly as it seems, pushing this already fast paced narrative into overdrive, giving us barely any time to catch our breath.
What I loved the most about this film, besides the wonderful narration and brilliant performances, is how they managed to tell the entire story, and give us a peek into every important character, just through a smartphone or computer. There is so much going on in almost every frame of the film, that you also start looking for clues, trying to make sense of what is unraveling before our eyes. The editing department of this movie deserves a big thumbs-up for making sure the narration flows seamlessly, despite being constrained to screens of smartphones and computers. The movie is not without fault, but they are so few, that they are actually very easy to overlook. Overall it is a great story that needed to be told, and the entire team of C U Soon managed to do it brilliantly even in these trying times.
C U Soon is now available for online streamlining on PrimeVideo.
PS: This movies is definitely not for kids. It deals with a sensitive topic that can be slightly disturbing.
Record of Youth on Netflix is only four episodes old, and it has already gotten very interesting. Hours after Min-jae (Hye-jun’s manager) utters “There is no such thing as Karma”, Hye-jun meets Park Do-ha (the actor who beat him up in the beginning of the very first episode, while he was working as his bodyguard), on a film set to record a scene in which Hye-jun has to beat up Do-ha. If this is what we get in just four episodes, I can’t wait to see what else this show has in store for us.
Sa Hye-jun (Park Bo-gum) is a struggling model trying to make it in the acting world. As a model he had seen better days, but now even that career seems to be dwindling. Coming from a humble family background, and with no support from his family, he has to work odd jobs, just to make ends meet. The only respite from his bleak life are his childhood friends Won Hae-hyo (Byeon Woo-seok) and Kim Jin-woo (Kwon Soo-hyun). Like him, Hae-hyo is also a model / actor. They both started their careers at the same time, but coming from a rich background and with a mother who would go to any lengths for the sake of her children, Hae-hyo’s career is at an all time high and is only going upwards with each passing day. Jin-woo on the other hand is trying to learn the ropes of film production. While the friends do not let these professional dynamics effect their personal relationship and friendship, it does weigh heavily on Hye-jun’s mind.
Just when he thinks of giving it all up and going off on the mandatory military duty, he meets Ahn Jeong-ha (Park So-dam), a makeup artist and his die-hard fan. She is like the much needed sunshine in his life. Jeong-ha has her own set of problems, however she has a knack for making people feel at ease when she is around. This really helps Hye-jun open up, and be himself, giving him a chance to reflect on his life, and figure out what exactly he wants to do. Sometimes, just knowing that your existence makes a difference in someone’s life, or knowing that there is someone out there that trusts you and is cheering for you, can do wonders. It can give you the much needed confidence that sometimes deserts us during our most difficult times.
Record of Youth is about pursuing your dreams without having to give up on your values and what you believe in. So far the show seems to be doing quite well delivering on this point. Having seen hints of a love triangle brewing between the three main leads, and with Hye-jun finally getting his first acting role, I can’t wait to see what else lies ahead for him for these three characters. But more than anything, I am eagerly waiting for Park Seo-joon’s cameo. Here’s hoping that Record of Youth lives up to all our expectations.
Malayalam cinema has spoiled me for good. I don’t think I will be able to view any of our other movies, they way I used to anymore. As I continue my Malayalam cinema binge watching, I stumbled across yet another gem of a film, the much acclaimed Kumbalangi Nights, a simple but beautiful film about a small fishing hamlet in Kerala and its people. Like most Malayalam films, there is nothing fake or pretentious about Kumbalangi Nights. The characters, their lives, the village and even the situations they face, all feel so real that not once do you feel like you are watching a movie. It almost feels like you are watching a hamlet and it’s people go about with their everyday lives.
Kumbalangi is a fishing hamlet somewhere in Kerala. In the film, we get a glimpse of the people living in this hamlet, two families in particular, one that consists of all men, and the other all women. The first house is a shabby rundown house, with unplastered walls, and barely any furniture. This house belongs to four brothers Saji, Bonny, Bobby and Franky, who live almost like outcasts in this house away from rest of the hamlet dwellers. Due to their complicated family dynamics, they are not on the best terms with each other. The other house that we get a peak into, is that of Baby’s. Baby lives with her mother and her sister, Simmy. They live in a nice warm fully furnished house, in the middle of the village, with an extra room to spare, that they use as a guest house for additional income.
There is a stark contrast between the women and the men of these two houses. While the men are lazy, unruly, and could care less what they eat (its rice and fish curry every day for them), the women are hardworking, calm, composed and have warm meals with a full spread every day. Kumbalangi Nights is about how the lives of these two households change when people from the opposite sex enter their lives.
Baby is a tourist guide who lives with her mother, sister and brother-in-law. Her sister is newly married, so the brother-in-law, Shammi, is the latest addition to her family. While Shammi is always smiling, and looks composed, there is something unsettling and creepy about him. This vibe is felt not just by the family members, but also by the people in the village, especially the kids that play football in the neighborhood, but being a man. When Baby and Bobby fall in love, you start seeing changes happening in the other household as well. It is really interesting to see how this household changes as women start entering their lives, which is a complete opposite to what happens in Baby’s household.
