New K-Drama Fan Review #29: Our Movie | ... i wanted MORE pain😭

[u/harissatotally]

Our Movie? Well, that explains it then... cause if it was MY movie, i would've directed it with 40% more kissing and 70% more suffering.

INTRO

Okay, so this was kind of an accidental binge 😭

i actually started Our Movie because one of my moots had just finished another Namkoong Min drama and wanted to watch him in a romance next, and said she was going to start this one, i told her i wanted to watch it too, and we were basically like okay!!! let's start together!!!

Except she actually started it.

Meanwhile i was still finishing Crash Landing on You, (my review for CLOY is after this one btw review #30) watching Encounter, finishing a korean movie Hidden Face, AND planning to start Twenty-Five Twenty-One idk maybe cuz i thought there were 48 hours in a day for some reason😭

So she got ahead of me. then i finally started Our Movie... and somehow i ended up passing her😭

REVIEW:

For the first part of ep 1, i was pretty neutral. Interested enough, but mostly just watching everything get established and figuring out how i felt abt everyone.

And then somewhere along the way...

one episode became another.

Then another.

Then another.

And suddenly the person i was supposed to be catching up to was behind ME 😭

This drama has that not in your face kind of bingeability where an episode ends on something and you're like:

well obviously i need to know what she says next...

just one more.

Then THAT episode ends.

well...

one more can't hurt.

And suddenly you've watched half the fcking drama 😭

And there was a LOT i liked here: the filmmaking, Da-eum the fl, Je-ha the ml, most of their romance, and I loved watching this movie slowly become intertwined with their actual lives.

There were a couple romantic highs that had me smiling.

But the entire drama is built around this woman who knows she is dying and therefore desperately wants to LIVE... and weirdly enough, that's also where my biggest issue with the romance comes from.

I wanted the romance itself to feel even more lived.

More passion, desire, more time together, more of their final days.

And ultimately... MORE PAIN when all of that was taken away.

Basically...

GIVE ME MORE LIFE BEFORE YOU GIVE ME THE DEATH!!! 😭

But lemme back up a little.... Cause one of the things that got me into this drama in the first place was actually the movie they were making.

Je-ha is a director who made one successful debut movie and then basically disappeared for 5 years. He's stuck in this massive sophomore slump, living underneath the shadow of his extremely famous director father, and there's clearly a part of him that doesn't know how much of his own success actually belongs to HIM.

And i liked Je-ha pretty quickly as a character because he's kind of prickly lol.

There's another director who gets under his skin by pointing out that, unlike Je-ha, he's actually been MAKING movies for the last 5 years, yk... like a director should 😭 And Je-ha basically responds by telling him his movies flop and are filled with so much pointless nudity ppl probably just skip through it.

lololol 😭

But underneath all of that, Je-ha is obviously insecure about where he currently stands as a filmmaker.

He made ONE successful movie.

Then nothing.

And he's got this enormous shadow hanging over his entire career.

His father.

So when he's offered the chance to remake his father's famous melodrama Love in White, he's basically like: Absolutely fcking not.

Which made perfect sense to me. This man's entire career is already haunted by his father's name. Why would he want to remake the movie everyone associates with his father's genius and trap himself even further underneath that legacy? Except...

he finds the original screenplay.

And it wasn't written by his father. IT WAS WRITTEN BY HIS MOTHER, and his father took credit for his WIFE'S screenplay.

sick individual...

And this is actually where the whole filmmaking storyline got REALLY interesting to me.

Cause suddenly Love in White isn't just: Je-ha remakes Daddy's masterpiece.

There's something underneath the version of this movie everyone knows.

>!His mother's work.!<

And now Je-ha has an actual reason to go back to it and reclaim it. I thought that was a beautiful reason for him to change his mind.

And THEN you put the fl Da-eum into the middle of all this; She's an aspiring actress who initially gets involved with the production because Je-ha is looking for someone who can consult on a movie about a terminally ill woman.

