Enjoy little things
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Drama de qualité malgré quelques points négatifs pour moi
J'en avais beaucoup entendu parlé, j'ai donc décidé de me lancer.Points positifs :
L'histoire : Très jolie, quand on aime les dramas fantastiques et en lien avec la mort. Tout y est tourné de façon poétique comme les coréens savent le faire.
Les acteurs : IU reste magnifique, et pour moi, elle porte le drama a elle toute seule. Son lead est bien joué, beau, mais reste légèrement en retrait par rapport à elle.
La cinématographie : Les images sont belles, les décors aussi. Cela donne un côté poétique et baroque à toute la sérique que j'ai beaucoup aimé. C'est beau à voir. L'OST est vraiment sympa aussi.
Les points négatifs (de mon point de vue évidemment)
La fin : Même si elle semble logique, je suis persuadée qu'ils auraient pu chercher quelque chose de plus vrai et en adéquation avec la série. Pour ma part j'ai vraiment été déçue : Ils auraient clairement pu faire mieux à mon sens.
La romance : Bien présente tout le long, mais uniquement dans les paroles. J'aime la retenue des dramas coréens, mais là, c'est trop... Il y a même un moment où je me suis dis " Mais ce n'est même pas possible que cela se passe ainsi". Je suis une fleur bleue, mais là pour moi aucune corrélation entre leurs mots, et leurs gestes. Rien. Et vraiment, en ce qui me concerne cela a vraiment desservit leur histoire.
En conclusion : Clairement un drama de qualité, avec de la recherche et de la beauté. Même si les points cités au-dessus ont un peu terni à mon gout le drama en lui même, il faut le voir et le découvrir malgré tout.
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hotel del luna
Déjà, l'histoire est réfléchie, et bien agencée. Je ne peux pas mettre moins d e 9.5 car j'ai adoré.L'histoire : On sent que l'histoire a été travaillée, et bien amenée dans le drama .
Les jeux d'acteur : La plupart des personnages sont bien joués, IU incarne ( je trouve ) très bien tous les personnages qu'elle joue, et encore une fois, elle a très bien joué Man-Wol, tout a fait dans son rôle. Yeo jin goo, a magnifiquement bien joué Ko chan sung. Quant au personnel, ( Shin jung keun, le barman, Bae hae seon, la gouvernante, et P.O, le réceptionniste ) on été drôles, et sans eux la série ne serait pas pareil... L'ami de Ko chan sung, Sanchez, joué par Jo hyun chul, est un petit rôle très mignon. Et ne parlons pas de seo yi sook , qui interprète plusieurs rôles, toutes les mago, et qui a très bien joué, car on distingue très bien ses différents rôles, alors chapeau.
L'OST : les chansons ne m'ont pas toutes plu, mais j'en ai aimé quand même au moins 5 ou 6. ( J'écoute en boucle "done for me" :-) par exemple )
Peut être, et surement d'ailleurs, que je le reverrais, et c'est pour ça que j'ai mis 9.0 . <3
Voilà pourquoi c'est un drama que je conseille aussi fortement = )
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Juste magnifique
Alors, j’avoue de suite que ma critique va probablement manquer un peu d’objectivité mais, dès que j’ai vu IU à l’écran, j’ai été subjugué par sa beauté et son talent.Je la connaissais chanteuse (quelle voix ❤️) mais pas encore actrice et je dois admettre qu’elle est aussi douée dans les deux domaines.
En plus de cela, on sent que toute la série tourne autour d’elle, elle captive le regard et éclipse (malheureusement) tous les autres acteurs, même Yeo Jin Goo. Les tenues qu’elle porte tout au long des épisodes la rendent encore plus magnétique.
Hormis cela, on a une histoire originale, avec des épisodes qui sont, il est assez rare pour le souligner, de qualité égale. On ne voit pas le temps passer et on n’a qu’une envie, connaître la suite.
Arrivé à la fin, je dois bien avouer avoir versé l’une ou l’autre larme, devant ce destin qui s’acharne contre les protagonistes. Et la fin de la saison est poignante mais conclut en beauté cette superbe série qui restera, pour 2020, mon second coup de coeur absolu avec Crash Landing on You.
Contrairement à beaucoup, je n’attends pas spécialement de saison 2 car je crains d’être déçu tant celle-ci me semblait parfaite.
Merci à Netflix de proposer ces séries en VO sous-titrée même si on découvre Hôtel Del Luna un an après les autres.
