Swing Kids Analysis: War, Freedom and Magic Shoes

I've fallen in love. Swing Kids is a fucking masterpiece, and I'm head-over-heels, madly, passionately in love with it. It's too rich thematically for me to do justice to it in a full review, so I've decided to take a few of the greatest scenes and pull them apart by themselves. Today, I have the 'Modern Love' dance scene, between Do Kyung-soo and Park Hye-soo.

I Give My First Love to You: Movie Review

I watched this movie on a whim - with the drama adaptation airing right now, I decided to finally bite the bullet and give I Give My First Love to You a try. It's an interesting film for both of the actors - Okada Masaki was only starting to make a name for himself despite some iconic supporting roles, and Inoue Mao was and still is first associated as the face of Hana Yori Dango. Maybe I overlooked it for that reason? But it was a box-office hit and now I think I understand why people treasure it so.

The Best of 2018

This has been a great, if weird, year for drama. If last year I learnt not to try and persevere with a drama I'm not enjoying, then this year I learnt that I can love a drama wholeheartedly even if it isn't the best I've ever seen, from unlikely obsession Grand Prince and there after. I was also graced with two additions to the Hanadan canon this year, one fantastic and one appalling. I was also happy to discover that I haven't fallen completely out of love with SBS, which I basically didn't touch any dramas from last year! There isn't a lot of worsts this year, to be honest - I don't pursue shows I don't like anymore. Here are my favourites of the year, in no particular order.

NOTE: To save time, a few favourites that I already feel I've done justice to are exempted here. That would be Your Honour, and Come Here and Hug Me.

Women in Buzzer Beat

I love Buzzer Beat - it's an exemplary, feel-good romance story that focuses mostly on the price of chasing your dream. I wanted to analyse this drama in particular for it's portrayal of women because, when I watched this for the first time at about age twelve, I never particularly thought that I loved the women characters. It's actually a little sad that I tend to leave rom-coms a lot nowadays thinking that I loved the male lead and couldn't find anything in the female lead's personality that I clung to. Buzzer Beat certainly stands out for having a great male lead, since men in drama who are empathetic and openly compassionate are sadly few and far between. But I think I now hold my affection for the women in this show. Let's take the three most important women - Riko, Natsuki, and Mai - and look into why I thought they were so interesting.

Bok-soo is Back: A Feast for the Eyes

Everything Yoo Seung-ho touches nowadays turns to gold. Hey, everyone, it's been a while - now I'm going to gush over a potential new favourite of mine: Bok-soo's Back, or My Strange Hero.