gmc-linetta

A warm although slow film. The ML, and a few other characters, are people who lost hearing, but half way through the film, after about ep. 10 the film becomes so static in terms of action and how characters communicate that both the ML and FL (including some other characters) seem to be people with hearing disability. The producers may have had an aim to make it easier to lip-read the film(?) Past ep. 10, FL had very limited range of facial expressions - either looking slightly or very unhappy. Despite my best intentions to enjoy the film, I started fast forwarding the episodes and almost lost any interest towards the end despite the producer's attempts to create an intrigue in the story in ep. 15.

Another May-December or Noona romance story, but I would like to comment on parent-children relationship depicted in this film that stood out for me. What kind of a frustrated parent it takes to deliberately inflict pain on their child? One parent deliberates on depriving their unborn baby of the father, another parent torments their child prioritising the parent's own emotional needs, the third parent torments their child by hiding father's letters and prohibiting the budding feelings of love, and the fourth parent at some point alienates their own adult child. Are we dealing with some massive phenomenon of emotional abuse of children in the family or is it a cultural "thing" or perhaps generational? "You aren't wrong about this. You only did what any parent would do. [...] It's OK. People always grow stronger through hardships. They are all precious experiences. It's sure to help in his life ahead." What kind of philosophy is this, furthermore, coming from the lips of a teacher? What is OK or precious about it?

So the story develops against this backdrop with the hope for the future that somehow children who go through this will acquire cognitive sophistication to navigate interpersonal relationship.

First, I must note that I found this series recommended by viewer ENIGMA05. I find her reviews, at least on c-drama, thorough, binge-watcher-friendly, unbiased and to the point. And you can rely on her ratings. I would never have chosen a film with a sports theme, but gave it a go and, boy, it did deliver on feel-good from the first episode.

Falling into You (26 episodes) offers a straightforward story, great leads, and OST. For me it did not feel like the May-December or Noona romance as the age gap is small. It's only because of their roles (teacher-student) that this becomes "an issue". Both lead actors are well chosen, impressive performance by the male lead. I also liked the theme of friendship explored in the film.

For those who like light rom-coms, but without squeaky female voices or their homes stocked with soft toys (well there were only 2 soft toys, so I consider it progress) or some other annoying depictions of women.