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Un hôtel de passage vers un autre monde.... ça me plairait assez !
J’ai beaucoup aimé ce drama, et si au début je trouvais que la réalisation aimait trop les temps de pause, au fil de l’histoire cette lenteur se trouve en accord avec l’atmosphère onirique et fantasmagorique du drama.L’avantage, c’est qu’on ne craint pas que les personnages meurent à la fin, vu que c’est déjà fait pour la plupart !
L’idée d’un « entre-deux » où les morts font une sorte de mise au point sur leur vie avant de prendre le grand départ, n’est pas neuve, et elle est enracinée dans la croyance bouddhiste qui veut que l’âme reste au monde 49 jours avant de partir. L’originalité, c’est la formule hôtelière.
Du coup le drama est émaillé de diverses histoires individuelles qui s’ajoutent sur la toile de fond du fil rouge : la relation entre la propriétaire de l’hôtel et l’humain qui en est le directeur. On peut voir trois parties dans le drama : l’arrivée et l’acclimatation de Cha Seong à qui on a conféré le pouvoir de voir les fantômes (et il faut quand même s’y faire !) Puis les histoires des invités, avec le développement de celle de Man Weol, et en troisième partie l’histoire personnelle des trois assistants principaux qui va se régler au fil des départs d’une façon à la fois drôle et émouvante ! Oui, drôle, car il y a beaucoup d’humour dans les échanges entre les personnages, les dialogues sont bien écrits, créant des ruptures rigolotes entre les rapports fantômes/humains et le rapport collègues de travail ! L’ami de Cha seong, Sanchez, qui se trouve par la force des choses impliqué là-dedans apporte quelques scènes tout à fait amusantes. Le personnage de Man Weol évolue au contact de l’humain envoyé par la/les divinité(s) et retrouve une humanité que son histoire personnelle assez terrible lui avait fait perdre.
Alors oui, il y a quelques fantômes effrayants, essentiellement dans la première partie, mais d’abord ce ne sont que des comédiens(bien) maquillés, puis au fur et à mesure de l’histoire leur aspect s’atténue, en même temps que Cha Seong s’habitue à eux, puis prend son travail au sérieux, et à la fin on les aime tous bien !
Il y a beaucoup de chansons, mais curieusement ça ne m’a pas gênée, dans la mesure où les paroles ne paraissent pas dans les sous-titres anglais, et où elles contribuent à donner une atmosphère irréelle à l’histoire. Elles sont bien adaptées et pas tonitruantes !
Je me suis demandé tout le temps comment ça allait finir, eh bien, dans la parfaite logique d’une histoire qui n'a que sa propre logique ! Elle était un peu trop étirée à mon goût, d’ailleurs au lieu d’1 h 33 l’épisode n’aurait fait qu’une heure 10 ou 15 ça aurait été parfait !
C’est le défaut majeur, à mon avis : chaque épisode fait largement plus d’une heure, et quelques fois 1 h 30 !
Un grand compliment aux acteurs, vraiment excellents, particulièrement IU, qui, après m’avoir beaucoup déçue dans Moon Lovers (mais la faute sans doute au réalisateur) m’a bluffée dans My Mister et m’a conquise ici, dans le rôle de cette très jeune femme (éternellement jeune) légèrement caractérielle, capricieuse et pourtant profondément blessée. Yeo Jin Goo est parfait, sa jeunesse lui donne la fraîcheur et la naïveté du personnage, tout au moins au début, puis ensuite il sait trouver la maturité qui lui permet d’assumer avec lucidité et courage la situation que lui impose Ma Go. Excellente Seo Yi Sook, dans le rôle multiple de la divinité Ma Go !! Chacune de ses incarnations est excellente et juste !
Au total, il faut se laisser prendre à cette histoire où le fantastique, et le merveilleux se mêlent à la réalité dans un univers qui, au fond, serait bien consolant s’il existait !
