Currently halfway through and I just want to tell everybody already: Go check this out!!!
Edit: Just finished it. It's truly a remarkable series!
Beautiful CGI images, although the keen eye might occasionally spot some glitches and errors, it was truly eye candy most of the time. The story ending feels like the show might be going for some kind of super/genius heroes team, but in a way that really makes you enthusiastic to see what more they are gonna do, after this epic first season story. Looking at the detective arc of the story, I incidentally saw Sherlock-genius schemes forming and was delighted to see this - although I missed much more than I could have thought - all came together in a marvelous way!
Also for the lovers of a good love story there is more than enough to enjoy. Containing numerous twists, brought in throughout the whole storyline. Giving you plenty enough of satisfaction, excitement and anticipation on this area...
There is plenty of more to find out than the above teasers, but then I would be actually spoiling a lot. Those are just some of the many reasons why you should watch it! ;-)
All concluded: A great new sci-fi hero story, with much more up its sleeve than you would expect!
Where do I even start? First of all, congrats to Elizabeth Henstridge on directing the best episode of a spectacular season (and one of the best episodes of the show)! I love it when actors get to branch out on their shows and try new things. She did a terrific job.
This episode was all around perfect. It was a total nail-biter, you could really feel the urgency of trying to find the solution the whole way through, but there was also plenty of humor (Coulson explaining everything to Daisy, Daisy and Jemma's made-up word bit, Enoch repeatedly kicking everyone's ass) and good old-fashioned Feelz with a capital F. I'm glad it was a Daisy-centric episode as she didn't appear at all in episode 7 and only had a couple scenes last week. Chloe Bennet was fantastic. She had to carry this entire episode on her shoulders (the runtime was 42 minutes and she was literally on screen for like 40 of them, I can't imagine how many hours of filming that translates to) and she made it look easy. You can really see how much she's grown as an actress since season 1. She's always had talent and charisma, but over the years she's had the chance to polish those raw qualities and she's really become one of the best actors on the show.
I'm very sad to see Enoch go. He's been with us for a while now and I've grown attached to him. But at least he wasn't alone and he sacrificed himself for his friends. And his death scene was SO beautiful and moving. Did he foreshadow the season finale when he said the team would fall apart? That's definitely something I could see them doing, leaving SHIELD just to finally have a life.
Man, Chloe and Enver have brilliant chemistry together. Daisy taking an entire loop just to have a conversation with him and then going in for that kiss was lovely. It's a shame he won't remember any of it. And I guess he's gonna die now, just like every single one of Daisy's love interests. Although I don't think they would kill an important character two weeks in a row, Enver is still only listed on IMDb through episode 10, so I guess we'll see what happens next week. I would really like to see them end up together though.
11/10 overall. I'm so glad this final season is so good. Imagine if it had turned out to be as meh as season 6. That would've been a huge bummer. This is the send-off that my team deserves.
Only three spots left on this list, here we go!
5x14 "The Devil Complex"
Just like Elizabeth got her chance to really shine back in season 3's bottle episode, this was Iain's tour de force. That episode really stabbed me right in the heart when that twist was revealed. That was the episode Fitz became a morally ambiguous character for me. I understood the reasoning behind everything he did, but hurting Daisy the way he did made me feel kind of :grimacing: about him (and yes that emoji encapsulates my feelings better than any words could because that's the exact face I make when I think about him in that episode). I still don't like the fact that the writers just straight-up killed him at the end of the season instead of actually making an effort to fix things between him and Daisy. It felt like such a cop-out. But this episode was amazing and intense and I loved it but also kind of hated it? You get it. Either way, Iain was on fire and the writing was brilliant.
[7.0/10] Eight years. Five seasons. Four captains. One ship. One infamous mutineer turned galactic hero. And I still don’t quite know what Star Trek: Discovery means.
That's alright! The show has had multiple showrunners and multiple creative voices at play. The series reset its premise at least once, with the jump to the far future, and arguably multiple times. Characters have come and gone. Ships have been retrofitted and become sentient. Species new and old have phased in and receded.
It’s okay if, after all that, even the overthinking viewer can't boil the robust (if not quite infinite) diversity of Discovery into a single idea or meaning. At the beginning of the show’s final season, Michael Burnham herself wondered what it all means, and I’ll admit, I’m not more equipped to answer that after the end of the show’s five year mission than she was when it started.
