With a little spare time on my hands, I got to watch #249 on my list. It is a wonderful little Korean romantic-comedy called, My Sassy Girl. And at 137 minutes I needed all the spare time I could get. That’s right 2 hours and 17 minutes! In all fairness, I did watch the director’s cut which was about 20 minutes longer than the theatrical release, but I can see the guys cringing now. A rom-com with the same running time as Mystic River and Dune. But despite its length, it was actually quite good.

First Half

Let me be the first to say that I am not a fan of the contemporary romantic comedy. They are overly-formulaic, cliched, mindless, and saccharine. The plot structure of all romantic comedies follows the same basic structure. Boy meets girl (or vice versa), then there is some sort of spark. Either they hate each other, or they instantly fall deeply in love. But either way, they have a conflict. Some sort of roadblock to their blissful romance. And usually, through a series of generally funny (sometimes touching) events, one or more of the characters goes through a personal change. This change dissolves the roadblock and the couple can live happily ever after. If it doesn’t end happily ever after there is still a message of the power of love to conquer all. This structure isn’t inherently bad, it has just been overplayed.

So what makes My Sassy Girl different from the sea of pabulum that floods theaters every year? I’m talking about movies like: Monster-in-Law, Must Love Dogs, Failure to Launch, My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Music and Lyrics, Good Luck Chuck, 27 Dresses, Fool’s Gold, Made of Honor, The Proposal, It’s Complicated, Leap Year, and Valentine’s Day. I’ve seen all of those, and most are watchable and some are even entertaining, but none of them rise above mediocrity. It’s like eating a turkey sandwich on Thanksgiving when you really want a feast.

To examine why this film is better than the rest I must examine what makes a movie great in the first place. In other words, what is it that most people are looking for when they watch a movie? The easy answer to that is entertainment, but I believe that a larger goal is escapism. We watch movies to be transported from the monotony of our lives for a couple of hours. A great film is written and acted well, and successfully creates an engaging experience that captures the viewers’ imagination and sustains their interest. The best films do this with skill and artistry and will emotionally move the viewers and give them something to think about. These movies stay with you, long after you leave the theater.

Is My Sassy Girl one of these movies? At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I don’t really think so. I am tempted to sing the praises of this film because it was well received in Korea when it was released, and nearly every critic loves it. But I personally think that foreign films are up there with modern art, jazz music, and anything French on the “I pretend to enjoy this because it makes me feel superior to you” list.

Second Half

Let me introduce you to Kyun-woo. He is our slightly perverted, mostly innocent, slacker leading man (think Seth Rogen in Knocked Up). This film (based upon a series of supposedly true stories posted on the internet) tells the story of the first and last time that he falls in love. One day, on the way to pay his grieving aunt a visit he saves a beautiful drunken girl (whose name we never learn) from being hit by a subway train. She stumbles about and after vomiting on a fellow passenger she points at Kyun-woo calling him “Honey,” then passes out on the floor. Unable to leave her in this state, he picks her up and carries her to a motel where instead of receiving a thank you, he gets a large hotel bill and a night in jail. This unnamed sassy girl calls him after he gets out and tells him to meet her at a coffee shop. There she orders for him and forces him to pay then calls him a liar. Later, after confessing that her boyfriend has just broken up with her, she passes out again. Being a gentleman, he takes her back to the same hotel. And as he takes care of her, he vows to heal her sorrow.

I don’t want to spoil the film, though I doubt many of you will ever watch it anyway, but these two grow closer through some funny, touching, and painful moments. This girl is not just sassy, she is downright violent. But despite her inability to handle her liquor and her love of beating him, his affections for her grow. That is until she has him write a letter expressing his feelings for her. She writes a letter as well, and they meet to bury these letters under a tree where they will meet in exactly two years to see if they are meant to be together. And just as they met in a train station they part ways in a train station, their destiny hanging in the balance of two years time.

As in most romantic comedies there is a element of personal change. During these two years our slacker becomes a success. He improves himself in almost every way and he arrives at the tree exactly two years later to reunite with his lost love. I refuse to tell you whether she comes or not. You’ll have to watch it for yourself, but remember this movie is not your average romantic comedy. Expect the unexpected.

Overtime

I enjoyed My Sassy Girl because it was deeper than your average romantic comedy dealing with issues of grief, destiny, and time travel (seriously). But that being said, I disliked the overall tone of the film. I’m no male-chauvinist, but if I had a girl that treated me as badly and humiliated me as much as she does him, I would leave her, forget about destiny. That was one of several cultural roadblocks that made this movie hard to watch (especially the first half). Also, I’m sure this is a cultural thing too, but I didn’t feel like the film flowed very well. It was choppy in portions, and dragged on in others. I appreciated the length of time that was represented in the film as it made everything more plausible. I’m not one of those, “If its got subtitles, it ain’t fit to watch!” types, but the film itself was just too long.

This one is worth a watch, it is a beautiful and moving love story. But I’m still not sure why it did so well in Korea, outselling Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter which were playing at the same time. Perhaps what the film’s leading man says is true, “Koreans like melodramas.” It’s still pretty hard to find this film in American markets, so many will settle for the American version which was released direct to DVD in 2008. I’ve seen them both and I’ll tell you what I think about that version and how it stacks up against the original in my next post.