"Dream To You" Lee Hye-ri conveys warm support to viewers through Joo I-jae's journey as she runs toward her dream again.
ENA Monday-Tuesday drama "Dream To You" (directed by Yoo Seon-dong, written by Jung Eun-bi) centers on the first-love reunion romance between Woo Soo-bin (Hwang Inyoup) and Joo I-jae (Lee Hye-ri) after 15 years, offering excitement and cheerfulness. As the reunited pair make a film together, their becoming each other's salvation captures viewers' hearts.
Above all, Lee Hye-ri's delicate acting shines as Joo I-jae, who had once abandoned her dream after hitting the walls of reality, meets Woo Soo-bin and begins moving toward her dream again. Lee Hye-ri portrays Joo I-jae, a realistic character who may seem ordinary but whose life anyone can relate to at least once, with her own color, providing empathy and comfort.
The Joo I-jae that Lee Hye-ri completes is not someone who loses her luster because she did not achieve her dream. She represents all of us who shine simply by enduring the reality in front of us and living day by day.
At the end of her teens when she dreamed of becoming a film director, Joo I-jae went looking for Woo Soo-bin, who was about to give up on his dream, and had a traffic accident. Although she later overcame serious aftereffects and adapted to reality, the past when she herself let go of her dream remained a long-standing regret.
"I feel like I'm living life too hurriedly. Just cleaning up what's right in front of me. Who would have known that the work I chose because I needed money would become a week, then a month, then years?" Joo I-jae's confession struck the hearts of those who put their dreams on hold to live in reality.
Lee Hye-ri added depth to the character by sensitively expressing Joo I-jae's complex emotional line, from the emptiness felt after losing her dream to the fear and excitement at the moment she faced her dream again.
Especially moving was the scene in which Joo I-jae asks Woo Soo-bin, who learned the truth about the traffic accident 15 years ago, "I really want to do well. I don't want to regret it anymore. Please help me, Woo Soo-bin. Let me keep running," delivering a deep resonance. Joo I-jae's earnest resolve never to give up on her dream was conveyed intact, evoking strong emotion.
Lee Hye-ri's gaze, which expressed the complicated feelings of having to let go of her first love while looking at Woo Soo-bin, who said he would distance himself for her sake, also heightened the immersion of the drama. Her eyes and expressions, which conveyed deeper emotions than words, expressed Joo I-jae's heart and drew praise from viewers.
Later, as Woo Soo-bin and Joo I-jae reconfirm their feelings for each other and become lovers, Lee Hye-ri's acting shone in the process of their becoming each other's salvation by embracing one another's wounds. She naturally absorbed a wide range of emotional changes, from the thrill of first love to the camaraderie of nurturing a shared dream and the image of lovers growing by leaning on each other, convincingly completing the character's narrative.
"Dream To You" has only four episodes left until it ends. As Woo Soo-bin and Joo I-jae nurture their dream and love together and continue their sweet secret relationship, the filming of the movie "Gyeongseong Love Song" that they are making together is also gradually ripening.
With the appearance of Joo I-jae's ex-boyfriend Geum Seong-mu (played by Lee Joo-an), new changes are also foreshadowed in the two's relationship. Whether Joo I-jae and Woo Soo-bin will be able to protect both their dream and their love draws attention until the end.
[Photo] Provided by KT Studio Genie
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