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My
Sassy Girl - Director's Cut |
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review | notes | awards | availability | |
Cha Tae-hyun gives Jeon Ji-hyun a ride |
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AKA: |
Yupki
Girl |
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Year: |
2001 |
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Director: |
Kwak
Jae-yong |
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Cast: |
Jeon Ji-hyun, Cha Tae-hyun, Yang Kum-young, Kim Il-woo |
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The
Skinny: |
Despite its over-ambitious plot (time travel?), and
being somewhat overlong, Kwak Jae-yong's comeback romantic
comedy is a resounding success. It might be the perfect
"date movie," but then - if you're the guy
- you have to pay the consequences. |
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Review
by LunaSea: |
After years of inactivity,
director Kwak Jae-yong returned to Korean Cinema with
this box office hit that was popular in both Korea and
Hong Kong. His previous works were rather straightforward
melodramas, and it seemed like he would disappear from
the industry without making too much noise. However,
he became inspired by Kim Ho-sik's hugely successful
Internet-serial "Yupki Girl", and decided
to adapt the story into a film using popstar Cha Tae-hyun
and up-and-coming actress Jeon Ji-hyun as the main leads.
Explaining what Yupki means is not that easy
with a single word. It's a mix of being creepy, funny,
trendy, curious and cool. The term has now become popular
on the net and amongst young Koreans, which is a pretty
telling example of the film's success.
Kyun-woo (Cha Tae-hyun)
is a down-to-earth, charming young student. He's been
looking for the right girl for awhile - so much that
his aunt has tried to lure him into blind dates a few
times. Enter "The Girl," (Jeon Ji-hyun) a
nuclear mix of creepiness, good looks and unusual manners.
Kyun-woo saves her from certain death when she risks
falling on the subway tracks. She repays him calling
him "honey," and puking her guts out on a
poor man's wig. This is how their relationship begins,
which will involve many more methods of psychological
- and physical - torture for Kyun-woo to sustain. It
turns out The Girl is not your average student: she
hates melodrama and TV tearjerkers, would rather wear
sneakers than high heels and has a penchant for punching
you in the face for no apparent reason. Kyun-woo will
bear all her weird charms, and suffer the consequences
of such an unusual relationship. He'll also find out
there's something more hidden beneath her menacing surface.
Nothing particularly new occurs
here. However, the fluffy and lighthearted script, along
with the performances by Jeon and Cha make this an extremely
entertaining experience. The film never tries to force
laughs out of you, and contains quite a few memorable
touches (such as a parody of Wong Kar-wai's Ashes
of Time, complete with soundtrack). Being a Kwak
Jae-yong film, the last thirty minutes inevitably become
fulll-force melodrama, but watching the film a second
or third time, you can notice surprising things. The
director subtly intertwines subplots underneath the
main story (including a family full of twins which will
make its presence felt over the course of the film,
and time-travel), which stretches the plot even more.
Perhaps it's something that wasn't necessarily needed,
but it adds to the experience and goads you into watching
the film more than once.
Jeon Ji-hyun - who impressed
in Il Mare and, to a lesser extent, White
Valentine - deservedly won the Grand Bell Best Actress
Award for her role in this film. She's vibrant, creepy,
charming and sweet as the role demands. Thanks to this
film, she's become one of the most popular actresses
in Korea (and after Shim Eun-ha's apparent retirement,
she'll probably become the next leading star in the
industry). Cha Tae-hyun is effective, considering his
"punching bag" role is almost as important
as the Girl in making the story credible. The supporting
cast adds the icing on the cake with hilarious performances,
and the production is not surprisingly top notch. Despite
a fall into predictable melodrama in its third act,
the film still strongly delivers. (LunaSea 2002) |
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Notes: |
Optioned for US remake by Dreamworks pictures. In 2007,
the film began shooting with Elisha Cuthbert and Jesse
Bradford starring. |
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Awards: |
22nd
Annual Hong Kong Film Awards
Winner -
Best Asian Film |
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Availability: |
DVD (Korea)
Region 0 NTSC
Starmax
2-Disc Special Edition
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Korean Language Track
Dolby Digital 5.1
Removable English Captions (also subtitles sounds, actions)
Director's Cut (137 min), Various Extras |
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LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2017 Ross Chen
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