What it means, in immediate terms, is that the Progenitor mystery is finished. Michael and Moll’s twin journeys into the portal (alongside some disposable Breen mooks) leads them to a liminal space, fit for slow-motion special effects, gravity-defying fisticuffs, and cheap puzzle-solving.
Much of that feels a little gratuitous. You can practically feel the episode showing off instead of advancing the story. Why Burnham and Moll need to have a Matrix-esque anti-gravity brawl before the mandated alliance and sudden but inevitable betrayal is beyond me. But I like the setting and the slower pace the show adopts at times within it. Despite the questionable “movie every week” promise of the series, this is the rare instance where Discovery genuinely feels cinematic, and the pace and cinematography have a lot to do with that.
One of the big problems with Discovery’s aesthetic overall is that the sterile sheen on everything often gives the show’s backdrops a semi-unreal quality that detracts from the convincingness of the presentation. Thankfully, that totally works in a quasi-magical portal realm created by billion-year-old aliens!
The endless stretch of a fantastical environment, the way it’s punctuated by extravagant quasi-baroque architecture, the hidden path to central setting, the puzzle that leads you to some mystical parental figure spouting purple prose -- they all give “Life, Itself” an unexpected Kingdom Hearts vibe of all things. But for something meant to be elevated above even the everyday wonders the average Starfleet captain experiences, that approach works.
Granted, some of the path toward the Progenitor tech feels rote. All of the cryptic clues and vital totems come down to...arranging a bunch of glass triangles? You can derive some thematic meaning from that (“The in-between times matter as much!”) but it’s an oddly mechanical answer to the latest riddle. Moll giving Michael the ol’ el kabong and getting punished by the alien alarm is a bit too predictable. And the all-knowing ethereal being from beyond, come to dispense the great wisdom, is a big cliche.
But I like where they land. The rap on Michael Burnham in the fandom is that Discovery is too hidebound in its need to make her the greatest and special-est captain to ever captain anything. (Nevermind that the franchise has done the same with Kirk, Archer, and if I’m honest with myself, sometimes even Picard.) Here, though, when the Progenitor representative tells Burnham that she is the only one worthy to wield such incredible technology, Michael demurs.
She acknowledges her own flaws. She points out her own limitations. True to Federation principles, she disclaims the idea that any one person should have this power. And given the freedom to create life, or annihilate it, or use this amazing tool however she might wish, Burnham chooses to destroy it.
There is poetry in that. It’s a strange obverse of Groucho Marx’s famous quip, 'I wouldn't want to belong to a club that would have me as a member.” The trails of clues left by the consortium of scientists was meant to test the mettle and the heart of the person chasing them, ensuring that they had the right disposition and perspective before they were granted access to this awesome power.
I can appreciate the poetic irony that the only soul worthy of wielding that technology is the one who would see its potential for death and destruction and choose to destroy it instead. It’s a conclusion to this story that, if a bit anticlimactic, feels lyrical, philosophical, and most importantly, Trek-y enough for a finale.
Unfortunately, it squeezes out just about everything else. Dr. Culber’s peculiar spiritual connection? Well, he magically knows the frequency for the portal box, and is just content with the unknown now. The end. Stamets’ desire to leave a great scientific legacy? All it takes is a twenty-second speech from Burnham and a quick (albeit admittedly sweet) bit of solace from Adira, and he’s good. As for Adira themself? They get another attaboy and a few hugs, but I guess they mostly completed their arc in the last episode.
What about Rayner? Well, he offers a bold solution to the stand-off with the Breen and remains steady in the face of danger, but doesn’t get to confront his onetime tormentor really, and again, pretty much wrapped up his character journey earlier. Tilly? She comes up with a cool science-y thing, which is on-brand I guess. But her soul-searching over the Academy leads to...a mentorship program? Really? That bog standard thing is her big epiphany? Sure. Why not? Even Moll goes from murderous and duplicitous to being amenable to Michael and cool with Book without much compunction, another major character arc that feels terribly compressed.
Look, it’s admirable that Discovery wants to give all the members of its crew something to do in the finale. But unfortunately it means that almost nobody besides Burnham gets a chance to really put a capstone on their journeys across the course of the series. That may be fine for well-liked but sporadic recurring characters like Admiral Vance, President Rilak, and Commander Nhan,and President T’Rina. (We even get to learn that Kovich is freakin’ Agent Daniels from Star Trek: Enterprise, among others.) But ironically, in an episode about how Burnham has the humility to step aside on the brink of extra-dimensional anointing, her story crowds out everyone else’s.
