Navillera
나빌레라
tvN (2021) 12 Episodes
Ballet Fellowship, Based On Webtoon
Masterpiece, Grade: A+
Korean Drama Review by Jill, USA
(No End Spoilers)
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I was too slow in checking out this excellent drama Navillera (2021), available streaming on Netflix, because I honestly thought there was no way it could be better than my two favorite previous ballet themed Korean dramas Angel's Last Mission: Love and especially Ballerino. How wrong I was to wait! Navillera was just as good, if not even better, than both of those previous ballet themed Korean dramas! I loved the extra special plot theme added to it, of two unique individuals becoming fast friends over their love of the art of ballet, a young man ballerino (Song Kang, Four Hands Two Sonatas) and an older man (Park In Hwan, Lost) who had loved ballet since childhood and became like a father substitute to the younger man since his own biological father was often in jail. I was also delighted to see again the senior actress Na Moon Hee (When Life Gives You Tangerines) who is always perfect in all the dramas I've seen her in, in over twenty years of loving Korean dramas. The three of them had beautiful on-screen chemistry together, like a loving extended family!
The main supporting cast members were also exemplary, especially the intense actor Jo Bok Rae (Agent Kim Reactivated) who played one of Park In Hwan's biological sons in the story, and the handsome actor Kim Tae Hoon who had delivered unforgettably exceptional performances in My Love Eun Dong and Operation Proposal. He played the production manager and coach at the ballet company and made all the ultimate decisions in casting and artistic output.
Navillera was directed by Han Dong Hwa (Squad 38) and the derivative script, based off a 2017 webtoon by Han, was written by Lee Eun Mi (Tunnel, Nine Puzzles). The cinematography of the dancing, and the classical ballet music soundtrack, were both gorgeous. I could tell both lead actors had worked very hard learning ballet dance moves, especially in close up views, though sometimes it was obvious in very long view shots that professional ballet dancers were utilized to fill in for them for the more complicated, advanced dance moves. Nevertheless, it all sure looked pretty to me, and I teared up multiple times because of all the beauty!
The Story:
Kindly senior citizen and family man Sim Deok Chul (Park In Hwan) has had a life-long, but suppressed dream of performing ballet. In childhood he had seen ballet performances and had loved them, but had never taken the next step to pursue his secret dream. Now he is seventy years old and retired from his job as a post office employee. Due to growing family obligations he had repeatedly put aside his dream of becoming a ballet dancer but now, after stumbling upon a dance academy and watching a young male dancer through a glass door, he begins to yearn for the chance to finally pursue his dream of becoming a ballet dancer once again, despite the long odds of becoming successful at it at his advanced age.
Deok Chul likes to silently watch this young male dancer several times at the academy until finally this dancer approaches him and asks him why he keeps watching him. Deok Chul blurts out that he wants to learn ballet! This shocks the young man but he happens to mention the confrontation to his ballet manager Ki Seung Joo (Kim Tae Hoon) and, surprisingly, Seung Joo encourages him to teach the old man ballet! Deok Chul is thrilled and quickly grows close emotionally to the young 23 year old male dancer, named Lee Chae Rok (Song Kang).
They bond pretty quickly and that is partly because Chae Rok's Mom, who had been a ballet dancer, had died in his childhood and his Dad, Lee Mu Yeong (Cho Seong Ha, Gu Family Book) had gone bankrupt and spent a lot of time in jail for financial fraud. Chae Rok has been bereft of family for too long. When an old high school enemy of Chae Rok's named Yang Ho Beom (Kim Kwon) attacks these two new ballet friends they both fight him off and tell him to stop being a violent pest, that that is no way to go through life. Strangely enough the bully begins to mellow over time, watching their growing friendship from afar with fascination.
Deok Chul's family, including his wife Choi Hae Nam (Na Moon Hee) and adult children, two sons Dr. Sim Seong Gwan (Jo Bok Rae) and Sim Seong San (Jung Hae Kyun) a businessman with a wife Kim Ae Ran (Shin Eun Jung) and daughter Sim Eun Ho (Hong Seung Hee) are not happy with his decision to learn ballet, but this time Deok Chul does not waver in pursuing his life long dream. He introduces Chae Rok to them and they quickly warm to him, creating for Chae Rok an extended family he soon grows to care about. Even when his jailed Dad is released from prison it is still Deok Chul's family whom Chae Rok feels closest to.
Then cruel tragedy strikes and Deok Chul is diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, just when his ballet skills are improving enough to be cast in a future performance by the ballet academy! Chae Rok is devastated. Deok Chul has become the Dad he never really knew in his life. Will the Alzheimer's be able to be treated well enough with drugs so that Deok Chul can finally fulfill his life long dream of becoming an excellent ballerino on the stage? Will the diagnosis cancel the planned dual stage performance of Chae Rok and Deok Chul? Since I too had a Dad who suffered with Alzheimer's this twist of fate in the story made me feel even more upset than probably other audience members were who had no experience with loved ones coming down with the disease. However, I was glad I stuck through it to the end because I really cared about all the characters by episode twelve and wanted to discover what would ultimately happen to them.
Check out Navillera on Netflix if you are in the mood for a story that is extra special and sublimely artistic. Enjoy!
