K-drama midseason recap: Navillera – Netflix series balances realism and melodrama
- In this heart-warming family drama, Song Kang plays a stubborn young dancer who helps Park In-hwan’s retired postman fulfil his dreams and get to dance ballet
- The relationship between the oddball couple lies at the heart of the show, and the bond between the two gets stronger with each episode
South Korea can be a tough place to live, and while some series will occasionally gloss over that fact, more often than not the prosaic difficulties of life there are woven deeply into the fabric of the stories that unfold on screen.
Viewers find them relatable and empathise with the characters, but normally such a storyline is counterbalanced by aspirational or fantastical elements – the perfect romance or a David vs Goliath story, often both.
Then there are shows that start roughly at the same place, but don’t sugarcoat the destination. The cross-generational ballet drama Navillera is not without its faults, but in the eight episodes aired to date, it’s been honest about life’s challenges and where they can lead.
Eun-ho (Hong Seung-hee), the granddaughter of Sim Deok-chool (Park In-hwan), is having a hard time landing her all-important first job. She was used and spat out by a manager during a back-breaking internship and her father is putting a lot of pressure on her to meet his expectations.
For his part, Deok-chool has finished his professional life, though we do witness snatches of his earlier trials as a postman in flashbacks. His challenge now is to fulfil a lifelong desire to perform ballet on stage, an end it appears will be precipitated by the Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis he has been keeping from his family.
Though he has reached retirement, Deok-chool must still deal with social strictures. In the first few episodes of the show, he meets with opposition from his family to his new hobby, the rationale being that he shouldn’t embarrass his children. Navillera shows how difficult it is to conform to society’s expectations when you’re entering it, but also on your way out.
Navillera preview: Song Kang plays ballet dancer in Netflix K-drama
In between Deok-chool and Eun-ho we have Seong-gwan (Jo Bok-rae), Deok-chool’s youngest grown-up son and Eun-ho’s uncle. Seong-gwan, who quit his good job as a surgeon and decided to become a documentary filmmaker, offers a curious cinematic reference in episode five when he shares a quote with Eun-ho: “Our lives depend on how well we fight.”
The quote comes from Ken Loach, the great British social realist filmmaker, and while Navillera is far too treacly to be compared to the likes of I, Daniel Blake, it has a similar desire to show us characters reacting naturally and resolutely in a world we can recognise.
It makes sense for a down-on-his-luck documentary filmmaker like Seong-gwan to blurt out a line like that, even if the character hasn’t really come together yet.
The world-weary gaze of Jo, a severely under-utilised film actor, gives Seong-gwan allure, but the writers have appeared somewhat circumspect with his character, perhaps because they fear dashing his mystery by putting too much flesh on his bones.
There hasn’t been a lot of substance to these middle episodes, with Deok-chool’s ballet training advancing slowly in tandem with that of his younger instructor, Lee Chae-rok (Song Kang).
The only major drama is that Deok-chool’s condition, which was previously hinted at, now becomes a serious issue: Deok-chool gets lost in an aquarium on his wedding anniversary and then finds himself frozen to the spot in a park, unsure of who he is.
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Chae-rok, who accidentally finds out about Deok-chool’s problem, rushes to his aid and, in a somewhat corny but undeniably effective moment, performs pirouettes in the park to help his old friend restore his memory.
There are a few stagey feel-good moments, such as when a wheelchair-bound former ballerina performs in front of a ballet troupe, but at the heart of the show has been the gradually tightening bond between Deok-chool and Chae-rok, as the latter’s defences weaken in the face of the former’s repeated acts of kindness and he becomes truly fond of the older man.
On the way to finding Deok-chool in that park, Chae-rok rushes in a panic through all the places they’ve visited together, offering a quick view of their neighbourhood. It’s surprising how commonplace the neighbourhood is, unlike the picturesque and rustic areas we normally see on TV.
It feels like the show takes place in real locations. There are no gleaming Gangnam buildings here and the ballet studio at the heart of it isn’t in a fancy or charmingly ramshackle stand-alone building. It occupies part of one floor of a cramped commercial building, the kind plastered with signs and neon, each fighting for precious real estate in view of pedestrians.
The building houses the clinic the main characters often visit.
Deok-chool spends his days practising diligently in this building, but before long he may not be able to find his way there. Before that happens, will he be able to perform just once on stage? And will he inspire Chae-rok to reach his potential?
Navillera is streaming on Netflix.
