My “My Sassy Girl” Moment (1/2)
May 5, 2008 – 9:11 pmIf you haven’t heard of “My Sassy Girl,” then you have no business reading this article.
Hey, don’t go!
Photo courtesy of Rukorean.com
Let me tell you a little about it. “My Sassy Girl” was basically the movie that launched the Korean Wave in America at the beginning of this millennium.
What “Winter’s Sonata” did for Korean dramas and what H.O.T., Shinhwa, and S.E.S. did for Korean pop music, “My Sassy Girl” did for Korean movies. There was a sudden burst of American interest in anything and everything Korean, and “My Sassy Girl” was at the vanguard of all that.
This is not to be confused with the remake starring Elisha Cuthbert to be released later this year.
Without spoiling the movie (because you’re going to watch it on CrunchyRoll after reading this article, right?), it’s a romantic comedy about…a girl who meets a young man from the future (fans would instantly get this).
Looking at it in retrospect, I realize the movie is a tad excessive. It’s a bit longer than it could be. Some scenes could be cut out, but some scenes are just classic. Remember the rose during piano class, the time capsule, the tennis balls, the high heels, and the train station (the one at the end; no, the one before the one at the end).
Okay, so did I talk in code well enough so that those who ought to know knew what I was going to talk about and those who don’t know didn’t feel as if I spoiled the movie for them?
Even if I managed that, I’m going to have to spoil one scene for everybody (but don’t worry, it’s one near the beginning) for the purpose of this article.
This is how the guy meets the girl. He finds her drunk on a subway train. She’s still standing but looks as if she’s about to topple any moment. And she’s obviously going to puke very soon.
Before puking, however, she bumps into him, hangs onto him, and calls him “Darling,” that last part happening right before she proceeds to hurling what appears to be a mix of instant noodles and lots of kimchee all over a middle-aged man sitting in the seat next to where she’s standing.
She pulls this all off while remaining stunningly beautiful.
While I was watching this with the friend who introduced it to me, he said, “Okay, man! Gimme ten years, and I’ll go to Korea, hang out at a subway station, and meet a girl just as pretty as her!”
I managed that in four. Top that, John.
Let me elaborate, though. Even though the details aren’t identical, the event was similar enough for me to tag it as “My ‘My Sassy Girl’ Moment.” I was studying in Japan, not living in Korea. The girl wasn’t nearly as pretty, and there was no romance. Just comedy.
After the brief fiasco, I looked over at my friends, who had seen the movie as well, and we all nodded, stating just one word: “Sassy.” At that moment, I knew I had arrived [in Japan].
