My Sassy Girl DVD Review

Korean Romantic Comedy Starring Gianna Jun Ji Hyun & Cha Tae Hyun

Sep 15, 2009

Kwak Jae Young directs this true story based on Kim Ho-Sik's Internet letters turned into novel. This sweet, quirky tale rings close to the heart and moves one to tears.

The original My Sassy Girl released in 2001, is a Korean romance about an average Joe who chances upon a drunken girl (Gianna Jun) on a train. At first Kyun-Woo (Cha Tae Hyun) is embarrassed by her behaviour but a series of events leads him to taking care of her. He finds that each day with her ends differently, and he even gets jailed by mistake! Though she teases him in a million ways, Kyun-Woo finds himself drawn to healing her pain, and begins to feel proud with her. The storyline reads like a soppy tale, but this film’s quirky comedy brings it a step closer to romantic cult classic When Harry Met Sally, with an ending that could bring one to tears. In fact, My Sassy Girl did so well in Korea and Asia, that a Hollywood remake of the same title was released in 2008, starring Elisha Cuthbert.

Romance Comic Strip Style

My Sassy Girl keeps a blog entry feel, since it is based on Kim Ho-Sik’s Internet letters. First of a romantic trilogy, My Sassy Girl plays like a collection of encounters between Kyun-Woo and The Girl (Gianna Jun). Perhaps the style mirrors Kyun-Woo’s fantasy girl, who comes from his favorite ‘romance comic strips’. After she throws up in a train, Kyun-Woo takes her to a motel but is mistaken for kidnapping her, and ends up in jail. When he next sees her, she is sober but more of an enigma than ever. And so the film documents all their crazy adventures together –how she throws him into the water, forces him to wear heels and saves him from a soldier deserter. As she loves scriptwriting, she also pushes Kyun-Woo to read her scripts. Woven between these mad vignettes are scenes from her imagined scripts. In these scenes, both play Terminators, Samurai or lovers in Hwang Sun-Won’s novel Shower. These fragments seem haphazard but give a real-life feel to this true story.

Gianna Jun Ji-Hyun & Cha Tae Hyun

Director Kwak Jae Young keeps My Sassy Girl light by taking what Internet journalist Reed Farrington calls an ‘absurdist attitude’ prevalent in Korean movies like Good, The Bad, The Weird. Asian romance flicks tend to be sentimental. My Sassy Girl works because lead stars Cha Tae Hyun and Gianna Jun give a strong comic edge to their characters. There are no predictable moments in this film, up to the point when The Girl wants to reveal her feelings for Kyun-Woo. Instead, she gets him to climb another mountain and shouts her feelings in tears. The sweeter the romance, the more the film gets away with absurdism and these two leads play this just right. Cha Tae Hyun’s expressive over-the-top reactions create side-splitting comedy. Gianna Jun, recently starring in Hollywood’s Blood: The Last Vampire, has an enviably fresh and natural beauty. She shines when sad, and is hilarious when funny.

Man from the Future

The Girl’s messed-up behaviour, fragment scenes and time travel references are beautifully explained at the end. Both arrange to meet years later under a tree, like Wong Kar Wai’s romances. The Girl learns from others over time how much Kyun-Woo loves her, though she cannot let go of her past. The unusually delightful ending is enough to melt anyone’s heart.

Innocence in Asian Romance

My Sassy Girl is not a groundbreaking film – romance comedies rarely are. But its lovely mix of comedy and sentiment has firmly endeared it in Asian viewers’ hearts. The innocence in Asian romance is brought across nicely in My Sassy Girl thanks to the novelist, the quirky direction and superb acting.

The copyright of the article My Sassy Girl DVD Review in Asian Films is owned by Lynette S.K. Webster. Permission to republish My Sassy Girl DVD Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Oct 21, 2009 8:15 AM

Guest :

Lynette, I was wondering if you had a chance to view the Hollywood remake of "My Sassy Girl." I was surprised at how faithful it was to the original movie. I thought that the director did a great job in framing his shots, but reviews of the remake were lukewarm at best. Having seen the original, I think the experience of viewing the remake was lessened for me.