Robber (2008)

La rédemption par l'amour, classique, mais c'est jang Hyuk et Lee Da Hae !

Ce que j’en ai pensé :

 "Robber" est un drama coréen en 16 épisodes,qui m'a attirée par le fait que c'est Jang Hyuk (Chuno, Thank you)qui y tient le rôle principal et que c'est Lee Da Hae ( Chuno, My Girl) qui est sa partenaire. Mais tout de suite j'ai été accrochée par l'histoire et les personnages


Kwon Ho Joon (Jang Hyuk) est un petit escroc qui vit de l'argent qu'il soutire aux femmes, léger et cynique jusqu'à ce qu'il soit confronté à la réalité brutale. Au début il est pris à la gorge par des truands à qui il doit de l'argent.
Jin Dal Rae est une une jeune veuve qui a une fille de 5 ans et qui vit avec sa belle-mère (mais pas de vile morue ici, les deux femmes s'aiment beaucoup)
Bien sûr ces deux-là vont se rencontrer, il voudra l'escroquer mais Cupidon veille !! Alors il va vouloir changer de vie et là les difficultés sérieuses commencent : il n'aura pas trop de 16 épisodes pour remonter du trou de vase où il était embourbé !! Le sens général de ce drama pourrait être : rien n'est gratuit, tout se paie et parfois le prix est fort, mais la seule issue en est l'acceptation. Le personnage est très intéressant car même mauvais il ne l'est pas entièrement, aux pires moment, il nous fait sourire, et même en pleine rédemption, il ne peut s'empêcher de succomber par moment à ses démons !! Il est tout en nuances, de la dureté la plus froide à la bonté, il surprend souvent, et touche aussi beaucoup, car on sent qu'il "y a du bon en lui", comme dirait quelqu'un !!
Il y a pas mal d'humour, des dialogues drôles et touchants. Les interprètes sont parfaits : Jang Hyuk a la capacité de passer du rire aux larmes(j'en ai peu vu qui pleure aussi bien !! ) avec une sincérité étonnante, et de communiquer les émotions et les douleurs (ou les mauvaises intentions) de son personnage avec finesse, dans un regard ou un sourire. Il a un charisme incroyable. Il incarne très justement les personnages torturés en quête de rédemption, ou de sacrifice !! Lee Da Hae est parfaite aussi, belle, touchante (la scène où elle rêve de la mort de son mari)partagée entre les sentiments qu'elle ne peut renier et la colère et la déception, soutenue par sa générosité et sa bonté naturelle.
D'autres intrigues viennent se nouer avec celle de Ho Joon et Da Rae,
Spoiler:
(Jin Gu et son père le gangster, le retour de l'amour pour la belle-mère, et surtout Man Du, l'ami)
qui rajoutent peu à peu des épaisseurs d'humanité et de complexité. Ce drama à tiroir est tout sauf évident, et en plus du thème du pardon et de la rédemption d'autres thèmes importants sont abordés très finement,
Spoiler:
comme l'homosexualité,(et là on aperçoit sa réalité sociétale d'une façon tout à fait forte) l'épouse battue, le banditisme.
Mais il y a toujours ou presque un clin d'œil, un sourire qui vient contrebalancer la dureté d'une scène, car la violence est souvent là, et sans fard.
Jin Gu, homme froid et dur va s'humaniser, et apprendre à aimer, mais là aussi il y aura un prix à payer (cela m'a rappelé le Petit Prince et le Renard : même si on souffre on gagne à se laisser apprivoiser)
Les rapports de Dal Rae et de sa belle-mère, (vraiment extraordinaire de sincérité et de tendresse) sont très finement analysés, et laissent entrevoir les rapports familiaux en Corée, entre le devoir et l'amour sincère.
Il y a d'ailleurs dans ce drama des touches de réalisme peu rencontrées en général, et sauf la collection incroyable de manteaux de Ho Joon supposé être SDF, on oublie bien souvent la vraie vie des dramas pour la vraie vie tout court !
Une mention à Man Du, l'ami de toujours, loin de n'être que le faire valoir de Ho Joon, et surtout à la gamine Sondae, tout à fait craquante (les gamins coréens sont incroyablement talentueux !!)
Et la fin, et bien à mes yeux elle est parfaite !!
Spoiler:
Pas de guérison miraculeuse, pas de coup de théâtre genre conte de fée, mais la vie, simplement le choix de la vie avec l'acceptation que nul ne sait le jour ni l'heure où le destin sonne à la porte.
La bande son est très belle, pas du tout intrusive, de très jolies chansons que l'on peut apprécier jusqu'au bout car elles ne nous saoulent pas !
Un (petit) bémol : les épisodes 13,14 et 15 auraient gagné à n'être que deux au lieu de trois, car on tire un peu trop sur la corde sensible, mais vraiment c'est un défaut mineur.

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When you start this drama you'll feel the difference between the titles airing today, but this doesn't mean you'll be disapppointed. For the year this drama aired, it's very modern and deals with themes that appear in other dramas but in a different way. Sure, the story is about a guy that seduces women to live, which is a classic plot line, but I felt like this drama had a realistic approach to things. You'll hate Kwon Oh Joon at first and believe Jin Dal Rae is naive at times, but these two characters grow so much during the journey that they do together. Oh Joon is a robber because he cons women, but this doesn't mean he can't redeem himself. This story is mostly a story about redemption, believing in yourself despite the odds, and about being a family even if you're not related by blood to someone else. I was surprised with some solutions and I never knew what to expect, and this is something that makes me want to continue watching until the end. The story is not properly a comedy but not even a melodrama, so you won't find yourself frustrated because of depressing plots (even though there are depressing moments in this drama).

