Hello everybody, my name is Nati and welcome
back to Lady and the Trash!
Today I want to talk about Strongberry, a
South Korean independent production company
specialized in the production of LGBT movies.
Now, most of these are short movies, generally
shorter than half an hour, but there are also
a few longer ones.
The reason why these movies are so short is
that they don’t have enough money for bigger
productions, that’s why supporting their
work by buying their movies on the official
Vimeo channel is the most important thing,
I’ll leave the link here somewhere and also
in the description box.
I’m sure that a lot of you are familiar
with Strongberry thanks to their most famous
work, which is Long Time No See.
If you have no idea what I’m talking about,
well, we’ll get there.
What I’m going to do in this video is introduce
you to all of their movies completely spoiler-free
and then give my personal opinion, it’s
not gonna be a ranking, I chose to order them
based on their length, from the shortest to
the longest.
As you may know, the LGBT community is still
not too accepted in South Korea, since the
society still considers homosexuality as a
taboo and you very rarely see same-sex couples
in public spaces.
That’s the reason why I think that normalizing
same sex relationships is so important and
these movies do a brilliant job in it.
But now let’s start.
The first movie is called Secret Spectacles,
or in Korean 비밀의 안경 and it's only
14 minutes long.
It’s about a boy called Jingyu who buys
a pair of glasses that have... let’s say
a very peculiar function that you can imagine
just by looking at the poster of the short
movie.
I don't really have a lot to say about this
one, since it's super short, but it’s definitely
cute and fun, the kiss scene was a little
bit awkward though.
The second movie is called Boss in love, or
in Korean 차장님은 연애중 and it's16
minutes long.
Seyoung, who works in an office, remains alone
after all of her colleagues already left and
her girlfriend Hyemi decides to meet her there,
but their date doesn’t actually go as planned.
There were a few pretty funny parts in these
one and all of the girls in this movie are
so cute!
I’m
genuinely happy that I was able to watch something
with lesbian representation, it’s so refreshing.
Next one is called My Pistachio and it's 19
minutes long.
The main character is Muyoung, a young man
who has a crush on his senior, Hanbit.
Muyoung tries to get his crush’ attention
by applying as an actor for the movie directed
by Hanbit.
I liked this one a lot, the two actors have
a great chemistry according to me!
The only problem for me is that in one particular
scene I felt such a heavy second-hand embarrassment
for the main character, but that was part
of the fun.
Number four, it's called My personal trainer
and it's the first one longer than 20 minutes,
with its 21 minutes of length.
Jinho is an aspiring youtuber who decides
to start going to the gym to get more followers,
there he meets Seokhoon, a handsome personal
trainer that starts giving him attention,
making Jinho believe that his feelings for
him could be reciprocated.
This short movie is indeed very cute and Jinho
and his friends are very fun to watch, but
didn’t actually leave a strong impression
on me.
I really liked that they added some bloopers
at the end though.
Next one is called Perfect One-night Stand
or in Korean 완벽한 원나잇 and this
one too is 21 minutes long.
Jihye wants to lose her virginity before she
turns 21, so with the help of her friend she
looks for the perfect girl to have a one-night
stand with, it’s as simple as that.
Jihye is extremely lovable, so maybe that’s
what made me like this short movie so much,
she’s just incredibly cute.
The story is very simple, nothing special
and has a pretty predictable ending, but it
was super nice!
If you want to see something very cute with
lesbian representation, then this one is absolutely
recommended.
Next one is called Table Manner and it's just
one minute longer than the previous ones,
so 22 minutes.
Gunwoo takes his boyfriend Minjae to a restaurant
he knows his boyfriend likes for his birthday.
What Gunwoo doesn’t know is that the chef
of the restaurant is Minjae’s ex-boyfriend,
Hyunsoo.
The two pretend they don’t know each other
but things get a little bit awkward.
This short movie left a strong impression
on me and what I liked the most was the messages
this short film gives, in particular the speech
Hyunsoo’s best friend gives about getting
over a past lover.
Okay, this one was definitely the weirdest,
it's called What You Believe, or in Korean
모텔속그들 and it's 24 minutes long.
Two friends, Junwoo and Jiho, go to a party
in a motel room to hook-up but things get
a little bit uncomfortable there.
I can't really say anything else or it would
be spoiler.
I have to be honest, I didn’t really understand
this one.
The main message revolves around the Schrödinger
Cat Paradox.
