naazanin Reviews

No Touching at All (2014)

simple but touching

[10/10 · 28 August 2016]

It is the story of an insecure shy gay guy and his preoccupying bold straight boss who both are dealing with their sexual preferences, their feelings for each other and their past life tragedies of family and relationship.

The acts are very good. The plot is simple but strong and well drafted. Although Japanese culture is not easily understandable for me, the characters, behaviors and reactions make a lot of sense and connects with me very much. I did not give it ten because it is a perfect movie but it shows human feelings very well and get you engage with them including hope, fear, heartbreak, challenge and sexual approaches and dilemma to have family. I recommend it strongly.

Boys Over Flowers 2 (2007)

Japanese vs Korean version

[7/10 · 19 March 2016]

I saw the Korean version first and the Japanese version (this one) later. I like both of them in different ways.

Why the Japanese one is better? 1. Stronger plot: The Japanese scenario makes a lot of sense in comparison with the Korean one. From the Japanese one I got the right idea about the name of the series (boys over flowers) and also some vague parts from Korean one became clear to me such as the background of the F4 member with some Mafia/gangster affiliations; the reason behind the Domyioji Group problems after breaking the engagement with the rich heiress, and Tsukawa's feelings and understanding leading to dumping Makino while he went to NY. In sum, the Japanese plot makes more sense. 2. Better act of the first role actress: In Japanese one, the main actress make much more sense in her acts. I better understand her feelings on his dual feelings toward the first actor, her love, her breakup and her tries to be strong. While in Korean one, some things confused me because of the act of the first role actress. In Korean version, I was not clear enough about her love/hate relationship, its transformation and the feeling behind her breakup and makeups.

What I like about Korean one: 1. Less violence: The Japanese one involved a lot of physical violence which I feel is not good enough for teenagers because they usually make the actors in this kind of dramas as their role models and imitate them in many ways. In Korean version, the first actor's anger and frustration are shown through his talk, body language and sports which is more acceptable to me. 2. The details about the F4 spoiled lifestyle is shown much better in Korean one. Remember the scenes of private jet, the island owned by the Shinua Holding, the main actor's proposal for a date in Japan to have Japanese food and etc. By the way, the Japanese team did their best to take care of these scenes in the movie, the final of Boys over Flowers. 3. Somehow, Gu Jun Pyo (the first actor in Korean version) seems more human to me. He is sensitive, alone, ruined but affectionate and gradually becomes more caring at the end.

Simply, see them both and make your own judgment if you like teenager love style movies!

Shinbu sueob (2004)

Warm and smooth romantic comedy

[7/10 · 23 September 2015]

If you search for a passionate-hot romance, this is not for you. This movie says the story of an emerging love from hate and fondness during time. This love goes against duty, loyalty and commitment to Catholic church. It still catches my eyes at 2015 even though I have seen amazing Korean movies recently.

I think the idea is not too fresh but the setting is lovely. It happens in a Korean quiet village when a modern sassy girl jump in to a church with two young seminaries who will be priests in a month. One of these seminary students try to baptize her while they gradually fell in love.

The side characters are amazing, too. The father is a lovely grandpa with broad point of view, letting the young man and woman get close. The nun is funny and better than all, the second seminary student who is Kim's friend is an attractive character. While he had watched porn and like hanging out with ladies (though it's never been clarified in the movie, he took a road to become a devoted priest at last. Somehow he finds it wonderful to live and work among people as a priest instead of staying in seminary and study; he is a man of practice.

Just it is a bit shallow at the end, I would like to see at least a kiss between the main actor and actress. And also a bit more of his pleading with god trying to avoid temptation before it. Briefly I would say that I preferred to witness more passion in the movie scenario.

If you like a well-made comedy romance for a lazy evening, I strongly recommend it!

Always (2011)

love it.

[9/10 · 19 September 2015]

I love the movie. I have seen it several times and still like it.

The best in the movie is character structure. The characters are well made. They are believable and make sense during their dramatic decisions in loyalty, fight, love and sacrifice.Here are the characters:

The guy has a damaged soul resulted to his seclusion from society, deep guilt and feeling worthless because of his dark past and a special crime; his last one. Here is the point that a blind girl comes into his life accidentally. She has many problems in her work, her financial status and even her day-to-day things; however, she is easygoing, spirited and dealing with problems having a smile on his face. She turned on his dark life by music, laugh, deep passion and care for each other. Here is the point that their path revealed. The guy understand how he was engaged in making her blind above all his crimes. He went into huge sacrifice to pay for her eye operation costs. The operation went successful and she paid him back by her loyalty towards him though they lost each other. Actually the boy left her to avoid disturbing her.

The story has extreme points a bit unbelievable to me. Like how the boy was the one who distract her from her driving and caused her blindness and her parents death. None of them knew this before meeting each other. Or how she traced him by chance and good guess. Besides from that, I applaud for the way these two characters are developed in the movie. The orphanage, lonely and guilty boy find passion, forgiveness and comfort in arms of a woman with great issues who care about people, animals and life beauties against her serious issues.

The acting works well. I felt tears at the end of the movie, when his voice cracked in his chest since he cannot cry due to huge pain he experienced. However, we feel hopeful that he can overcome his problems by being help by his lovable woman. Isn't it inspiring? :)

It really inspires you to feel life. And to believe that such pure loves are possible. And you can make it! It is how the magic of a good drama should work; I think.

A Frozen Flower (2008)

A really great movie.

[10/10 · 19 September 2015]

"A frozen flower" is a great movie in terms of acting, scenes and directing. The whole combination made this movie a big hit.

1)In acting, two main actors and the actress did a great job. The characters are really complicated while facing opposite emotions such as loyalty and betrayal, love and hate, duty and passion, obey and disobey at the same time. It is not easy to show cruelty and affection at the same time as two main actors did great in this movie. The actress also was great in showing her two different kinds of relationship with them. They all did a great job to reveal these emotions in their mimics and actions. Their internal combat reflects in their acting amazingly.

2) In scenes, the movie includes both sexual scenes and historical scenes. While a lot of discussions has been made about the sexual ones, I believe they serve the purpose of the movie perfectly. They are not similar to some sexual scenes in other movies, when you feel like they are not necessary and are just there to make it an R rate movie. No. Here these scenes reflects the growing emotions and changing winds in the characters' souls. The historical scenes are vivid as well. full of colors, actions and harmony,each and every second of them serves the storyline and events. They help to actually take our minds to that historical era in Korean history. They show us how they pray, socialize and celebrate life events in that time, which is crucial to make us understand the characters, their duties, feelings and social aspects.

3) Directing and editing (metaphored as the second directing) are done perfectly. The camera angles are chosen wisely both in big shots in events and close ups while dealing with characters' mimics and inner feelings. Colors and designs works in harmony to elaborate the settings of that era. Imagine I saw the movie without any background in Korea's history; and it encourages me to search a bit to know more.

Great movie to watch, to enjoy and also to explore a different time era if you are interested.