KDrama Review: Flower Boy Next Door

K-Drama Review: 

Flower Boy Next Door

Genre: Romantic Comedy
Rating: 4 out of 5

The General Story Line?

So basically our main protagonist, Ko Dok-Mi (Park Shin-Hye) is a really quiet, reserved editor who likes to stay in her own apartment living in her own little world. She is in some way scared of what the world has to offer even though she has big dreams, wishes to see the world and experience it. Her apartment building also consists of her neighbour, Oh Jin-Rok (Kim Ji-Hoon), who is very observant and has an eye out for Dok-Mi (who is secretly in love with her). A graphic designer, good looking but also an introvert he aims to get to know Dok-Mi in his own slow paced way. The start of the series shows us Dok-Mi peeping from her window, watching her neighbor, a good looking guy she likes/admires named Tae-Joon (Kim Jung-San).

We flick back to Enrique Keum (Yoon Si-Yoon), a young good looking game designer who has moved back to Korea from Spain into the apartment with Tae-Joon (Kim Jung-San). We eventually see him moving in with Tae-Joon and discovers Dok-Mi to be what he thinks is a 'pervert woman peeking at her neighbour' After the most hilarious scenes they eventually support each other emotionally as Enrique's first love is actually in love with Tae-Joon instead of him, a one sided love...oh how sad. HOWEVER! Dok-Mi and Enrique begin to become more and more involved, until Enrique has this idea to 'bring her out into the world'. He falls in love with her and she is interested in him except for one thing. Her neighbour in the room next to her, Jin-Rok also loves her and doesn't like Enrique involving himself with her and getting in her way of her peaceful life. Forming a love triangle, but not in a bad way because they need each other in a way to grow internally which makes it so much sweeter.

The Acting:

Park Shin-Hye is really good at changing her characters but also remains in keeping her 'mark' on the role, we still think that this is her even when she is acting. However compared to the drama's she has been in she has a remarkable skill in really exaggerating the quality needed most for her characters in a beautiful elegant kind of style. The placid, quiet, very opinionated Ko Dok-Mi really needed that disciplinary look, the one where she is able to sit in a room for hours and not see the world but remain as calm as possible, but also needs the look that she has had experiences which she was scarred by. Through her wonderful expression, I think she managed to portray her idea of what a reserved hermit crab kind of character is like. The development through the series is really good and does not move too fast or too slow in terms of personality development and showing it. Enrique is a character needing a very pure and honest, open minded approach but also a good understanding is needed of what his motives are and why he is being like that. After the many different kinds of acting styles Yoon Shi Yoon has done, I think this one is the most light, open hearted kind of style. Very cheerful and unique in the type of innocence, its like we can see a child through his acting such as the sulks, sad faces and the overly exaggerated smiles is so natural and very straight-forward. Yoon Shi Yoon really perfectly portrayed his character, not because I am biased because I love him, but because from watching his other drama's and appearances he so easily becomes his character and embeds himself with the roll well.

The Script: 

The script....its very simple and open, not very constricted to one idea and explores a range of feelings and themes. The way Yoon Shi expresses his lines and what he says really gets the character to show innocence but also a cocky confident attitude which is somewhat nice and cute and cuddly. Also Dok-Mi being very quiet, its very important to have lines that are simple but very effective, something that people will want to listen to, WHAT IS GOING THROUGH HER MIND!? The writers really did a good job at creating a very interesting and inclusive script, something that appealed to the people was how modern and normal the conversations are but so interesting that it definitely perks our curiosity. 

The Themes: 
Themes that are really explored are the obvious ones, love and friendship, but also things like discovering life or exploring a  new culture such as Watanabe and even Dok-Mi really opening up to a new environment (its adorable how Watanabe speaks Korean and how basic it is...its really kawaii :3 ) It also explores selflessness but also ironically explores selfishness and really deep ideas like career decision making and the past!

What makes it different to others?

Something to take note is the storyline is very interesting, you never get a character coming from Spain obviously having western or foreign influence giving the film a little change in the traditional Korean story base and style.

I have never seen such character mix before, Dok-Mi is really different, its not the shy type or the loner kind of character is more like a deeper character with a strong personality making it really hard to forget.

Yoon Shi Yoon is in it....simply that makes it awesome. His acting is simply perfect if you dont believe me you must watch King of Baking, his acting is  remarkable I have never seen such raw, perfect acting before with so much emotion! Its impeccable!  

Style of Filming:

They use a lot of close shots on the face to really exaggerate the emotions which Dok-Mi and Enrique express. Dok-Mi has very small emotion changes, as her placid face hides what she is thinking (making it really special when Enrique knows what she is thinking) so its really important as to how the director focuses deeply on her body language, and expressions. Lots of mid shots show the relationship of the character with their environment such as Dok-Mi in her small, overly book filled apartment as well as in comparison with Enrique and his modernized apartment showing the difference in lifestyle. Other techniques used include,  the use of a paler, not so prominent (doesn't use young teenish, bright, strong colours) colour scheme with lots of natural tones very down to earth colours apart from the clothing that Yoon Shi Yoon is wearing really giving the atmosphere an indie but very typical life of a normal, not so out there kind of girl. It really helps display that down to earth tone, the one where she is very in her own average life and in my opinion, is very beautiful and classical. The tan browns, whites, black, grey, and any colours which are not fluro is really beautiful in the kind of atmosphere. The colouring is not overly saturated, and has a good temperature for the colours of the clothing. In contrast, when Enrique is wearing these bright reds very extravagant colours it does show that he is much more in another, high road kind of life. He has the modern lifestyle, the more social, experiential life.  You can see that this changes through the series as towards the end.

My Favourite Quotes:  (SHALL CONTINUE TO ADD AS I WATCH IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN)

"Watanabe is happy!"

"Its hard to see you pushing me away" - Such a sad thing for Yoon Shi to say, my heart ached when I heard that. 

Overall: 

I loved the indie nature of the series but it still was able to keep in context of the modern world, so  the audience really has the ability to relate and say hey that is pretty much my life, keeping in touch with contemporary themes and good unique idea's. Character development is really sweet to see, how they bond and grow together so interestingly.