User reviews

As part of my ongoing quest to watch every remake of Italy's Perfect Strangers - a film that has been remade no less than 10 times in the last few years - we find ourselves with one of the closest adaptations to the original, South Korea's Intimate Strangers.

Now, while this film succeeds in replicating the intensity and awkwardness of this dinner gone so, so wrong, furthered by entertaining performances and strong humour, it doesn't quite have that sense of unbridled chaos that made the original so good, missing out on delivering the peak potential of this fantastic story.

First things first, though, I will say that this is a really fun watch. It's not perfect, and doesn't hold a candle to the Italian original, but it effectively combines a great sense of dark humour with riveting drama throughout, keeping you entirely engrossed in the many twists and turns over the course of the evening.

One thing that the film does well is stick close to the atmosphere that was created in the original, and while it has a few details here and there that set it slightly apart, it's certainly the closest version in terms of atmosphere and entertainment value to the original movie. As a result, Intimate Strangers grabs you with the no-holds-barred forwardness when things start to go wrong, one of the greatest suits of the Italian film, but also plays it up in a darkly comic fashion that makes it a thoroughly enjoyable watch.

That excellent blend of dark comedy with the drama at hand comes together well thanks to Lee Jae-kyoo's directing, which retains that sleek vibe which made the Italian original so memorable. In contrast, the French version was a little all over the place, the Spanish moved along at a lightning pace, and the Chinese took a very different tack, but Lee prioritises that sleekness throughout, and that makes South Korea's Intimate Strangers great fun throughout, even when it doesn't quite hit the heights of what its story can achieve.

And that is, rather unfortunately, where my biggest problem with Intimate Strangers comes in. It always seem slightly unfair to judge a film based on how it compares to an original, but when it's a remake that deliberately sticks as close to the original as possible, it's difficult not to contrast and compare, and in this case, feel a little disappointed.

In and of its own, Intimate Strangers is a great watch, and I thoroughly recommend it, but it unfortunately fails to deliver a heart-stopping thrill factor as the dinner party gets totally out of control, something that took the Italian original, and to an extent the Spanish remake as well, up to a whole different level.

While it's a sleek, darkly comic watch that intrigues and entertains throughout, I didn't feel like I finished this movie catching my breath, like I did in both the Italian and Spanish films, and I feel that there was a whole lot more that the film could have done to really ramp up the tension and awkwardness of the situation.

In part, the pace could have been faster - this is probably the most slow-moving version of the story I've seen - while the actors could have dialled up the intensity of their performances a little more over the course of the night, rather than staying at a more middling level that takes away from the potential of the chaos that develops through the story.

Having said all that, I still liked Intimate Strangers a lot. An entertaining, engaging and sleek film that sticks closely to its inspiration's style and story, it has everything to keep you engrossed from beginning to end, coupled with good humour and riveting drama as part of the excellent screenplay, even if it doesn't quite hit the heights that this story can definitely provide.

The movie was very attractive and worth-watching. Even though, there are still illogical details in the content, to me they are acceptable and not very annoying. The most disappontment is the ending, which had destroyed this whole movie :/.

Intimate Strangers is the South Korean remake of the Spanish remake of an Italian movie. That might sound terrible at first contact but Intimate Strangers is actually a rather solid tragicomedy.

The story revolves around a group of former high school friends who meet for a lunar eclipse and a house party. They decide to put their cell phones openly on the table as they pretend that they don't have anything to hide from one another. Things quickly spiral out of control as the group members discover shocking secrets of their friends.

On the positive side, the actresses and actors did an excellent job and are playing their roles with enthusiasm. The numerous secrets that are progressively being revealed are quite intriguing and blend in with the different characters. The movie offers food for thought and makes you wonder how well you really know those who are closest to you. The movie explains that there are three types of lives: a public life, a private life and a secret life.

On the negative side, the movie almost entirely consists of lengthy dialogues and monologues which make it hard to digest. The settings are static and uninteresting. The number of secrets being revealed is not realistic at all. The conclusion to the movie in form of a twist is lazy and disappointing.

To keep it short, Intimate Strangers is a tragicomedy saved by a strong cast and offers some food for thought. The execution is however lacking wit and realism. I would recommend this movie to avid fans of contemporary South Korean cinema only.

My expectation was low going in and I liked it a lot.. The scene is confined to one location and the plot was easy to follow with many twists along the way. Acting was excellent and this movie sums up how all of us live our lives with pursuit of happiness with great fear for failure along the way. All of us want to love and to be loved. Not sure how many of us are successful doing so.

Not a thriller, but it is a simple movie which is Intresting and comedy at sometimes , Mainly this movie has a different concept, If you want to watch a movie which should be interesting throughout when you are bored, then you can definitely watch this.

Intimate Strangers is the remake of a movie with the same name and really, it felt as a remake. Some of the stories or scenes looked strange for a korean movie, although, most of them were forced to feat the korean standards. So, the story isn't bad, but you know where it's headed. And yet, the ending was surprising and left mane questions unanswered. On the other hand, the performances were really good from all the cast and tht helped the movie a lot. Also, some of the secrets were intense and were entertaining to watch. So, seven out of ten.

