A really well-plotted and acted film; it's certainly one I'll think about.
The two leading males had an enticing chemistry, something I felt a longer runtime should've been dedicated toward exploring. Each character was fascinating to try to figure out.
It really ropes you in as you follow them through rehearsals, from frustrated co-workers to eventual lovers and what comes in the aftermath of who they were.
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sleeplessdream8 February 2019
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keonalauren29 July 2019I read a bad review somewhere criticizing the main actors as an unconvincing couple. To counter, the film doesn't try to be about love. It's more about this manipulative, obsessive, personality. It's about not being able to distinguish yourself from a character and how far someone will go to be the best. If yeong-woo comes off as more creepy/intense than loving/innocent. good. Like a psychological thriller, the film kept me invested and surprised.
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I literally love when i'm expecting sth but instead i'm getting even better stuff. Same was here. Not gonna lie i just wanted to watch a BL movie, nothing else. But i've got a beautiful movie talking about serious problem. How far you will come to get into character what will you do to be a better in your role. I think Heath Ledger would be good example. Most of times it will destroy you, you need to know the boundaries you can't push the limits you need to know where to stop. If only people looked at this movie with more thinking, it's not just about guys falling in love, there is a bigger problem. Very underrated movie.
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jbwest2120 February 2021I went in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised by this drama. Fantastic chemistry between the two leads led to some unforgettably steamy scenes. The plot kept me interested the whole way through, and the 83 minute run time almost felt too short. My only complaint was that the relationship between the two characters could've used a little bit more development, but overall this was a solid film for the genre. 8/10
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AsianTalentHollywood13 September 2020The intertwining of a play and the two lead actors as a method actor becomes an acting coach and mentor for a young star, becomes a blur between acting and reality. A very original movie that is all about method acting and how serious and deep an actor goes to feel the reality of something that isn't real. In METHOD you are left wondering, "what is real?"
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visual_addict27 December 2021Method is all about the method. Lots of times we fail to distinguish between what the actors play and what reality it holds.
This movie places a beautiful imagery of those experiences. A bit slow paced and simple, you need to watch it till the end to realize the beauty it holds.
The play was a perfect culmination of all emotions, beautifully acted out.
Altogether you can definitely watch this movie if you are willing to immerse yourself in the experience of what goes on behind the scenes or rather backstage! -
lreese-131 January 2021Very well acted and scripted. Great plot with clever twists. The male leads made a great classic Hollywood romantic couple regardless of gender. Walter being the big dominant stubborn alpha male and Young being the cute, clever little Submissive female. Which was great. There is no political statement involved. No pandering. No token foolishness. Its certainly not an LGBT movie. It's a rather traditional movie with a cute feminine guy playing the female lead. Not suprising that an alpha dom man would be attracted. Young looks beautiful at times. Very charming and desirable.. Like a cute little Aubrey Hepburn at times...LGBT issues are not explored here. The themes mostly explore method acting, and how we all "method actors". Few show their true selves. Our deepest desires. For good reason. When you follow the method acting thing too far, and love gets involved, we all know your brain dissolves. Then your brain reforms and focuses on doing everything it can to keep the love.....Until suddenly, the love is gone..And your confused! The movie is kind of like that..But so is everything else..Maybe?
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Kirpianuscus15 May 2021A very well crafted film about freedom and love and acting experiences and truth to yourself. Inspired use of ambiguity, beautiful acting, high delicacy of storytelling and admirable use of silence and image. A film about acceptance , too. Or just a simple - powerful story about the looking for happiness. Short, just seductive.
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qui_j18 February 2020This was just too slow to hold interest. The acting was pretty terrible and the story very shallow and unconvincing. Really did not make much sense.
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emararahman20 September 2021I enjoyed this psychological suspense movie and the portrayel of the complexities of the main characters. In the movie they are actors, but where their acting begin and real life start is all too blurry. The story is set up well but the run time could have been a bit longer. Thje chemistry between the two leads is phenomenal yet it needed more buildup. At the end it left me with a feeling of unease and I think that's where the success of the movie lies. The acting of the two leads were extremely convincing and I hope the movie gets more appreciation.
