My Sibling’s Romance (wavve)
Yoon Haein : “Romance” and “Sibling.” A show with a title that seems to be an anomaly in the age of dating shows. My Sibling’s Romance takes a concept that will send chills down your spine if you have siblings. “It's best for siblings to support each other from afar and pray for the best,” says Jaehyung, a cast member. The setting of watching your sibling’s romance in the same space, however, is a surefire way to get the dopamine boost that is the lifeblood of this era. From the producers' instruction to choose “someone who my blood relatives would be attracted to at first sight,” to the cast members’ distress at having to face their blood relative's “social mask” outside of their home, to the striking resemblance of siblings who have to hide their identities, it's hard not to get a laugh. There are also situations that we have never seen in existing dating shows, like Chulhyun who is more devoted in his search for his future brother-in-law than his own partner or Seseung who clenches his teeth and builds up his unchosen blood relative.

One of the reasons the producer Lee Jin-joo’s previous show, EXchange season 2 exploded in popularity was that it delicately dealt with the actual relationships among the cast, going beyond delivering the heterosexual vicarious satisfaction and creating empathy. Like its predecessor, My Sibling’s Romance delivers the romantic idea and vicarious satisfaction of a good relationship as the cast dine, chat, and bond with new people in a well-decorated space. Of course, the power of realistic yet unrealistic cast and capable directing set up for the virtues of a dating show cannot be overlooked, but the fact that it also carefully depicts the relationship of the siblings who are destined to be together in the process brings out a different charm. Like the subtitles “My blood relative has been there as far as I can remember” suggest, My Sibling’s Romance makes us reflect on siblings as beings who inevitably depend on each other, in addition to the media stereotype of siblings who are always bickering. Although they can annoy you simply by talking, you constantly care and worry about them. They are so different from you yet so similar and they are so hard to read yet extremely understandable. Siblings carry that kind of weight. A dating show that gives new meaning to blood ties, which may be more predetermined than any other “relationships,” has emerged.

EVIL DOES NOT EXIST 
Jeong Seohui (Cinema Journalist):The film opens with an extreme low-angle shot of the outstretched branches of a tree. As a stacked string score accompanies us and we are swept up in the uplifting feeling of nature, we realize that no human can be the “master” of the mountains. Takumi (Hitoshi Omika) and his daughter Hana (Ryo Nishikawa) live in a small village with pheasant feathers and deer tracks, where drinking water comes straight from a spring. An entertainment company wants to build a glamping site here. It's a new business, a subsidized venture, and the residents' legitimate concerns and objections are about to be brushed aside. The company doesn’t care whether a well becomes wastewater or a bonfire becomes a forest fire. Takumi, the residents' messenger, speaks like an interpreter of nature. “Too much will break the balance.” He knows the habit of deer jumping three meters in the air. Hana blends in with the red pines and black larch. The father and daughter understand the place. The loud gunshot in the beginning, followed by a sloppy construction plan, pushes the deer into a corner. While ambition ruins the wild, the deer is missed and harms an innocent bystander. Takumi does not exalt the deer as a spirit being. He simply recognizes the homeostasis of nature: A cowardly deer will fight back when attacked. Takumi makes the unwitting adversary experience the order of action and reaction by taking a cue from nature's way of paying it forward. Evil does not exist in the form of evil. You are not missed. You are shot. Penetrating wounds are deadly without exception. What comes next? Providence.

IU - “Holssi”
Randy Suh (Music Writer): This is what IU's hip-hop looks like. A dull bass that contradicts the lightness of the word "holssi (spore)" leads the song to the end, and IU simply hums over it. The first verse of the top line sounds like a C major nursery rhyme, but then the last note in “한참 더 위로 (Much higher),” drops to a B. The playfulness of walking a tightrope between major (The Mixolydian mode) and minor based on C is lifted into the sky with “걔는 홀씨가 됐다구 (She has become a spore),” before returning to the nursery rhyme-like C major for the chorus. It goes against the message of the lyrics. A declaration of “I will live like this” cannot be as light as a spore. but IU has been doing this for quite some time. She takes serious concerns that everyone thinks about but quickly forgets, such as attitudes toward life (“Even if that's the case, I won't wear glasses” in “Glasses”), certainty in relationships (“I know for sure that today's fireworks won't end” in “dlwlrma”), and happiness (“It's not like you have to be lucky to love” in “unlucky”), puts them in a light, retro-style arrangement that makes them seem like they're not so serious, and gives something to think about. “Holssi” is no different. Beneath the beat and the easy singing (which only sounds easy because she sings so well) is her desire to be “free rather than beautiful,” which she once again puts into the pocket of the listener's mind.