“Navillera” (나빌레라)

By Jae-Ha Kim
jaehakim.com
May 21, 2021

☆☆☆☆
Lee Chae-Rok (played by Song Kang)
Shim Deok-Chul (played by Park In-Hwan)
↑Note: Korean names denote the surname followed by the given name.

“Navillera” isn’t your standard K-Drama love story. Rather, the focus is on working hard to realize the dreams that went unfulfilled, no matter how old you are.

For septuagenarian Shim Deok-Chul, his unfulfilled dream is ballet. As a child, he had wanted to take lessons, but his father stopped him for a variety of reasons. There was the lack of money. But there was (and still is) also the prejudice against men who participated in the artform. For many close-minded people who fear the unknown, dancing isn’t a masculine hobby to take up.

This adverse reaction is reinforced by those Deok-Chul loves the most: his wife, Hae-Nam (Na Kyung-Ja), and their three children. They are incredulous (and quite rude) about his desire to study dance, which is why he had tried to keep his lessons a secret. His entire nosy neighborhood has something to say about his ballet lessons, and none of the comments are supportive. Rather, they wonder if he’s unhinged.

When Deok-Chul meets Chae-Rok – a young ballerino, who is tasked with teaching the eager old man – he is as happy as the young man is annoyed. Chae-Rok is positive his geriatric student won’t last long. As he begrudgingly accepts the old man’s determination and relatively quick grasp of the basic skills, the two begin to bond as friends and as family.

Though the series starts off depicting Hae-Nam and the adult children as unlikeable, the screenwriters did a good job of showing why they were behaving this way and what it would take for them to open up to their dad’s love for ballet.

As for Chae-Rok, he had to raise himself after his mother died and his father was sent to prison. He works multiple part-time jobs to pay for his rent and expenses. Something I didn’t understand was why his instructor kept telling him to quit working and concentrate more on practicing ballet. How? Chae-Rok wasn’t a trust fund baby. His parents hadn’t been rich. Without his own steady flow of income – modest though it might be – how would he survive in an expensive city like Seoul?

A good majority of Korean dramas end with a flash forward in the series finale. Most don’t do a great job of it, tacking on a clumsy few minutes that do little to enhance the series. But here, it was sweetly done. There are no cloying miracles. “Navillera” ends in a satisfying way that will touch your heart.

Airdates: Twelve hour-long episodes aired on tvN from March 22 to April 27, 2021.

Meta Moment: Park In-Hwan is reunited with his “Miss Granny” co-star Na Kyung-Ja.

Spoiler Alert: I’m not sure this is much of a spoiler, since Deok-Chul’s forgetfulness hints at what will be a major plot point. He has Alzheimer’s and knows he is losing his memory.

One of the most heartbreaking scenes was in Episode 3 when Hae-Nam finds Deok-Chul’s ballet clothes. She tells him to age gracefully by taking hikes and stop embarrassing their children. She takes a pair of scissors to his workout clothes and ruins them all. Aside from the monetary waste (ballet clothes are expensive), it broke his heart to find that his soul mate refused to support him. Meanwhile, his children think he owes them the duty of showing a respectable facade – even if he was unhappy – because they grew up poor (though that was no fault of his).

Eventually, Hae-Nam comes around. When their eldest son verbally lashes out at his father, she takes him to task. Deok-Chul worked hard every single day and never expected to be lauded for his sacrifices. But she was appalled that their own children would look down on them, because they hadn’t had more money to spend on them.

The series finale was bittersweet. Set three years after the main storyline, Deok-Chul has lost most of his memory. Rather than moving into a nursing home as he had planned (because he didn’t want his family to watch as his memory further deteriorated), he remained in his own house. His youngest daughter and her husband moved in next door. They had been unable to have children. After grieving for this aspect of her life, she told her father that maybe her purpose wasn’t to be a mom, but to be a better daughter to help take care of him.

© 2021 JAE-HA KIM | All Rights Reserved