Chiamalo Amore (2023)

You yearn for the next episodes...

There are some dramas, where you keep watching and tears come out without even you knowing. This was such a melodrama. I have prolonged it to watch it later when I should have watched it when it was ongoing. I have never been so connected to the characters and their sufferings before this. This one takes one's feelings and emotions to the next level. What a great cast! Each one has its own personality and overcomings and that's what makes this drama more special. I would recommend someone a 1000 times to watch this melo. Never expected Lee Sungkyung to take up such a role and weave it into her own "Shim woojoo". Also Kim Youngkwang was brilliant as "Han Dongjin", couldn't have asked anyone else to portray his character so precisely. This drama is going to be on my top 10 list definitely.

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Korean parents or How To Ruin Your Kids' Lives!

If we are to draw conclusions about the korean society from their dramas, I'd say it is the parents who are destroying it by controlling kids under the guise of "it's for YOUR own good (and for MY reputation in the neighbourhood)!" Korea has a very big problem with birth rate which is amongst ,if not THE lowest in the world! Why? Just look how Korean parents suffocate and try to control their children making them utterly miserable and unwilling to procreate by trying hard not to merry or/and have children.

This drama is one glaring testimony of it. The kids are miserable and are forced to suffer and pay for their parents' sins. And why is that? Because the society won't let them do otherwise: everyone is busibody, making judgements on other people's lives and being afraid to be free and live their life the way they want it in order to be happy. In all these dramas, kids are forced to live up to demands and ambitions of the parents. Resulting in a lot of unhappiness and misery. But the appearances are saved and that is what seems to be the most important to parents. The appearances and not their own children's happiness. So sad!

Call It Love talks about three such families.
One is destroyed by a father abandoning them following an affair. The three children were left to fend for themselves and protect their mother. The person really left in charge was the middle child when she was 17, ruining her life, sports career and any feelings of happiness.
The second one is the pharmacist under constant scrutiny from his parents who are demanding of him to get married which he finds more and more difficult to avoid.
The third is a CEO of fair organizers' company whose mother's philandering ways have made him miserable, taciturn and withdrawn.
Their interactions make for the most of this wonderful and beautiful drama.

This is my favourite kind of drama, slow burn, slice of life. While I was watching it, I was constantly reminded of My Mister not because of the plot but because of the overall feeling and the pace of both dramas which are identical. Here the misery overflows. Both main characters are poster children for unhappy, miserable, unsmiling people. Being with each other, gives them an inkling of what happiness might look like. If only, as one of them says so at one point, they were all alone in the world!

But there were not only parents working hard in ruining the kids' lives. There was also an older sister who did her best to ruin further her younger sister's already miserable existence with her jealousy and envy. That one drove me mad: she took out her own insecurities and pounced on her sister when she was the most vulnerable instead of supporting her, she decided, all of a sudden, to act as adult she never was before! And of course she failed miserably but she achieved her goal of making her sister even more unhappy. She tried to make amends later but it was too little to late!

The pace is extremely slow but not for a minute, I found it boring! It flowed, slowly but it moved on forward. This slow pace, made me take notice and really admire cinematography. It was stunning. The colours were all dull, subdued, just like the feeling of the drama. The amazing part was framing of scenes both in technical aspect and literal one. There were some very interesting camera angles: from above and as well cutting the actors practicall off, making them very small and low on the screen and therefore making them almost disappear in the surroundings. There were many travelling shots: camera moving at a constant speed straight left to right to left or zooming in and out. And mostly there were real frames around actors in scenes: windows, walls etc. creating a photo frame !

I know absolutely nothing about cinematography and camera work but I notice things. And this drama is worth watching for this!

The actors were perfect. The music sad as prescribed! It was a perfect slow burn melodrama /slice of life. I was debating with myself whether to give it 9.5 or 10 which almost never happens with me! Since I consider that nothing is ever perfect though this was approaching it!

And then they went on and ruined a perfect slow burn drama with a trope filled last episode. The writers decided to go down the well trodden path of break up and time skip which were both completely unnecessary with the awful sister adding another layer of contempt for her sister by trying to make amends a year too late! Thank god for the youngest brother who seemed to be less affected by grown ups' (i.e. parents'!) problems and decided to act as Cupid.

Misery loves company! And this drama kept me company!

One more word of wisdom from the main character: When I feel down, I look up other people's lives on line and realize I am not that bad off, that there are people much more unhappy than myself.

