The Beauty Inside review

Movie name: The Beauty Inside

Country: South Korea

Year: Aug 2015

I stumbled across this movie while surfing the Chinese movies channel on tv one day. The guy on screen was Turtle (I don't know his real name but in the kdrama Entourage his nickname was Turtle :D ) and he caught my attention. Wait a minute, this is a korean movie... what is it doing on this channel?! I stayed on that channel and ended up watching it. Haha!! I missed a little bit at the beginning but it was all good. 

So, what's this movie about?

Kim Woo Jin has this weird ability to morph into a different person every day. The moment he falls asleep the next day he wakes up with a different face, different body and sometimes, different gender. This phenomenon started one day when he was about 18 years old and his life was never the same after that. 

Due to his weird ability, he couldn't work like any normal person would. It was a good thing that he had a talent in making furniture and together with his good friend (Turtle) he became a furniture designer. He would work in the factory while his friend deals with marketing and meeting clients. They would operate online so they do not have a physical office which makes their furniture more exclusive and mysterious at the same time. 

One day, Woo Jin visited the local furniture warehouse and he saw Yi Soo working there. Somewhat like love at first sight, he would go there everyday with his different face and body just to talk to her as a customer. Stalker much?! ;D He knew he could never ask her out with the current face and body so he waited until one fine day, he woke up as a handsome young man. Like whattt??!! Smh...

The story goes on from there with Woo Jin trying to have a relationship with Yi Soo and the struggles that they both have to overcome with Woo Jin's strange morphing ability. 

Overall thoughts

This movie is unique because it tackles the perception of beauty. What beauty actually means, is it only physical appearance or the personality of the soul inside the outer shell that is our bodies. If I'm not mistaken it is adapted from a book or some western movie... The show is pretty slow moving but if you can sit through it, it does have some nice scenery of Czech Republic and artsy stuff.

Best parts of the drama

The furniture warehouse where Yi Soo worked, I'm not sure if Mamastudio really exists in South Korea but I think it is also the same place where Jay Park filmed his "All I wanna do" music video... ;D

As you already know I love design stuff, the furniture design in this movie is really nice... I love those chairs and tables etc..

Woo Jin's apartment in Czech Republic is pretty neat as well... Very quaint...

Notable scenes

The initial moment where Yi Soo found out about Woo Jin's strange ability, she wanders into his closet where he kept clothing, shoes of all sizes and even prescription glasses for any type of eyesight...

The part where Woo Jin grasps Yi Soo's hand telling her that's how to recognise him... A simple love language as holding hands with much meaning behind it... Aww sweet...

Conclusion

As with any relationship, there are problems to overcome. However, dating Woo Jin has taken a toll on Yi Soo's mental health. She started to have anxiety and had to take sleeping pills to sleep. I mean, who could blame the poor girl... Imagine you sleep with a guy you think is your boyfriend the next day you wake up and the person next to you is a totally different person... Your mind will be fcked up seriously...

Woo Jin decided to leave her because he could see she was in pain. Yi Soo's life went back to normal after that, she stopped taking the sleeping/ anxiety pills. However, Yi Soo realised that she had really fallen in love with him... Despite his appearance, she realised she fell in love with the soul inside the person... Huhu... some sad moments here... ;'(

She went to Turtle and managed to get Woo Jin's current location... It was in Czech Republic and he had launched a new furniture brand...She flew all the way there and when the door opened, Woo Jin recognised her at once but he pretended to be someone else. She told him that she was interested in his furniture and managed to get inside his apartment... Haha... Nice move girl! ;D

It's a happy ending everyone, don't worry! ;D Yi Soo held his hand and he broke down in tears.. Aww, he really loved her... The movie ends with girl proposing to the guy... Haha!! I'm not joking... it's really sweet. 

But the sweetest part was after she asked him to marry her, the guy pulled out a wooden box. Twist it open and the wedding ring is hidden inside. Dayummm!! Furniture designer moves man... hahah!! I think that's one of the simplest design of a wedding ring box but it looks soooo good... Noice. XD 

The end! The closing scene was the flashback of all the characters in slow motion walking towards her and finally the kiss. It's a sweet movie, if you have some time to waste you could give it a try but it is seriously a very slow moving show.

However, there one thing that I am disappointed with... That is there was no explanation on why Woo Jin has that weird morphing ability. It's like he's a mutant or something... :O And I'm wondering of the various people he woken up as... What happens to the original person of those bodies?! *flips table* 

Alright, thanks for reading.... I just realised the last guy is the same playboy in the movie, "Mood of the day"... XD No wonder he looked familiar. The girl is my fav from W-Two Worlds... I'll leave you with her pretty face, she really is beautiful! ;D 

*Image credits Google and my own screenshots*

W-Two Worlds Review

Drama name: W-Two Worlds
Country: South Korea
Year: July- Sept 2016

I stumbled across this drama while viewing the free session on my local cable TV. It was Episode 3 and it caught my attention, so I went online to search for it. It was a new drama and I was instantly hooked! This is the first drama where I literally "chased"... Yes, I stayed up to watch the livestream on Youtube. I was that crazy! :D It was really fun waiting for the livestream, reading the chats and being a part of a global live audience! But the drawback was there were no subs since it's livestream so I didn't understand a single word. :( On average, the viewer count was around 4k. For the last episode it went up to 10k! Daebak!! 

