The Classic is another film made by the director of My Sassy Girl, Jae-young Kwak. The Classic is a Korean melodrama (classic in its sense) which is the exact opposite of My Sassy Girl. However, the movie seems to be dragging such that I have been waiting for its credits to be shown on the screen.
The movie begins with a song that will remind you of the movie My Sassy Girl which is not a good strategy since The Classic would only be compared to that movie. Then, the college student Chi-hye, who looks like she always has a bad hair day, discovers a box that contains a diary and letters from her father. But what got her to dig deeper is that when she saw a letter from a man named Chun-ha. Then, the movie flashes back as if Chi-hye has a very creative imagination that she’s like watching another Korean melodrama where the story is a love triangle between her parents (Chu-hui and Tae-Su) and Chun-ha. It’s like Chu-hui and Chun-ha had a summer love affair considering the fact that Chu-hui was arranged to be married to Tae-Su.
Also, Chi-hye has also her love problems which is another typical storyline where there is love triangle of girl-guy-and-bestfriend-of-girl type just like to the experience of Chi-hye’s mother that experienced a love triangle where it is described as the guy-girl-and-bestfriend-of-guy type. In her mother’s experience, Tae-su gives way for his bestfriend Chun-ha. When their parents knew about what happened, Tae-su gets the beating of his life even if he could use his height to his advantage by bullying his own father. But since it is The Classic, the more appropriate way is for him to subject himself into beating. Then, Tae-su has so much angst inside him and has attempted suicide, but he failed. Her mother then ends up marrying Tae-su.
Review
There seems to be a problem in casting Son Yeh-jin as the Chi-hye’s mother (in her college days_ and as Chi-hye. Imagine, if your sister then watches with you without starting the movie, she would not get the drift. Your sister would irritate you with questions such as
“Sino yan?”
And being bombarded with some reactions like
“Di ko maintindihan”
Then of course, if you were able to watch My Sassy Girl before watching this film. You would notice the soundtrack of both movies are similar which leads me to thinking that they do not have enough audio CD’s. You would also notice Chi-hye’s character having the necessary sassy qualities. This was evident when she shooes the dove away after seeing it on her windowsill. In addition to that, you will notice some scenes (Vietnam war scenes in particular) that will remind you of the movie Forrest Gump.
With regards to the performance of the characters, I was not impressed with Sang-min. His being cute cannot even compensate to his dull performance.
Ratings
Story: 2 out of 5
Cinematography: 3 out of 5
Crying factor: 4 out of 5
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