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An aesthetically pleasing, original fantasy drama
When I saw that IU would be cast in this drama, I felt that I had to give it a shot, and I'm glad to say that for the most part, it did not disappoint. Without a doubt, Hotel Del Luna is my favourite kdrama of 2019. There is plenty to love about this drama, ranging from its stunning cinematography, decent storyline, excellent cast, oh and how could I forget: the most beautiful OST in kdramaland.Plot/Storyline:
I thought that the writing was pretty solid throughout the drama. It is refreshing to watch a drama that ventures into foreign territory and breaks free of the traditional kdrama tropes and cliches to explore the less commonly visited genres of horror (though I wouldn't really consider this drama to be scary at all) and fantasy + romance. The plot is layered and has some depth, with plenty of twists and turns to keep you on the edge. The main character Man Weol's story captivates you right from the get-go, as the show uses flashbacks very well to reveal small snippets of her past at a time, causing you to be curious about her past, and eager to find out more. The generous use of humour also helps to balance out some of the heavier, more emotional scenes, while also allowing the drama to be easy and fun to watch throughout its lengthy episodes. Personally, the ending did not play out exactly how I had hoped it would, but it was fitting to the themes of this drama and very beautiful to watch, as well as very emotional. The drama explores the themes/ideas of 'letting go', 'resentment', 'unselfish love' and 'forgiveness', which are all very meaningful, thought-provoking ideas, not just in the context of this drama, but these themes also have a place in our lives as well.
Elaboration on themes for those that are curious:
For example, the drama shows that it takes a greater act of love to let go than to hang on, which the same can be said about many situations in life. Suppose this: a severely ill person is given a few months to live. His family can choose to convince him to receive the surgery that would extend his lifespan by a significant amount, but which would also drastically reduce his quality of life (place him in a vegetative state), or let him die naturally of his illness. One may argue here that the greater act of love is to let go and allow the man to live out the rest of his days to the fullest, eventually dying a dignified death, rather than trying to desperately hang on and cause the dying man even more pain. Don't quote me on this sketchy analogy, but this is my best effort at trying to explain the themes that the writers explore in this drama.
Cinematography:
the cinematography of this drama is frankly top-notch, and can be compared to the likes of dramas such as Goblin. It is that good. The elements of fantasy were conveyed by great camerawork, skillful use of special effects, and excellent editing. The drama truly bought the supernatural fantasy world of ghosts to life, creating a vivid and charismatic viewing experience. It is difficult to describe in words, but once you see it for yourself I'm sure you'd agree that it is spectacular. The production team also did a phenomenal job of picking out Man Weol's outfits. IU looked absolutely incredible in pretty much all of her scenes, and I've lost count of the number of unique, beautiful outfits that she wore throughout the drama.
Acting:
the cast for this drama is a highlight for me. After watching IU's brilliant performance in 'My Mister', she was one of the main reasons I came across this drama in the first place. The drama is largely centred around her character Man Weol, and she absolutely nails her performance. She plays her character like it is second nature to her, effortlessly conveying emotions through her facial expressions, while also managing to bring out the complexity of her character. Her character is the focus of the drama, and IU does an excellent job in portraying her character's growth arc in the drama, all while making it seem very believable and authentic. And as a bonus, she looks absolutely gorgeous flaunting her giant wardrobe of high-end clothing. Furthermore, this drama exposed me to Yeo Jin Goo, who also delivers a very commendable effort and holds his own against IU. He appears to be much more mature than his age (considering he is only 22 years old), and the scenes of him breaking down emotionally feel raw and sincere. The chemistry between IU and Jin Goo both on and off the screen is also evident, and the relationship they develop seems to be very natural and genuine. The supporting cast also complements our two leads well, providing some comedic relief and some interesting side-story.
Soundtrack:
Although the soundtrack is supposed to complement a drama, Hotel Del Luna's soundtrack is far from ordinary and deserves a shoutout. Not only does the OST include big-name artists including the likes of Taeyeon, Punch and Heize, the tracks also have excellent synergy with the drama. The OST helps to effortlessly set the mood of multiple scenes and makes the emotional scenes even more powerful. There are many excellent tracks in the OST, but the standout for me is the special, unreleased OST by IU that is used at the end of one of the episodes. This track only plays once throughout the drama, but it merges into the emotional scene perfectly and elevates it to another level. (end of ep 12, )
Overall, this drama performs strongly across the board and ticks many of the right boxes for me, other than a few imperfections here and there. Although I wouldn't call this drama perfect, it comes pretty damn close in my books. I think I'm already experiencing withdrawal symptoms having finished the final episode an hour ago. It has been one heck of a ride, and now that it's over I feel like there is an empty void within me that's not going to be easy to fill. But giving credit where credit is due, hats off to the Hotel Del Luna team, as they have created something quite special and unique. Worth a watch, especially if you're an IU fan, as this drama is all about her.