What to say about the acting. Maybe I'm biased because I like Jang Hyuk and Lee Da Hae, but they were very good with their characters. I love JH because he's able to communicate what his characters feel through his body and his eyes, and it reaches the viewer. This is an important skill for an actor because it helps the audience emphatize with who he is playing. Oh Joon is definitely a man you love to hate and you feel pity for what he goes through. JH is very emotional in this role. He has a lot of chemistry with Lee Da Hae which adds points to the acting, because a couple with good chemi also has more impact and you can easily root for them. Every character in this drama plays an important role. They also show the audience that a person is not defined but what he/she does, because everyone can turn over a new leaf and start anew, and everyone has the right to be loved even if others may think they don't.

As for the music, the OST is worth. The first OST "Signal Lights" by Bay is my favorite.

I'd recommend this if you like a mix of comedy and melodrama.

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O Amor como Redenção

Robber é um drama romântico que explora o tema da redenção através do amor. A história gira em torno de Kwon Oh-joon, um homem que vive de enganar mulheres para conseguir dinheiro, e Jin Dal-rae, uma viúva que tenta recomeçar sua vida. Oh-joon inicialmente se aproxima de Dal-rae com segundas intenções, mas, à medida que ele se envolve emocionalmente com ela e sua filha, começa a mudar. O drama explora o poder transformador do amor e a luta de Oh-joon para superar seu passado e se tornar uma pessoa melhor.

A trama de Robber oferece uma combinação de momentos tocantes e conflitos internos, com uma forte mensagem de esperança e recomeço. O desenvolvimento gradual do relacionamento entre os protagonistas é cativante, e o desempenho de Jang Hyuk no papel de Oh-joon dá profundidade ao personagem, fazendo o público torcer por sua redenção.

Para quem gosta de histórias que abordam temas de redenção, amor e crescimento pessoal, Robber é um drama envolvente e emocionalmente gratificante.

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Gritty and heart-wrenching with a terrific performance by Jang Hyuk

This is a story about what happens when people are subjected to poverty and abuse from a young age. When someone grows up in desperate circumstances they'll do anything to survive even if it means exploiting the people around them. But sometimes a brief taste of kindness and warmth can help someone turn their life around.

This drama was so much sadder than I expected. Even though the story had Kdrama fantasy elements like poor leads with an endless wardrobe of trendy coats and a 2ML who's a rich fund manager, for the most part the story reflects gritty reality. All of Oh Joon's setbacks, his relationships with his sister and his best friend, even the filming locations in poor parts of Seoul, everything added up to a story that was often heartbreaking. Yes, it has sweet and funny moments, especially at the beginning, but the story turns darker and darker as the drama progresses.

I watched Robber for Jang Hyuk and as usual he delivered an amazing performance. Oh Joon is a complex character: he starts out as a con man who is ruthless and selfish as he takes advantage of vulnerable women for money to pay off his enormous debts. He also steals money from his best friend and seemingly neglects his only sister (though all is not what it seems at first). But inside him is a tiny core of decency that grows when he meets Jin Dal Rae and experiences a loving family and warm home for the first time.

Oh Joon's journey to becoming a better person is not easy and he often backslides into his old habits. He's also subjected to gut wrenching violence at the hands of loan sharks, something that becomes very important to the story late in the drama. But he desperately wants to escape the endless circle of lies and violence and slowly manages to turn his life around. Jang Hyuk is the perfect person to portray Oh Joon because he has the ability to show complex and even contradictory emotions through his eyes and how he stands and walks. The way he slumps against a wall, staggers down a bleak alley or hangs his head with shame all make you feel enormous empathy for this deeply flawed character.

Most of the cast is very strong. Some standouts are Hong Kyung In as Mandoo, Oh Joon's best friend, Ma Dong Seok as Jong Guk, a loan shark enforcer who hates that he harms people for a living, and Kim Hae Sook as Dal Rae's mother in law Soon Sum.

Unfortunately I didn't like the writing or the acting for the female lead. Jin Dal Rae comes across as a manic pixie dream girl who seems to inhabit a different reality than the gritty and bleak world inhabited by Oh Joon. It's not helped by Lee Da Hae's acting. She's very pretty but not capable of keeping up with Jang Hyuk. It often felt like he was hard carrying their scenes together and scenes that should've made me cry left me feeling not much of anything because she was so blank. I think if the FL had been better cast this drama could've been a memorable classic instead of an obscure drama most people haven't heard of.

The 2ML is a waste of time and I had zero investment in his story. The actor was fine, it was a problem with the writing.

This drama has a bittersweet ending that could even be called tragic depending on whether you're glass half full or glass half empty kind of person. I thought it was a very fitting end to the story but it definitely left me feeling sad for Oh Joon. If you've seen dramas like Scent of a Woman or Marriage Contract you'll understand the kind of ending you're in for.

In terms of rating the drama, I'd give Jang Hyuk a 10, the supporting cast a 9, the directing an 8, the writing a 7 and the Fl a 4.5 at best.

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