Melo Movie review: Love, heartbreak, grief and cinema all co-exist in this bittersweet slice of life!

Starring Choi Woo-Sik and Park Bo-Young, Melo Movie is a slow-paced, heart-fluttering romance we didn’t know we needed in the month of love!

Melo Movie review: When a K-drama has someone as charming as Choi Woo-Sik and Park Bo-Young, who we have adored and loved so much in other iconic dramas, you know, and they know that we’re all going to be sat for this one as well! By the first look of Melo Movie, it seemed like the quintessential K-drama that would drop episodes every weekend, but as I started to binge all the ten episodes that came out together, the series turned out to be something completely different. It actually turned out to be something far nicer than expected. From the first scene itself, Melo Movie makes it clear that it's a slow burner. It is a K-drama without any unnecessary drama that we’re usually used to! 

The story revolves around Ko Gyeom (Choi Woo-Sik), whose childhood dream was to watch every single movie and much to his luck, he found himself living next to a video rental store, which was as good as paradise for him. Gyeom’s world changes when he meets Kim Mubee (Park Bo-Young). He is intrigued by her because her name sounds like the word ‘movie’. And if that wasn’t enough, the two meet on the sets of a movie where she’s the assistant director, and he is one of the background actors. Mubee pretended to be all mean on the outside but melted quite easily on the inside. Gyeom constantly tried to win her heart with his kind gestures, which she constantly ignored at first but eventually started feeling something for him, even though she really didn’t want to. When the universe brings them together, and the two share their first passionate kiss in the snow, Gyeom disappears the very next day. At first, Mubee feels concerned, which then turns into anger, and eventually, she decides to forget the memories that they shared.

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Now, years later, in their early thirties, the two cross paths again. They’re now living extremely different lives. Gyeom is now a film critic, whereas Mubee is a director. Seeing him after years brings back so many unanswered questions to Mubee’s mind but, as expected, they don’t take much time to melt and get close again. It’s a no brainer that their new found friendship does turn into something more, and this time it’s much more mature, wise, healthy and here to stay! Also amping up the drama are the second leads. Hong Si-Jun (Lee Jun-Young), a talented but struggling composer and Son Jun-A (Jeon So-Nee), a screenplay writer. The angst, the quarrels and the sexual tension between the two was one for the books! Dare I say I actually loved it more than the main leads. It gave me butterflies in a plethora of scenes that sometimes weren’t even romantic in nature. 

During the press tour of this drama, Park Bo-Young said that stories about love and chasing dreams always sell and this drama is indeed the perfect example of that! You root for the leads to be together whilst wanting them to achieve what they want. Isn’t that what every single one of us wants at the end of the day? The relatability of the K-drama made it seem so human and that’s what keeps you hooked from the start to the end. Every single episode of the show starts with a new theme, a new life lesson to take away from. It makes you wonder about things like if movies are a reflection of cinema or is cinema made based on real life experiences? While it’s a bit of both, the difference is that our lives are much longer and much more deep than the movies we watch. Through these themes the show also has a beautiful way of teaching us about grief. How nobody can prepare us for fear but all we need is love! With love, and the right people by our side we can overcome grief and the anxiety that creeps along with it. The fact that what happens to our loved ones is not always our fault and grief is not something you overcome in a day, it’s a long process of denial and acceptance and forgiveness about a lot of things that were unsaid!

Through the arc of the second leads, the series also shows how not all love stories get their happy ending. Two people could have the most passionate romance but still have differences, get hurt and not end up together. The feeling of letting go of someone you really want to hold on to whilst not having any negative feelings is the most painful yet such a beautiful feeling only some get to experience in their lives. While they were stuck in the memories of the past, they still rooted for each other’s career and that’s just how complicated and layered relationships can be sometimes. 

Choi Woo-Sik and Park Bo-Young together are a K-drama pair we didn’t know we needed. She is the cutesy tough on the outside but a softie on the inside girl who we all love, and he is the tall, handsome, hopeless romantic guy we all want as our ideal type. I’ll be honest, a lot of his character reminded me of his character from Our Beloved Summer maybe because even there he worked as an artist who works from home and had a soft heart. Or maybe because the drama overall is slow paced like Our Beloved Summer and shows similar tropes and themes of love and heartbreak. Having said that, as a critic myself, I could resonate with Gyeom way more than I could relate to Mubee. Choi Woo-Sik accurately delivers the feeling of a cinephile who wants to bring all kinds of stories to light and has a strong opinion on everything he watches!

The climax of Melo Movie is bittersweet and that’s actually something you will end up liking once you binge the whole show. The series is a heart warming take on the practicalities of dating in today’s time. How the right age, right time and the right place play such an important role in a relationship. It also highlights various other relationships like the complications between a mother-daughter, two best friends who say more through their actions than words, a brother who had to grow up too soon. Its aim since the beginning has been to portray how intense human relationships are and it’s something that we all have gone through during some point in our lives. It is a tear jerker for sure and even if you’re someone who doesn’t cry easily, you’d definitely be left with a lump in your throat. Isn’t that what we all want from a melo drama anyway? So if you’re looking for a sizzling hot romance where the chemistry is through the roof, there are other K-dramas to cater to that. But if you want a slow burner that turns into a cute rom-com that puts a smile on your face on a random weekday, Melo Movie surely checks the vibe!

Melo Movie is currently streaming on Netflix!

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