Movie #1906 "Chocolate" (streamable on Netflix) this is not the wonderful French film "Chocolate" with Juliette Binoche, but the South Korean t.v. show. Why am I all of a sudden studying South Korean films? Okay, so I made a bet with an ohs alum that I would watch at least 6 South Korean romance films (because they are supposed to be a lot like the Hallmark xmas movies that are my guilty pleasure to watch ) --- anyway, I took to netflix and found that there are tons of choices. When I went back to the alum, she suggested several titles --- but when I went back to Netflix, I found they were t.v. shows with at least 16 shows in each season, and each show runs about 75 mins or so. This all of a sudden became an overwhelming undertaking --- I don't read series books usually, I don't support movies in a series (except for "Harry Potter" and "Star Wars" ) and I just don't do well with watching one after another after another. But I thought I would try, and I picked the show "Chocolate" mostly because I like chocolate, and it seemed to be a series that might be sustained because the guy and girl meet as kids and their love story had a lot of time to develop as they grow up. I watched episode 1 and 2 and must say, I wasn't ready for the differences in this genre from our Hallmark romance films. 1) they are much faster (and even more so if you think that everything for me has to be read in subtitles) 2) I don't know one actor from another and their names are so different from ours that I had trouble following who was who, along with the rather detailed plot with lots of what I would call soap opera curves along the way. 3) acting is very broad --- there's a brother in this show that screams and yells on all his entrances and flails his arms...... kind of silly. But I must say, I see glimpses of Hallmark a lot ---the sweet opening scene between the high class little girl and the lower class little boy who feeds her homemade noodles and esp. chocolate , their separation, their constant meetups periodically in their lifetime, him not recognizing her, but her recognizing his name on his Dr. shirt when she sees it, etc... His best friend falls in love with her, and the plot marches on. But slowly, because I am convinced at this point that editing is not fine tuned in these films. So, overall, by the end of episodes one and two, I really didn't care all that much about them or the story . I have to admit, I got lost in some parts (and that's been consistent in all this watching of South Korean cinema), but I haven't figured out what that is yet --- it could be me. So after about 150 minutes (more than one film), I decided to move on to another one. I give this 3.5 out of 5.
"CHOCOLATE" 16 episodes on Netflix --2019 ( ca 74 mins each episode)
Story of Lee Kang (helps mom in restaurant as sous chef as a little boy) and Moon Cha-young and the ups and downs of their relationship through the years.
Creators: Lee Hgung-min, Lee Kyeong-hee
Cast: Ha Ji-Won, Yoon Kye-Sang
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