Another Tear Jerker

Melo Movie is actor Park Bo-Young's latest Netflix romantic drama, and since it didn't deal with the mentally ill like the last one I decided to watch it. I really like her, and she can be hilariously funny. Yet once again there wasn't much to chuckle over in this short series, just a lot of sadness, regret and way too many tissue-necessary moments.

The ten episdes follow the story of Ko Gyeom, a somewhat looney aspiring actor (Choi Woo-shik) and Kim Mu-Bee, an assistant director (Park Bo-young) who fall for each other almost instantly on a movie set, only to abruptly lose each other. Gyeom, who initiated everything, simply vanishes. Mu-Bee is left wondering what the heck happened.

Five years later they're reunited when Mu-Bee puts out her directorial debut movie, and Gyeom attends the premiere as an up and coming film critic. Sparks fly from there once again, but when you discover what separated them the series takes a very depressing turn from which it never really recovers. To add to the blues there's a very heartfelt secondary romance that is even more passionate than the leads', and might have redeemed the movie but ends up only another reason to reach for the Kleenex box.

I get that sad romances are more literary than the uplifting kind (and with all the smoking going on in this series, I'll assume this was made by a literary-minded bunch.) I did admire how they packed a lot of story into this series, with multiple plot lines and character conflicts, although most of them dwindle off or remain in limbo. One important character was supposed to be artfully mysterious, and the big question mark of the series. I found him to be contrived and silly, really, as there was no logic to the character's personality. Even the big question mark should be plausible.

I think after this one I need to take a break from Korean romance series; far too often they're just too sad to make them worth the watch. Available on Netflix if you need to clean out your sinuses.