[KOREAN TV DRAMA REVIEWS] 러브홀릭 (Loveholic)

I've already received a few mails asking when film reviews will come back, so to calm some of you down, here's my TENTATIVE schedule for the next few reviews:

This Weekend - 간큰가족 (A Bold Family)
Next Week - 태풍태양 (The Aggressives)
The Week After - 여고괴담: 목소리 (Voice)

Later in November: 서편제 (Sopyonje), 장군의 아들 (The Son of The General), 춘향 (Chunhyang), 분홍신 (The Red Shoes), 천군 (Heaven's Soldiers)

THE SHOW

Although diseases (fatal or not) are always a serious matter, it seems from the beginning Korean TV Dramas have always loved the idea of their characters falling tragically ill. Of course in the past, since Dramas were either longer (the 일일연속국/Daily Dramas sometimes even lasting for a decade, which led to today's shorter but similarly structured Daily Dramas) or shorter (단막극/One Act Dramas, with one or two Episodes, which survive today in the form of KBS' Dramacity and MBC's Best Theater), and until the 80s Miniseries were a rarity, those diseases would be treated very differently. In Daily Dramas, they'd have their space to enter the life of the characters, you'd get to see the reaction of the people around the victim, sort of grow accustomed to the pain the character was feeling. In 'One Act Dramas', the disease or medical condition (such as being blind, being unable to walk, etc.) would be a set up to tell the story, like in 내 사랑 토람이 (My Lovely Toram), one of the very best 1/2 episodes Dramas I've ever seen (and it's available on subtitled DVD!). But since the advent of Trendy Dramas in the 90s, diseases and illness have become the 'Blue Pill' of Korean TV Dramas.

It's as if Drama producers had two pills to choose, just like in 'The Matrix': the red pill is harder to digest, it requires an intelligent use of diseases, you have to understand the psychology of people who meet that kind of fate, what their loved ones will suffer as a consequence; you'll also have to see how that disease positions you vis-a-vis the rest of the social sphere, if that disease or condition becomes a socially discriminating factor, and so on. Good examples of Dramas dealing intelligently with fatal diseases are 네 멋대로 해라 (Ruler of Your Own World) from 2002, 고독 (Solitude) from 2003, and lately Choi Jin-Shil's 장밋및 인생 (Life in Pink). Then there's that damn blue pill: the quickest way home, the easy way out. You come to a dead end in terms of storytelling? Your characters have nothing else meaningful to do, and you still have 10 episodes to write? Don't worry (be happy!), you have an assortment of diseases to choose from, which will allow your Drama to drag on for another few episodes without the need to work hard and think about intelligent storytelling. Here's some ideas:

1) Quick Resolution: the Minivan/Mini truck
Relatively inexpensive, you can use this wonder of the Korean automobile industry to kill off a major character. Or... wait! Maybe he's not dead yet! Of course you'll have to build a really strong cliffhanger for the first episode regarding the accident. People have to believe their hero or heroine might be really dead.
BENEFITS: character involved will spend several episodes in the hospital, never uttering a word. You can spend a week or two having hordes of relatives come to his hospital room to beg him for forgiveness, for all the wrong they've done in the world, and cry torrents of tears. Mea culpa! Mea culpa! I was your sister after all! You can't love me anymore... waaah.
POSSIBLE NEGATIVE SIDE: some Minivan organization might sue the producers one day or the other, for giving people outside the country the bad idea that every Korean minivan driver is a blind madman who conveniently falls asleep when people are right in front of him, continues on a straight line even though he could have seen a person coming a minute before, and never even stops to check if the guy is dead or not. Hell, Hwang Jung-Min in 바람난 가족 (A Good Lawyer's Wife) hit a damn cat and he stopped, you think they wouldn't do the same?

3) Slow Resolution: Leukemia/Cancer
Needs no budget, just mentioning the name will do. Just like 'pregnant' characters never grow a belly until 4 days before giving birth, there's no need to show the first sign of the fatal disease until it's convenient. All you need is our heroine acting like she's about to puke, and going to the bathroom. In Historical Dramas, that would be used to announce that - SHOCK! - the King's concubine had become pregnant, but you can use this in a modern setting to fool people into thinking a simple scene of characters coughing blood is enough to convey the pain of the disease and all its consequences.
BENEFITS: You can have parents or relatives of the victim pulling off the good ole 'I faint you faint' game the moment they hear it, and even though you won't have the luxury of moving to the hospital with no dialogue for quite a while, you can bring back mysterious pains if the dialogue isn't snappy enough. Oh... more cliffhangers!
POSSIBLE NEGATIVE SIDE: the incredibly pretty girl who can't act will have to lose some charm in the process. But don't worry. What did the Romans say, 'Plastico Ergo Sum' or something...

But of course not every Drama using a disease as plot device makes it the main focus of the show. Take 러브홀릭 (Loveholic), the latest drama starring the lovely Kim Min-Sun, and if you're a girl the lovely (?) KangTa, former member of ubercreepy teenybopper band H.O.T. (Don't ask me what that means, it was so lame I forgot. Probably 'Highly Oversized Trousers' or something). In this case, although one of the main characters suffers from a serious condition [narcolepsy], the disease in question is that of the title: being so in love with love you can't do without. Oh My!

