The Table (2017)

I would have happily watched full-length movies based on the second (the one with Jung Eun-chae) and third (the one with Han Ye-ri and Kim Hye-ok) segments, that's how much I loved them. The conversations were brilliantly written, the actors were marvellous, and the stories themselves quite intriguing. 

The second story floored me completely- I was hooked onto every word they exchanged, every glance, every gesture. Even more than the story and the dialogues, the reason for this was Jung Eun-chae and her superb performance. It was so good that I paused for a while after this segment and quickly looked through her filmography. She communicated through her eyes everything that she couldn't speak out loud- how does one not fall in love with her? The ending left me feeling very soft and wholesome, and I'm smiling just remembering how cute this couple was now.

The third story was definitely the most powerful one, probably because it had two women and because of the way it transitioned from making you feel a vague sense of unease to a wholesomeness tinged with a certain kind of sadness. I came for Han Ye-ri, and I was as impressed by her here as I was in Minari, if not more, because both those characters are as different from each other as they can be and yet, Han Ye-ri executes them with such conviction that you forget the other character very quickly. On top of it, the two ladies complemented each other beautifully and I literally couldn't take my eyes off of them. I'm not even kidding when I say that I would even watch an entire TV series about them and their story and their relationship and everything else. Highlight of the movie for sure.

Now for the first story- I really liked the concept and the actors, but I feel like the story itself wasn't fleshed out enough for there to be any real interest in the characters and their conversation and their dynamics. Everything felt a little shallow and hurriedly written and executed, so that even though the premise is good enough, the final product doesn't live up to the expectations. As for the fourth story: I wish they had just removed it all together. It added nothing to the movie for me, and actually left me feeling a little annoyed because it came right after the Han Ye-ri and Kim Hye-ok segment. And since it was the story that ended the movie, I felt more underwhelmed by the experience than I would have if I had seen a movie with just the first three stories. I lost interest in it within the first five minutes, it was that banal and devoid of anything remotely interesting. I am struggling to not let my feelings for this segment get in the way of my feelings for the rest of the movie, but it's so hard to forget how much I wanted to snooze during this story.

In conclusion, Han Ye-ri, Jeung Eun-chae and Kim Hye-ok carried this movie, and you should watch it for them. It's also slow in a very soothing way, so if you need to watch something like that, this is a good option.

PS- this one shot of Han Ye-ri drinking coffee lives rent-free in my head now. 

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