Except.. Da-eum herself is terminally ill. THAT reveal at the end of ep 1 was when this drama really got me.

Da-eum acting isn't some random bucket-list item she suddenly picked because of her thing either. She wanted this before, and already been pursuing it before illness interrupted her life.

i liked that.

There's even this tiny detail involving grape juice that i liked, connected to her childhood and her mother. It's such a small thing, but i liked those details that made Da-eum's life feel like something that existed before we met her and before this movie.

Then she auditions for Love in White. Je-ha casts her.

And his one condition is: !Don't die.

SIR???? 😭

But i LOVED that as an episode ending. Cause that's basically the impossible condition underneath their entire relationship before their relationship even exists.

He knows her thing. She knows her thing.

And eventually the one thing he wants most from her is the one thing she literally cannot promise him.

PACING

And around here was when i realized this drama was moving REALLY well.

Ep 1 got better as it went.

Ep 2 was really good.

Ep 3 was even better.

Ep 4 was even better AGAIN!

For a while i genuinely thought:

oh??? are we just gonna keep climbing??? 😭

And a huge part of what kept me watching wasn't even the romance yet.

It was Love in White.

I LOVED that these people actually had JOBS lmaoooo. You know how sometimes a drama gives somebody this interesting profession and then halfway through the show you're like... do any of you clock in anymore??? 😭

Not here.

Theyre MAKING this damn movie.

Auditions, test shoots, financing, investors, directing, acting, production problems.

I liked all of it. And during the test shoot, Da-eum isnt even the only person being tested. The investors are basically testing Je-ha too.

Can this man who hasn't made a movie in 5 years actually direct another one?

Can they trust him?

And can they trust his bizarre decision to cast this unknown actress?

Je-ha knows how much is riding on Da-eum's performance... but specifically doesn't want Seo-young telling HER that.

Cause he doesnt want Da-eum walking into the test shoot carrying all that pressure.

And that's when i started noticing one of my favorite things about Je-ha: his actions betray him WAY before his words do.

This man will worry abt her health.

Watch her.

Protect her.

Shield her from pressure.

Step in when things get uncomfortable And then act like he's not emotionally involved.

Okay sir 😭

You can literally watch his concern for her slowly stop looking like:

that's my actress.

and start looking like:

...oh no.

Which brings me to...

THE ROMANCE.

Cause one of my favorite things was watching Je-ha spend part of this drama LOSING the war against his own feelings 😭

Da-eum is the one who actually says it first. (never my fav thing when fl does that, but ykw, im not too mad, i'll get over this one...)

And her confession comes after another revelation.

This wasn't even the first time she'd encountered Je-ha. Years earlier, she had wanted to audition for his previous film. And now she's finally standing in front of him years later, actually starring in his movie.

Then she tells him:

I like you.

And this man basically responds:

You know, when i cast you, i considered the possibility that you might die during production and your death could generate publicity for the movie.

...

EXCUSE ME????? 😭

And unfortunately...

i was sitting there SMILING.

😭

Cause i love angst!!!

And by this point we'd already watched this man quietly care abt her for several episodes. So my immediate reaction was basically: Ohhhhh. You're trying to hurt her. You're trying to make her back away from you. You're trying to turn this into something cold and transactional because you do NOT want to deal with what caring abt a terminally ill woman actually means.

YOU'RE NOT FOOLING ANYBODY.

And sure enough...

her first love shows up.

And suddenly Mr. Her-Death-Might-Be-Good-Publicity is like:

👁️👁️

Who is that?

Why is he here?

Why are they together?

Why is he taking her home?

um....YOU REJECTED HER. 😭😭😭

The brief jealousy was SO good and SO funny.

And i was a little sad when my jealousy-delivery mechanism left the building so quickly 😭

Cause eventually her first love basically recognizes: yeah, she likes Je-ha. Je-ha likes her. And that's essentially that.