The moment I heard the title of the Drama, the fact it starred Kim Min-Sun, and it was produced by Kim Gyu-Tae (responsible for the really great Daily Drama 'Yellow Handkerchief', which made the law registry system the talk of the country for several months), I thought... Hey, maybe this can be good. I also liked the title, not so much because of what it means, but rather for sharing its name with the pop-rock band which emerged a few years ago, and is now at their second studio album and all over OSTs for TV Dramas and Films. But then again Dramas, unlike Films, are NEVER a one man game.

I can remember films elevated by one actors performance or one-man-show, improved or even saved by a great script, or simply being great because they're the fruit of a genius director. But TV Dramas are a little different, and one man shows are nearly impossible. Problem was, other than Kim Gyu-Tae, the one who shared the producer's chair was Lee Geon-Joon, helmer of the ultra lame 'Loving You', and responsible for making one of the first ever bad dramas out of a script by the legendary Song Ji-Na (perhaps the best TV Drama writer Korea has ever seen, along with Kim Soo-Hyun) in 'Rosemary'; and the writer's credits weren't too impressive, either, which always ends up being the biggest problem.

But what kills a TV Drama is always the cast, because after all great actors can take lame dialogue and still do wonders with it. The moment I saw Kim Min-Sun pop out of a bunch of trees in 여고괴담 두 번째 이야기 (Memento Mori), I knew she had it. Her performance in the exquisite 'non-horror' film by Min Gyu-Dong and Kim Tae-Yong was impressive for someone who had virtually no experience in acting. Although I can't say she made the best possible career choices up to now, it's evident she's moving up the ladder, recently starring in the Im Kwon-Taek film 하류인생 (Raging Years). She has great screen presence, a certain spunky charm which makes her stand out, and her range is improving. Plus, even though she's certainly pretty (OK, she's hot), it's not that 'tailor made for CF' plastic look of many supermodels-turned-actress, 얼짱 (Coolest Face) who enter the acting game, or former singers. If she were alone in this Drama, her against the veteran actors, this show could have been quite bearable, but there's also a few other pretty faces stinking up the place.

Before the 4 people who read my DVD reviews on koreanfilm.org bring it back to haunt me, I'll admit it. I (used to) like KangTa. I wouldn't have touched H.O.T.'s 'music' with a ten foot pole, but anyone who walks out of a creepy boyband and makes a solo debut mixing jazz, soul, western-styled ballads and trot can't help but raise a few eyebrows. I really liked his first album, despite the few 'screamy teenager-friendly' pop songs, and the fact back then he starred in Jang Sun-Woo's ultracool and mad 성냥팔이 소녀의 재림 (Resurrection of the Little Match Girl) made it seem like he had potential. I even bought his first Live Concert on DVD [cue insults]. But boy... oh boy, does time change. A few solo albums, appearances on TV, embarrassing acting displays on Chinese and Korean Dramas later and he's become another victim of the Korean Wave. His acting, or should I say posing, is as far removed from any even minor semblance of realism he makes this melodrama funny. Remember the kind of motions Robocop would make when talking? Well, that's not too far off what KangTa does in this Drama: Posing, scary look: "Yool-Joo, you're the woman of my life" [cue violins]- repositions jaw and facial expression - "marry me... foh evaaah".

Of course I've seen so many TV Dramas, ranging from bottom-feeder crap targeting 12 year old girls to meaty political thrillers about the Park Jung-Hee regime, that you kind of expect at least one of the two leads in a trendy Drama to stink it up pretty badly. But usually the veterans in supporting roles carry the show, or make things slightly less painful. While 'Loveholic' does feature a few greats of the past, the lazy writing never allows them to flex their acting muscles, and their scenes always become a collection of pillow 'intermissions' between the two young leading couples' affairs. Lee Seon-Gyun (the guy who farted all over 쇼쇼쇼 (Show Show Show)) tries hard, but he's not good enough (yet) to carry that kind of role, and while Yoo In-Young might be pretty, she could easily go back to her former everyday job (model? I forget) without worrying the country's population one bit. And why waste a great actress like Lee Hye-Sook, who's as beautiful now as she was in the 80s, with another 'quiet mother troubled by her past' character. Jung Eun-Pyo plays the 'Kwon Hae-Hyo style' buddy role to a T, but it's all a waste. He can't even get 5 minutes of dialogue in, that the cell phone rings and we're back to the crap that is the main storyline.

Of course every single 'Teacher-Loves-Student' Drama made after 로망스 (Romance) - with the possible exception of 상두야, 학교 가자 (Sang-Doo, Let's Go To School) which at least had good actors - ended up stinking like a month's worth of Elephant feces, so I shouldn't be surprised 'Loveholic' is more of the same. The plot drags like there's no tomorrow, and the script is so lazy it doesn't even add a modicum of excitement to the compulsory silly cliffhanger. More than anything, I'm sorry for Kim Min-Sun: garbage like this is not something you'd like to have in your CV. How to describe 'Loveholic' in a few words? Take the disease of the Drama, narcolepsy. Something which might make you fall asleep at any time without even realizing it. I can't remember how many times I felt like that watching this show.

THE DVD
I have to be honest: I watched this show on TV, so I have no idea what kind of extras the DVD has, or if the English Subtitles are even good. But unless you must have all of Kim Min-Sun's films and TV Dramas, are a 12 year old teenager who screams for hours the moment KangTa appears, or you're a student researching the effects of narcolepsy horrible TV Dramas can create, you can happily avoid this show.