Hyun, a renowned novelist is famous for a novel that he wrote years ago but even so their life has fallen apart. There are several reasons for it. For one, he has no new novels nor does it appear like he will write one which is terribly frustrating for it’s best friend and publisher, Soon-mo. Mi-ae who is his ex-wife is unknowingly dating Soon-mo while his second wife left for the US with her baby girl. One day, on a twist of fate, the two people find themselves on the other end of a rough night and end up sleeping together but Soon-mo’s teenage son, Seong-gyeong disturbingly walks in and is astonished to see his parents that way, which in turn pushes him to reach out to X tagged mother, who decides to use him as a comfort. Yu-jin a young writer also develops an infatuation with Hyun and it starts to become messy when he joins a class Hyun teaches at the university and the two doesn’t know how to navigate through that. In the end, things get messier and Hyun falls in love with married next door nagbor however they manage to hit home at the end realizing what was wronged there.
Comedy all together takes a different spin if it is put under the command of Jo Eun-ji. In that sense, she is given a great comedic setup and she is able to fully utilize them.
Ryu Seung-ryong acts as a teenager while Oh Na-ra transitions to Mi-aes short-tempered and ever-changing character. Doing an exceptional job portraying Shan Yoons multi-layered discontent is Kim Hee-won alongside Sung Yoo-bin. The combination of all these characters manages to keep the audience entertained for the majority of the film. Jp manages to make the film worth watching multiple times by allowing all the protagonists to shine in one episode. Even Mu Jin-sung has a fair share of comedy through his role as “the main advocate of drama”, all his hints and jokes are cleverly incorporated to highlight the commendable chemistry of the cast. The fighting scene inside the apartment is a great testament to the fact.
She makes comments about love, parenthood, and portrayal of creativity as difficult hurdles to overcome in one’s life. Such hurdles make life both socially as well as professionally difficult. Interestingly enough, through Hyun we get an optimistic view on life which is bound to stick with everyone in the long term. Hyun’s persona complements all the change the protagonists undergo.
However, even if the episodes were individually entertaining the length of 2 hours was a bit much for many, which alongside numerous episodes and characters became annoying to some extent.
In particular towards the end where elements of (Melo) drama take centre stage, it seems Cho relinquishes control of her narrative and the movie could have without a doubt been shorter. This also undermines the work of editor Kim Tae-gyong, who in fact sought to keep a relatively fast tempo so that all the episodes could fit, however closer to the end the movie could have been shortened.
The fight scene once again isn’t anything breathtaking, but it is rather enjoyable and closer to riveting with how sharp and precise the cinematography by Kim Tae-soo is. Arguably the constant rotation of frames captures glory moments perfectly.
The film is mostly entertaining though and asserts that as a first time director Jo Eun Ji spent too much energy doing too many things, which is a common mistake among first time directors. But her social commentary strikes as interesting and worthwhile, giving the film a sense of hope.
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