This movie was recommended as being a good Kdrama romance for someone new to the genre. I watched the whole thing. Here are my random comments. YMMV
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WHAT I LIKED
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Lee Jong Suk. As a westerner new to Asian shows, I don't know the actors. But wow, Lee Jong Suk was beautiful. I mean, I don't know if it's the way they lit the show, and/or makeup and hair, and/or his wardrobe, and/or the role he was playing. Probably all of these things. Nevertheless, "Beautiful" is the word that came to mind. Honestly, I was mesmerized.
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Jannabi. Never heard of Jannabi, but I loved their theme song here ("The Story I Couldn't See"). Will be listening to more of them.
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The fashion. I'm not sure if what I saw actually mirrors true Korean white-collar business and leisure fashion or not. Interesting to see the clothing differences/similarities between South Korea and the U.S.
Some of the fashion (particularly that of Cha Eun Ho) was amazing. Was this "product placement"? Because seriously, Eun Ho had several extravagant coats. All of which looked great on him, BTW. But way more than I would expect a guy to have.
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Kang Ki Doong. Seriously, this guy cracked me up.
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WHAT I DID NOT LIKE
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Complete lack of romantic chemistry between the leads. (How did this happen?) Since I'm watching for the romance value, this made the series disappointing.
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Very little kissing or touching. Are all Korean romance series like this? Maybe it's cultural? Maybe Production has to follow strict guidelines? I don't know. But I need to see more physical closeness (doesn't have to be sex per se), especially if I'm investing 16 hours.
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Story was too slow paced. Hard to sustain interest. However, toward the end, it picked up a little bit. I did cry at one point.
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So many female characters shrieking at their boyfriends/husbands/whatever when they get upset. Like, having a melt-down. Seriously?

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Interesting prequel to The Pornographer, but not quite as good

So I just finished watching the prequel to The Pornographer, Mood Indigo. It was not as good for me as The Pornographer, although I like how things ended for Kijima :-) Also I thought Takezai Terunosuke was so interesting to look at, the camera really loves him in this series.

Vague criticisms or confusion:

** I think the acting seemed good, but without knowing any Japanese or much about Japanese culture, I couldn't say for sure. There were a few moments when Kido sounded over the top to me, but maybe Japanese speakers would say both actors were absolutely great.

** Toward the end, Kito sad that his relationship with Kijima became "complicated". I think we deserved more of an explanation than just "it became complicated".

** I was confused how the sensai came up with the name "Renjiro" to go with "Rio". I thought it had something to do with the Japanese kanji meanings, but even with subtitles, I'm still confused as to how they came up with the name.

** I also thought that parts of Mood Indigo were a little self-indulgent. What I mean by that is that while most scenes in The Pornographer seemed to have purpose and be fairly clear, Mood Indigo had some moments where I said "Why is the camera still focusing on this, why aren't we moving on?" or "What is the purpose of this scene or these words, how are they contributing to the story?" I think the answer might be that the filmmaker liked those moments personally and so left them in. JMO.

Not a criticism, but I guess I'm not as much of a willing voyeur as I thought! The intimate scenes--even just passionate kissing--made me feel like I should not be watching. Perhaps Japanese sensibilities are different, I don't know, but I think I'd need some alcohol in me to approach those scenes with the gusto that Takezai Terunosuke and Yoshida Munehiro did.

Now that I have watched The Pornographer and Mood Indigo, I'm ready for Pornographer: Playback in 2021 !

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