#jo jae-yoon

[goodgrammaritan]

Fan-casting Time of Iron but I only have one character:

Jo Jae-Yoon for Prime Minister Pio. Because of the facial hair.

[tarzinnia]

Been watching Bon Appétit, Your Majesty this week. Although he's not pictured, Jo Jae-yoon who plays Ming chef Tang Bai-long, the uncle of Ya Fei-xiu (played by Seung You pictured above), it is so nice to see him play someone who isn't (at least thus far) a villain. I've seen him in numerous dramas, and he is very talented in villain roles, but watching professionals play a range of other characters is always a treat. By the way, the cinematography of the food had me drooling.

[somanykdramas]

ALCHEMY OF SOULS

GENRES: Historical, Supernatural, Romance

SUMMARY: A lost, weak soul shifter meets a sorcerer without the ability to cast spells. As they train, they uncover their strength...and perhaps some unexpected magical feelings of their own.

THIS SHOW HAS EVERYTHING: Smoky spirit dogs, a magical lake, crabby crown princes, family politics, mage administration, long sleeves, libido-shrinking tea, soul shifting, arranged marriages, jade bird eggs of devotion, and powerful love-based sorcery.

HOT TAKE: I had my doubts watching the first episode because it includes some really questionable CG fights. What kept me coming back with enthusiasm? The performances of each and every person in this cast.

[k-star-holic]

Alchemy of Souls' Lee Jae-wook, Jung So-min thanks to the Prince Shin Seung won the fine forest drink

[scenesandscreens]

The Man from Nowhere (2010)

Director - Lee Jeong-beom, Cinematography - Lee Tae-yoon

"Mister? I embarrass you too, right? That's why you ignored me? It's okay. My teacher and all the kids do that too. Mom said that if I get lost, I should forget our address and phone number. She gets drunk and says we should die. Even though that pig called me a bum... you're meaner. But I don't hate you. Because if I do, I won't have anyone I like. Thinking about it hurts me here. So I won't hate you."

[weeguttersnipe]

Do you have some carrots here?

Wok of Love (Korean drama, 2018)

[olivierdemangeon]

  Dans une ancienne Corée fictive, un ancien chasseur de démon se retrouve dans l’entre-mondes, un lieu transitoire pour les esprits, afin de retrouver son ancien amour. Cette dernière l’a oublié et une rébellion démoniaque veut prendre le contrôle de ce monde parallèle afin d’envahir le monde des vivants…

    “Jungcheon” (중천), ou “The Restless” pour la distribution internationale est un film fantastique historique sud-coréen datant de 2006, co-écrit et réalisé par Jo Dong-oh, à qui l’on doit également “Running Man” (2013). Les acteurs principaux sont Jung Woo-sung, qu’on a pu voir dans “Beasts Clawing at Straws” (2020), Kim Tae-hee, qu’on a pu voir dans “Venus and Mars” (2007), So Yi-hyun, qu’on a pu voir dans “Dark Forest” (2006), Heo Joon-ho, qu’on a pu voir dans “The Divine Weapon” (2008), Park Sang-wook, qu’on a pu voir dans “The Bad Guys: Reign of Chaos” (2019), et Jo Jae-yoon, qu’on a pu voir dans “House of the Disappeared” (2017). Ce métrage est paru le 20 décembre 2006 en Corée.

L’histoire proposée par “The Restless” nous invite à suivre Yi-gwak (Jung Woo-sung), le dernier d’une unité de chasseurs de démons qui a autrefois défendu l’Empire. Depuis, le pays a sombré dans le chaos et ce guerrier aguerri est désormais un chasseur de primes qui offre ses services aux villageois voulant se débarrasser des démons qui sévissent au milieu de leurs habitations. Toutefois, malgré sa maîtrise des arts martiaux Yi-gwak est finalement empoisonné et se réveille dans un endroit étrange et fantastique, l’entre-mondes. Chaque personne décédée doit y passer 49 jours afin d’y purifier son esprit. Cependant, Yi-gwak n’est pas mort et la situation va se compliquer lorsque ce chasseur de démons rencontre So-hwa (Kim Tae-hee), la dernière gardienne de ce monde du Milieu. Cette dernière n’est autre que l’ancien amour de Yi-gwak, mais sa mémoire a été effacée. Yi-gwak se retrouve plongé dans une bataille entre So-hwa et un groupe de guerriers redoutables, qui ne sont que les anciens camarades de Yi-gwak lorsqu’ils étaient tous dans la même unité de chasseurs de démons. À leur tête se trouve Ban-chu (Heo Joon-ho), l’ancien Maître de Yi-gwak. Ban-chu désire prendre le contrôle de cet univers parallèle afin de retourner dans le monde des vivants pour y semer le chaos. Une bataille s’engage alors dans cet univers entre le paradis et l’enfer….