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When you're weary

His heavy back and her set eyes, their shadows came together.

We forget that being in love doesn't just mean opening yourself up to love and be loved by someone; it also means opening yourself up to hurt. Putting into someone's hands your still-beating heart and trusting they won't squeeze it too hard. After all, we are hurt the most by those we love.

It is a terrifying and courageous thing to have been hurt by someone you loved and even think of giving another person the power to hurt you like that again.

But we not only deserve to take that risk like everyone else, we owe it to ourselves, when we're ready:

"I think I needed time
To dare
To take in air
Alone."

I took my time to sit with them in their pain and quietly heal along with them. And then, the world wasn't magically brighter, but a room was finally tidied, a picture was hung where it belonged, a tent was used, and a walk was taken.

It was time.

If you're in a place where a heavy and healing melodrama would do you good, I recommend this one to you.

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Starts great … but

Every time, I see a high rating on 16-20 episodes Kdrama lately, I’m always wary about it. And praying that once i start binge watching it wouldn’t disappoint me midway. I was truly enjoying this drama, until midday and my fear come true. Casting was amazing, I just Wished they flushed out most of the characters and made it a solid drama from start to end.

Once the main couple got together; which I thought They could survive no matter what writers had to mess it up by bringing the usual cliches of “sick” mother who will chose some form of revenge instead of their own kid’s happiness. I wish they showed how these siblings worked hard to heal from the trauma, instead of one always being angry, the other relationship jumping and the brother who was still lost in all of it. They could’ve done so much more than fall into the cliches ending.

Overall it was a good series that lost the plot midway.

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types of love

This drama is my absolute favorite. I don’t even know where to start talking about what I love about it. I guess I should begin with the cinematography because it's stunning. The color tone of the show changes depending on the weight of the story, making you feel like you're under a never-ending rain. Each scene gives you these amazing photographic moments that really enhance the viewing experience.

This drama is pretty heavy and slow, but it’s definitely not boring. I couldn’t connect with any of the characters because I feel completely different from them, but they delivered such great performances that it felt natural, like they were really being themselves. So even though I didn’t agree with their choices, I understood why they did what they did.


I haven’t watched a drama that elevates emotions like this in a long time. In this story, everyone is lost, lonely, and trying to find their way.

Three siblings experience deep trauma after their father leaves them for another woman (though it's true that the brother wasn’t really affected by it since he was very young at the time). After their father's death, they are kicked out of the home where they were raised by their stepmother. Shin Woo, whose life was ruined because of his father, makes a plan for revenge. He gets a job at the company of the son of the woman his father ran away with. His goal is to take revenge on the woman who brought pain to his family by using her son. However, the man turns out to be nothing like he expected, and over time, Shin Woo finds himself developing feelings he can't control.

Yes, I know it sounds cliché! But it’s not; the way the story is presented is so natural and unique that eventually you find yourself just praying for everything to work out.

One thing you can't overlook in this drama is the supporting characters. Ah, they’re all unique and different. They’re connected to the main characters but also have their own distinct arcs…


Oh, yes, that was pretty praise-heavy, but it’s not exaggerated. Watching them understand and accept their love without drowning in each other's loneliness and traumas was truly beautiful. We know it was really hard for both of them.

My only negative critique of this drama is that the ending should have given us more. No, it’s not an ambiguous ending (which we know we don’t like, and we’re justified in that). But after spending 16 episodes feeling their pain and tension, we deserved more time for the final scene.

Anyway, for those who are about to start watching, I can just say: please don’t underestimate the natural flow of life and give it a chance. We need stories like this!

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haya

An exciting series that touched every fiber of my soul, but at the same time so that you know what awaits you, I must mention that there is a lot of silence, deep sighs, serious faces and everything is so slow. Still, what is there in this series that despite all these I really liked and was able to watch without skipping ahead? More than that, I couldn't stop watching... sorrow, betrayal, revenge, friendship, loyalty alongside compassion and forgiveness, family and love, a great and touching soundtrack and one happy smile. I recommend watching with a lot of patience

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Too slowww and draggy

I know many reviewers are loving this drama. The whole setting and storyline is great. The acting is fantastic. The delivery.. uhm, this is where it gets draggy. Walking in slow motion like 0.5x speed, 3 different angles of sitting on the bench, or in the kitchen… sigh. Typical kdrama style.