Sorry it's taken me this long to write the review. :) I needed some time to recover from this drama and I was also busy doing other reviews too. ;D Let's jump right into it now, shall we?!

So,what's this drama about?

As with the drama title, it is a story of two worlds, both existing and running concurrently. The real world and the world of manhwa (comic book world). 

Kang Chul is the lead character in the comic book entitled, W. The author is Oh Seong Moo. W is the no.1 comic/ webtoon in Korea for many years. Kang Chul's story starts as him being the Olympic champion in the mens shooting singles. Not long after that, his family was mysteriously murdered. All of them were shot at point blank range, leading the prime suspect to be Kang Chul as no one else has that ability to shoot so well. Kang Chul was arrested, accused of murder and thrown in jail. However, he was acquitted later for insufficient evidence. 

Kang Chul wanted to end his life after that, as he found no hope in continuing his life since his whole family was gone. He went to the bridge and jumped off it into the Hahn river to commit suicide. It was that very moment when he jumped that he realised he wanted to live and then he clung onto the railing. He wanted to find the killer of his family.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the W author, Oh Seong Moo is a struggling artist. His drinking habit and lack of success in his career takes a toll on his marriage. His wife filed for divorce and the custody of their daughter. 

It was that very night when his family left, he was drinking and decided to end the W comic. He drew Kang Chul committing suicide and drowning in the Hahn river. However, the next morning he awoke to find Kang Chul still hanging onto the railing. 

Shocked and thinking that he was drunk drawing (Haha, I created a new term!) He distinctly remembered drawing Kang Chul dying in the water. But seeing that he didn't die, Mr Oh decided to save him. 

With that, W comic soared to success and Mr Oh's career took off. However, he was still struggling with his drinking addiction and he noticed that his creation, Kang Chul seem to have a life of his own. Each time he draws something, it will change by itself. He thought he was going crazy. Little did he know that Kang Chul indeed was alive and writing his own story.

Mr Oh realised that he had no control over Kang Chul anymore so he decides to kill his character. He was afraid that his creation will one day come to kill him. (What?!) Mr Oh tries to kill Kang Chul through his many drawings.

Mr Oh's daughter, Oh Yeon Joo is now all grown up. She is a trainee heart surgeon, struggling to keep her job as her superior Professor Park thinks that she is incapable to do anything at all. However, she is saved as her father is the famous author of W, which Prof Park is a huge fan of. 

One day, her father's assistant called to inform that her father was missing. She heads over to her father's studio to have a look. The next thing she knew was that she was in the W comic world and finds herself meeting Kang Chul. He was injured and lying in a pool of blood and she saves him. 

The story goes on with Oh Yeon Joo going in and out of the comic world because of Kang Chul's strong questioning of his existence. He will eventually find out the truth and the two worlds will collide. 

Overall thoughts?

The first half of the series was so thrilling. Each episode will keep you on the edge, guessing what's going to happen next. But when it reached midway, the plot just went haywire and all over the place. If you are familiar with football, you would have heard of the Brazilian samba. The story was exactly like that going here and there... 

Best parts of the drama?

Definitely a lot of cool features in this fantasy thriller drama. Firstly, Kang Chul's penthouse... You will love the interior. :D 

Kang Chul's sweet ride...a red lotus: 

The comic graphics and transition between the real and W worlds: 

Notable scenes:

The meeting between creator and creation. Mr Oh and Kang Chul's showdown: 

Funny moment with Professor Park a.k.a. Crazy dog at the cafe: 

Scary moment with the no-face killer and then he had a face (Because he stole it!) 

Fashion

Kang Chul is a multi-millionaire so he dresses really well of course. ;) Anything he wears he turns it into a model fashion. Even chequered or traffic light suits... :P

Conclusion

To be honest, the story was all over the place by the time it reached the end your mind is a total mess of events. :D There are two endings, one for the W comic and one for the real world.

In the comic W, the readers see Kang Chul dying at the bus stop after being shot by the bad politician. It seems like justice was not done to that bad guy or any happy ending at all for Kang Chul. But the readers accepted the ending as a sad but believable ending. (Wtf?!)  

In reality, both worlds continue to co-exist. The W world shows Kang Chul actually didn't die. He was saved by his best friend bodyguard and went to jail for two years. I'm not clear why he went to jail, was it because he broke out of jail or that he killed the no-face killer guy in the car collision shoot-out part. The story only shows that Kang Chul was cleared from the uncle's murder. I'm also not sure if he was cleared of his family's murder but I think it was when the no-face killer shot everyone at the studio, the killer admitted it I think. ?!

Kang Chul returns to the real world after that two years but it has only been a week in the real world. Oh Yeon Joo thought he was dead and was so heartbroken. She kept going to the bus stop where she last saw him and fainted out of exhaustion (or heart brokenness?) It has a happy ending when she woke up to find Kang Chul next to her.

Mr Oh never returned to the real world. He decided to end his life in exchange for Kang Chul's freedom. It was a really sad ending imo, that the father gave his all for his daughter's happiness.

As I was doing this review, I read up some new comments. Apparently there will be a season 2 of W. My initial reaction was WHAT??!! I'm not really looking forward to it. I just feel there are too many loopholes and if there is really a season 2, I hope that the writer will do a less Brazilian samba plot. :D

I guess there's only one reaction that describes this entire drama. That is Prof Park's reaction... and yes, I totally agree with him! ;P