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MacaronsAndSakuraTea
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Every episode of Hotel del Luna is amusing, captivating, intriguing, stirring, and thrilling due to the perfect balancing of humour, fantasy, myth-making, drama, romance, and horror further enhanced by the gorgeous costumery of the female lead, visually-dazzling production, heartstrings-tugging soundtrack music, cameo roles, and socially-relevant sub-plots that tackled: molka epidemic; prevailing patriarchal assumptions; and toxic netizen culture.
Two of the most popular young actors today, Lee Ji-eun or better known as IU and Yeo Jin-goo exude palpable chemistry in their memorable lead performances as Jang Man-wol and Gu Chan-seong, respectively. The accursed millenium-old Man-wol is the alluring, chic, ethereal, luxurious, and petulant chatelaine of the mystical and marvellous Hotel of the Moon while the dashing, dutiful, empathetic, and courageous Harvard graduate Gu Chan-seung serves as the hotel's 99th or current human manager.
Veteran thespian Seo Yi-sook leads the trio of superb supporting cast as the mysterious deity with several identical manifestations. She is joined by Shin Jung-geun who plays the 500 y/o untimely-killed Joseon top scholar-turned-hotel bartender and by Bae Hae-sun, the 200 y/o grudgeful murdered daughter-in-law of a privileged clan who is the hotel's meticulously efficient room service supervisor. Also starring are promising actors Lee Do-hyun and Lee Tae-sun; idols P.O and Mina; and Cho Hyun-cheul and Park Yoo-na. Jung Dong-hwan as ex-Manager Noh and Kang Ho-seok as Grim Reaper are also endearing in the portrayal of their special characters.
Hotel del Luna, although a fantastical drama, is actually a foray into the reality of life. It teaches among other things: that like flowers from the moon tree, life is beautiful yet fleeting - and so, we must make the most out of it; that humans are endowed with the ability to make choices and are consequently tasked to bear responsibility for the choices they made; that life is not always easy or fair - as such, we must learn to play the hand we're dealt with much courage and grace; that if the past is a source of suffering or ill-feelings, we must learn to let go and make peace with it and with ourselves if there's nothing anymore that can be done about it; that our way of thinking and feeling can have a powerful outcome or influence; that revenge is sweet for it provides an outlet for pent-up aggression and wounded feelings, but, at the same time, it is also burdensome and masochistically painful for it recoils and does not diminish with time, thus inflicting endless pain on the person who exacted vengeance; that forgiveness has a rending and liberating power; that love has a transmogrifying power which can contour our character - either for the worse or for the better; and as Gu Chan-seung has perfectly shown us - that true love is self-abnegating or it makes you forget yourself and seek the welfare of your beloved.
Unfailingly riveting until the end, Hotel del Luna will for sure hold a place in the hearts of many of us. A big kudos to the writers, director, actors, and production crew for making this drama an enjoyable and worthwhile watch.
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Cette critique peut contenir des spoilers
This may be the only drama, after Goblin, that made me cry- and I'm not much of a weeper!The story line was new and refreshing, and it was filled with moments that were relatable, hilarious and heart breaking. After watching the final episode,I came to the conclusion that this was, in my opinion, one of the many masterpieces of Korean television. The actors all had great chemistry together, especially the main leads. I really liked the way each relationship was explained and portrayed. Because if this, the last episode had me bawling my eyes out as we said goodbye to each of the staff members. Also, the ending to me was brilliant. The way that they all were connected in their next lives made me so happy as I felt like they all got the happy endings that they deserved, especially Man Wol and Chan Sung.
Don't even get me started on the OSTs for the drama. Although most of them were quite slow and emotional, each artist brought their own flavour. My personal favourite was Done For Me by Punch as I really enjoyed the music, and the lyrics had so much meaning behind them.
Overall, I can say without a doubt that this drama is an incredible story, and is now one of my all time favourite dramas ever!
P.S. I really wish that Kim Soo Hyun's cameo in episode 16 was a hint at a possible season 2?
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If ghost stories lie within your watching preferences, perhaps you would have a better time with Hotel Del Luna. As for myself, I was not a fan of the overall plot. It came off as a tad too shallow. For one, there’s a severe imbalance between plot filler (which is how I classify every individual ghost’s story, each of which occupies 80% of each episode) and the truly interesting main plot, which falls off to the wayside. Unless you enjoy brief appearances of random guest ghosts, you’ll probably end up like me: sitting through over an hour’s worth of time per episode, helplessly asking when the Hong Sisters will address Man Wol’s story—which is rarely, until you cross the halfway point of the entire show. What the writers do with Man Wol’s history when it is addressed feels lackluster, if only due to all the unnecessary time buildup prior to it.