Thankfully, the exception to the rule is Saru. One of the iconic moments in the lead-up to Discovery’s premiere was his trailer-worthy line that his people were “biologically determined for one purpose and one purpose alone: to sense the coming of death. I sense it coming now.” When the series started, there was a timidity, even a rigidity to Saru. Despite absconding to the stars, he had that fear-based social conditioning within him.
And yet, over the course of the series, he’s arguably changed more than anyone else. He lost his ganglia and lived to tell the tale. He shared the truth of his homeland and rekindled his people’s culture. He’s been through an array of harrowing, potentially lethal events and come out on the other side. He’s even found courage in matters of the heart.
So it is rousing, then, when he stands off with a cruel Breen warlord and doesn’t blink once. Where there was fear, there is now force. Where there was reticence, there is now courage. Where there was timidity, there is now daring. Doug Jones kills it, as usual, and if there’s one thing this finale deserves credit for, it’s showing how far Saru has come: from the anxious officer preaching caution to the confident ambassador making bold bluffs to save his friends on the strength of his mettle alone. He’ll go down as the show’s best character in my book, and I’m glad “Life, Itself” gave him his moment in the spotlight.
The episode at least has a solid structure to keep things manageable. We have Burnham and Moll going through the Door to Darkness on the one hand. We have Rayner and most of the usual Discovery crew working to hold off Moll’s goons from the Progenitor device on the other. We have Saru and Nhan holding off another Breen faction with trademark Federation diplomacy. And we have Book and Dr. Culber sneaking through battle lines in a shuttle to keep the “portal in a can” from drifting into a pair of twin black holes. The balance among and derring-do within each thread is satisfactory at worst.
That last part is a big part of the episode’s mission, not because of the practical mechanics of destruction avoidance that have become old aht for Discovery, but because it’s a sign of Book’s love for Michael. And sure. I buy it. But I don’t feel it.
I don’t mind Book and Burnham together. It’s not a detriment to the show in any sense. But from the second Book popped up in season 3 as an obvious love interest, everything about them has felt pat and inevitable. So while I think they’re perfectly fine and perfectly plausible together, it never felt like the epic, essential love story that the show seemed to want it to be, especially in this finale.
I won’t deny the aesthetic power of the two of them reuniting at Saru’s wedding (which looks incredible, by the way), all gussied up. I’m not made of stone. You put two attractive people gazing deeply into one another’s eyes on a luminous beach with the music swelling, and you can get something in the moment. But they mostly spout the usual romantic cliches, made all the more stilted with oddly artless dialogue, before the romantic rekindling that was never really in doubt takes place.
Which means our epilogue, showing their shared future in the world’s coziest cabin, is pleasant but not quite moving. It’s nice that Burnham gets a little peace, that she and Book have a son on the cusp of his first Starfleet command, that she gets one last dance with Discovery. But that's about where it tops out. “Nice.” Not the touching goodbye to a long run the episode seems all but desperate to convey. We even get an impressionistic sequence on the bridge that feels more like the cast bidding farewell to one another in costume than the characters saying their goodbyes.
You can appreciate the attempts here. From another explosion-filled conclusion to a Tree of Life-esque sequence of creation to an artsy, golden-hued effort to gin up the emotion from putting a capstone on five seasons’ worth of adventures. There are some big swings here, which I admire, and you cannot fault the show for a lack of effort in this finale.
But in the final tally, it still leaves me a bit cold, and I’m still not quite sure what it all means. In the Progenitor’s big sermon, she suggests a positively existentialist reading on that question on a cosmic scale. We supply our own meaning, whether it be through exploration or scientific advancement or familial bonds. Discovery makes a few vague suggestions as to the possible takeaways, but affirms that the franchise’s values of infinite diversity in infinite combinations applies just as well to one of the essential questions of life. There are a multitude of meanings and possibilities out there, in the wide scope of people out in the world (or the galaxy), and in what drives us within our hearts and souls. I can appreciate that answer.
But the closest thing the show offers to an explicit answer comes from Bunrham herself, naturally, and the episode’s title. The meaning of life is “Life, Itself”, with the idea that our experiences can't be reduced beyond that, necessarily. The purpose is simply to be, to form bonds, to have those experiences, and share them with others. It’s a bit of a tautology, and more than a little trite, but there’s something to the idea that the meaning of life is to live.
That meaning extends to Discovery itself. I can't tell you what the show means, or how it coalesces into a greater whole, because quite frankly, I’m not sure that it does.. Instead, it simply is. These adventures happened: some good, some bad, some rousing, some dull, some memorable, some easily forgotten.
