Korean Movie - My Sassy Girl

Hangul 엽기적인 그녀
Hanja 獵奇的인 그女
RR Yeopgijeogin Geunyeo
MR Yǒpkijǒgin Kǔnyǒ
Directed by Kwak Jae-yong
Produced by Shin Chul
Written by Kim Ho-sik
Kwak Jae-yong
Starring Jun Ji-hyun
Cha Tae-hyun
Distributed by Cinema Service
Release date(s) July 27, 2001
Running time 123 min.
137 min. (director's cut)
Country South Korea
Language Korean

The film tells the story of a male college student, Gyeon-woo (Cha Tae-Hyun), and the Girl (Jun Ji-hyun) who is never named in the movie. Gyeon-woo just cannot seem to catch a romantic break. His prospects are so pathetic that even his mother tries to help, telling him to visit his aunt for two reasons. Firstly, because Gyeon-woo reminds his aunt of her son who drowned recently; secondly, because there is a girl his aunt wants to introduce him to. Gyeon-woo repeatedly puts off going to see his aunt.

The movie begins with Gyeon-woo on top of a mountain, speaking wistfully about a girl he knew two years ago that had buried a time capsule with him on that mountain. She had never returned like she'd promised. Next, one sees Gyeon-woo at a photo studio, having his passport photo taken. He is called by his aunt so that she can finally introduce him to the girl she's been trying to set him up with. The movie then flashes back to the past.

While Gyeon-woo is at a restaurant with some of his friends, he is interrupted by a call from his mother telling him to go meet the girl that his aunt wants to set him up with. He refuses and continues to eat with his friends. At the train station on his way to his aunt's, he observes a girl, drunk, standing precariously close to the edge of the train platform as the train approaches; he pulls her to safety just in time. Inside the train, Gyeon-woo cannot help but stare at the girl wavering back and forth. He is slightly attracted to her but repulsed by her drunkenness. Finally, she throws up on a passenger and faints but not before she calls Gyeon-woo "honey". The passenger aggressively chides Gyeon-woo and tells him to take care of his girlfriend. Gyeon-woo, completely flustered, carries her all the way to the nearest hotel. While he is showering, her cell phone rings. Stark naked, he runs out to answer it and informs the caller of their location. Just as Gyeon-woo realizes there are no towels in the shower, a pair of women police officers burst into the room and arrest him.

After getting out of jail—where he was bullied by gangsters—he goes home. His mother beats him with a vacuum cleaner for not turning up at his aunt's and there is a brief flashback of his lifetime failings as a student. He receives a call from the Girl demanding he meet her and explain why he was naked in bed with her. The Girl's dominating and demanding tone during the telephone call establishes her typical posture as a xanthippe, an attitude she maintains throughout the film. Both at the takeaway joint and at the bar to which she drags him she tells him to order, criticises his choices and then tells him what to order. Over soju she cries, admits to breaking up with her boyfriend the day before and gets thoroughly drunk, resulting in another trip to the previous hotel.

After this second overnight stay at the hotel, she begins to become a more active part of his life. She visits Gyeon-woo in school and manages to get him to hang out with her. In one situation she obtains permission from a teacher by claiming she needs him to accompany her on the way to an abortion, with Gyeon-woo being the father. Her mood swings wildly from joyful to downright violent but Gyeon-woo puts up with it and lets her abuse him for her amusement.

She is an aspiring scriptwriter and throughout the movie gives Gyeon-woo three different screenplays from different genres. The first is an action movie—The Demolition Terminator—which switches gender roles, symbolically having the Girl save her helpless lover (Gyeon-woo). The second is a wild perversion of a Korean short story—Sonagi—in which the Girl, having died, asks that her lover be buried along with her—even though he's still alive. The resulting situation is quite humorous. The last is a wuxia/samurai movie spoof full of genre clichés and anachronisms. All three feature the same common thread: the Girl is from the future.

Despite all the horrible things Gyeon-woo endures, he is determined to help cure the girl's pain. In one scene, he decides to surprise her for her birthday and takes her on a nighttime trip to an amusement park which ends up quite differently than how he planned: The pair encounter an AWOL soldier who holds them hostage and rants about his misery. Gyeon-woo convinces him to release her, and she in turn convinces the soldier to free Gyeon-woo and go on with his life. Throughout the first half of the movie she is resolute in her pain, dishing it out in plenty. As the second half comes around, however, she begins to change: she shows vulnerability.

by: hee-jun