A Tale of Two Directors

This is a story, well, not really. 

 

The main culprit (?) here is about Korean dramas, or Koreanovelas. What’s interesting here is that both of these directors are good. Direk Joey Javier and Direk Erik Matti. They might have seen the trending shows from Netflix. Well, I have to admit that I also am guilty of watching some Koreanovelas because the story is good. It does not revolve around just the love teams, but they are used for the story to progress.

There is a big difference from what these two directors both noticed about the Koreanovelas  being shown on Netflix. 

I have checked Direk Joey‘s films and most of them I have heard and not really a fan of it. Movies like Shake, Rattle and Roll series — I came to hate them because it became a yearly thing. There are good movies maybe from him but I don’t know. I never really watch local films since it lack tastes. But Direk Joey is the director of the Philippine TV adaption of Descendants of the Sun.

Meanwhile, Direk Erik Matti was probably one of the directors I like because his movies are good, not great but good. But I never watched them in cinemas, just rent DVDs or download them. On The Job, Seklusyon and Buybust maybe some of his best works yet. He directed the probably one of the worst TV series, Rounin and that crappy movie, Gagamboy.

Okay, now we check what happened on these two directors’ tweets.

First, Direk Joey asked, out of curiosity. His question was posted on April 9, 2020. Which is good, because he noticed what makes these Koreanovelas click to us Filipinos. His question got a lot of responses explaining why Koreanovelas are much favored.

This post has earned a lot of responses from Twitter users and some of the responses were really very common and spot on among Filipino dramas. 

MEANWHILE, Director Erik Matti also posted on April 14, 2020 his own observation.

But his observation generated a lot of heat. People got riled up and one of the best responses was:

I sometimes envy these Koreanovelas because they seem to have perfected the recipe for their stories while the Philippines still needs to learn and grow. Of course there are Filipino series that are great. Amaya for one is great when it made its run.

So, what will be our take on this 2 directors? Well, we can inquire first, do some research on things before passing on the judgement. Also, I have already written some articles about films that I have loved, films from Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, India to name a few. And as I have mentioned above, I have also learned to love Koreanovelas such as:

26 Years.

Just saw the movie 26 Years on Netflix. It was a good movie for me. Now, just a disclaimer, I AM NOT A MOVIE CRITIC. I just love movies in general and I love how Korean movies has been made.

This movie was intense. It has a very good story, strong characters, lots of heartache, full of revenge. I love how they were careful in portraying the protagonists who are out to extract revenge. They all have valid reasons, I give them that. All five characters have their own angles and it was nicely placed. Lives were never the same after the Gwangju Uprising. You may also check what happened on May 18, 1980.

Interesting characters here: a gangster, a shooter of national team, a policeman, a lobbyist and a chairman of a company.

The gangster was a former military who’s father was murdered during the Gwangju Uprising.

The shooter of national team was still a baby when her mother was shot, then her father was so fueled with anger.

The policeman’s sister was killed when the army opened fired at them.

The lobbyist claims that his parents were murdered on the said uprising.

Funny thing is, the chairman of a company was the one who shot the gangster’s father.

The movie was 2 hours 15 minutes long. The ending is well, you have to see the movie for yourself.

space.

I know you wanted me to write a poem for you.
You know how I turned it down several times.
It’s hard for me to write when I am oblivious,
About the things you feel.
Because we are together.

It is now almost a year that you are far from me,
I never thought I would last this long.
I’ve had panic attacks, suicide thoughts.
But God kept me alive because of you.
He wants me to stay beside you til we grow old,

After a long time, this is the first time I have written,
A love letter of sort, just for you.

I never used rhymes because it is not natural
I don’t like to make it sound scripted.
I want to write how I feel,
And right now, I feel lost without you.

I feel so alone, not lonely, just sad.
I miss the way you laugh, the way you cry.
I miss how loud you talk that it hurts my ears.
I miss how you punch me when you’re too happy.
I miss YOU.

I love you for all that you are.
The good and the ugly.
Because you have loved me, good and ugly.
My history is as bad as it is.
But you loved me despite it all.

I miss you.
I miss my wife.
I LOVE YOU.

 

April 16, 2020
Gabs Narazo
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