남자가 사랑할 때
SBS, 2004, 16 episodes
Genres: melodrama, romance
Written by Kim Yoon-jung
Directed by Choi Jun-seok
More information: AsianWiki
When A Man Loves A Woman:
The Agony of Fate
I have been struggling for a while now with how to even begin this review. Now that I’ve written this down, I might have found the most characteristic expression for this melodrama: struggling. This is true not only for the characters but for the viewers as well. Perhaps it is because When A Man Loves A Woman wants to be a grand-scale drama, but the final catharsis never follows. The reason for this is that it doesn’t seem at all like the inevitability of fate leads to the conclusion, but rather forced, artificial storytelling.
While melodramas are naturally drawn to extreme solutions, here we receive everything exponentially. In the drama, there are two Lottes, a femme fatale, a Cinderella motif, and a revenge motif, among countless others that direct the functioning of the characters.
However, the greatest exaggeration is the drama's management of space. It continuously leads the characters into the same living spaces in a way that provokes a protest from our sense of reality, even if we are used to unexpected encounters in similar stories. A kind of claustrophobic feeling arises from this, which has a suffocating effect on the viewers.
The first location of the drama is the small town where we meet our characters during their high school years. A former boxer takes in the orphaned high school student, Shin Jihoon. The boy falls in love almost at first sight with the man's daughter, Inhye, whom he is raising alone. They attend the same school, so we primarily experience the hopeless situation of the two young people due to poverty and the lack of a supportive family background through school conflicts, even though their academic results are excellent. After the father's death, they are left alone, depending on each other, and in this vulnerable situation, the girl slowly begins to return the feelings of the boy, who works beyond his strength for her as well. But Shin Jihoon cannot fulfill the girl's almost obsessive desire: the money they could use to pay the tuition for her higher musical studies is swindled away from them. However, in the story, there is a schoolmate, Sukhyun, who is Shin Jihoon's friend but also an avowed romantic rival; he provides an unexpected escape opportunity for the girl. "I would even sell my soul to study the cello," Inhye said earlier, and she leaves without a word to start a new life. Although Shin Jihoon was also accepted to the university, he gave up his own opportunity for the sake of the girl without a word; moreover, he ends up in prison for a time because he taught a lesson to the local scoundrel who did not pay back the money they were owed. Earlier, Jungwoo, a wild biker girl from Seoul, appears on the town's coast, to whom Shin Jihoon provides help. With this, the drama's love quadrangle is complete, the conflicts of which unfold in further events.
The small town is the backdrop for hopelessness, with poor, cramped living spaces. Inhye cries a lot, and it is as if the entire location is crying with her; the rain just falls and falls without end...
After he is released, Shin Jihoon follows the girl's trail; he also travels to Seoul, where he even runs into the biker girl alongside several former schoolmates. From this point on, our characters meet in countless ways. Everyone struggles in different ways for success and for reciprocated love, bonding to each other in surprising ways. On the drama's network map, more and more hidden connections between the characters are revealed. But each of them revolves in the same circles; living together and working together, they fight their romantic skirmishes and position struggles. In the end, everyone reaches their set goals, but we find great differences in whether that brings them the desired happiness.
The catalyst of the drama is Inhye, who is actually a true vamp. Park Jung-ah is able to convey the girl's coldness and stubbornness even at the beginning of the drama, which shines through her tears. The character undergoes many transformations according to changing life situations, but these qualities remains constant. She continuously manipulates the people connected to her, although she herself cannot truly be a companion to anyone, and therefore she brings ruin to everyone's life.
The central figure of the drama is Shin Jihoon, memorably played by Go Soo, who is a true positive hero. When he is young, there is a certain innocence in him—even an interesting slowness that we might feel because of his naive wonderings. At the same time, he is a smart, strong, reliable personality who loves deeply and steadfastly. Struggling in the web of romantic relationships, he finally makes a pure-hearted, good decision, even if it involves renunciation. The watchability of the drama is primarily thanks to Go Soo, who is a very masculine but not at all conventional character.
Perhaps the greatest acting task fell to Park Ye-jin, which she solved brilliantly. She brought Jungwoo's tomboy being to life with great energy and humor, then gradually transformed into a girl in love who is slightly uncertain in her femininity. Her deepening feelings called forth the woman in her, who dared to face even the greatest challenges as the companion of the man she loved.
Bae Soo-bin, in the character of the other male member of the romantic foursome, travels an inverse path: from a sympathetic young man, he becomes an increasingly vile scoundrel, whose greed, selfishness, and inner nervousness he also conveys excellently.
It is true for the entire drama that in very many cases (from the choice of locations to the repeated repetition of elements shoved in the viewers' faces to be emphasized), it overplays the melodramatic effects, immersing itself at length in emotional scenes and preachy self-repetitions, which thus often turn into their opposite, strongly brushing against kitschiness. This is also true for the series' music, which is not too original (everything from Ave Maria to Beatles transcriptions is in it). I am also certain that the closing of the drama will not be very popular either.
However, even alongside this much artificiality, the main driving forces of the drama work, leading the viewers to thought-provoking questions and tear-jerking moments.
No comments:
Post a Comment