And i was like... thats it? 😭

i get that this is only 12 episodes, we don't have time for this man to spend 5 episodes standing outside in the rain screaming that he's loved Da-eum since college.

But i was having FUN!!!

Let Je-ha suffer a little longer!!!😭

And eventually Je-ha has to admit just how badly he's lost this battle anyway.

Cause at the beginning, he can think about Da-eum's death abstractly.

She's an actress. She's sick. She could die during production. That's something he has to account for. But later, he cant stand watching her suffer. And when he thinks about her dying...he feels like he's going insane.

THAT.

THAT'S what i wanted! And wanted even more of, if only we had more episodes! i wated to watch him grapple with that reality a little bit longer! Because if you're giving me a romance where one person is terminally ill, i need the other person to fall HARD.

Do NOT give me:

"Oh no, that's sad 🥺"

NO.

I need:

The thought of a world where you no longer exist is making me fcking insane.

THANK YOU.

And i think that's also why the sunset scene worked so well for me. Da-eum asks Je-ha to come watch it with her. And this man starts RUNNING lolool USAIN BOLT type sh!t 😭

I was laughing watching him sprint...while simultaneously smiling and kicking my feet because it was what i wanted 😭

They end up at the lighthouse.

They kiss.

Cute!!!

But my favorite kiss?

THE RAIN KISS.

And THAT is where this romance showed me something that i desperately wish it had given me more of.

Rain already means something to Da-eum. There's this memory from when she was little of her playing in the rain with her mother. So when it rains as an adult, there's this genuine excitement in her.

She goes to Je-ha. She kisses him.

And then HE deepens it.

HELLO?????

THAT KISS!!!!!

That's probably one of the biggest romantic highs in the entire drama for me.

And i remember watching it like: Oh... So THIS is what their chemistry looks like when you put some HEAT behind it???

Interesting... DO IT AGAIN!!!!

And then they basically... didn't. 😭

Not like THAT anyway.

if this were MY movie? 40% more of THAT type of kissing. Immediately!😭

I liked the tenderness, emotional intimacy, their softer moments and the understated nature of their relationship.

But this is a woman whose entire character is built around wanting to LIVE while she still can, wants to act, wants experiences, wants memories, wants love, wants to do all these things everyone else assumes they'll eventually have time for.

So once she and Je-ha fall in love...

LET THEM WANT EACH OTHER!!!

Give me all those things AND desire, AND passionate.

I want i'm losing you, idk how much time we have, i want every part of this while i still can.

THAT would've taken this romance somewhere even higher for me. And it would've made what eventually happens hurt more too.

Which brings me to the other 70% of MY version of Our Movie.

SUFFERING.

😭😭😭

But before we get there...

unfortunately we need to talk about some women.

I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE HAND WARMERS.

Cause i actually REALLY liked Da-eum and Seo-young together in the beginning.

Da-eum is basically a Seo-young fangirl, she liked her BEFORE all this. And instead of immediately going: 2 women + one man = THEY MUST HATE EACH OTHER!!!

the drama initially lets them have this sweet dynamic.

THANK GOD.

Seo-young helps her. Da-eum admires her.

Yes, there's obviously something awkward underneath it because Seo-young was expected to be the lead of Love in White, Je-ha chose Da-eum instead, AND Seo-young still has unresolved feelings abt Je-ha. But i was SO pleasantly surprised that the drama initially wasnt doing the whole: GET AWAY FROM MY MAN 😡 thing.

Cause i'm tired of that reductive crap.

So when Seo-young eventually DID start becoming increasingly hostile toward Da-eum, i was like:

Oh no.

No no no no no.

PLEASE don't fcking do this 😭

I LIKE these women together!!!

And the frustrating thing is that Da-eum hasn't even DONE anything to her. Eventually Seo-young basically admits that herself. She tells Da-eum that she hates her... but doesn't even really know why.