The real problem is that we are hardly given reasons to care about each visiting ghost in any major emotional capacity. Although they have interesting stories, it’s a bit like walking down a city sidewalk: you see someone with a pretty wardrobe, “ooh” at it for a second, and then forget your appreciative impressions of it an hour later. Maybe it seems as if I’m being coldhearted, but as much as the Hong Sisters try to emphasize that these ghosts were human with human sufferings, the way the show frequently relies on shock value and horror elements over the ghosts’ pain and healing resulted in me not being able to build true sympathy for these souls. Imagine repeating this apathy for every episode: it’s exhausting trying to force an emotional connection.
The only saving grace of Hotel Del Luna is Man Wol. The way IU presents her character’s conflicting ego and heart is as poignant as it is mysterious, and she executes the identity of a CEO with a low economic IQ with hilarity. Had it not been for this quirkiness of Man Wol’s character, I would not have stuck around until the end. And that’s despite my love for Yeo Jin Goo: though his acting is excellent as always, Chan Sung is a perfect example of a supporting character who hides behind the guise of being a “main character.” There’s only one protagonist in this story, her name being Man Wol. There’s nothing wrong with this, but it is a bit of a letdown that everyone else has the potential to be equally interesting, yet doesn’t get nearly enough development. Chan Sung, for example, is a nobody—beyond pushing Man Wol to address her emotional wounds, he doesn’t possess the individualism that a lead character should have. This means that while the interactions between him and Man Wol may be compelling to watch, the moment that you isolate Chan Sung away from her, he devolves into a character who’s mediocre at best and painfully boring at worst. Seeing as I view Chan Sung like this, that should give you a pretty good idea of what I think of the other supporting characters: meh.
That all being said, I can see the reasons behind the hype. I just wouldn’t say that they’re justified: gorgeous cinematography, a cast list riddled with famous names, and an amazing soundtrack are all great assets to have within a drama. If future shows could continue Hotel Del Luna’s ability to create an effective atmosphere, I would have zero complaints. But what use is all of that if the show at its core doesn’t match up to the level of its decorations? Hotel Del Luna is almost sadly entertaining in that it may be fun in the moment, but doesn’t leave a deep enough impression to be phenomenal.
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The plot is totally unbalanced when it came to quality of writing, one part of the story is about Jang Man Wol's past and her personal story, a wonderful story about a character who is serving an eternal punishment for a revenge happened in the past. The flashback moments are basically the best part of this show and the contrast between old/present Jang Man Wol is superb, IU did a great job in portraying different personalities.
Instead of making a drama entirely dedicated to this plot, the Hong Sisters decided to fill in the rest of the drama with boring sub-plot about hotel management and ghost hunting. Qualitatively speaking, the present story doesn't hold up to the past story.
In addition, the Hong sisters failed to develop interesting characters outside IU's role. None of the other characters can compete with IU's performance, the show was made for her, written for her and invested tons of "money" on her, with beautiful outfits, make-up and accessories. It almost seems that the Hong sister first wrote the role of IU and her personal story, then when they realized that they had to fill 16 episodes they added crap as much as they could.
Even the great Yeo Jin Go couldn't do much about it, his role was weak from the start, a scary kid that end up working in a hotel full of ghost, despite his good acting skills, the personality of his character wasn't strong enough to compete with IU's charater. Other characters were mere filler, they explained a bit about them but most of the sub-plots were closed only during the last 4 episodes, sign that the show didn't give them much space and importance.
The romance is another giant failure of this show, the initial chemistry felt between IU and Jin Goo during the first episode disappear complety when the role of Go Chung Myung came out. I was too curious about their story to care about a Jin Goo, in addition IU and Ji Goo moments together were very slow and the romance take a long time to sail.
If we consider that most of the drama was shot inside the hotel, the director had to exploit a lot of other elements to entertain the viewer, as already said, they have invested a lot in the appearance of IU, with beautiful outfits. They also used a lot of scenes that provided color games (the tree in the hotel) and the beautiful soundtrack. But as I always say, making the most of some good element of the drama doesn't hide a weak and poorly written script.
They say that Hong sister are a hit or a miss, HDL was a miss and it survived only thanks to the hype.