“The Restless” est donc un film fantastique qui s’inspire de certaines croyances bouddhistes qui ont depuis également inspiré d’autres films tel que “Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds” (2017) ainsi que sa suite, tous deux réalisés par Kim Yong-hwa. On se retrouve lors du générique de fin avec un sentiment mitigé. D’un côté, on trouve un film formidable notamment au niveau de l’image avec de superbes décors, aussi bien naturels que surnaturels. De l’autre côté, nous avons un scénario plat avec des personnages dont malheureusement, on n’arrive jamais à s’accrocher, à s’identifier. On se retrouve donc avec une sensation de frustration, face à un film de qualité supérieure qui n’a que peu de contenance avec une intrigue stéréotypée autour du bien contre le mal.

À bien y regarder de plus près “The Restless” n’est rien d’autre qu’une histoire d’amour terriblement dramatique. Malheureusement là aussi, le scénario concocté par Jo Dong-oh, Choi Hee-dae, Choi Dong-hoon, Bang Ae-kyeong et Han Gwi-sook est d’une certaine faiblesse, notamment en raison de la pauvreté des dialogues qui s’avèrent être d’une grande banalité. Le personnage incarné par Jung Woo-sung se bat et se retrouve blessé à plusieurs reprise pour une femme qui n’a aucun souvenir de leur amour passé. À force de sacrifices, la belle va cependant finir par se poser des questions et s’engager également sur le chemin des sentiments. Le récit s’articule alors principalement autour de l’amour en prenant une coloration morale. On est alors bien loin des visionnages récents comme “Untold Scandal” (2003) ou “The Servant” (2010) où les sentiments amoureux sont exprimés par la voie du sexe.

Les valeurs de productions sont indéniablement le point fort de ce métrage. La photographie signée Kim Yeong-ho, appuyée par les directeurs artistiques Han Zhong et Wu Ming, est juste magnifique. Le film a été tourné en Chine et cela se voit de par la beauté de certains paysages présentés en arrière-plan. Ces plans sont tout simplement à couper le souffle et les décors sont élaborés avec un soin particulier apporté aux détails. Les effets spéciaux sont impressionnants et viennent grandement amplifier l’illusion d’évoluer dans un univers fantastique. On retrouve de la magie, des combats aux sabres, des démons et des fantômes. Les effets spéciaux sont excellents pour un métrage ayant plus d’une décennie au compteur. La note du métrage est donc, en majeure partie, due à la qualité de sa finesse visuelle. La bande musicale est proposée par Shirō Sagisu, compositeur japonais, déjà à l’œuvre sur “Musa” (2001). Enfin, l’édition orchestrée par Nam Na-yeong nous amène à un film de 105 minutes relativement denses.

En conclusion, “The Restless” est un film fantastique convenable disposant d’une histoire parfois absconse, une intrigue simple et d’un développement chatoyant. Le rythme est plutôt vif, le récit manque de fluidité et la narration fait appel à de nombreux flashbacks. La photographie est somptueuse, la bande originale est gracieuse, mais peut-être trop marquée nippone pour un métrage coréen et le montage est bien orchestré. Les chorégraphies de combat sont rondement menées et les effets spéciaux sont propres malgré le poids des années. La distribution offre de bonnes prestations, mais n’arrive pas à effacer la pauvreté du scénario. En outre, le duo formé par Jung Woo-sung et Kim Tae-hee, bien que séduisant, n’offre pas l’alchimie nécessaire à l’histoire d’amour présentée. L’ensemble reste cependant divertissant pour peu qu’on se contente d’une histoire plate dans un bel écrin…

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    THE RESTLESS (2006) ★★★☆☆ Dans une ancienne Corée fictive, un ancien chasseur de démon se retrouve dans l'entre-mondes, un lieu transitoire pour les esprits, afin de retrouver son ancien amour.

[just-some-other-reviews]

I considered if I should post a review today or not. I decided to post one, not because I’m insensitive towards what happened in the kpop world today, but more because I hope that for those who might read this review, this might help them feel a little bit better (well, it helped me feel a little bit better writing it). What happened today was horrible, and as a multi-fandom (and, by the occasion, a shawol), I feel like shit. But... It happened, now we should all grow from such event and make sure this won’t happen again. I think I won’t say more about this situation. I’ll wait a little bit until the official reports come out. Speculations hurt more than facts.

