Il Mare - is it really any good?

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EvaUnit02
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Il Mare - is it really any good?

Post by EvaUnit02 »

I'm curious about Il Mare, is it really any good? Honest opinions please.

It sounds like a contrived melodrama TBH and I'm not at enthusiastic about going out of my way to see it after all the bad reviews that The Lake House received.
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Post by tom2681 »

It's one of the best korean melodrama ever made.

Better than Failan, better than My Sassy Girl...
Almost as good as Windstruck or Lovers' Concerto IMO.
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BiscLimpkit
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Post by BiscLimpkit »

I personally loved it... but wasn't very fond of Lake House.
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degeneration
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Post by degeneration »

I thought it was good but not great. Not as good as My Sassy Girl IMO.

Nothing about it was not good, but for me it was just a decent drama love story.
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Post by Lourdes »

degeneration wrote:I thought it was good but not great. Not as good as My Sassy Girl IMO.

Nothing about it was not good, but for me it was just a decent drama love story.
Ditto.
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Post by Paradoxon »

degeneration wrote:I thought it was good but not great. Not as good as My Sassy Girl IMO.
I agree!
Hard to compare to MSG anyway, 'cause there´s no comedy in IM.
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Post by slasher13 »

Booo I going to say Failian is much much better than Il Mare, I have them both, and Failan is on par with Fly me to Polaris
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degeneration
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Post by degeneration »

Not seen Fly Me To Polaris so can't comment on that, but I thought Failan was rather boring and I didn't enjoy it that much.
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Post by thelostdragon »

"Il Mare" is one of the few DVDs I have sold in my life. I had the Korean limited edition and I wasn't even in need of cash in the days I sold it (the good old days of wealth :D ).

By the way, IF you are getting this, by all means avoid the Korean disc. It has disastrous English subtitles. I don't know for any other versions out there, but the subs on the Korean disc are amongst the worst I have ever read (yes, I'm counting old MeiAh films, too).
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Re: Il Mare - is it really any good?

Post by bradavon »

EvaUnit02 wrote:It sounds like a contrived melodrama TBH and I'm not at enthusiastic about going out of my way to see it after all the bad reviews that The Lake House received.
On paper you're right but in reality it's far from just that. The Lake House like most remakes I understand completely misses the point. I'd advice not comparing them.

I've barely ever heard a bad word about it. Yes it's very much a romance so you need go into it expecting that but it's so well handled and just a pure joy to watch.

Due to it's genre it's a shame I doubt we'll ever see it out of Asia. Pick the Korean SE up, the only worthwhile version.
thelostdragon wrote:By the way, IF you are getting this, by all means avoid the Korean disc. It has disastrous English subtitles. I don't know for any other versions out there, but the subs on the Korean disc are amongst the worst I have ever read (yes, I'm counting old MeiAh films, too).
I wouldn't say they're that bad besides you have no choice. It's THE only English subtitled anamorphic version.

The only other version is the HK non-anamorphic version which has better grammatically correct subs I understand but they're more colloquial and less romantic.

The second half of Failan is so powerful and really pulls at the heart strings but the first half is almost the complete opposite.

For me it's good but could've been better. I even sold the DVD to only buy it again later as I'm in so much two minds over this one.
degeneration wrote:I thought it was good but not great. Not as good as My Sassy Girl IMO.
Agreed but they're completely different films, it's unfair to compare them.