A Star's Lover in Pictures

No matter how maudlin, humdrum or disappointing a drama may turn out to be, people would often walk away from them remembering a specific thing that either struck their fancy or something that came off as somewhat odd or irritating. It might be a touching scene, a memorable line, an outrageous outfit or a striking motif; a person might eventually forget about the structure of the story or struggle to remember every detail of how things unfolded in the course of the series, but he will never forget something that captured his heart, more so, if that something rankled his nerves and even made him regret investing so much time on a drama that failed to deliver the goods contrary to expectations. Dramas viewed five or eight years ago might seem like a distant memory but key scenes and images do linger on. They remain vivid and strong, as do the emotions they invoked upon one's encounter of a memorable episode.

Who here can forget the quiet longing of Commander Hwangbo for his lowly servant, Chae-Ok in Damo? Or that kissing scene between Lee Byung Hun and Choi Ji Woo in Beautiful Days that signaled an OTP change? Who could forget Rain's colorful array of v-neck shirts that scandalously dipped down his chest in Full House? Or how some of the set pieces in Jumong shook every time a stuntman took a tumble, or how a whole army could be concealed behind sparse foliage without being discovered?

Love 'em or hate 'em, kdramas do have a way of leaving behind pretty pictures and sickening music tracks that go on and on in your head. No matter what the outcome, they leave quite an impression, so I decided that instead of dwelling on the long, exasperating and technically uneven journey that was  A Star's Lover, I'd rather focus on the parts of this series that piqued my interest and celebrate the creative touches that I would [or  rather should] remember in years to come.

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When A Star's Lover came out in 2009, a part of me was curious to see it because it featured two actors you rarely see on television and yet a part of me was also apprehensive upon learning that the drama itself would be another adaptation of Notting Hill. Having seen Star no Koi a few years ago, I already could imagine how difficult it would be to stretch the material culled from a 2-hour movie to a full length series, and while true enough that the Japanese version was not without its own charm, the story staggered towards the finish line mid-season. I[t] barely made it.

So imagine my surprise when I learned that the Korean re-imagining would span 20 episodes instead of the usual 16 and that it would have the reigning queen of hallyu dramas in the pivotal role... well,  let me tell you, it didn't look very promising.

Not quite ready to miss out on Yoo Ji-Tae's return to television, I checked to see the writer in charge of the said series and found out that it was Oh Soo Yun, who's best known for Autumn in My Heart and Winter Sonata. Right then and there, I knew that A Star's Lover was a bad bet. Known for producing overly sentimental dramas dipped in angst and despair, this writer owed much of her success [abroad] to the gravitational pull of the stars featured in her works and her ability to engage audiences with simple, heartfelt scenarios. And though not the best when it comes to developing a story (anyone who's seen an Oh Soo Yun drama knows that the conflict in them often defy logic and are dragged on till kingdom come)---she can be credited  for  drumming in memorable sequences by craftily setting up scenes accentuated by a central theme, a design, even a product placement.

A boy who became a clump of weed and a girl who became a star in the heavens. Two persons, living at two ends of the world. Will they have the opportunity to be able to recognize each other?

So disregarding the agony that her "Season Dramas" brought me and keeping in mind fond memories of little Joon-suh and Eun-suh riding their bikes in the country, along with that scene wherein an overaged Bae Yong Joon tried to pass himself off as a high school student, playing First Time to Choi Ji Woo in an empty classroom, I checked out A Star's Lover thinking I'd at least have 3 to 6 decent episodes to work with before the whole thing  proceeded to torture its viewer (i.e. me) with recurring issues that would eventually be resolved through the simplest of means. As it turned out I wasn't far off the mark, seeing that all they needed to wrap up the story was to declare their love to each other before the paparazzi and they chose to accomplish this towards the end, around the 19th episode tsk tsk.

Thinking back, the series started out quite nicely. I've never seen Choi Ji Woo quite as luminous or Yoo Ji Tae so attractive. Heck, this was the first series wherein Choi Ji Woo actually looked confident and comfortable in her own skin, and perhaps the only series where she had leading men who towered above her and made her look more feminine. The scenes shot in Asuka, Japan were beautiful to say the least and it was obvious that attention was placed into making each encounter between regular joe Chul Soo and superstar Mari extra special to complement the fairytale finish. There was an undeniable chemistry between the leads, a sense of familiarity and comfort that would make you root for this OTP. It's quite unfortunate though that they tried to stretch and complicate such a simple story. The fluffy, dreamy appeal of this series soon disappeared as the whole business on ghostwriting kicked in and auxiliary characters figured their way into the story. Indeed, it was quite a journey. I would not have been able to make it through without my remote in hand.

