Intimate Strangers (2018)

Se Kyung was my favorite, and that might have had something to do with her "youthfulness", she was trusting but don't dumb, and the rest of the characters lived longer so they had more time to get jaded and "secretive"..
this was like The World of the Married's dinner party xD if those characters sat down and talked about the things they've done it'd have created a mess like this ;p

the overall story was that people have "3 lives", and how everyone has a secret life they try to hide, and it's true that no matter how honest we are with our friends and families there must be things we just don't share with every single one in our "circle", but tbh this was kinda over dramatic since it's a movie.

also, they pulled something I hate and get confused over, the "it never happened"... so which part did not happen? the secret reveals, or the ending part?
though they did use the move well to show us not a "what if", but it showed us a true exposition of each character's real nature and story.
like, they could've had a normal dinner party and each would pick up their phones so we could see the secrets, but we wouldn't get the full impact of the weight of those secrets..
but was the end the real truth or was that the "what if" part?

Joon Mo was the worst, plus Ye Jin ;/ everyone else had basic stories, and though it looked big and devastating to them, it felt more like a privileged secrets, things you just don't want to share, not things you want to hide..
but he was cheating on 3 women, and one was his best friend's wife! that was something that pissed me off, Se Kyung acted really well with the way she just walked away and removed herself from the toxic environment, but if the ending was the true story then that means the poor thing has to live with a scumbag like Joon Mo ;( and at the end she'd be the only one hurt becasue at the end of the day the pregnant mistress would appear and no one else's secret would hurt them as much...

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This movie is a remake of the Italian film Perfect Strangers (Perfetti sconosciuti). If you've seen that film (I personally haven't), you probably won't get a lot out of this one, because the movie is mostly story driven.

The two things that jump out the most are the aforementioned story and the cast. The story takes many twists and turns and keeps you interested all the way through without being unconvincing. This is an important aspect because almost all of the movie happens in the same house.

I said the cast was good because they felt typecasted very well. I initially decided to watch it because I love Cho Jin-woong, but even tho he played a solid role, I can't help but praise Yeom Jung-ah, who played a stellar performance.

If you like movies that make you wonder what's next, some good tension and an engaging storyline, I'd recommend a watch!

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"Dis game of truth is FUN - Its thrilling like catching a serial killer"

So glad it turned out 2 be a must watch film. It shows the reality of life & how honesty is really an important factor in any relationship. I was hoping the ending wasn't like that because I want 2 see de aftermath of de chaos transpire & yes I was mad because of all of de lies but looking back, I guess the ending was fitting.

Sometimes the mockery is gentle, other times farcical, and other times it feels like the universe is playing a horrific joke that only seems funny to us because we know the situation isn't as bad as it looks.

VERDICT _ Human nature is like an eclipse.You can hide it but it'll get revealed.

https://dramacool.pe/intimate-strangers-episode-1.html

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This will be a really short to the point review.
For me the synopsis was what caught my attention. I haven't watched the original movie, so it was a fresh story for me.
I loved the story. How the tension was created and the climax was build up. Especially the ending. For me that made the movie 10 times better.
I liked the cast. The characters were portrayed nicely, enough for you to get caught up in their moments.

The music helped created the atmosphere, the tension that was needed for the climax. I like how they used different types of songs -not their ost- to show a new light to the character. Really smart.

Will rewatch this. And i highly recommend it, if you enjoy drama. It has a lot of drama.

An overall good movie.

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Now this is a journey between lies and truths,

Now this is a journey between lies and truths, a journey to the dark side of souls, whatever the climax was a turning point but after some thought it might seem like this couldn't end better than this, this movie reflects the reality of people these days, I highly recommend With this movie, once you watch it, the effect will soon wear off.
I think I only honestly felt sorry for three people. One, for se-kyung and seok-ho because they get cheated on despite being really good people, Seok-ho doesn't tell her partner about the cheating either but comparing them to cheating I think cheating is really ugly and wins the bad title. Secondly, for Young-bae because of having such bad friends, I mean he can't even be the same in front of them which clearly shows how uneasy his friends can make to others. I think he's the most honest person out of them but they don't realize that and they try to dismiss him which is clearly sad and they are making the really worst mistake. And I really hated Ye-jin and Jun-mo because they're obviously cheaters and I think those are the worst kind of people when it comes to relationships.
Overall, this movie makes you think and feel real feelings like hate, sadness, concern and much more without even realizing it and I think this is the best you can find in a movie.
loved it?

