‘Melo Movie’ K-Drama review: Choi Woo-shik, Park Bo-young are stellar in this endearing series

Park Bo-young and Choi Woo-shik in a still from the show

Throughout Melo Movie, movies are all-pervading. 

It is what drives the lives of its four lead characters, contributing to their joy, grief, frustration and ambition in equal measure. All of this comes blanketed in nostalgia; there are stacks of VHS tapes that the cinephiles in the series are engulfed by, and several references to movies smartly written into the show. The episode titles are all dialogues from famous films; Why So Serious? (The Dark Knight), All You Need is Love (Love Actually), and Keep Your Friends Close, But Your Enemies Closer (The Godfather Part II). 

When Ko Gyeom (Choi Woo-shik) runs into (the cleverly named) Kim Mubee (Park Bo-young), it of course involves a movie that brings them together. Gyeom, a laughably bad actor, is trying to audition for a part in a highly admired director’s film. Mubee is an assistant on his set. While he doesn’t land the part, Gyeom becomes an annoyingly chipper presence on set: always up for discussing films with the director, butting into the work of the creative departments, and leaving the generally tsundere Mubee perplexed. A brief romantic encounter ensues, but the pair meet again years later — this time he’s a film critic, and she, a successful director. 

Concurrently, we are introduced to Gyeom’s friends Si Jun (Lee Jun-young) and Ju-a (Jeon Seo-nee), high-school sweethearts turned exes. For Si-jun, a budding music composer just waiting to be discovered, running into his ex-girlfriend after years proves tricky. While he is still smarting from the way their relationship ended, she is not just seemingly nonchalant, but has also tasted success as a screenwriter. Will old feelings resurface, or is it time for some much needed closure?

Choi Woo-shik and Kim Jae-wook in Melo Movie

Melo Movie is as much a show about its central couples as it is about Gyeom and his brother Ko Jun (Kim Jae-wook). Theirs is a complicated relationship — they share a deep bond, and yet, there always remains an underlying, unsaid grief. Through its ten episodes, Melo Movie does have you tearing up quite a bit, and yet, it all doesn’t feel despondent. Writer Lee Na-un, who previously wrote the standout K-Drama Our Beloved Summer is in complete control here. She ensures the show doesn’t focus simply on the romance, and makes it about several relationships. You want to see more of Gyeom and his bond with Director Ma (a lovely Ko Chang-seok), Mubee and her mother, and even Ji-sun and his employer at the bar where he works.

The show’s biggest triumph is how it explores grief. There is the inevitable loss of a loved one, but also the silent mourning of relationships that once were. It helps to have capable actors at the helm who are thoroughly endearing. If Choi Woo-shik as Ung in Our Beloved Summer showed us how he could completely transform into a part, he is once again absolutely at home here as a sweet and sincere Gyeom. Woo-shik shines in even the smallest of scenes, be it his eyes brimming with tears as he struggles to open up, or as he stands outside his house, unable to go inside as he struggles to handle his grief.

Jun-young, Jeon So-nee and Choi Woo-shik in a still from the show

He is ably supported here by Park Bo-young, who doesn’t reduce Mubee to a grumpy, one-note genius. Jun-young is a revelation here. The music idol-actor who was excellent in the 2021 K-Drama Imitation as a troubled K-Pop star, is great as a musical genius here, often wallowing in self-doubt and struggling to come to terms with a breakup.

It is hard to miss some similarities between Our Beloved Summer and Melo Movie—both beautifully shot, aesthetically pleasing shows that involve a couple reuniting years after their breakup. While Melo Movie takes its time, revelling in unhurried details, it is a mature slice-of-life series that isn’t afraid of nuance and going beyond textbook romance.

Melo Movie is streaming on Netflix