Smile (2009)

A brilliant drama...I think every drama addicted person should watch this one.

About the life of ordinary people, who have their past, with which they are not proud of. About the boomerang of life, when it brings back all the dead back in 100 times worse ways...

About a guy who is trying to forget his past life, and live on honestly and maybe averagely happy, who has experienced many hardships as a son of a lonely mother who drank and took men home, leaving the child on the porch...His way of coping? Smile...a kind and genuine smile...

About a girl who experienced human cruelty and lost her voice only because she was unfortunate enough to be born in a family, where the father was not honest person...

About a Korean lawyer who works in Japan under a Japanese name, just so he can be accepted...

These three people meet, start helping each other, fall in love, try to overcome the hardships...

Again...a brilliant drama.

The score is perfect, by the way, it was composed by Yamashita Kousuke...and if fits the drama just perfectly...

I have watched this drama last year in winter, and I still listen to it score...

Leggi di Più

A great story told well. The premise is simple- the trials and hardships a man faces living in a prejudiced world, and yet he faces the world with his most infectious heartiest smile..

The characters are great..the actors are great. Matsumoto Jun does a brilliant job as the kind hearted Vito. The lawyer and the girl are both central to the drama as well, and their roles and smiles are beautiful. Oguri Shun plays Hayashi, the dark shaded character, with great impact in the drama.

The story is uplifting in the end; ends on a happy note, has a great message throughout and is about facing life's difficulties with a big smile.

So, why was it so difficult for me to smile through the drama? Despite what the ending is, this drama was really difficult for me to watch happily. I had a heavy heart through all of it. There was so much injustice and the good people were too unlucky. Every victory they gained was only to be followed by more heartbreaking troubles.

The characters showed great spirit through it all, but I really couldn't share it. I was heavyhearted and sad throughout, and I was thankful when it finally ended, happy or not. In fact I don't think a different ending would have affected me anymore, I was already feeling so blue.
I definitely wouldn't re-watch it, though I assure you- this is a good drama.

Leggi di Più

Perhaps I had very high expectations, with Matsumoto Jun and Oguri Shun in the same drama, but in fact, I didn't find any reason to smile.
On one hand sometimes it seems that the male lead was really stupid, on the other hand, he was the guy with the worst luck in the world.
Story: too much drama, too much bad luck, too many problems and in the middle, the drama had a really slow pace.
Acting: Oguri Shun was very good, as almost always. I liked enough the two male leads, Matsumoto Jun and the lawyer. The female lead was ok too, even if I didn't get very much the trauma with her voice.
Music: I don't remember it, so nothing memorable.
Rewatch value: none

Leggi di Più