ablomov-78016

Lots of swearing, and some violence, - the titular heroine is brilliant - she has that kittenish appeal of someone who is rich, naive and everyone accommodated her and then reality of what her world was like. The music is high energy rap, and it is bad, then good, but always entertaining. I am totally a fan of the series because the actress who plays An!ela is incredible. It might be seen as a failure but I love it - so there. Once in a while you need to drop your critical pose and rate with your heart. I will say that there are a lot of stereotypes however, there is a lot of kickass feminism which I love!!!

I think after watching so many K and J dramas I realised just what goes into a melodrama. That is exactly what this film is about. It is stepping outside the romcom or melodrama and being objective about every aspect of production and the style of a melodrama and thus reach an aesthetic level of filmic self reflexivity that the parodic collapse in on itself and actually returns to melodrama. It loops. This is achieved through sublime cinematography that mimics the melodrama yet continues with the more tragic contrapuntal of social realities. The acting in and out of the parody is brilliant, so too as mentioned in the external review is the references to the components of the melodrama for example the singing and dancing (which references K drama etc). I will not spoil it with details - the leads in life and in the drama are brilliant. A really satisfying film that provokes you to think and ...love.

I generally find Japanese comedies a little awkward, but this one shines because of the production and its actors. The star has really struck me as working gracefully with minimalist gestures and movements to mesmerize us - the simplicity of what she does belies the power she has. Much of the humour exacted is from the context of the very competitive office life - now shadowed by the off the beaten track z generation. Hoodies versus suits. I have witnessed first hand the working practices and the business environment which this series deftly satirizes. Of course like many series these days it has its origin in manga series. Here is of course where the production qualities come into their own - like my favourite recent K Drama series Backstreet Rookie which has even more of the anime feel.