Korean TV Series ~ Hotel De Luna (Movie Review)

Hotel De Luna is a 2019 South Korean fantasy and romance drama TV Series with 16 episodes. It was directed by Oh Choong-Hwan with a beautiful story written by Hong Jung-eun and Hong Mi-ran. The drama series starred beautiful and wonderful actors like Lee Ji-eun, Yeo Jin-goo, Lee Tae-seon, Seo Yi-sook, Shin Jung-geun, Bae Hae-sun amongst many others.

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Synopsis
Jang Man-wol is trapped in her own grudge and cursed to live her life as the CEO of Hotel De Luna till she can break free of her grudge.

The drama series revolves around Jang Man-wol, a woman with a painful past and a very strong grudge who has been cursed to live her life till the day she is able to resolve her grudge. Already accepting her fate she takes pleasure in anything that catches her fancy, hiding her pain under the facade of fancy cars, expensive clothes and restaurants. As the CEO of Hotel De Luna, she does her job in assisting the dead into the afterlife and helping those with unfinished business in the land of the living to get their unfinished business done as she charges them money for it. She is assisted by the staffs of the hotel, who are also ghost with unresolved grudges. However, after many years of living her life cold heartedly, she made a deal with a human who went into coma and happened to enter the hotel. So in exchange for his life,he gave up his son to work for Jang Man-wol when he is of age.

Koo Chang-seong grew up to be a nice, selfless, sincere young man who is good at what he does. With his great achievements he is sort after by big hotels but had to face the reality of accepting to work at Hotel De Luna as per his father's deal with Jang Man-wol. With no choice left, he became the general manager of the hotel. Unknowingly to Koo Chang-seong and Jang Man-wol, their meeting was part of the plan of god who wants Man wol to resolve her grudge. The drama takes us through the journey of how they became close and feelings began to grow, but due to Man-wol's past, she fought hard to remain a mean person, which however did not last for long. The story also follows through the journey of various ghost with grudges and how they were able to get them resolved enabling them move to the afterlife.

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The TV Series is a very entertaining one, giving you all the emotions in different episodes. At times you laugh, especially at the beginning when Jang Man-wol gave Koo Chang-seong the ability to see ghosts, lol....I could not help but laugh a lot, especially in a particular scene when he saw a ghost without eyes, a bit scary though but his reaction was so crazy, you would forget immediately how scary the ghost looks lol. Also, when he started working at the great Hotel De Luna filled with ghost you just can not help but laugh out loud but he got used to it later on though. There were also scenes that makes you want to use the tissue paper as you may not be able to stop tears from flowing, you want Jang Man-wol to resolve her grudge but the question is how is it going to be possible, without feeling sad for Koo Chang-seong on the other hand?. I do not want to give out much but you would totally understand when you eventually get to see the TV Series. Not also forgetting times, when you just enjoy the playful acts of both leads and other characters with stories of their own.

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Lee Ji-eun popularly known as I. U, as Jang Man-wol in this series is well known for her wonderful performances in dramas she features in, one of which was "Scarlet Heart or Moon lovers". She did not fail here either, as she was able to give an amazing performance, portraying her characters in a very special way that makes you cheer her on. Her facial expressions at different times was well delivered, being the mean and cold hearted Jang Man-wol and other times being a woman in love even while she tries to hide her feelings. Yeo Jin-goo as Koo Chang-seong's performance was also a good one, he keeps you entertained in a very mild way. Although, did not have a complex role like I. U, he was still able to keep my eyes glued to his cute, selfless, funny and emotional acts, I think I shed a tear in one of the last episodes as I watched him cry, you can't just help but get emotional. Plus the OST is so beautiful, I even had to download one of the songs that I liked better, I usually download the Ost I love from kdramas and I just play them over and over again till I get tired of it, like I can ever get tired of listening to it lol. The other actors all portrayed their roles well which added to the spark it got overall.

The director did a good job in choosing wonderful cast for the drama series. A complex but nice plot, he was able to carry on the story successfully giving it a sad but great ending. For me the drama was able to explore some areas of lives that needs attention, like when we hold grudges against another person which only leads to heartache. The drama tried to pass a message of letting go of things that would most likely keep us tied down without being able to move on. Even as difficult as it seems, forgiveness was also a point to note in the drama series. Also, importantly it showed us one of the hardest things on earth which is moving on after loosing a loved one.

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Hotel De Luna for me was a kdrama series that did not disappoint, credit also goes to the cameo characters whose performance added more fun to the drama. An entertaining kdrama Tv series that you totally want to see, so if you looking to see a kdrama series or any series at all, then do well to check this out, you would love it.

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Would Jang Man-wol be finally able to resolve her grudge and move on?

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Watch trailer here....

MOVIE URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/90447?language=en-US

My Rating: 9/10(AAA)

Thanks again for reading my post, do have a lovely day.

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