The Last Scandal of My Life

In high school, Hong Sun Hee (Choi Jin Shil) was the prettiest girl and had a string of admirers. Her first love was Jang Dong Chul (Jeon Joon Ho), cute, sweet and clumsy. Twenty years later, married to a man who always lands his family in debt, she is an ajumma in looks and in fact. Ajumma in Korean is the polite term for an older woman who is not family but has now come to mean a middle aged woman with bad hair and dress sense. That is what Sun Hee has become. Almost forty, with premature menopause and with a teenage daughter, she struggles to make ends meet and bail her useless husband constantly out of trouble.

Hong Sun Hee in high school:


Hong Sun Hee twenty years later:


Jang Dong Chul, on the other hand, has done very well for himself. Changing his name to Song Jae Bin and taking almost eight years off his age, he is now a glamorous actor.



After the nth con lands her husband Ahn Yoo Sik (Kim Byung Se) in jail:


Sun Hee is desperately looking for money to bail her husband out. A series of misunderstandings and accidents bring Sun Hee and Dong Chul together. He doesn’t recognize her at first and can’t understand how the most beautiful girl in the school and his first love could have become this bedraggled ajumma.



When her husband mysteriously leaves the country, abandoning wife and daughter without even a goodbye, Sun Hee is left homeless. Dong Chul hires her as his live-in housekeeper and starts ordering her around with a walkie talkie in perfect Full House style. There Sun Hee meets Dong Chul’s elder brother Dong Hwa (Jung Woong In) and his son Hoon (Lee In Sung).

Dong Chul’s hyung:


Soon, Sun Hee becomes an integral part of their lives. With her good food, common sense and maternal kindness, she wins everyone’s hearts. A well needed makeover ensures that Dong Chul is reminded why he was in love with Sun Hee when he was young and also brings her to the attention of Dong Hwa.

After the makeover:




As always, the course of true love never did run smooth and so cue the obstacles, in the form of Dong Hwa’s ex girlfriend (and apparently mother of his child), Lee Na Yoon (Byung Jung Soo), who seems to be eyeing the younger brother. Also, Sun Hee finds out that her husband never did leave the country. He tells her that he is being followed by moneylenders who will kill him and that he has to go into hiding. He convinces her that in order to protect her, the best thing for them to do is to get a divorce for the time being. However, once the divorce comes through, it’s obvious that Ahn Yoo Sik is a slime and had other plans with another woman.

Sun Hee, who for most of her life had been leading a peaceful if boring life, finds her world turned upside down. She wonders if this is to be the last scandal of her life, a second chance at happiness.



Last Scandal is a refreshing comedy with a healthy dose of drama. Choosing a forty year old ajumma as the leading lady was a smart move. As has been seen in dramas like My Lovely Kim Sam Soon, there is a huge audience who can relate to older women. It is sometimes a bit tiring to watch the same old high school/early twenty year olds going through the same motions over and over again. Of course, there were some drama staples such as the conniving ex but this was different in that Sun Hee had a husband (or so she thought) and was trying very hard to keep her family together. While there are some funny scenes, the drama never descends into slapstick nor does it drown in melodrama. There were plans for a second series but the untimely death of Choi Jin Shil means that that will probably not go through.

Actress Choi Jin Shil was perfect for the role. Unwittingly funny and endearingly sweet, she came across as a real person, with doubts and fears but also plenty of courage and wisdom. It would be hard to categorize Sun Hee because as most real people, she doesn’t fall into any single category. I found the part where she finds that she has premature menopause particularly sad, as she tries to convince herself, by calculating how much money she will save on tampons, that this is actually a good thing but ends up crying because she realizes that she really is over the hill now.

Jung Joon Ho also played the part of Dong Chul very well. There wasn’t the over-the-top brat about him (Full House). In fact, despite his constant teasing of Sun Hee, he is actually quite a mature person. It took great courage and strength of character to do some of the things he does in the end. Then again, while it was ok for the young actor in Full House to throw tantrums like a five year old, Dong Chul, at 39, had to have achieved at least some degree of maturity.

All in all, I would say this was like a breath of fresh air. In a way, I am happy that there won’t be a second season, as they inevitably lead to disappointment.