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Getting into this movie, I already had a hunch it would be a more mature, serious type of production, but didn't have anything else besides the brief synopsis to go from. It was already in my list for a while, but what gave me finally watch it was realizing Park Sung-Woong was played a main role here after loving his performance in "The Killing Vote" (2023). His performance here is incredible, you can tell how much experience he has even without being familiar with his previous works. Even so, his co-star Oh Seung-Hoon, who I did not know prior to watching this and who debuted as a main role actor here, absolutely crushed this role and stole the spotlight in many moments, the opening scene is a great introduction to the both of them and how talented both are. On another note, the way these actors experiences (veteran/rookie) actually mirror the characters they play in the movie (and by consequence, the characters from the play) is absolutely amazing casting from the production considering the grand theme of it.
Now, full spoilers ahead, actually getting to the movie. At the start, the premise seemed to be very straight to the point, two people acting out a relationship actually develop feelings for each other, but of course it was more than that. Following the relationship of Jae-Ha and Young-Woo develop from animosity, to enthusiastic, to full of romantic tension was a wild ride. As we go, we are lead to believe that the idol Young-Woo is falling hard and quick for Jae-Ha, who gets immersed in his roles due to his method acting technique. This basic narrative of the roles each character plays in the relationship, the hierarchy between them and the doubt between what is real and what is acting that even the characters themselves find hard to pin-point are what makes the viewing experience seem so close to the feelings of the characters, and also what makes the tone shift of the climax be so good, this is done brilliantly by the scriptwriters.
As the movie goes on and the conflicts get bigger, we are, again, lead to the conclusion that rejection and getting too immersed in the obsessive love of Singer has made Young-Woo go crazy and murderous, the entire play scene having bits that we knew of and also many parts that we didn't know about makes the viewing experience one of always questioning "was this on the script? Is this real? Is this acting?", even we do not know, and that theme of distinction of reality being able to reach even us is to me one of the strongest points of this movie and I applaud it so much for doing that. Then, the reveal of Young-Woo doing method acting himself, not having murdered "Claire" and him leaving behind his relationship with Jae-Ha is the secret to tie the dots between every interaction that has happened before, which is why I believe this movie has off the charts rewatchability, I promise you, the more you think about it, discuss it and re-watch it, the more details you will find when you look behind the actions of the characters.
I believe the "solution" to knowing what is real and what is acting is understanding the feelings of Jae-Ha and Young-Woo truly and deeply. We are introduced to the concept of Jae-Ha writing multiple notebooks of annotations for each of his works, yet, for this play in specific there isn't a single note written down, he hasn't been writing how to act and this is making him go crazy and not know how to do, even his rehearsals get too violent, too real, and the director has to tell him to "just act". For movies with relationships like this, we are always expecting the more experienced person to leave the innocent and precipitated one who is deeply in love and break their heart (Call me by your name much?), even so, the method actor Jae-Ha whose feelings seemed temporary and we were sure would pass as soon as the play was over was, actually, feeling all of these things of his own. And, I truly believe at this starting point so was Young-Woo, as backed up by the moment from the play in which Jae-Ha realizes Young-Woo's very raw line delivery of Singer was much different from the one from before, as that was the real Young-Woo.
Their connection was genuine and acting was merely the igniting point for the tension between them to spark, but they could not live that reality: Jae-Ha did not want to believe it was real, and Young-Woo because of his job as an idol. Even though pushed a lot for things to work between them, the call after the beach being cut-off probably being management doing damage control showed how he lacked autonomy. And since everything in this movie is so magically connected, even his lack of free will is what lead him to Jae-Ha in the first place, as he confesses how he hates staff and others bossing him around and telling him what to do and how to do things. Jae-Has doesn't boss him around, he just acts and pulls Young-Woo right into the feelings of the play. I find it so well crafted how Jae-Ha's method acting is what first gave a start to Young-Woo seeing his as different and developing real feelings for him, which, in turn, sucked Jae-Ha into his love. We can see his efforts to flirt with him in many moments at the start of the movie.
