Lore In Stone Cities

Watching Monstar would not have been nearly as enjoyable if I had not had the excellent opportunity to review the show with two fun and witty bloggers. Cypsis, one of those bloggers, has been awesome enough to write the following review for Stone Cities (thank you!). Cypsis has her own blog, you can (and really should, she has a plethora of reviews) check out her blog here! Thank you Cypsis, you cute little maknae you 🙂  Cheers!! ~Lore

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Hello to Everyone! This is Cypsis, Lore’s fellow blogger and maknae from Dramafever’s Monstar Dramaclub! It was weeks ago when Lore asked me to collaborate on her blog, but sadly I did not have the time until now. So here I am with my review on “Noriko goes to Seoul”!

I choose this movie for collaboration, because we all know that Lore is into Korean stuff, but as for me – I have watched much more Japanese works. “Noriko goes to Seoul” is almost a collaboration between South Korea and Japan, so it perfect for me to review on Lore in Stone cities.

“Noriko goes to Seoul” tells a story of a Japanese housewife who is a fan of one Hallyu star. After finding out that she has lung cancer she decides to fly to South Korea to take part of a signing contest. To put it in a polite way- Noriko is not the best singer. She meets young guy Kim Min Ha who becomes her “Master” in order to reach the final stage of the contest.

So why did I watch this? Well, let’s just say: Lee Hong Ki + music movie! I adore Lee Hong Ki’s voice and ever since watching “You’re Beautiful” I have liked him a lot – (Jeremy was my favorite character). He is a great actor, in “Noriko goes to Seoul” he displays happiness, frustration, sadness and he even gets to fight on screen. I felt like killing the other guy for hurting Lee Hong Ki’s precious face. Min Ha’s personality is full of faults – he uses Noriko for money, is kind of lazy and sometimes seems that he wishes that good things would just fall into his hands, but on the other hand underneath his appearance is a guy who has a kind heart, dreams, worries about them not happening and continuing grief from past. No matter what he, rules the movie from the start till the end – he basically was the only reason why I wanted to watch it.
Our leading lady Noriko is rather bold woman – making decisions without discussing them with family. I wonder what she told her husband and daughter – “Excuse me, but now I am going to South-Korea for 2 weeks and more, so bye-bye!”? But she made me think “What if I end up just like her? – a housewife who watches dramas all day, is starstruck with Asian idols and my children call me pathetic?” I will watch dramas until I die and nothing can stop me from liking some idols, but there is no way they would call me pathetic – I have a dream job, what I want to do and I am too active to just stay at home all days. I must read this part again 10 years later to see how everything has turned out.

The movie also shows the troubles with her husband with whom she has been married for 17 years and teenage daughter Miyuki who has been a victim of school bullying and seems to relive it again.
Negative sides of the movie? From time to time its plot and development is not so interesting. In the end Noriko and Min Ha change their opinions too fast – firstly Min Ha tells her to go home and some minutes later tells her to stay and it is vice-versa with Noriko. Even though it is a very important scene in the movie, I felt that the change in their thoughts came too fast.

It is a great thing that they brought in the language mistakes and etc, because Noriko was not fluent in Korean, but I wonder how much Min Ha understood when Noriko was speaking Japanese. I know that Lee Hong Ki is fluent in Japanese, but Min Ha was a regular South-Korean guy, who left high school before graduating. That made me confused because in some scenes he looked like he has no idea what Noriko says, but in the end he understood the long Japanese monologue.

It is a movie more for Lee Hong Ki’s fans, but there are also many important things that keep ringing in my ears.1) Never give up on your dreams, because if you really want something then it will finally come – it just needs patience and time. 2) Family issues should never be ignored; they must be cleared up before it is too late. 3) Friendship does not have boundaries like cultural differences, sex and age. The world is opened for most of us, so take the chance and make friends all over the world.

I’ll give you a hint that in the end of the movie it would be a good idea to pay attention on Min Ha, you might see something funny if your thoughts go to the right direction.
If you want to read more about it then I have its review also up on my blog! Sunshine to everyone and Thank you, Lore-unnie!