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And though I was wont to let this series go, without breathing so much as a word, I also felt it necessary to commemorate the fact that I finished watching it after stalling for two years.

Seeing that I have the tendency to remember stupid, frivolous things about kdramas like how Hyun Bin was sweating through his pink shirt at the last episode of My Name is Kim Sam Soon or how Jo Hyun Jae had a small band-aid stuck under his eye for the majority of One Mom and Three Dads, I figured, why not make a list of things that I would remember about A Star's Lover instead of straight out ranting about the disconsolate route it took to see its ending? I mean, people out there would probably do a better job at writing a review or discussing the finer points of this series, so why not revel in the bits and pieces that made me go "ooh", "ahh" and "grrrr"? 

 So here are 6 things that stuck out for me in this series:

1.) Chul Soo and Young Hee

Given its plot, I didn't expect A Star's Lover to begin the way it did. The series, in fact, opened with a vignette; a thoughtful commentary on how love was the most common and yet the greatest of all sentiments, and how the ever changing world made the notion of loving someone more complex as society progressed. Deriving inspiration from the movie Amélie and the defunct American series Pushing Daisies, the kdrama was able to establish a dreamlike atmosphere, albeit without the same touch of whimsy, in telling the backstory of Chul Soo and Young Hee.

The overall concept was to make the series out into an urban fairytale, unfortunately, the narration and visual styling of the first few episodes did not make its way to the end of the series. It got watered down and subsumed into the existential drama that devoured the characters that by the time I reached the last episode, I almost forgot about its unique opening sequence. 

2.) Learning to Cross that Line

Young Chul Soo, being the ever obedient son, did not dare cross that line that his mother drew on the ground. With tears in his eyes and a crumpled bill in his hand, he failed to chase after his mother because that line created an invisible barrier, one that no human being could cross...until the gorgeous Lee Mari, in her pretty black boots, stomped her way through and taught him how easy it was. So yeah, I reckon it was used to show how Chul Soo was a straight-laced individual and how he was the type to color within the lines, but the very idea of him drawing a line on the ground to prevent both Mari and Eun Young from getting close to him was just a load of crap.

3.) The Color of Sadness

If one were to  go by this series, the color of sadness and longing would be a mix of sepia, auburn, sienna, and burnt amber with touches of  indian yellow, set against a murky shade of cadmium red and vermilion. Yes, old memories came with a color scheme. No one's allowed to look into the past without a change of color.

4.) A Room Full of Books

Chul Soo must have been one lonely boy. There were books everywhere---they were on the shelves, on the floor, they lined his walls. Was there ever any reason to doubt how literate and well-read our humble hero was?

5.) Vanilla Ice Cream

Ah, the Yonsama look-alike that disappeared after going out to get vanilla ice cream...Who would have thought that a frozen dairy product could cause so much pain and torment? (Hm, serves her right for sending her lover out in the dead of winter for vanilla ice cream.) Believe it or not, this little story device had a very brief appearance. Aside from being mentioned like 4x, Mari's fixation with it melted when Chul Soo came around. It served its purpose the moment the man Mari was fated to be with appeared before her, carrying 32 flavors and then some.

6.) Pride and Prejudice

So Chul Soo reluctantly travels to Japan to ghostwrite Lee Mari's travel diary and what book does he bring with him? He brings the tv-movie tie-in paperback edition of Pride and Prejudice. Yep, the one with Keira Knightley's face on it. Ach, the horror! Major fantasy overload! Can anyone say overkill?

He was charming enough as the literature professor who thwarted his student's advances by correcting/editing the love letter given to him as if it were a test paper, but was it really necessary to depict him as someone engrossed in Jane Austen? And in public no less. I don't freakin care about what people say about the character being sensitive or romantic but (darn it!) grown men do not lug around Pride and Prejudice. He has a room full of books to choose from and he picks Pride and Prejudice?

So okay, maybe he was reading it in preparation for a class or something but considering the series went on and on about how cultured and well read he was, dropping random book titles from The Great Gatsby to Eugene Onegin, would it really have been too much to ask for him to read something safe and appropriate by say, Hemingway or Dostoevsky?