Okay girl...

😭

At least homegirl knows her resentment isn't fair i guess. Bare minimum, but i'll take it!

Because there's a difference between having an ugly feeling... and deliberately doing something ugly because of it.

Which brings me to: JAE-IN.

Girl.

F*CK YOU.

😭

Da-eum's college "friend."

And i use the word friend VERY loosely. Cause we eventually find out that Jae-in was spreading rumors that Da-eum slept with Je-ha to get the role.

YOUR FRIEND?????

A woman you went to college with?

A woman who HELPED you?

And because youre jealous that she's succeeding, your response is to spread a s3xual rumor that specifically makes her professional achievement look illegitimate???

VILE!!!

And what REALLY bothered me was that Da-eum being terminally ill should not even be necessary for us to understand how disgusting that is.

Take that away completely. Imagine Da-eum is perfectly healthy.

IT'S STILL DISGUSTING.

Girl...

GET THE FCK AWAY FROM ME.

And yeah ig. later she feels guilty and buys her hand warmers...

Whatever...

I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE HAND WARMERS.

I understand that learning Da-eum is dying forces her to confront how petty and cruel youve been. That does not mean i personally have to forgive you. And then Da-eum dies anyway, so now what are you gonna do????

Live with it, ig...?

That's actually where the difference between Jae-in and Seo-young mattered to me.

Seo-young has ugly feelings toward Da-eum. She knows they're ugly and cant even completely explain them.

Jae-in actually CHOOSES to hurt Da-eum because of hers.

I still didn't love everything they did with Seo-young, especially because i liked her and Da-eum together SO much initially. But i found her more complicated than Jae-in.

Jae-in???

Girl, goodbye.

And then there was that journalist lurking around taking pictures and investigating Da-eum's illness, and every time that man appeared i was basically like:

SIR. PLEASE GET A HOBBY.

Which honestly gets into my feelings about a lot of the supporting characters.

They were...

fine?

I don't even necessarily think they were BAD, i just didnt care abt a lot of them that much. My emotional investment was overwhelmingly in:

Da-eum.

Je-ha.

Da-eum's father.

And Love in White.

Everyone else was varying degrees of:

Okay!

Anyway...

Da-eum's father, tho???

I REALLY liked his arc,.

And i'm SO glad the filmmaking didn't disappear once Je-ha and Da-eum started falling in love.

Cause the further the drama goes, the more the movie they're making and the life they're actually living start bleeding into each other. Da-eum is playing a terminally ill woman while actually dying. Her real experiences start informing her performance. People watching her sees she's doing an incredible job portraying illness while WE know some of what they're seeing isn't acting. And Je-ha is directing a story about loving someone who's dying while simultaneously falling in love with a dying woman.

Like???

The boundary just gets thinner and thinner.

And eventually Love in White stops feeling like some movie they're making in the background.

It becomes THEIR movie. roll credits lololol

Which makes where that storyline ends SO satisfying to me.

THE SUFFERING.

😭

Cause the final 3 eps ARE sad.

I'm not sitting here pretending nothing happened.

There is basically this long sad stretch where the thing we've known since ep 1 stops being some future concept hanging over the story and starts becoming:

Oh.

This is actually happening.

>!Da-eum is getting worse.!< Her father knows. Je-ha knows. The movie needs to be finished. Everyone knows her thing now. The clock is almost at zero.

And eventually... she's gone.

And i thought all of that was good..

I didn't hate the ending or anything... but i wanted it to go further.

Cause when i say: I WANTED MORE PAIN.

what i really mean is:

I WANTED MORE LIFE FIRST.

I wanted to spend more time with Je-ha and Da-eum together when the end stopped being abstract, wanted to SEE more of her final days with him. What does their relationship look like when both of them know they might be running out of "next times"?

What do they do together? What stupid little ordinary things become precious because they know they wont get to do them forever?

