This spring, I watched When Life Gives You Tangerines, and I honestly didn’t expect to be so fully transposed. Even though my own experience is tied to French Polynesia and the series is set in South Korea (Jeju), the depiction of island life - the good and the bad - the dream of escaping to the big city (in my case, the “Métropole”; in the series’ case, the mainland), and the struggles of adapting to that big city once you get there as an “exotic” person, all felt so familiar and well done that I cried during every episode. I’m curious - have you ever experienced something like this with a movie or series?
Anne with an E was a surprise favourite of mine. I mostly just resonated with the stiff/gruff characters being totally undone by a loud mouthed girl with a heart of gold and a strong sense of justice. It kind of speaks to the idea that most people are shaped by their hard and tragic lives, but are only a few steps away from being good to one another if shown how.
I also like the unbeatable spirit of the main protagonist who somehow does not let the world get them down, rises to every challenge with spunky defiance, makes friends of their enemies, and sports orange. If Naruto and Anne of Green Gables ever met on the battlefield, I’m not sure who would be left standing.
Anne of Green Gables is one of my favourite comfort novels. It just instantly takes me to a happy place. Somewhere on the internet, I once saw Anne described as
which summarises it very well.
If anyone is interested in checking it out, I cannot recommend this LibriVox recording by Karen Savage enough.