Darkly comedic and deeply personal Korean movie about 4 couples where the guys have been best friends since grade school and with their wives they decide to play a game at a dinner party where everyone shares each other's calls and texts for the evening. You can imagine how that spirals out of control. Phenomenal acting and truly well worth the watch. The film finishes off with the saying "People live three lives. A public life, a private life, and a secret life." And I've never seen that so beautifully portrayed.

Naybe cuz i watched kill mobile first, its so funny, but many of the details are the same, lot of the dialogues are recognized, so weird to make a copy of the movie, not sure which one got released first, but i loved the chinese version, although i am a big fan of korean movies. the filming is better in this one, some of the good lines in dialogue, but the chinese one has a better scenario and story, more logical and more believable, more intensive, no wasted scenes, this one has much extra meaningless stuff. i recommend kill mobile 2018 as well.

The title of the movie perfectly the message of the movie: Perfect strangers. They are the people you think you know, people who are so close to you yet there are so many things they keep for themselves, secrets, lies and affairs.

Its storyline is easy to understand yet very well-developed. Different issues are touched in order to show the extent of how hypocritical, deceptive our lives can be. Everyone all have our secrets. Things we don't ever dare to confront or admit. Lives we have no courage to expose.

The ending is surprising and real at the same time, which makes the movie even better and more profound.

That's the thing I love so much about Korean/ Asian movies. Under the surface of an entertaining movie, they always manage to deliver a very humane message.

It was obviously heavily inspired by perfect strangers, but it just nails the vibe of the original. It was interesting to see how other countries take on an american movie. i'd recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a movie that will quickly be forgotten in like 3 day i guess

Intimate Strangers is a modern and highly suspenseful drama that effectively illustrated the dilemma between blissful ignorance or painful truth. The simple setting allows emphasis to be put on each and every one of the characters, and even though the humor is not always a hit, it is never a miss. The performances were amazing, the cast were able to show their excellence in keeping just the right balance between comedy and drama. The various twists of this genius screenplay will keep the audience with uncertainty throughout.

The original movie was done by the Italian, which in my opinion is the best. The Spanish then did a remake a year later & then this Korean version came out, yet another year later. I actually prefer the Korean version to the Spanish version, as I feel that the chemistry between the Korean actors are much better. My verdict being the Original Italian version being the best, followed by this Korean version & lastly the Spanish version. Go check out the other two versions of the movie, if you haven't done so.

1) Italian version - Perfetti sconosciuti (2016) 2) Spanish version - Perfectos desconocidos (2017)

I watched this with subtitles, enjoyed how flawless the conversations and how easy it was to connect with the characters. Their stories changed, and your perspective changed.

We, audience, attended this friends gathering, invited to join in their stories and secrets. It is shot in a way that makes you feel you are actually in the apartment, easy on the eye to follow, and as their secrets unravel you, like the rest of the people in the room start judging these characters. The story/ies evolve to cover all aspects of family relationships, midlife crisis, love, romance, children and friendship, in less than hours... It is a very good movie, story, camera, directing all good.. Highly recommended.

The relationships are messy with deep personal secrets being revealed to the worst people. I haven't seen the Italian version yet but I loved the chemistry of the cast. They all embody their characters so well that you could believe that this was an actual friend group and we are watching a chaotic reality show. It reminds us how our lives are equally as complex and hidden even in the times of social media. No matter how well you think you know someone do you really? While my social anxiety hated every moment of it I just couldn't help but keep watching.

The 2 main variables for a confined movie are: strong characterization and strong script. This movie has it both. All actresses and actors give their best to make their characters come to live. Almost 2 hours of movie duration just went by because of this. And kudos to the scriptwriters and editors who have done a very good job.

The only flaw in this movie is the alternate ending. It really kills off the vibe that has been painstakingly built from the start. If not for that, I would give this movie 9/10 star. That's how good this movie is.

It's popular for original movie not a long time back, the story is exactly the same except the dish and mode of phone used. No point to replicate something and taking credit form the original. And the most important is it's not better than the original.

The change in the ambiance between the beginning which was about childhood friends getting together as adults for dinner, and the joy of this reunion, vs. The 2nd half of the film where the pain of secrets revealed will be difficult to heal, some more than others. Well done!

Synopsis: Four friends reunite after a long time and play a game over dinner in which they have to share all new incoming messages and calls on their cell phones. The game starts out fun, but as the game goes on, it starts to reveal each other's secrets.... Four friends reunite after a long time and play a game over dinner in which they have to share all new incoming messages and calls on their cell phones. The game starts out fun, but as the game goes on, it starts to reveal each other's secrets.

The original movie is only made on 2016, two years later, you're remaking it? The only reason i gave 2 two stars is because it's remaking a good movie, or else why spending so much money to film a same movie.