Video (SPOILER WARNING)

Liar Game

Based on a manga by Kaitani Shinobu, Liar Game tells the story of Kanzaki Nao (Toda Erika), a college student who is naive and honest to a fault. She constantly falls for pranks played on her by little children and returns 100 yen to police stations. She is cheerful and optimistic and doesn’t believe that people are bad deep down. One day, she returns home to find a black box addressed to her. Before reading the envelope that came with it, she opens the box to find 100 million yen in cash. Shocked, she opens the envelope and finds a letter in it telling her that she has been selected to participate in “Liar Game”, a game in which the objective is to trick others. She then receives a video where a man in a mask explains that in the first round, she and her opponent are give100 million yen each and must try to get as much of the other’s money as possible. Each contestant can use any legal or illegal method to get this money from their opponent and will not face any judicial consequences. At the end of the 30 day period, representatives from the Game will come to collect each contestant 100 million yen. Any moneys left over are theirs to keep but if they have lost money and are unable to return 100 million yen, they are in debt with the Game for that amount. The man in the mask ominously tells her that one way or the other they will collect that debt.

Nao finds out that her opponent is her former school teacher and goes to visit him. He tells her that this must be some great con and that these people from Liar Game probably steal the money from each contestant and then tell them that their opponent stole it from them and that they are now in debt with the organisation. He also suggests that, if she is feeling worried, she can leave her money with him as he has a safety deposit box. Nao hands over the money and goes back home relieved. The next day she receives a letter telling her that the preliminary tally shows her to be in debt of 100 million yen. Concerned, she goes back to her teacher who brushes it off and tells her that it’s probably just to worry her and that her money is safe with him. Subsequently, she overhears her teacher talking on the phone and saying how she managed to con a girl into handing him 100 million yen. Terrified, Nao wonders what she is going to do. She goes to the police station but they tell her that they can do nothing. As she starts to leave the station, one policeman takes her to a side and tells her that the best way to beat a conman is to use another conman. He tells her that a famous swindler is coming out of prison on that day and that she should try to convince him to help her.

The swindler in question is Akiyama Shinichi (Matsuda Shota), a young man who defrauded a company, causing it to go bankrupt. Nao waits outside the prison gate for Akiyama and asks him if he can help her but he completely ignores her and walks away. Nao continues following him until he finally turns around and tells her to wait there and that he will go home, get changed and come back. She waits and waits and waits, until it’s late at night and then finally the next day. Akiyama checks from his window and see that she is still standing there in the spot where he told her to wait. Finally, he takes pity and goes to her and asks her why on earth she didn’t just get the message and leave. She begs him once again to at least listen to her and he agrees. After having listened to her, he wonders how anyone could be so stupid and naive but Nao tells him that being honest and truthful is not a bad thing. This seems to strike a chord in Akiyama who agrees to help her on condition that he get half the profits. Akiyama then unfolds a plan to steal the money from Nao’s former teacher without using violence. The story then goes on to a second and third round of mind games and deception.

I have to say that this is one of the most intelligent and engaging dramas I have ever watched. After a myriad of half-baked romances, it’s so refreshing to watch something which has nothing at all to do with love. Of course, there is a certain sense that Nao and Akiyama care for each other but it never goes beyond friendship and even that is not really explored. The main focus is the con, for lack of a better word. In each round, Nao and Akiyama are presented with a different and harder challenge, which always involves using tricks, scams, understanding of human psychology and just sheer genius. Akiyama’s methods remind me a bit of Derren Brown (it's hard to explain, check him out on www.derrenbrown.co.uk). As the story progresses we also get closer to understanding the motives behind the mysterious Liar Game organisation, until all is revealed in the last episode. Toda Erika is great as the sweet but also a bit dim Nao, wide-eyed and eadearing but just that little bit irritating. Matsuda Shota plays the silent but sharp as a razor Akiyama to perfection. I can’t recommend this drama enough.


Kanzaki Nao (Toda Erika) - the naive optimist:




Akiyama Shinichi (Matsuda Shota) - the conman with the heart of gold:




The eerie host of Liar Game:




Round One:



Round Two:



Nao on a stakeout:




Video of the show:

Daddy Long Legs

Cha Young Mi (Ha Ji Won) is a sweet and romantic girl who is happy and carefree. Her only preoccupation in life is waiting for her first love. The death of her parents brings her many hardships but she is strong and determined. As she struggles through life, she receives an anonymous present. This mysterious benefactor continues supporting and encouraging her, paying her college tuition and send her little presents. She doesn’t know who he is and she calls him “kidari ajeossi”. In the meantime, Young Mi joins a radio station and moves into the house of a colleague who is away on sick leave. On day, when using the colleague’s computer, she finds some emails sent by the colleague to themselves to remind them of the person they love and who they might forget due to a degenerative disease. Intrigued, she decides to investigate further and perhaps find the love of this person and tell them. Meanwhile, first love comes to Young Mi in the form of Kim Joon Ho.