Of course, everything changes when things go public, scandals arise and Jae-Ha's wife gets involved, we find out that this is not a first for the two of them and he actually has a list of previous affairs, we know this affair is different because of the empty notebook. So when the press conference happens and Jae-Ha takes the lead to tell everyone it meant nothing besides acting, after a first watch, we can go back and be sure he was lying. THAT is the exact point in the movie in which Young-Woo changes, he gave Jae-Ha a chance for them to come clear about what they felt, and Jae-Ha rejected it. Him naming everything as method acting is what flips the switch for Young-Woo the get serious about the technique as well, from here on forward, Young-Woo has pretty much already thrown away the idea of being together in favor of beating Jae-Ha at his own game. He will act just like Singer, even to the point of being in the verge of death if it means he gets to immerse himself in the character. Jae-Ha on the other hand is now seeing everything as real, so he is terrified of what Young-Woo could do. I really enjoy how they flipped the roles of who's acting and who is really believing in that reality changing from the beginning to end of the movie. By the end of the play, Young-Woo has already let go of his feelings (the finger which Singer kept because of love), even feeling good enough to tell to Jae-Ha's face that if he wanted to call it method acting, then method act he will (the iconic "I was a perfect Singer, but you were just Walter"), Jae-Ha is left scarred, fooled, and defeated.
I'm sure there are so many more details I could talk about here, but then I would never finish this review! Well, here's a few other things that caught my attention when thinking about the movie after finishing it were anyway:- Before the press conference Young-Woo holds Jae-Ha's hands and gets pushed away, Singer's lines talk about keeping the finger because he loved holding Walter's hands
- The blood in Young-Woo's hand before the play, which we believe must be related to murder, is actually because of the broken vase, even though we had just seen the it, we don't even make the connection that the two could be related because we are so inclined to believe that he has actually killed Jae-Has wife
- The use of "hyung" by Young-Woo and Singer shows a much closer and intimate relationship between the characters, before the play starts, Young-Woo drops the "hyung" to call Jae-Ha by "sunbaenim", it shows in very few words how he has distanced himself from Jae-Ha and is making it clear to him that he did it
- A friend has also noted that the "Are you gay?" question might have a different cultural connotation here, and that what Jae-Ha is asking is not simply "are you attracted to men?", but actually is undertoned with being promiscuous/sleeping around, Jae-Ha wants to know if he's only going after him because he wants to sleep with him regardless of feelings, that's why Young-Woo's reply being that he likes him is so important
- Young-Woo is referred as a teen idol in the subtitles, I'm not sure if this is a direct translation, but I believe this means he is 18 or 19, and since in Korea adulthood starts at 20 he could still be considered a minor, which explains why their relationship stirred the public so much to the point of being labeled a kidnapping
Finally, I've seen some people dislike the ending, but to me, a happy cliche ending was far from possible here and would never have the same impact this has, understanding the character's emotions is also fundamental to understanding why things ended the way they did. They cared and fell for each other yet they couldn't be together. Some people might mistake Young-Woo for a psychopath who was messing with Jae-Ha from the start, but he too was genuine, and all that happened was his form of retaliation against the one who broke his heart. I've also seen others take this movie as a cautionary tale on "the dangers of method acting", but this isn't actually a movie about getting so immersed on their role that things get dangerous, they meet because of acting, they fall in love in the midst of acting, but what they felt was real, method acting here was either a lie used by Jae-Ha to cover up the feelings he wanted to push away, or a way to bite back using the same trick by Young-Woo. At the end of it all, I absolutely adored this movie and have probably been thinking about it for the last 10 hours, which might explain the lengthy review! It was actually longer but I reached character limit here!!!
Well, thank you for reading!