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Cette critique peut contenir des spoilers
I am not going to lie, I felt extremely frustrated while watching this drama. It had amazing potential, but close to nothing worked out. The beauty - amazing cinematography and styling of our main character, and the beast - the writing.There honestly is not much to say about the characters, since the only one that had true depth was Man Wol. She was the centre of the drama and IU did an amazing job representing her development and gradual change. Chang Sung could have worked way better if it wasn't for Chung Myung. All the rest of the characters we simply did not spend enough time with, to truly care about. I must say, Sanchez was my favorite and he was the breath of fresh air.
Kim Seon Bi/Choi Seo Hee/Ji Hyun Joong aka when writers do not care.
Out of all their stories, only Seo Hee's had some depth to it. Kim Seon Bin's story was extremely random, there were close to no hints about his previous life so I did not even care to speculate what happened to him. Hyun Joong's past life story had the least sense. How did his sister not recognize that the guy taking care of her was not her brother. How did his family not ask any questions, why did they recognize her and not him? You could say it was a war so they did not see him for a long time, but the same would apply to the sister. Hong sisters did not care enough about those characters to spend time to truly explain and develop their stories. They had the material for a good 8 episodes of Man Wol's side and had to fill the rest with random storylines. I could not feel emotional about them all leaving at the end, because all I could think about was: None of it makes any sense.
I also believe it would be better to start sending away the characters around episode 10-12, and not just have them all gone in the last 2 episodes. We could slowly see how Man Wol is realizing all the people she loves and cares about are gone and moving on to the afterlife. How the ones that stay behind struggle with the loss. We would see her being more concerned about how will Chan Sung deal in the future when she is gone. Them gradually leaving would have more impact on both the characters and the storyline.
Chan Sung/Chung Myung aka the failed romance
While I enjoyed Chan Sung at the beginning, the moment we got more scenes with Chung Myung and the past story developed into something interesting, I could not focus on the present. Chan Sung was simply a boring character that was there only for Man Wol's story to develop and he had nothing going on for himself. When we met another male character that had a past romantic relationship with Man Wol, but also was its own character, it was easy to forget our male lead. At the end of the day I wished for more flashbacks and less present plot. And I would rather have them as friends than as romantic partners.
Kim Yoo Na aka no one truly cares about anything
While I enjoyed Yoo Na, I do believe they should have made her a more tragic character. Yet again, there was no depth to the story. Show me how much she struggles to fit in that new house, how she misses her old friends and family and how she is tired of pretending to be someone else.
All the hotel cases aka when you try too hard to please the viewers
I did not truly like any of the random hotel cases, but I hated some more than others. The most random one with the humans having sex in the hotel room to have some superior child in the future. I was truly confused why this plotline was in the drama.
There were too many cases, so at the end, none of them was developed or complex. They tried to fit any genre (horror, crime, romance, melo, etc.) into the drama, just to make sure all viewers can find something they may like.
Disney ending aka when you are afraid to commit to the tragedy
None of the characters involved in the drama had a truly tragic ending. Which was extremely unrealistic. It could be easily fixed. Make Yoona too late to say goodbye to Hyun Joong. After Seo Hee goes to the bridge, cut to the mother registering the baby with the father's surname because of the grandparents. Make the book about Seon Bi flop. I would even like for Chung Myung to vanish because he used all his energy looking after Man Wol. The Song sisters wanted to show us how sad, tragic, and emotional the feeling of loss is, but they did not want to show the truly ugly side of it. Because of that, the ending felt bland.
Overall, during the whole watch, there was literally (and I truly mean it) only one time when I thought "wow, this is a good writing, I finally feel the playoff" and it was with how they used the Coffee Writer Dude. They spent just enough time for us to be curious about him and wonder what will happen to him, when he will go to the afterlife.
At the end, Hong Sisters had an amazing idea, about an amazing character, and no idea what to do with the rest. Trying to fit too many stories of too many characters made this drama a... mess.
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Marshmallow-Chocoholic
20 personnes ont trouvé cette critique utile
The Hong Sisters Have Finally Returned To Wonderland..
For most watchers first looking over the drama, Yeo Jin Goo ( Hwayi; A Monster Boy and Moon Embracing The Sun) would seem to be one to steal the show from his legendary roles in numerous dramas and movies , yet, instead, it is IU ( My Mister and The Producers) ‘s role as the angel-faced yet foul-mouthed owner of the hotel, Jang Man- Wol who instead quickly steals the show from Jin Goo in her glamorous frocks.