It’s hard to sell this story without giving too much of the plot away. While certain parts of the mystery will be obvious to anyone within the first ten minutes of the film, certain aspects of the film will surprise, or at least they surprised me! At less than two hours, the movie maintains a good pace, despite the generally sedate atmosphere of the movie. Daddy Long Legs, while an appropriate title in terms of Young Mi’s anonymous benefactor, deviates significantly from the original story. Ha Ji Won, in a role where we do not see her trademark brash attitude, is suitably sweet, proving that loud and in-your-face young ladies (Damo, The Duelist, Love So Divine... need I continue?) are not the only roles she can play. Yun Jung Hoon, who plays Kim Joon Ho, is not an actor I had seen before but a little research shows he has done quite a few dramas in the past and is also in a drama I’m looking forward to watching: East of Eden! He is good, in the type of role which is so quiet and, well, normal that it requires a truly good actor not to make it wooden.

This is a nice romantic story which, at less than two hours, is worth watching to pass a quiet evening. This is not quite a romantic comedy so I would call it a romantic drama with touches of comedy, mostly in the form of the secondary characters. Watch out for a priceless scene in which Young Min’s friend’s boyfriend throws her a surprise birthday party. I wouldn’t say it’s exceptional as it pretty much goes through the motions of most romances but there is just that little twist (not a Sixth Sense sort of twist but a twist nonetheless) which gives it that little flavour.









A video of the movie (SPOILER WARNING!!!):

Hana Yori Dango

How does one even begin to review Hana Yori Dango? Practically a franchise, this started out as a manga by Kamio Youko serialized in Margaret magazine and then collected into 38 volumes. It spawned a 51-episode anime and an animated film (set about in a parallel universe with a different storyline) in the 90s. Due to its incredible popularity, it was adapted into a live action drama in Taiwan under the name Meteor Garden. The Japanese picked it up 2005 and made their own live action and fans are waiting with bated breath for the upcoming Korean version, slated for December of this year.

As stories go, Hana Yori Dango is hardly groundbreaking: Makino Tsukushi is a working-class girl who attends the prestigious Eitoku Gakuen, an elite school for the rich and influential. The school is dominated by the F4 (Flower 4), a group of boys who are more rich, influential, popular and handsome than anybody else in the school. The F4 are composed of: Mimasaka Akira, who has a penchant for older women but whose carefree exterior belies a gentle soul who is the peacemaker of the group and Nishikado Soujiro, another playboy whose casual relationships with women hide a secret love. Third member of the F4 is Hanazawa Rui, a complex and often expressionless character who doesn’t like to get involved and views the world in a detached manner but who feels an affinity for Tsukushi and begins a friendship with her. The leader of the F4 is Doumyoji Tsukasa, heir to the powerful Doumyoji Zaibatsu, a rich, spoiled, bullying and short-tempered boy who is very much used to getting his own way.

The story starts with Tsukushi, who doesn’t really fit in with the rich kids and doesn’t really have any friends, trying to keep a low profile at Eitoku and just wanting to get through to graduation as quickly and quietly as possible. One day she meets Hanazawa Rui playing the violin in the school gardens and a sort of friendship develops between them. Makino slowly starts to fall in love with Rui but, knowing that a romance between then is impossible and also knowing that he still holds a candle for his childhood friend Toudo Shizuka, prefers to enjoy this quiet friendship and to get through high school as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, fate conspires to bring her to the attention of Doumyoji Tsukasa and the rest of the F4. In trying to protect a friend, she goes up against Doumyoji who issues her with a red tag, which singles her out as the enemy of the F4 and therefore a target for harassment by the entire student body. Unlike all the other F4 victims, Makino doesn’t simply crawl away in tears and refuses to back down, claiming that she is a “weed” and as such, very difficult to eradicate. Against all odds, this earns her the admiration of Doumyoji who had always been used to getting his own way and to nobody ever going up against him. Having decided that Makino is the girl for him, Doumyoji sets out to make her his girlfriend. Unfortunately, he goes about it in the completely wrong way, by kidnapping her, dressing her up in beautiful and expensive clothes and then telling her that he will “allow” her to hang out with him. Needless to say, Tsukushi is not impressed.

The road to happiness is fraught with obstacles for Makino and Doumyoji, as his bad character and her attraction to Rui get in the way. The story continues with typical rich-boy-meets-poor-girl fashion, with the couple having to deal with the scheming of other girls at Eitoku, who want to get their hands on the Doumyoji Zaibatsu heir and the malevolent opposition of Doumyoji’s cold and calculating mother. As I said before, this is hardly ground-breaking stuff but something about this age-old story attracts teenage (and older) girls throughout the generations. Makino is a fiery and independent girl with whom it’s easy to identify yourself and Doumyoji is both irritating and endearing in equal measure. Hanazawa Rui has a huge fan following, all hoping Makino will eventually choose him but we all know by now that the nice guy never gets the girl. The secondary characters are all very interesting, with their own side stories and enough personality not to be simple foils for the lead characters.

