Navillera (2021)

Quick Take: Navillera (2021), starring  Song Kang and Park In-hwan.  9.5/10.  12  80-minute episodes.

Synopsis:  Shim Deok-chui, a 70-year-old retired postman, decides to take up ballet — his lifelong dream.   He ends up with Lee Chae-rok as his teacher.  Chae-rok is a 23-year-old ballet student, training for a major international competition but hindered by a bad ankle and self-doubt.  Chae-rok starts out resentful about wasting his time with the old man, but he comes to admire Deok-chui’s determination to accomplish as much as he can, despite his age and the opposition of his family.

Review:   As with many Korean tv dramas, Navillera was first a webtoon.  Apparently that’s where the innovative plots are being created — the ones Hollywood doesn’t have.

Navillera is a delight.  Deok-chui is the hero who overcomes all obstacles to pursue his dream.   Chae-rok has issues to deal with as well.  His father is just out of prison, someone wronged by his father is out to get him, an ankle injury threatens to end his career, and his elderly student makes him crazy.

To prepare for this role, Song Kang studied ballet for six months. He does a great job, not only with the ballet but conveying a troubled youth who matures into confidence. However, it is the veteran actors who shine in Navillera.  Park In-wan and the actress who played his wife, Na Moon-he, provide tender, nuanced interpretations of aging and love. 

Recommended

Rewatchable - 4, Compelling - 5, Plot/ Story/Writing - 10,  Acting/Casting - 10, Production - 10, Bonus - 6.    Bonus points for emotional impact.

Notes:

Song Kang

is popularly known as the “Son of Netflix” since most of his dramas have aired on that platform. See him also in The Liar and his Lover (2017), Love Alarm (2019), Sweet Home (2020), Nevertheless (2021), and Forecasting Love and Weather (2022).

Park In-hwan

has been acting since the 60’s in film, television, and theater. South Korea awarded him the Order of Cultural Merit in 2021.