My Sassy Girl (2001)
Starring Tae-hyun Cha, Ji-hyun Jun, Wok-suk Song
Written by Jae-young Kwak, based on the novel by Ho-sik Kim
Directed by Jae-young Kwak


I have been really impressed by Korean cinema as of the last five years. It is insightful, entertaining, and a lot of times better than most Hollywood fare. I love Korean films and I love My Sassy Girl. I love watching people fall in love and this film does a really good job of telling the age-old story of a boy meeting a girl.

When Kyun-woo (Tae-hyun Cha) first encounters his Sassy Girl (Ji-hun Jun, who if I might add is the one of the cutest things on the planet), she is completely drunk and one of the saddest, cutest, funniest girls he has ever met. Even though he doesn’t realize it at first (surprise, surprise), he loves this girl. So after she vomits all over an old man on their subway ride and passes out, Kyun-woo “rescues” her and from that point on they are attached to each other whether they like it or not. They are “just friends”, but everyone thinks they are boyfriend and girlfriend. Why? Because they look so damn cute together and there is so much chemistry between them. Throughout the film we see them develop a strong friendship together and fall in love. The magic however, is in the fact that throughout the whole film we never see them kiss or be sexual with each other. Now that is true friendship and love! Kyun-woo is a hysterically funny character that tries to act tough, but is just a complete softie -- especially around Sassy Girl. Sassy Girl is loud, opinionated, sweet, aggressive, hard to figure out -- all the qualities softie-guys-who-act-tough always fall for.

The film explores the reasons why each character is the way they are and proves that best friends really do make the best lovers. My Sassy Girl sounds like your typical romantic comedy -- but it is not. All the classical date scenes get turned upside down and all the cliches of the genre are challenged.

When I finally fall in love with a girl, I hope to God she is like the Girl from My Sassy Girl. She is perfect, and so is this film.


THE RUNDOWN:

The Good: A fresh romantic comedy that is emotionally sweet.

The Bad: Being remade in North America, with Elisha Cuthbert as the Sassy Girl.

The Law: Definitely make a date with My Sassy Girl.