I’m glad Lee Sung Kyung is diversifying her roles, away from the usual romcoms, but I didn’t really like her in this role. Did she pull it off? Yes! Kim Young Kwang also delivered his role well. Maybe 12 episodes would have been better? The general mood was just depressing. I was fast forwarding too much the last few episodes. The ending was realistic, but a happy one ;) No real memorable song in the OST, which is a shame.

It’s a melodrama, real slowwww; so just be prepared before starting this. I will say it’s better than The Interest of Love ;);)

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Denso e Profundo

Intenso, consistente e muito denso, Call It Love é um drama que se destaca na multidão de dramas que temos por aí. Não é um K-drama comum, mesmo não sendo uma história leve a singularidade do seu enredo é extremamente envolvente.

Como um ímã eu me senti atraída pela história logo no primeiro episódio, eu precisava saber porque os protagonistas carregavam tamanha melancolia no olhar. As atuações são excelentes, nunca vi estes dois atores tão bem interpretando seus outros personagens. O que eles conseguiram transmitir com seus olhares vale mais do que mil palavras.

A interação dos protagonistas é tão profunda, interessante e atraente que é simplesmente impossível não querer assistir ao próximo episódio. Com uma vibe incomum, esse drama tem personagens bem estruturados, ost na medida e uma fotografia muito condizente com a atmosfera da história. Não é um drama para todos, eu admito, mas se você gosta dessa linha tênue entre depressão - melancolia - solidão vai realmente entender o sentido da história. Nem me lembro qual foi a última vez que eu tinha assistido a um drama que deixa - em palavras - uma moral da história no final. Que maravilha foi assistir a protagonista entendendo seus próprios sentimentos, aprendendo a realmente viver uma vida que vale a pena ser vivida!

Amei, amei, amei! Dificilmente um K-drama superará esse em 2023.

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Sometimes, slow is slow

The first half of this Drama was 'artfully slow'. I enjoyed its unhurried contemplative approach, a difference from the usual style of revenge Dramas. But somewhere around the halfway mark, the writer obviously decided that if "revenge is a dish best served cold", this Drama should climax just after the heat death of the Universe.

From being unhurried, it dropped to a crawl, painful and tedious and pointless. In my personal watchlist, the vast majority of slower Dramas that I've scored highly are JDramas, but there are some slower K Drama gems too, like One Day Off. This one was just EXCRUCIATING. So much of nothing happening and happening at a pace that makes tectonic shift seem dizzylingly fast.

For a truly outstanding summary of what went wrong with this Drama I recommend MinJi's review


https://mydramalist.com/profile/MinJi23/review/269917

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Horribly slow plot I regret watching it

I was ready for a slow burn romance. But noone could ever prepare me for this slowmotion walking boring plot.
This was definitely not my style, I wished it had a 5x speed option cuz sometimes I went to my kitchen made a whole dinner, ate, washed dishes, went back and they were STILL silently walking from A to B in the very same scene.

Lee Sungkyung is my fav k-actress I've watched it for her and I have to mention that the acting was spot on. All the main and support characters were fantastic, they played every emotion perfectly.

But it could not save the most boring plot I've ever seen in my life. I always finish everything but this was the most difficult one, I struggled through each and every minute to just please get to the end already.

This show caused my longest k-drama disgust, I couldn't start anything after this cuz it traumatized me and I was affraid to start any show.

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I don’t think we should call this series love at all, more like deepest regret

I have one word for the series and that is predictable. I’m going to assume that this was a mellow drama because that’s what it felt like as I was watching it. I honestly thought that it was going to be good based on the first episode because the FL character was spunky and she showed how daring she was. That kept me thinking that it was going to be great but after that one event it just went downhill from there. Her character was one that was prayed on portrayed is troubled, sad and and borderline depressed. She did not smile at all throughout the series she just walked around doing things with this sad look on her face. Her tone of voice is never changed she was completely boring. Then we get to the plot itself which should not have been but it was. Do not read below if you do not want to spoiler.

I did not like the plot. It was absolutely predictable by episode two. Females leads dad runs off with the male leads mother when she was in high school. When the dad dies the stepmom takes their property. She then approaches the step mom son with the intent to do something. That was never revealed. Instead she got close to him as an employee and developed mutual feelings for him of some kind which never really went anywhere. He eventually realized who she was and they went their separate ways. It was no major character growth it was just one ridiculously sad series. What made it worse was that the male lead also had some troubles but he was trying. So in the end we had two leads who rarely smiled and never had a real relationship. I can honestly say I don’t know what the point or the plot was.

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