Love Rain (2012) User Reviews

A beautiful, heart wrenching tale of loss, love and what ifs

[Rita_Roy · 8/10 · 12 August 2018]

It's slow, and gentle. You need time to savour it. The older lead couple grow over the years; the younger ones go through painful angst. The male leads have done a fine job of conveying their journey as has the older female lead. I found the younger female lead has done a great job but it was harder to invest in the character. She seemed lack in pride but it could be just the nature of extreme youth.

The scenes from other parts of Korea was nice to see as well as most K Dramas tend to focus on Seoul and that too a rather plastic version at times.

Worth your time if you are able to invest in the slow pace

Classic, Slow Burn K-Drama

[nishera · 7/10 · 16 January 2020]

This show is the very definition of slow burn romance, with lots of deep, restrained emotion and sacrificial love. I actually dropped it a couple times during the first 4 episodes, because the backstory (though vital to the plot), was understated to the point of being frustrating. However, if you hang in there, things do pick up after that.

I can't say there was much about the story or its execution that seemed particularly original to me, but that's ok. Sometimes you'd rather have a cheeseburger than gourmet food, right? So while you can expect many of the usual tropes (i.e. love polygons & rivals, playboy male + average girl, overbearing matriarch, etc), the film at least had a good cast who made those tropes (mostly) believable.

IMO, the most notable thing about this film was actually its soundtrack and background music, which featured an incredibly diverse array of era-appropriate songs in English, Korean and French (heck, I even heard some John Denver in there!) Oh, and shout out to the writers for featuring a girl using power tools (definitely not a common archetype)!

Fair warning: the current subtitles on Netflix are rather poor, with segments of conversation where the wording is confusing, misleading, out of context or fails to tie together the larger meaning/subtext of what is being said.

ROMANCE RATING: 8/10 The romance is relatively typical and formulaic, and there were only 1-2 really invested kiss scenes (plus a few other PDA moments). However, the main leads had good chemistry and you really felt their desperation...which might be why I thought some of the later hug scenes felt less realistic than if they had featured kisses instead.

In short, if you like classic K-drama and manga-type premises, I'd say give this show a try. It might resonate with you. (Circumstantially) Recommended.

An emotional drama

[leahcubed · 8/10 · 27 January 2020]

This spans 2 generations and 2 couples. The mom Kim Yoon-hee (Lee Mi-sook) and father Seo In-ha (Jung Jin-young) of the two "main" characters lost their 1st chance at love and wound up marrying other people. The son, Seo Joon (Jang Keun-suk) and daughter Jung Ha-Na (Im Yoon-ah) meet by chance and fall for each other. As fate would have it, the mother and father meet later in life and have their 2nd chance at love. They decide to marry and when they tell their children the young couple must decide if they give up their own love for the love of their parents.

This was an emotional roller coaster and I felt heartbreak for both couples. I felt sad at the end and couldn't quite place why but I think it is because, although it ended well, not everything was tied up in a perfect bow. I had questions about what had happened with some of the characters and it just didn't feel like the happy fair tale I like to escape to. I would still rate this high but would say watch it when you are ready for an emotional roller coaster.

The best K Drama so far

[kharevijayavk · 10/10 · 18 January 2019]

Love Rain showcases love in two different eras in a very realistic and emotional way along with potraying very complex family and relationship dynamics. The entire cast is amazing but Keun Suk Jang steals the show! He completely bowls over with his acting prowess and is convincing as an introvert in love in the bygone era of 1970s as well as the modern lover (JKS fan forever!) Also, it doesn't have any corny comedy sequence just for heck of it. I wish they make more dramas like this one. A must watch!

Typical kdrama but a very good one

[ancaghinea · 8/10 · 1 June 2020]

A drama that doesn't promise much at the beginning but delivers very well up to the end. Very consistent throughout all episodes and really warm, emotional characters. The male lead is a good actor with an interesting look, I will definitely try to watch something else with him.

A star vehicle with a good start but runs out of steam

[phd_travel · 6/10 · 30 January 2023]

The first 2/3rds of this show is quite good funny romantic watchable complex and emotional. But the latter third runs out of steam with a repetitive back and forth about not being together because of some inexplicable fauxcest thing. Why the couples cannot be together makes no sense. Frustrating and old fashioned. All this leads to a weak cheap looking ending.

The story starts strong with a 70s campus romance and love square. Then from ep5 things move to 2012 the cast play the children. Quite poignant seeing how things played out. And the older couple 's story was quite emotional. Nice contrast with the kids and their different personalities. Basic premise of The Classic with the kids of separated lovers falling in love. But the story goes way beyond.

The cast is great with the fine Lee Mi Sook as the older heroine. The main younger leads are appealing. Jang Keun Seuk sings and acts the 2 different characters quite well. Firstly the self sacrificing artist father and then the scowling photographer son. YoonA is quite good too in the different characters. Early appearance of Kim Young Kwang as a secondary love interest. Actually I liked JKS disapproving mother Hye Ja the most at least she wasn't frustrating like the rest of them.

If only the show was only 16 episodes they could have done away with the repetitive boring angst and self sacrificing scenes. Then it would have been quite a gem.

Awesome Korean Drama ,outclass Acting by all cast

[jsaleem-89705 · 9/10 · 7 July 2020]

Loved this KDrama ,have two stories one happened in old time & one in new era 20 Centuary, enjoyed whole 20 episodes,especially starting four episodes were soo unique & heart warming,which show old Era(1970) All cast act sooo good especially in ha & yoon he ( in 1970) was my favourite couple

Good Enough

[PennyReviews · 5/10 · 8 May 2019]

What I liked about Love Rain was the concept. It was an interesting idea to connect two stories together, one from the past and one taking place in the present. Maybe if this one was a few episodes shorter all those cliche predictalbe scenes would not have happened and the story would have concluded nicely and satisfying. However, it didn't and thus, the episodes towards the ending were boring and just too loooong. The start of the drama was kind of slow as well. Actually, the second story was better than the first one. I did enjoy however the way they presented that era. Also, the love triangle was better in the first story than in the second one, where it was weak. Finally, they didn't really explain the character's past in betweet the two stories. So, 5 out of 10.