From inspired attires straight out of Daphne Du Maurier’s gothic modern romance tale , Rebecca ( 1938), to Katherine Hepburn’s little black dress in a favourite film of the Hong Sisters, Breakfast At Tiffany’s ( 1961), IU
truly embodies the mature and complex core of a cynical female lead who is shaped by her own experiences and choices rather than merely love itself.
Yet whilst the casting of the show is fairly diverse with fellow Kpop costar P.O being cast as the giddy hotel receptionist and Bae Hae- Sun as the strict housekeeper of the hotel, some of the roles within the show (especially the storywriting ) felt slightly lacklustre in comparison. ( Particularly P.O and Kang Mi- Na’s romance as their respected characters, which did have some bittersweet moments in particular to P.O’s character, but Mi Na’s character Soo- Jung had little relatability despite her tragic circumstances).
Admittedly this isn’t entirely the fault of the actors as one noticeable flaw which arose in the drama was how the Hong Sisters had added little complexity or emotional value in regards to the respected storylines of some of the other characters (excluding Man Wol of course). The biggest example of this arose with Jin Goo’s character, Gu Chan-Sung.
Man Wol was supposed to be the fiery ‘Yang’ to Chan Sung’s level- headed ‘ Ying’ personality within their relationship, there was little to actually express or delve into Gu Chan- Sung apart from the evident plot roles. His father dies several years presumably after his first scene in a flashback in the show , yet Chan- Sung neither really expresses anguish nor heartbreak at this fact. Whilst there is the arguable emphasis that Chan-Sung is too rational to break down over these matters, this is greatly contradicted within the scene when Chan- Sung simply loses his composure at a bus stop over thoughts of Man- Wol. Undeniably a heartbreaking scene and a moment of brilliant acting from Goo, this scene just doesn’t entirely add with the intended composure of Chan Sung who in several episodes prior, who didn’t bat an eyelid to the return of his mother as a ghost.
This also moves us onto the other problem of Hotel Del Luna; how the storyline played out. Ironically, Hotel Del Luna’s biggest problem wasn’t trying to adhere to the typical cliches, but instead trying to overcome them at the last minute. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with a drama doing this, however, where the evident flaw lies for Hotel Del Luna is that rather than only doing this a couple of times to mark a red herring by diverting the audience’s attention ( and then deliver an actual plot-twist by moving onto the expected becoming the unexpected), the Hong Sisters tried to do this at every given opportunity during the storyline. Without spoiling anything, I will say this. The novelty of the storytelling becomes less effective when you did this too often, and so whilst Hotel Del Luna was certainly interesting within certain character plot-lines ( particularly Jang Wol’s past), some of the show for a major part felt anticlimactic and disjointed in the long run.
On a more positive note, however, Hotel Del Luna’s magic is greatly brought to life through fairly good CGI and storytelling upon this element. Whilst not entirely touching new ground in the face of predecessor shows like Goblin , Hotel Del Luna still brings its own element of dark fantasy through traditional Korean mythology being brought into modern Seoul. From disturbing evil spirits, bartender ghosts like Kim Seon Bi ( Shin Jung- Geum) to deities such as the mysterious Mago ( Seo Yi- seok) with unpredictable plans of fate for our main characters.
Additionally, whilst the finale of Hotel Del Luna has caused a lot of debate amongst drama fans, the bittersweet ending was surprisingly appropriate for the drama . Overall Hotel Del Luna was an enjoyable watch (although perhaps flawed by some elements of the storyline and certain characters’ contributions to the show )-the elements of dark fantasy, traditional mythology and IU’s stellar performance as the twisted and cynical Man- Wol will keep you captivated. Although not flawless, definitely worth a watch.
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Spectacular dresses and world-building but falls short on screenwriting
Sadly, Hotel del Luna's fanciness couldn't make up for the story's lack of coherence and sincerity.The extravagant hotel for the ghosts and the splendid clothes of its owner didn't quite impress me. Each episode has the same dreary pattern of spirits struggling and protagonists babbling at the end. After the first half of the show, I found myself neither interested nor thrilled.
The answers were already laid out so I didn't get the point of dragging out the story. The antagonists which I once thought of as formidable opponents were easily gulled and defeated. Indeed, there is a fine line between a show with a high-caliber script and one with a mere show-off wardrobe.
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