Creating a movie or series based on a novel always comes with risks. How do you convey a story from hundreds of pages into a few hours, will the readers depiction of the characters align with the casting, and how far can you sway from the thread of the original story and still make it work?
Being gay myself, and spending some time in Seouls gay area of Itaewon, my mind already had very clear images while reading the book. Spending time in Korea also made me understand the culture and social constructs more. Understanding these things made reading the book a joy, but it also made me a bit sceptical of this production. Considering above mentioned, I feared that a series would be dull and lack details not seen as "appropriate" for Korean TV. But I was wrong: this is a total homerun!
The series conveys the story of the novel in a beautiful way. It's packed with details and direct quotes, only leaving out things that really does not impact the thread of the story. Even tho I did not really recognize the main characters physical features from the novel, it did not matter one bit. His bright but somewhat melancholic energy is on point, and all the other characters were depicted amazingly well. I found myself feeling a lot more watching this compared to reading the novel, which to me is quite unusual. I wouldn't call it a masterpiece when it comes to cinematography, but it does punch way above most other LGBT productions. Well done, hats off!