To explain it in a few words, a cat is inside
a box with a device installed, this device
has a 50% of a chance chance of killing the
cat in one hour.
After one hour, you have to open the box to
check if the cat is alive or not, but according
to quantum mechanics, before you open the
box the cat can be both alive and dead at
the same time.
The real state of the cat can only be decided
after the box is open.
This is definitely a story that can have more
interpretations.
As the official Strongberry account commented
on Mydramalist: "This movie has many double
lines.
People in the movie doubt their opponents,
doubt themselves, believe in themselves and
believe in others.
It is a story about people who are not sure
about their actions."
Next one is called Private Lessons, or in
Korean 보충수업 and this one too is 24
minutes long.
The title and the poster make it kinda obvious,
but it’s about a university student and
his teacher.
Jaehyun has to meet his teacher for multiple
private lessons because he hasn’t handed
in any of his homework.
I’m really not a fan of big age gaps and
even less of the teacher-student trope, but
this was still bearable for me.
It’s definitely well done and doesn't make
things weird; I particularly liked the maturity
of Jaehyun, who was the student.
Next we have Some more, this one is 27 minutes
long and as far as I know it'ss the most famous
one right after Long Time No See.
Dongsu injures his leg falling from his bicycle
while he’s taking a ride in the countryside.
He finds a farmhouse and gets help from Inpyo
and his cousin.
He will have to remain there a couple of days
waiting for his leg to get better.
The general vibe is bright and gentle and
will definitely make you smile.
Also, I loved to see a different kind of beauty
standard, since Inpyo’s skin is very dark
because he works the whole day under the sunlight,
but the movie still depicts him as incredibly
attractive, which he is.
The next one is called Buddy Park, or in Korean
우정파크and it's almost half an hour with
its 28 minutes of length.
Jinho is a 29-year-old man who absolutely
wants to lose his virginity before he turns
30, so he tries to hook up with literally
anybody who agrees to meet him through a dating
app, but he always fails at reaching his goal.
But when his friend asks him if he wants to
have sex with him, he doesn’t really know
what to reply.
I didn’t expect this at all, but this one
was a lot of fun!
The acting was a little bit over the top sometimes,
but it was for a comedic purpose.
I really liked the style they chose, it almost
looked like a cartoon sometimes, it's hilarious
and Jinho’s squad of friends was iconic!
I wish we had, I don't know, a sit-com about
them, it would be awesome.
Next one is called As if you whisper, or in
Korean 속삭이듯 해줘.
This is the second longest movie, with its
45 minutes of length.
It’s about an aspiring singer called Beomsu
who does busking every day in the same place.
His biggest fan, Hyunwoo, cheers for him every
day, until he finally approaches him.
Nothing much to say about this one.
The songs are great, in particular the one
that has the same title as the movie.
It has overall a very soft and spring-like
vibe and aesthetic, it’s definitely recommended
if you're looking for something light and
sweet.
And now, last but not least, Long Time No
See, which is 76 minutes long.
You can find it either in movie version or
devided into five episodes.
Gitae gets to meet Black Rose, an author whose
real name is Chisoo, after reading the first
chapters of his web novel.
Soon, the two men start a relationship, but
Chisoo has to hide his identity as the hitman
Flying Dagger, while he's trying to leave
his job to live a peaceful life.
God, I’m so bad at summarizing, but the
official summary on Vimeo and on Mydramalist
spoil literally everything, so if you haven't
watched it, I suggest you to not read the
summary before you watch the movie.
Okay, what to say about this?
It’s just beautiful.
The story is interesting and entertaining,
you get to see a sweet love story alongside
with a lot of action scenes with also a beautiful
ending.
If they only had more money to make this longer,
I don’t know maybe as long as History 3:
Trapped if you know what I'm talking about,
the story could’ve been even better developed
and Long Time No See would be considered one
of the best LGBT themed shows of all time.
But still, it’s absolutely amazing and you
should definitely watch it, you won’t be
disappointed!
Okay, this was the last one, so let me know
in the comments if you’ve seen some of them
or which ones caught your attention while
watching this video.
My personal favorites, except for Long Time
No See, of course, are My Pistachio, Buddy
Park and Perfect One-Night Stand.
If you weren’t familiar with Strongberry’s
movies, I sincerely hope you will check them
out and support this amazing production company
and their movies.
So yeah, that’s all I had to say in this
video, I hope you found it at least a little
bit interesting, leave a thumbs up, subscribe
if you want too and see you in the next video,
bye-bye!
