Chiamalo Amore (2023)

Stavo perdendo la speranza con i kdrama. Le ultime uscite a parer mio non sono state soddisfacenti, tutt'altro. Poi, in un giorno febbrile, a letto, ho visto il primo episodio. Subito ho avuto paura. Questo drama è lentissimo, è talmente lento che ti sembra di star vivendo lo stesso tempo dei personaggi e mi son detta che 16 episodi erano troppi, che mi avrebbe annoiata a morte. Invece non mi sono nemmeno resa conto del tempo che passava.
Sto scrivendone la recensione al tavolo, in cucina, con le bietole nella padella sul fuoco e una tisana calda al mio fianco. Eppure solo fisicamente son qui. La mia testa è ancora con Sim Woo Joo su quella panchina a chiedersi se avrebbe potuto fare diversamente, se va bene lo stesso, se sarà perdonata, se riuscirà nei suoi intenti. Questo drama è riuscito a farmi toccare corde che non credevo nemmeno di avere. La bravura di Lee Sung-kyung non credevo potesse arrivare a questi livelli e non da meno è stato sicuramente Kim Young-kwang nei panni dell'altro protagonista di questa melodrammatica storia: i loro ruoli, i loro familiari, tutto ciò che li circonda, che li preme e li incatena.
Per la prima volta, credo, se qualcuno mi chiedesse "me lo consigli?" io gli direi "certo!", ma se mi chiedessero il perchè a mio parere debbano vederlo ecco.. A quello non saprei rispondere.

Leggi di Più

An uncommonly, almost tenderly told revenge story

"Call it Love" begins with a quote from a writer about love, followed by a voiceover radio announcer's summary: "To understand the loneliness of others, for me, that's the beginning of love." Beautiful, sensitive words... and at the same time: the grounding of this KDrama.

There are so many lonely people out there (even if that doesn't necessarily mean they're alone). There are also those who recognize the other in their loneliness. Love in different facets swings back and forth between each episode - quietly, tenderly, unspoken, then also outspoken, sometimes here, sometimes there. In the case of Shim Woo-joo and Han Dong-jin, despite barriers love like determined water finds its way.

The KDrama offers no ´boom-squish´, no spectacle, yet slow food for the heart. So slow, that it almost touches the edge of the bearable at times. Watching the two protagonists moving through scenes is almost like in slow motion. The facial features are minimal, too. However, it´s nevertheless expressive and intense. Tender emotions are held back, an the next moment some razor-sharp thoughts are communicated without hesitation – Woo-joo is good at that. She embodies a sharp mix of disinterest and impulsiveness. Dong-jin, for his part, is the master of outward indifference and equanimity, enduring life´s challenges quietly and good-naturedly – almost stoically. But both are basically victims of their learned helplessness and of being overwhelmed with their extremely ambivalent feelings towards their own parents. ´She´ is still bitter because of her cheating father, who left the family for another woman. His burden is his exalted mother, who notoriously charms other people's husbands and lives a ´good life´ at their expense, with her son being in the way and left with the father.

A web of loving people are surrounding both Woo-joo and Dong-jin. So, even if they may feel alone with their feelings, they really aren't. Woo-joo's friend, the pharmacist Yoon-jun, feels a lot more for Woo-joo. Dong-jin's school friend and business partner knows his buddy like the back of his hand. Then there's Woo-joo's sister, who for her part is struggling with dating and finally just discovers her feelings for Yoon-jun. And suddenly Dong-jin's ex-fiancé is back, who left him without a word a year ago, went to the USA and is now suddenly back, being ready for the next step. ... Somehow everyone seems a bit lost and sometimes awkward in their emotional life, as well as in their (traditional) family liabilities. They might feel lonely. But they are actually not alone.

Technically speaking, the plot aims for something completely different than romantic love: revenge is the driving force of the story. There's Woo-joo on her vendetta against the woman who stole her father and secured the house as an inheritance – with the vendetta actually targeting the son, Dong-jin. Then there is Dong-jin's former boss, who wants revenge for Dong-jin resigning along with his childhood friend from school to start a rival business. And there's the age-old dynamic between Woo-joo's mother and her rival who stole her husband years ago...

Somehow like balm: here the revenge motive can't prevail in the end. Rather, a gentle template of compassion and forgiveness settles over resentment and bitterness. Like a silk scarf, this compassion covers the wounds and thus changes, rather widens, the perspective. "To understand the loneliness of others, for me that is the beginning of love." In the end the truth of these words is revolving about much more than 'just' romantic love – the heart empathically banging on another one´s wall, makes the wall come down and healing become possible.

Gaze, movement as well as camera angles are chosen with care. Like that more than once time is frozen, sort of. Often enough, this KDrama is deliberately so slow that you might want to give the protagonists a nudge here and there. Paradoxically, this perceived standstill envelops the actually quite dynamic story, which gains its drive from the revenge motive and knows very well how to come up with tension, too. This idiosyncratic mixture of dramatic events and moments of standstill, of revenge and honest love, results in a very unique, ambivalent, subtly burned-in dynamic and elusive fascination for this KDrama. Cupid interjects encouragingly and does it well. Actors and actresses also successfully correspond with authentic emotion.

Ultimately, an uncommonly, almost tenderly told revenge story.

Leggi di Più