It’s a fool’s errand to predict a show’s legacy. From aspiring franchise flagship, to fandom punching bag, to something that was simply there, Discovery’s risen and fallen in esteem over the course of its run. It could earn a critical reevaluation down the line or sink down into the dregs like some of its predecessors. But through it all Star Trek: Discovery was there. It delivered five seasons’ worth of adventures, expanded the canon, and took the franchise further into the future than it had ever been before. Its whole may not amount to more than the sum of its parts, but those parts, those individual adventures and stories, will remain. I’m not sure that Discovery has a deeper meaning than that, or if it needs one.
Chronological order of the story:
1. The Beginning (2021) - when it all started, Himura Kenshin became Hitokiri Battousai; Yukishiro Tomoe meets Battousai
2. Rurouni Kenshin (2012) - 10 years after "The Beginning", Hitokiri Battousai reappears as Himura Kenshin and meets Kamiya Kaoru
3. Kyoto Inferno (2014)
4. The Legend Ends (2014) - when Himura Kenshin finally learns and masters the final technique of Hiten mitsurugi-ryu which signifies or symbolizes the end of "Hitokiri Battousai"
5. The Final (2021) - they come full circle, Yukishiro Enishi takes revenge on Himura Kenshin
It was great how they did this live-action franchise as well as how they titled each.
There are two arcs in these 5-movie franchise: [1] The Yukishiro arc; and [2] the Hitokiri Battousai arc.
It all started in "The Beginning" when Himura Kenshin became Hitokiri Battousai. Then later met Yukishiro Tomoe and [accidentally] killed her.
From "Rurouni Kenshin" to "The Legend Ends", it was about Kenshin being forced and struggling to fight Battousai from coming out again. In "The Legend Ends", it was the end of the Hitokiri Battousai arc when Kenshin finally learned the final technique of the Hiten mitsurugi style.
--> "The Legend Ends" for Hitokiri Battousai.
"The Final" is when Kenshin and the Yukishiro family comes full circle. Enishi witnessed when Battousai [accidentally] killed Yukishiro Tomoe. Once again, a fitting title:
--> "The Final" story of Kenshin and the Yukishiro family.
Sae Bom & Yi Hyun's fight for Happiness and Humanity when stupidity is scarier than the vicious virus.
Zombie dramas are not uncommon but this ain't your run of the mill Zombie drama ; it is a mere reflection of covid pandemic/epidemic.
It is a zombie themed drama that pour slice of life scenarios into it. It has a great opening that is linked to our current pandemic situation. This drama started by how people overcome and get used to the virus and continued on their daily life.
The basic concept of Happiness (해피니스)is apocalypse and we are having more of it these days, no? But what makes this drama stand out is a different approach of showcasing human behaviour during crisis, more than the apocalyptic situation. Yes, that's how you have to perceive and watch the entire thing keeping that in your mind. Otherwise you gonna hate this drama if you have come here to see thrilling monster apocalyptic consequences, utter dystopia and plenty of gore elements or people smashing zombie brains left and right.
Infact the only headshot we love will be of the serial killer - andrew
Yoon Sae Bom (Han Hyo Joo), an SOU cop is highly decisive, righteous and straightforward as a person. She never tolerates injustice and always ready to counter any challenging situation. Jung Yi Hyun (Park Hyung Sik) is violent crime detective who never fails to get to the root of any incident and is good at dealing with any kind of unforseen event. Han Tae Seok (Jo Woo Jin) an ex-military agent has the topmost hand as a pharmaceutical company executive who is aware of the origins of the virus and constantly strive to defeat the virus.
We have got many actors in the drama who are more or less familiar and are good at acting. My favorites are the the little girl , shopping mart teller , Lieutenant Lee Ji Soo and Na brother-sister; rest of them go east shit; who started as selfish brother and sister but they mad me laugh without even trying to the way he hid his sister behind when infected comes and the way he resisted to bite ; in the end becoming pivotal to the cure ; which proves the point :
Humanity is the biggest cure for any disease ...
resist not to harm the people even after infected takes a lot of will power and which is what produced antibodies as the virus couldn't incubate enough to infect the brain.
