Life (2018)

L'hôpital est-il un service de soin ou une tentreprise rentable ?

Sauf que déjà c’est un drama médical avec quasiment jamais de scènes médicales, ou très peu…  
De plus c’est un drama très déstabilisant car rien ne se passe comme on s’y attend.
Certes, le Président n’est pas sympathique… mais il aime les chiens.  
Le héros a des airs de chevalier blanc…mais il pratique la dénonciation anonyme !  
Les médecins défendent leurs principes, mais, ils ne crachent pas sur les primes qu’ils pourraient avoir en vendant un peu leur âme !   On s’attend à chaque instant aux balises habituelles du genre, affrontements, défaites apparentes et victoire finale et triomphante, mais ça n'est jamais comme ça que ça se passe.  

Bref, tout ça pour dire que l’intérêt fondamental du drama, c’est la psychologie des personnages et l’image (un peu effrayante, je l’avoue) de la médecine capitaliste à la manière coréenne !!  
Le pur romanesque est remplacé par  la force de la réalité de la facilité avec laquelle ont peut perdre son âme, s’il n’y avait pas ici et là un élément ou deux pour vous rappeler l’essentiel… Comment on peut se battre, même si on n’est pas parfait, pour un idéal plus grand que soi.
Si la fin est satisfaisante dans sa logique elle est loin du happy end, et quant à la Romance, et bien, il y a des sentiments, (amour, amitié, fraternité) mais vraiment discrets, délicats, et d’autant plus touchants mais pas du tout de romance (autant vous le dire de suite : personne n’embrasse personne ! jamais ! d’un bout à l’autre des 16 épisodes, et moi, ça ne m’a pas manqué du tout ! ce n’est pas le genre du drama !)
Mais n'allez pas croire qu'on s'y ennuie ! En tous cas moi je ne l'ai pas lâché, d'un bout à l'autre !
Là dessus, une interprétation excellente, Cho Seung Woo est un Président froid, ne suivant que son but… sauf que c'est quand même un homme et pas un robot… Les autres sont tous à la hauteur, Lee Dong Wook, Yoo Jae Myung  particulièrement (il affrontait déjà Cho Deung Won dans Stranger ! ) Ah ! et j'oubliais la belle histoire entre les deux frères Lee Dong Wook et Lee Kyu Hyung (2è fois que je le remarque comme un excellent acteur, celui-là      ! )
J'ai trouvé "Life" passionnant, même si le romanesque est à trouver dans la description du réel sans le romantique… et un énorme plus : PAS DE CHANSON !!! (sauf le générique, et elle est très supportable et très courte ! )  

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This is one of the greatest Korean dramas I have ever seen. Easy 10/10.

Primarily a dialogue drama that is relatively slow-paced. I wouldn't recommend it for viewers who are impatient and want a lighthearted watch. The show focuses on business, politics, and societal issues in South Korea. Having lived in Korea, Life is so real that it hurts sometimes. If you liked Stranger, chances are you will love Life.

Following her first megahit drama, Stranger, writer Lee Soo Yeon brings us a refreshing drama that touches on societal problems while bringing to question how one's life should be lived and valued. This drama is entirely business, political and psychological, with surprisingly minimal medical scenes despite taking place within a university hospital. Unlike Stranger, there is moderate romance involved but it is definitely woven into the story without ruining the dark bureaucratic atmosphere. Moreover, rather than focusing on mysterious deaths (which is the opening scene), Life depicts the struggles of just your average-day life from numerous different perspectives.

I tend to stay away from medical dramas where nothing much really happens besides some overreaction with a patient dying and the heroes coming to say the day. Medical dramas are boring to me. But Life is completely different and kept me captivated the entire ride without a single moment of boredom. You know when you have snacks to eat when you watch a show, and by the time the drama ends you ate it all without realizing? Well when I watched Life, all my snacks were left untouched because I had to give the drama my undivided attention.

What makes one Life one of the best dramas I have ever seen is how they portray a certain situation or community problem from angles. Most dramas have a clear villain, a clear hero protagonist who will save the day, and the thin line between good and evil is easily distinguishable. Life shines all characters in a favorable and negative light at the exact same time. In the beginning, from one perspective, it's easy to characterize a person as "bad" for reasons such as "greedy" or "heartless." But then when you look at it from their perspective, there is no true right decision or wrong decision. Life really makes you confused and hating a character yet understanding and loving the same character at the same time. And I'm not talking about the bullshit kdrama "oh this handsome serial killer was neglected as a child so it's totally understandable for him to torture and murder people" type of understanding.

The beginning of Life starts out slow, especially in the first episode. But the beginning episodes lay out the political and business foundation that the rest of the story will revolve around. It's important to really comprehend what the problem at hand is in the beginning or else the characters and the ending will be pretty damn confusing. The story is brilliantly written and all the mysteries are woven together with little to no plot-holes left behind. The characters are well-drawn out, and the complexity of each person's position brings to light the different pains people have in their daily lives. Even if you're not a doctor, I think the daily struggles that these doctors have generalize to everyone who feels like life can be hard and distressing at times. The ending of the drama... Oh my god the ending. It's one of the best endings I have ever seen.

If you want to get pretentiously deep, Life does debate a lot of moral themes. Some themes I observed were:

What makes one person's life more meaningful or successful than another persons?
What makes one person a "good" person, and another a "bad person." What's the criteria of judgement?
Should all people be treated equal? Or should discretion based on circumstances rule (individual bias good or bad)?
Legality or Morality? Should we follow all procedures by the law or use our own moral judgement?
What's more important, the discovery of the truth or resolution of conflict?

Acting was phenomenal 10/10. I must say, the cast was one of the most stacked casts I have ever seen.
Yes, Lee Dong Wook was a bit underwhelming, but that's okay. I think he played his character well (his character wasn't a charismatic character, not much he can do).
Cho Seung Woo is a phenomenal actor and I felt like was clearly the main character of Life over Lee Dong Wook. I personally don't think Korean actors are the best at acting, but Cho Seung Woo is just brilliant. His acting in Life may very well have exceeded his acting in Stranger which is saying something!
It's time for Yoo Jae Myung to get a main character role. He has proven his brilliant acting again and again.
Lee Kyu Hyung takes on such interesting roles in all his dramas (Haerong in Prison Playbook) and Life was no different. You'll love him in this drama. He actually plays two characters, you'll see what I mean.
The rest of the cast, Moon So Ri, Cheon Ho Jin, Moon Sung Geun... just stacked I tell you. The acting matched the loftly quality of the drama.

Honestly the worst thing about this drama was the music, and the music was pretty good too. Just nothing that stood out that much to me other than that obnoxious loud "epic" boom soundtrack when the end of the episode draws near. I suppose Han Dong Geun's OST 1 "Home" was really good but it never really played during the show. Now that I think of it, because this drama was mostly a dialogue show, there wasn't as much music that played between scenes compared to other kdramas.

This is one of the rare dramas where I give the re-watch value a 10/10 because the mysterious death isn't the important point in this drama. It's about problems in society (particularly in the bureaucratic Korean society) and how different people, given their different positions, have different perspectives on how to solve the problem. In the process, how people view themselves as right and good, while viewing others with different opinions as wrong and bad. I think a lot can be learned about psychologically or at least thought about by watching Life. I think this drama would be just as interesting the second time around. It was a complex drama for sure, so watching it again would also clarify a lot of things for me.

Masterpiece! Thank you to everyone who produced this enlightening drama!

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