dangermousie: (Chuno - bw by alexandral)
[personal profile] dangermousie
Barely minutes into ep 4 of Will It Snow for Christmas and am reminded as to why I loved what bits of it I've seen as it aired. Lee Kyung Hee's dramas always create these layers of emotions of an almost hothouse intensity - the plot is always secondary to bringing out whatever mood, relationships and emotional truth she wants to convey. This brief little scene:







Oh, what an emotional punch it packs. There is so little said (she says nothing at all, actually), no voices are raised, but the hidden layers of meaning is are so powerful. (For context, Han Ye Seul was sleeping outside her faithless fiance's apartment and Go Soo, who is the man's neighbor, saw it, saw she was sick, and took her in. Now it's the next morning and the fiance stopped by). Everything Go Soo does and says seems so innocuous but is driven by his feelings for her and his anger at the man who left her. The way he politely explains what happened last night and then feels her forehead for fever, as if the other man isn't there, the way he politely tells the other man he should take her to the hospital and adds "unless you are too busy, I can do that then." (oooh burn!)

Not to mention the chemistry. Ahhh, the chemistry. I have yet to see a LKH drama without an insane chemistry between the leads.

You know, I've watched four LKH dramas - this, Sang Do Let's Go to School, A Love to Kill, and Thank You, and one of the things they have in common is that the protagonists are always outcasts - not just physically, but emotionally. Often, they are outcast in a very status sense (Rain is a gigolo in SD and a thug in ALTK, Gong Hyo Jin is ostracized as a single mother by her island community (and a mother of a child with HIV, no less)), but even if their societal status is OK on the surface, they are deeply emotionally wounded and isolated and odd. Take Gong Hyo Jin's teacher in SD - yes, respectable profession, doctor fiance, seemingly normal life, but underneath it all is someone permanently broken by her childhood and her past. In ALTK, Shin Minah's successful actress is suicidal and wandering her life in search of meaning, and in Thank You, Jang Hyuk is broken by his gf's death. That ever-present trauma and fragility is present in both the protagonists of WISFC - sure, they both have normal 'societal' lives - he's an architect, she's a medical student, but they are both so very broken. From what I remember of my first 'sort-of' watch of this, she wanders through life as walking-wounded, mourning her brother, lacking confidence and hope. And for him, the scars of his childhood remain and the guilt over things that aren't his fault and a deep-seated belief of being unworthy of any possible happiness.

Anyway, ILY, drama!

Date: 2011-04-17 05:40 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] littledelusion.livejournal.com
Mmm, I never finished it but I loved what I watched. Must finish sometime~

Date: 2011-04-18 01:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Yay, you should!

Date: 2011-04-17 10:56 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alexandral.livejournal.com
All the brokenness is something I loved too, and also I loved both leads, they are such good actors.

Date: 2011-04-18 01:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Yes, and they had wonderful chemistry.

Did you hear the writer is writing a new drama and they are trying to convince Jo In Sung to star?

Date: 2011-04-18 12:05 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] luvanya.livejournal.com
this drama was crazy... in the good sence..
i mean, it was so heart renching in the last couple of epsidoes...
I was like.. i need to see the end and come back to the middle...
I was going a marathon.

YOU have to watch Snow in april...
I want to know your take in the ending.

Date: 2011-04-18 01:16 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
I plan to get to SiA soon.

Yes, Xmas was so emotionally intense.

Date: 2011-04-18 12:07 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Oh,yes, that was a nice drama. Though I do not remember much of it, I still have a feeling I have to rewatch. The idea of taking care of a mum as if being her son is a lil' weird, though.

Emma

Date: 2011-04-18 01:15 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Yes, hat was very weird but it made sense with his character - he was so driven by unworthiness and guilt.

Date: 2011-04-18 02:02 am (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Definitely one of my favourite dramas, but imho it started to unravel towards the end. I really enjoyed it 1005 up until episode 8 but it had unnecessary time jumps.

Date: 2011-04-20 03:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
I like time jumps when done properly, but not at that point of the story yet so will see how they handle it.

Date: 2011-04-18 08:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hamster428.livejournal.com
Go Sooooo~ i thought he had the most soulful eyes (well, 2nd to Tony Leung). i did love the conflicting relationships at first, but the set-up wasn't nearly serious enough to base all that angst on, so the drama seemed contrived by the end of this show...like they were angsting on empty air. oh well, i enjoyed his eyes while it lasted.

Date: 2011-04-20 03:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Yes, he's got gorgeous eyes. Have you ever watched Green Rose? IMO, best of his stuff.

Date: 2011-04-20 08:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hamster428.livejournal.com
i started downloading it, but the subtitles aren't the best (circa 2005 right?). stop and go sort of english so i dropped the show. now i regret not buying more kdramas when i was in malaysia. they had an extensive collection with good english subs.

Date: 2011-04-22 02:17 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Hmmmmm, do you need links to good subs? My version has good subs.

Date: 2011-04-22 11:20 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hamster428.livejournal.com
is your version hardsubbed then? i dled the raws and soft subs... if you could give me the links, that'd be great. my only other go soo project is piano and it depressed the hell out of me.

Date: 2011-04-24 08:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] dangermousie.livejournal.com
Hmmm, not sure, let me check.

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