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You know what's sad about all this is that I'll probably end up forgetting numbers 1-5 on this list but I'll always remember Yoo Ji Tae pretending to read Pride and Prejudice. 

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Actresses

Six actresses, one photo shoot.

Lee Je-Yong's Actresses takes its audience behind the scenes of a high-fashion shoot in an attempt to offer a glimpse into the psyche of six of Korea's top actresses, playing an onscreen version of themselves. Discussing everything from how growing old in show business is treated like a crime, to how something as common as a divorce could adversely affect a celebrity's standing, this movie contains a chockful of references pertaining to the six actresses' personal lives whilst threading lightly on the underlying truth that they all belong to an industry obsessed with youth and beauty.

Beginning with a candid interview detailing how each actress feels about being in the limelight, the movie cuts to the arrival of each actress to this one of a kind Vogue photoshoot to exhibit six generations of actresses, each in different stages of their careers.

Veteran actress Yoon Yeo-Jung (Hotelier, Be Strong Geum Soon) impeccably dressed in a sable coat arrives an hour early at the venue, followed by relative newcomer Kim Ok-bin (Thirst, Accidental Gangster & the Mistaken Courtesan), who's decided to wait in the parking lot a while longer to avoid carrying on an awkward conversation with her senior. Next to arrive is a casual and laidback Ko Hyun-Jung (Queen Seonduk, What's Up Fox) in a randomly thrown outfit, with a dazed and jetlagged Kim Min-hee (Love Marriage, Some Like it Hot) hot on her heels, rounded off by a composed Lee Mi-Suk (Untold Scandal), showing off some grey hairs. Last and fashionably late is Choi Ji-Woo (Winter Sonata) who, after fretting about her face looking bloated, decides to honor her commitment to do the pictorial, thinking twice about being photoshopped into the group picture.

What follows is a mock documentary as the women measure themselves against each other, starting with the way they look to how the star system is carried over the photoshoot. Confronted with the challenge of sharing a magazine cover, personal issues start to crop up, as the seasoned pro can't help but feel insecure after hearing that she was called in as a last minute replacement and the newbie tries to keep her head down and not draw too much attention to herself; while the others try their best not to behave like primadonnas. 

Actresses has a solid first half thanks to the natural rapport of actresses Ko Hyun-Jung, Lee Mi-Suk  and Yoon Yeo-Jung, who frankly deliver their opinions on common subjects such as cosmetic surgery and skin care like ajuhmmas killing time at a local beauty salon. At times the gracious veterans and at times acting like embittered divas, the three provide the film with a certain level of believability, providing a clear contrast to Kim Ok-Bin and Lee Min-Hee's understated performances as the ingenue and the token hot babe, respectively.

Choi Ji-Woo unfortunately sticks out like a sore thumb but holds her own in a scene where she's pitted against a tactless, slightly inebriated Ko Hyun-Jung, as the two engage in a verbal smackdown in the powder room. It's the culmination of the underlying tension and competitiveness that comes with bringing together these high-profile actresses which the movie only alluded to in its first few minutes but while it's a cinematic treat to see the famed hallyu actress lash out, the conflict gets all watered down as all six actresses play nice in an impromptu dinner party to celebrate Christmas eve.

No one really gets to play the villain, for unlike Entourage, where the guest stars get to poke fun and do something over the top with their alternate personas, this film, as may attributed to Korean modesty and convention, is a curious and restrained piece of scripted-reality. It has no major revelations nor does it impart any controversial information, probably in deference to each actresses' image and comfort zone. Neither does Director Lee intend to push the envelope, given the roundabout way that he chose to depict the vanity and self-consciousness that comes with his subjects' chosen profession. As such, viewers are forced to deduce only what they can about the women before them, based on how the people around them studiously shower them with compliments to gain their attention.

By the end of it all, one can't help but wonder what percentage of the film managed to reveal what's real and what percentage of it was a performance delivered by six actresses who merely wanted to add something different to their filmography.

In the same way that the camera deliberately weaves in and out of shots to give an "in-the-moment-feel", it eventually draws back to show a mirror image of its stars to remind people that perhaps amidst the glitter and the lights, they only get to see only as much as what they're allowed to see---a mirage, an ideal, but certainly not the true person underneath. And with that, you begin to realize that what you have before you, is just another movie.

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