Kumbalangi Nights, handles many issues that we see in the world around us, but in the most subtle way. Unemployment, poverty, gender bias, patriarchy, caste system, class divide, and prejudices, you know they all exist, but you don’t really talk about them. You just carry on with your life. and try to navigate through these inconveniences when you come face to face with them, and that is exactly how all these sensitive topics are handled in this movie. What I loved the most in Kumbalangi Nights, is the way they portrayed the bonds that these siblings share. This is something we often see, in all households. We may fight, argue or disagree with each other, and sometimes even be each other’s sworn enemies, but if an outsider starts mistreating our sibling, we will not blink an eye to stand up for them, irrespective of the consequences. This aspect of the siblings relationship is handled perfectly in this film.
Kumbalangi Nights is what it is because of its amazing cast. Fahadh Faasil puts the creep in creepy, with his portrayal of Shammi. The last time I was this disturbed by a creepy smiling guy was when I watched Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds. Other characters that stand out are Soubin Shahir as Saji, Shane Nigam as Bobby, Sreenath Bhasi as Bobby, Anna Ben as Baby, Mathew Thomas as Franky and Grace Antony as Simmy. Each of these actors were phenomenal in their respective roles. Do check out Kumbalangi Nights (available on Prime Video), if you haven’t already done so. It is definitely one of the best films of 2019.
Stories influencing stories is something we have seen happening since the beginning of time. In the past, when stories were carried forward by word of mouth, sometimes the story teller would add his own ideas to an existing story, to make it different or more interesting. Like that, the story would carry forward through the mouths of other story tellers, with each one adding his own addition to the retelling, giving birth to a host of new stories. That is why when it comes to most of our ancient stories, we have so many versions of the same story.
Of course now we have everything recorded in print (paper, tape or disk). However that did not stop the evolution of story-telling. Now we use existing stories as an inspiration (knowingly or unknowingly) to come up with newer stories. You can pick up any book or a movie, and you will be able to find some connection to an already existing story (unless of course, if it is based on a real life story and the writer did not use any of his or her imagination to spice up the story). Recently while revisiting some old favorite movies of mine, I was surprised to see how it just took three re-tellings for a story to be completely different from its original. The movies I am talking about are A Walk To Remember, A Millionaire’s First Lover and Pilla Zamindar.
A Walk To Remember is a Hollywood film, based on Nicholas Sparks best selling novel by the same name. It is a coming of age story of a rebellious high-schooler Landon Carter and the soft, sweet, almost angelic Jamie Sullivan. While the main gist of the story was retained in the movie, a few changes were made in order to appeal to the younger audience of that time. By changing the timeline to the 1990s, the filmmakers did manage to connect with the youth of the early 2000s, but due to some of the other changes made to the script, they were unable to recreate the same magic that the book had (the book was heart-wrenching). However, A Walk to Remember was still a very beautiful film, and very special to many of us who were coming of age in the 2000s (who among us hasn’t purchased a star at the International Star Registry for that special someone after watching the movie ☺️ ).
So, when I watched the Korean film A Millionaire’s First Love, years later, I immediately thought of A Walk to Remember. While A Millionaire’s First Love is not really an adaptation of that movie / book, it definitely seems to have taken its inspiration from it, especially the story line concerning the two leads. In both the films, the male protagonists are removed out of their comfort zone and made to interact with different kinds of people, with the hope that the experience will help them change their ways, and become better people. As part of that learning experience, they are both forced to participate in the school play and take part in service projects that help the school and the community. Similar to A Walk To Remember, in A Millionaire’s First Love, the biggest influence on Kang Jae-Kyung (the protagonist), is the beautiful sweet Choi Eun-Hwan. While Jamie helps Landon realize how beautiful and precious life is, Eun-Hwan helps Jae-Kyung realize that there is more to life than just money. However, unlike A Walk To Remember, A Millionaire’s First Love is not just a love story. If you look at it closely, you will realize that the film has a lot more to offer in terms of valuable life lessons.
And that is exactly what inspired the makers of the Telugu film Pilla Zamindar to tell their story. In Pilla Zamindar, the love track from the original takes a back seat, and the story focusing on human connections and values that were added in A Millionaire’s First Love, become the heart and soul of this movie. Like Jae-Kyung, PJ is a rich spoilt brat that has to graduate from a school of his grandfather’s choice, if he wants to get his inheritance. Unlike Landon and Jae-Kyung, whose transformation is mainly because of Jaime and Eun-Hwan respectively, PJ’s transformation is a result of everyone around him, each in their own way teaching him valuable life lessons. Since I watched Pilla Zamindar before I watched A Millionaire’s First Love, I never saw the connection between the three stories. Being an inspiration of an inspiration, we only see a very faint shadow of A Walk To Remember in this movie. The only thing common that all the three movies have is a rich spoilt kid forced to interact with people different from the kind they are used to, and participate in a school play and take part in some service projects. Irrespective of their similarities or their differences, all three films are beautiful and special in their own way.
If you think about it, though A Walk To Remember was inspired by Nicholas Sparks sister’s life, when you read the book, you are reminded of another classic, Erich Segal’s Love Story. Makes you wonder how far up the chain this story goes in terms of inspiration. Similarly, it has been nine years since Pilla Zamindar released. Wonder if there are other stories out there that were inspired by this one. Let me know if you know how far this chain goes. Here’s hoping that this chain of story-telling continues forever, to entertain and enrich our lives.
If you want to check out these films, you can find A Walk to Remember on Netflix, Pilla Zamindar on Amazon Prime, and A Millionaire’s First Love on Youtube.
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