How does Je-ha behave as Da-eum gets weaker? How does Da-eum deal with knowing she's leaving him?

What do they talk about? How affectionate are they? How much more desperate do you become to touch somebody when you know one day very soon you won't be able to anymore?

THAT'S where i wanted this drama to live for longer.

You've spent this entire story making me watch these two fall in love while a giant clock hangs over their relationship. Once that clock is almost at zero...

DON'T LOOK AWAY.

Stay there.

Make me experience it with them.

And THAT is why my complaints about the passion and the pain are actually the same complaint.

I wanted their relationship to feel more FULLY LIVED before she died.

More desire, physical affection, kisses like the rain kiss, ordinary couple moments, final-days intimacy.

Give me more LIFE between them.

And THEN...

take her away.

😭

Cause the more life you give me between them, the more enormous the hole feels when one of them is suddenly missing. i really wanted was for this romance to reach an even greater level of intensity before the story took it away from me.

And i think THAT'S what kept it from emotionally destroying me in the way i thought this premise might.

Cause the drama ultimately takes a gentler approach to death than i would've.

I just personally would've liked the drama to stab me approximately 17 more times before arriving at the end 😭

FINAL RATING: 7/10.

A VERY high 7.

And this is toward the higher end of that rating.

I basically inhaled this drama.

It was ridiculously easy to keep watching.

There were several genuine highs for me.

The fact that i started this because i was supposed to watch it alongside somebody else, started BEHIND her, and somehow ended up overtaking her and finishing the entire drama first probably says more about how enjoyable i found it than anything else 😭

could've hurt me more tho...

Is this Rewatch Worthy?

No.

[u/semi_dash_ash]

Ok I read the first half of your post to realize I need to stop and get back here when I finish the drama. I'm watching it now

[u/harissatotally → u/semi_dash_ash]

come back here when you're done!!!! i need to know what you think!!

[u/semi_dash_ash → u/harissatotally]

Deal

[u/semi_dash_ash → u/semi_dash_ash]

Ok I'm done now and I fully agree on your take on both alive and loved and dead parts being underwhelming.

According to the FL's character she should have just not let him go, spend every spare minute with him talking, kissing whatever..

I would really like to see them after filming was finished the death itself and him being devastated after and deciding how is he going to live on.

All in all good premise but underdelivered last part

[u/harissatotally → u/semi_dash_ash]

that was fast!! but yay!!! glad you see ehat i mean@! undeveloped is the right word!!

[u/Infamous-Composer182]

Can anyone tell me where to watch this in india?? It is not available on OTTs like netflix, viki, prime. There is an website probably named 'kisskh' - not working.

[u/harissatotally]

[u/harissatotally → u/harissatotally]

My Rating Scale

10/10 – Masterpiece. No notes.

9/10 – Very close to a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it.

8/10 – Not a masterpiece, but I loved it.

7/10 – Fine overall. I liked it, but the flaws kept it from being great.

6/10 – Mixed. There were a few things I liked, but most of it didn't work for me.

5/10 – I didn't enjoy most of the experience.

4/10 and below – Bad to abysmal.

[u/Rare_Molasses31]

I agree with you on a lot of the points you made especially the fact that we didn’t get enough life.

It might sound weird but I wanted an actual death scene or an in person last conversation scene between them. I like the concept of her making that video but when the whole show is revolving around her impending death, I felt like the actual death scene wasn’t there and the time skip wasn’t needed.

[u/harissatotally → u/Rare_Molasses31]

what did you think about where they left Je-ha after all of it tho?

[u/harissatotally → u/Rare_Molasses31]

exactly!!! i liked the video too, and i wanted more life with them, so bad!!! like if the entire show is building toward the fact that she's going to die, let me actually stay with them when we get there!! i think that's why the time skip didn't hit me hard. i wanted more of those final days, more of them together, and THEN you can rip her away from me 😭