The entire piece is thrilling and awes you with its suspense at several points but it might not feel compelling which is okay because it's more important that you understand the underlying messages which the show wanted to convey. Overall, Happiness is a good drama which experimentally shows the social science P.O.V of human behavior and the underlying psychology. Please keep in mind that it's 10% apocalypse and 90% about demeanor of so called social animals, namely human beings. It's definitely worth the one time watch and I would surely recommend to give this a go, at least for Park Hyung Sik ; many said he widened after military service but his action and fights were very much improved compared to Strong Bong-soon.
THIS SHOW IS GREAT <3
it's not always that I find a kdrama that i like, but this one got me hooked from the first episode. the story, the chemistry, the intrigue...
while there's no shocking plot twist and the plot is easy to guess -- not to mention, that ending that's such a fan service!!-- i like it nonetheless.
anyways, I'm officially in love with park hyung-sik now. (:heart: ω :heart:)
note to self: I'll probably regret binging 8 episodes until 2 am and i have t work this morning ╰（‵□′）╯
Edit 3 days after I finished Happiness:
I still feel bubbly and can't move on from this series, even after watching all 20 episodes of Hwarang (2017) and One Ordinary Day (2021, Kim Soo-hyun).
I only listen to the OST these past days(shout out to Joe Layne - What Lies Ahead and Isaac Hong - Pain).
I swear the last time I felt like this was after Reply 1988, and it took 20 2-hour-long episodes to make me feel that way. So if Happiness can make me feel this way with only 12 episodes is a great feat and they deserve to be on my top drama list!
I need help
Writing-wise, this is one of the best sageuks I've ever seen (and at this point, I've watched a whole lot of them).
I don't know how else to describe it beside it being smartly written. The characters were interesting and flawed, with multiple layers and complex emotions. Their actions were always motivated by solid reasons, and even the villains were clever in the way they plotted their evil deeds (which is not actually the norm in base of my observations so far). I was hooked throughout, and actually found myself being surprised by some of the twists and turns the story took.
The show was like a baduk game in and of itself, with the two opponents constantly trying to outsmart and outmaneuver each other, both when it was the King and his Gidaeryeong, and the King and those seeking to control him, which I really loved given how prominently the game was featured. There was a constant struggle for power going on, with the knowledge that any move had to be carefully considered because a wrong step could lead to catastrophic results (much as it was shown during the very first episode).
Also, there were a lot of different instances were it was mentioned how the characters were blinded because of how they were "captivated" by a certain emotion. Be it a thirst for revenge, or an overwhelming love, or anything in between. Which again, I liked the tie in to the show's name and theme.
Of course, it was visually stunning, like all sageuks usually are, and the OST matched the show well, even if it was not very memorable. The acting was top notch all across, with Cho Jung Seok shining especially bright in his range from tyrannical King to lovesick man, he really excelled in portraying a deeply complex character. Shin Se Kyung's character reminded me a lot of who she'd played in Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung (also a marvelous sageuk fyi), a smart woman, confident in her abilities but somewhat limited by her circumstances.
The only reason I'm not giving Captivating the King the full 10/10 rating is because the romantic spark between the leads was sadly missing. I loved how mature, deep and settled their relationship felt, but the heat that comes with good chemistry was sadly missing. I bought they cared about each other, but didn't feel the attraction. When they kissed, nothing happened.
Either way, it was an amazing show and I had a great time watching it.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Do NOT enter a location when you see people wearing PPEs. (If you are a nurse, you should know this already.)
I applaud the screenwriter for not shying away from killing a major character. There are very few screenwriters who are brave enough to do it, often screenwriters choose the "they happily lived ever after" route.
However, as the intro to this post hinted, I do not approve the sudden stupidity of a major character just to get that character terminally ill. Go Mi Ho was a nurse. She is intelligent and full of wisdom. Where did her intelligence AND WISDOM go in the cave sinkhole episode? Then after that episode, Mi Ho became intelligent and full of wisdom again.
In that one episode, she suddenly acted a hero when it was never part of her character, and after that episode, she never acted a hero either. She is intelligent AND WISE. She took calculated risks. She was no hero, before or after. But in that one episode, she acted a dumb hero which led to her getting exposed to deadly radiation.
Sure. There are people who would have done the same as she did but that is a rare thing most especially when the people escaping a disaster are wearing PPEs, and you happen to know as well as corrupt and evil the operator of that cave. All for what? For that character she saved to only die WITHOUT contributing anything to the plot after he was saved.
That episode. Go Mi Ho suddenly throwing her intelligence and wisdom out the window was only meant to get her terminally ill. No more, no less. It was very weak. They could've have used a contaminated bottled water or fish planted by Choi Do Ha, or some other method other than letting her do something out of her character.
