Love Rain (2012)

Love Rain has been on my radar for a while. I’ve been hearing mix reviews about the drama so I was a little hesitant to watch it right after it was finished airing in Korea. A fellow K-Drama addict, who is crazy for Jang Geun Suk insisted that I should see this. I finally gave in and watched it last weekend. The experience was nostalgic. It reminded me the reason why I love watching Asian dramas and why I so wanted to learn their language.

One of the reasons why I didn’t immediately watch Love Rain is because of its 1970’s era. The first few episodes are really slow and dragging. Moreover, it’s hard to make viewers appreciate it because the target audiences of K-dramas today are mostly teens and young adult. I even had difficulty connecting with the characters in the 1970’s because I’m not familiar with Korea’s culture during that period. What I appreciate in this era was its cinematography. A lot of the beautiful shots of this drama came from the first 4 episodes. The 2012 plot has the typical formula in K-drama now a days. It was only different because of the family issue they incorporated in the story

I was impressed with how well JGK and YoonA played their two roles. They were able to show the difference in the characters and set it apart. You can easily pin point who’s from who without tracing any similarities in their attitudes or mannerisms in their acting.

I was surprised to know that Im YoonA is a member of Girl’s Generation. It’s no wonder I didn’t know because I’m not a fan of K-Pop groups. I listen to Korean songs and I like several singers and power vocal groups but I’m more into ballad than mainstream pop music. I honestly never thought of her as a singer first before an actress because she acts well. Yes, it was a little cutesy here and there but if the scene requires her to act mature, hurt or whatever serious emotion she has to portray, she delivers it—without frills. Just the right emotion needed in the scene. As I’ve said before, not all singers transitioning to acting ends up good. There are few artists who perform well in both worlds. YoonA is lucky to be one of them.

Love Rain is not for everyone. I understand that many viewers think that the plot didn’t work. I’m giving it 8 as overall score for the reason that I simply enjoyed watching it. I admit that there are parts I didn’t like and some are dragging, but then if I go beyond that and see what it really has to offer, it boils down to one thing—it’s a love story. I’m a simple-minded person but with all the dramas I watched and all the contemporary novels I read, I don’t get touched easily—I had that in Love Rain. I felt the pain, the loss, the love. It touched my heart—and that’s what I watch Korean dramas for.

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This review is hard for me to write. This drama was a little difficult for me to finish. Which threw me. I expected to love this drama and for the first half I really did love it. I liked the premise of the lovers meeting in the 70's and their children meeting and falling in love in present day. The first few episodes in that world were awesome!

The director of this drama really knows his stuff. The cinematography, set design and costumes were stellar. I wish MDL had a ratings section for the technical aspects of dramas because I would have given that a 10 plus. This drama was nothing if not beautiful to look at, both technically and aesthetically.

I really enjoyed Jang Geun Suk in this role. He has improved as an actor and really seemed mature. His acting wasn't as stiff or forced as I have felt from him in other dramas/movies I have watched. I adored Joon during so many moments of this drama. I enjoyed Yoona too. Their characters and their love story was in many ways adorable!

But somehow the writing of this drama fell flat for me...grew redundant and boring. It was likable but I am still confused as to where it went wrong for me. I think somewhere around episode 16 I began to struggle to keep my interest unless the main pairing was on screen together. The plot just didn't grab me and follow through in an exciting way. The final episode was cute but also at the same time, a bit choppy and didn't flow smoothly.

The Older Couple just made me kind of sad and I wish I could have felt the passion carry over in the adult version of the pair that I felt from them during the scenes from the past. It seemed that in every conversation they said the same thing over and over.

I liked the music but nothing really grabbed me, made me groove or move me emotionally.

Ultimately I would have to say that if I could condense this drama down to 16 episodes and keep the main (modern day) pairing on screen I could have given this a higher score. Gah! I wanted to LOVE Love Rain!

And because I was fond of this drama and because of the main leads...I am bumping this up to an 8 when realistically in my head, I think it probably deserves lower.

My re-watch value is set at 5...middle of the scale. I know I probably won't watch again.

But I say this...I have much more respect for Jang Geun Suk as an actor. He was also extremely adorable... And the director really did a great job. If only I could say the same about the writing and plot.

*sigh*

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