The manga and anime, both from the 90s, may feel a bit dated now but for those who want the story exactly as the author wanted it told, this is where they should go. Subsequent live-action adaptations deviated in varying degrees from the original story. The Taiwanese version came first and is fairly faithful to the manga, though the title was changed to Meteor Garden and the character names were changed. ASOS elder sister Barbie Xu plays Makino Tsukushi, with Jerry Yan playing Doumyoji and Vic Zhou playing Rui. The other two F4 were played by Vaness Wu and Ken Chu. The incredible popularity of the show resulted in the F4 boys forming a pop band called (unsurprisingly) F4. Personally, I found Meteor Garden overlong at 50+ episodes and Jerry Yan lacked the personality to play Doumyoji. In the Japanese version, Makino is played by Inoue Mao and Doumyoji by a truly wonderful Matsumoto Jun. Oguri Shun also shines as Hanazawa Rui and Matsuda Shota and Abe Tsuyoshi bring the other two F4 to life. Though at times deviating from the original story, the Japanese version keeps to the heart of the story and, more importantly, the pace and mood of the story. The actors make a great effort to resemble their anime counterparts in both appearance and actions. The number of episodes is enough to tell the whole story without boring the audience. The Koreans have announced that they are planning their own version of Hana Yori Dango. Casting is to take place soon and fans are speculating as to who will get the roles of these much-loved characters. After the success of the Japanese version, the Koreans have much to live up to.

THE ANIME:

(clockwise from the top) Mimasaka Akira, Hanazawa Rui, Makino Tsukushi, Doumyoji Tsukasa and Nishikado Soujiro







Video of the anime:



THE TAIWANESE VERSION:

(from left to right) Mei Zuo/Nishikado Soujiro (Vaness Wu), Hua Ze Lei/Hanazawa Rui (Vic Zhou), Shan Cai/Makino Tsukushi (Barbie Xu), Dao Ming Su/ Doumyoji Tsukasa (Jerry Yan), Xi Men/Mimasaka Akira (Ken Zhu)







Video of the Taiwanese version:

METEOR GARDEN [MV ]
Uploaded by sakurashaolanlee

THE JAPANESE VERSION:

(from left to right) Nishikado Soujiro (Matsuda Shota), Doumyoji Tsukasa (Matsumoto Jun), Makino Tsukushi (Inoue Mao) , Hanazawa Rui (Oguri Shun) and Mimasaka Akira (Abe Tsuyoshi)











Video of the Japanese version with the hit theme song by Utada Hikaru "Flavour of Life":

Hana Yori Dango MV
Uploaded by forevergirl

Another video of the Japanese version, where we see a bit more of the Makino/Rui dynamic and its effect on Doumyoji:

Hana yori dango
Uploaded by lora122

My Little Bride

Sangmin (Kim Rae Won) is a college student with an eye for the ladies while Boeun (Moon Geun Young) is a 15-year old high school girl. Sangmin's and Boeun's grandfathers were best friends and their two families are very close. The two grew up together practically as brother and sister. The two grandfathers had long ago decided that their children would one day marry but as they both had sons, they hoped their grandchildren would one day do so. Sangmin's grandfather passed away but Boeun's grandfather, who is alive and kicking, decides to pretend he is dying to force Sangmin and Boeun to get married. Comedy ensues as the two try to adapt to married life and also to keep their marriage a secret from Boeun's school. Boeun is determined to live her life pretending she is not married but things become more difficult when Sangmin is assigned as an intern to her school.

Very similar in content to the anime My Wife is a High School Girl, this movie deals mostly with the struggles to keep this a secret from others, as opposed to their age difference or marrying at the age of 15. Despite being a story that might make most people roll their eyes, this is actually quite an endearing little comedy. Moon Geun Young is suitably child-like but with the voice and attitude of a fishwife when needed. I loved how she went from timid and hesitant to loud and bossy when provoked. Kim Rae Won was suitably avuncular but with a touch of wistfulness; he wants them to be a real married couple but he doesn't want to force himself on her so he gives her the space and freedom she needs to get used to him.

Not a film that will strain any brain cells but great entertainment and a sweet little romcom. All in all, not a bad way to pass an evening.

A few videos (SPOILER WARNING!!!):



Next one is a bit long but cute: