My Sassy Girl

A Film with an Unfortunate Title

Made in 2008 as a remake of a Korean smash hit, “My Sassy Girl” has one of the most misdirecting and vomit-inducing titles I have ever heard. I'm not going to type it out again. It's from the same director as “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” the cover looks about the same as “I Could Never Be Your Woman,” and it's shelved with the comedies at the rental store. This is not a comedy, nor is it anything like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” or “I Could Never Be Your Woman.” This film is a beautiful and thought-provoking work of art. So although Elisha Cuthbert (“24”) and Jesse Bradford (“Bring it On”) both give impressive performances in this film, the credit really should go to Eric Schmidt and Anita Brandt Burgoyne, the director of photography and editor, respectively. Every frame of this movie is breath-takingly gorgeous and genius. Don't worry about the images on the back of the dvd case – Anita B. Burgoyne obviously hadn't gotten to them yet.

The film's teaser makes the plot sound like a stupid soap opera about a typical, predictable, career-oriented guy who falls for a mysterious, yet controlling and extroverted girl. But that's really not even the plot. See, there's a reason why Jordan (Cuthbert) is treating Charlie (Bradford) with such a structured unpredictability. It's not that she's really that demanding – it's that she's trying to make this work the way she thinks it's destined to be. Charlie doesn't understand what she's trying to do or why and she won't explain and just constantly gets him in trouble but he loves her anyway. It's so beautiful how much he cares for her – from the first time they met and he carries her home from the subway station because she blacked out. Everyone tells him to stand up for himself and refuse to submit to her, but he's not submitting to her – he's submitting to his love for her. Charlie understands that she's struggling with something and wants more than anything to be there for her in any way he can. These characters are so profound and sympathetic: your heart rejoices and aches with them – you identify with them. You really have to watch this movie to see how it resolves. I was worried about a tacky ending, but it wasn't abrupt or contrived at all. I rarely cry at movies but honestly, if my mom hadn't come down to watch the end of the movie with me, I probably would have cried.

As I briefly mentioned earlier, this film is beautiful. The subway station is all high-contrast and blues and greens. The park scenes have softer whites and oranges. I wish the world was that vivid. There are lots of circling tracking shots and when zooming, the camera often moves very quickly – giving the film a very unique feel. One of my favorite sequences is in the park when Jordan makes Charlie walk down to the other end of an extremely long walkway because she wants to know if he can hear her all the way down there. Once he gets there and turns around, the camera itself backs all the way up to Jordan without a track – probably just a mounted steady cam. Obviously the coloring is the best part of the editing, but my other favorite piece is when the lightening bolt that hits the tree really isn't lightening but superimposed electric arrows. There are so many brilliant shots where the composition in depth is absolutely intriguing – like in the opening sequence with the long shot from across the street of little Charlie offering his seat on a bench to an elderly woman against a brick wall.

There are a few funny moments in this film but they are purely circumstantial, just seeing how Jordan's ridiculousness clashes with Charlie's expectations. It's not like the movie is trying to be a comedy. It isn't really trying to be a drama either. I mean, there is a music soundtrack in the film, but not always in the expected places where a typical drama would have it. It does not follow the rules of clichéd film. It's not even necessarily a romance. It's just a story about two unique people and their subsequently unique experience together and apart. I would not describe Charlie as “straightlaced” as the teaser states and I definitely would not describe Jordan as “sassy” or even in the possession of Charlie (to account for 'my'). But she is indeed a girl (can't say the same for a certain minor character in a bar). I really want to see the Korean version now and then ask one of my Korean friends for a better translation of “Yeopgijeogin geunyeo." By the way, Jordan has a great wardrobe. Grades: =] & =O