Well, in the months of October and November I was really in heaven when it came to dramas. Mad Dog was probably the only reason why I looked forward to Wednesday and Thursday who were both the worst day at school. I’ll be honest. I absolutely adored the drama, but I’ll try to be a little bit critic towards it.

Mad Dog is a crime drama. Choi Kang-Woo was a police officer turned into an investigator at Taeyang assurance. After a traumatic event that happened to his family, he decides to form a small group named “Mad Dog” that’s going after assurance fraud.

As always, I tried to put the less spoilers it was possible in the review, but some might have escaped me, so please stay careful as you read.

I think Mad Dog is one of those dramas you don’t know what’s in store for you, but strangely gets addicted when you start watching it. I thought that the story was quite awesome. Sure, the second episode is a little bit dull (after the amazing episode that was the first one) because they decided to put a long-ass flashback of sixty minutes. I have nothing against being aware of the back story, but I thought it was too much too early. The first two episodes play a capital role in keeping the viewer attention, so I, personally, became a little bit uninterested after the second episode. But after this very long flashback, the drama took its pace back. The story becomes quickly really interesting as to the main intrigue drama is added. Yes… Sometimes it goes right to the feels and it’s a little bit painful.  I have to admit that even though I thought that the plot was awesome, there were a few things that I didn’t like in this drama. First of all, there were a lot of tentative of murder or dead people who weren’t really dead, which is, sometimes, a little bit annoying. Second, there’s way too much push and pull between the two leads. I mean, after a point, they have no reason to still give a cold shoulder to each other, but, eventually, it gets better (around the episode 7 if you want to know). Third, the manipulation is so frustrating… Even though I have to admit that it’s, at the same time, quite good. It helps the story looks a little bit more realistic because nothing seems easy to solve. But, even if there’s some positive, the manipulation makes the story a little bit drags every now and then because the characters have so much difficulty to solve the cases. The negative aside, I have to say that the plot was genial in my opinion. The progression was quite good and mildly realistic. There was a nice tension constantly present in the story that helped to make the story addictive. There are a few hints of romance and quite a lot of bromance. The plot twists are absolutely amazing. You can predict a few of them, even though, for me, the vast majority of the progression was completely unpredictable. Even though it had a few shortcomings, overall, the story was nicely developed, and the intrigue was well-thought.

I think I’ll only talk about the Mad Dog members because I’m fearful that writing about any other characters would be a major spoiler in the progression. Choi Kang-Woo is probably the lead of the drama, but I have to admit that he was easily overshadowed by some other characters. His personality is quite typical. He’s the last surviving member of his family and because of the traumatic events that happened to them, he decided to fight against crime. I think that what annoyed me about him was more how rigid he was towards the other characters. At the opposite of many characters in the drama, he was the one who was causing a lot of the push and pull. He was a little bit frustrating, but overall, he gave some sweet bromance with Kim Min-Joon (I’ll admit it, I wish so badly for them to form a family, like, I wish Kang-Woo to become a big brother to Min-Joo and supports him no matter what in the long term, which is what the ending seems to hint) and his interactions with the rest of the Mad Dog members are absolutely adorable. Min-Joo is probably the character I liked the most in the drama. Sure, he’s a little bit typical, but he’s well-thought and evolves well through the drama. He stays loyal to his initial personality, even though he learns how to trust the others and, eventually, becomes a part of the Mad Dog family. For what it is of the three remaining member of the team, I have to admit that they were quite typical. On Noo-Ri is the genius that’s in-between the two camps. Jang Ha-Ri is the woman who relies on her charm, but at the same time is quite bold, intelligent and is quite rigid in her position. Park Soon-Jung is the warm-hearted ex-convict that only wants the best for those around him. For what it is of the bad guys, they are absolutely despicable because they were fully aware of what they were doing, and they still did it, but they were so well-done. As all the character of this drama, they had a good evolution. But what was probably the greatest was that the main bad guys didn’t repent at the end, which allowed them to finally face the consequences of their actions and clear everything up.

I’ll conclude there before I spoil too much. The plot would be worth a 8/10 mostly because of the lengths that were here and there. The characters would be a 3.5/5. And the tearjerker factor would be a 2/5 because…oh damn… sometimes it hits you right in the feels…