People rarely do something like what she did unless they have a very, very, very strong conviction which Go Mi Ho did not possess. She took calculated risks for her husband, that was the entire driving force behind her. Her saving people begins and ends with her working as a nurse, outside of it she didn't do anything.
Again, good job on not being afraid of killing a major character. But very bad job on how to get that character terminally ill.
From 10 stars, it's down to 8 stars.
Pulls the audience right into the story
"Awaken" was a well-made mystery and suspense Korean drama. It follows the story of "Do Jung Woo" (played by Nam Goong Min) and "Gong Hye Won" (played by Kim Seol Hyun) as they try to solve a series of murders tipped by an unknown personality through codes.
The story was carefully laid-out as in each episode there were numerous twists and turns to keep the audience on edge and continually guessing. This also pulled in the audience into joining into solving the ever evolving mysteries.
I also praise the actors and actresses for their superb acting. They did not come to the show as "another character to act", it was evident that they assumed the identity of their characters and lived the way they would if they were real. From being police officers to being ordinary individuals with lives and worries, they successfully invited the audience to a suspension of disbelief the entire sixteen (16) episodes.
The soundtrack was good and were placed in key scenes which created an even greater impact. Finally, the production and directing were top-notch. They did not shy away from picking the right locations, the attires, and the tools needed to present the world of "Awaken".
An overall 9.5 out of 10 stars from me. I highly recommend this show.
I have so many thoughts, but the first is if you enjoy Korean or exorcism films you might actually like this. It's so dynamic and something I really appreciate is that the movie has parts in italian and english, not just Korean. YongHo is an mma fighter but he's not actually that muscular and his first opponent isnt as cut as I thought hed be. Actually I think YongHo gets more ripped halfway through the movie? The match takes place in america so the white guy is called john white of course. Lol
YongHo's dad died when he was young despite all the praying so he has forsaken god. This opens him to the influence of the devil, or in this movie, the "dark priest", a super hot Korean guy, hotter even than YongHo, worshipping the snake lord or something. He owns a nightclub like the one in the third john wick movie. Slick, black great use of colours throughout this movie btw. Especially at the end contrasting between the evil and good as yongho descends into the underground dungeon at the nightclub.
The music was nothing to write home about and the movie also imo has huge issues with decibel levels. All the sounds are normal until someone screams and its 3x the volume of everything else - beyond actually just being that screaming is loud. There were some great CG AND practical effects and the story came together quite well, except for YongHo battling with his hate of god. I really disliked the part where he chose to be influenced by the dark priest in the place of father choi and ignore his priest friend who he had bonded with over the course of the film.
It was actually genuinely scary in some parts. It doesn't hold back showing gore and violence and a dead kid even. However, I think for me the pitfalls are the ...on the nose devil signs and product placement. The dark priest runs a nightclub with a logo that looks like demon horns and snakes and his club is called Babylon. How was that not so obvious? And there are some blatant scenes showing the logo of the car the main character is driving, a starbucks cup and asahi beer. With tensions rising in korea between Japan aas that really well placed? Lol and I guess they needed funding from the car and starbucks to film internationally.
Also says theres a sequel coming with choi wooshik again so they can deal with the fact they just left that hand snake thing in the nightclub so anyone can go find it. Hope to see it. 8/10
“I wanted to make a horror film that can help someone forget about their pain.”
A phenomenal film, Warning: Do Not Play shares more than a passing similarity with The Shining (1980) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Loft (2005). In all three films, the stress of having to produce and the strain on one’s mental health transforms into a supernatural circumstance. In Warning, there is a particular kind of dreamlike logic, initiated precisely by Mi-Jung’s initial waking from a dream in the film’s first scene.
But this film follows a different path than either Kubrick or Kurosawa's film with similar premises (to a lesser extent, this film also shares a bit with Sinister [2012] and Hush [2016]). First, this is a work of urban horror as opposed to the provincial isolation of The Shining or Loft. More importantly, Warning is a film about horror film, maintaining a brilliant streak of self-awareness that puts it in conversation with Behind the Mask (2006) and In the Mouth of Madness (1994).
There's also an unexpected found footage element to the film.
What Jin-won Kim accomplishes here, directing the awesome Seo Yi-Jin as Mi-Jung, is to capture the essence of what appeals about horror film and the challenge true auteurs face when trying to bring to life a vision that has yet to be imagined by any filmmaker before. In his efforts, director Jin-won manages just that.