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A game that unravels fast

If you like 'Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf', 'The Boys in the Band' or 'Scenes from a Marriage' this should be for you.

Like the aforementioned films Intimate Strangers has a lot on its plate but manages to deal with it in a very careful, mature and profound way.

Some people say despite the one-room-setting it never gets boring. This kind of verbose play-like house-thriller setting is one of my favorite film settings and I have never seen a boring movie come out of it. Human relationships and conflicts, communication and psychology are almost indefinitely interesting themes if done right.

One of the many questions I ask myself is why Ye Jin, a psychiatrist, even suggests playing that game when she know she has something to conceal. Maybe she wants to be found out and provoke a crisis in her marriage because she is in an emotional crisis herself. Too bad for her, because I am pretty sure Suk Ho deliberately ignores what he instinctively knows about his wife. Maybe this is the way these two miscommunicate, between stoking conflict and shying away from it.

There are other moments when characters prevent something from being outed, maybe because they subconsciously know there is something going on, maybe because they don't want to know. In another instance someone ends an embarassing moment for the group that could potentially disrupt the evening and the friendship.

The whole scenario is like a social psychology experiment done in a good way. There is projection, denial, Freudian slips, everything. What I love about it is that the material never chooses the easy road of men are this and women are that, in fact there are many facets of greatness despite all flaws in everyone.

Depending on the topic of discussion the film makes the interesting observation that bonds are built, broken, and re-built, along the lines of time spent together, gender, age, education, social status, belief and personality.

The characters are all multidimensional and feel lived-in, and there are noteable blanks in character introduction, questions are left unanswered, which means more is under the surface than is being shown. This is one more aspect that makes the film very thought-provoking.

There is really nobody among the group without redeeming qualities, nobody I don't like. The only person that annoyed me for the longest time is Se Kyung but even she develops in a way that by the end I deeply empathize with her.

The most fascinating character to me is Tae Su, because once you peel off layer upon layer of brusqueness you learn how far he is willing to go for people, what a decent person he is underneath, a burden he carries by being constantly grouchy.

I like the state each one is left in, from people who are exposed completely, to others who get away with slight scratches, to one who chooses to lay open their secret. It's a very intelligent, tender way to handle the characters. One of the many things to adore about the script.

The sliding-dooresque twist at the end is such a clever idea and makes you ponder which world you want to live in, which option you would choose, it invites philosophical musings about the truth in relationships.

I am trying to gather my thoughts about why I think this kind of no-holds-barred sujet isn't suited for South Korea. They all talk very fast and act so cutesy and the cold hard truth demands time and depth in a way I don't associate with South Korean culture. They constantly hurt each other but gloss over it with the stereotypical tough love attitude.

It's as if the film itself wants to deal with heavy subjects but also doesn't want to alienate any part of its audience so it tries to be provocative while still playing it safe. Maybe this in itself is an indictment of middle class values.

There are no-holds-barred films from South Korea no doubt (e.g. No Regret), but I guess they are more Independent than this one.

This is an ensemble cast with no weak link but I still have to point out how outstanding without being disruptive Yeom Jung Ah is.

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When I first saw the movie title, I was immediately curious. I went to check what the movie is about and I liked it so I watched it. To be honest 3/4 of the movie is great and is enjoyable to watch. But sadly, I didn’t get the whole point of the movie because everyone has their own problem and in the end still has no solution.

The only happy ending was only Yoo Hae Jin’s and I’m still not really satisfied. The whole movie was just full of climax but didn’t come up with the anti climax for me. The ending seems very forced with all the “make-up after the fight” but still with all the cheating.

Overall, a 6.5/10 ⭐️

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