Windstruck & My Sassy Girl – R

Firstly, I would like to introduce the point of this blog and that is to talk about Asian drama, music, and culture. This blog will serves as a review board of sort as I reveal my thoughts on different aspect of Asian cinema. Addittionally, I am Vietnamese myself so I am sometime able to grasp a deeper meaning to certain aspect in an Asian drama because of my background. However, that’s not to say I know everything or that I will remain objective. The main thing that I want to convey through this blog is my love for Asian cinema and to further help those who want to learn more about it. Also, I find blog a great place to converse with those who share similiar interest as mine (hence you’re reading my blog, right?). And so, let it commence.

Directed by Kwak Jae-yong
Released in 2004
Overall rating: A

The very first thing that I want to talk about is the Korean movie Windstruck (henceforth be WS). Released on June 3, 2004 as a “prequel” to the popular My Sassy Girl (hence forth be MSG) which was released on July 27, 2001. WS tells the story of Sassy Girl’s first love who died and left her so deeply hurt in MSG. Both films star the daring, pretty, and hilarious Jun Ji-hyun. In WS, Jun is a courageous female cop who’ll confront anyone who’s violating the law. She is given the name Kyung-jin Yeo in WS in oppose to being the nameless, sassy character in the MSG movie. Her first love is Myung-woo Ko played by the talented Jang Hyuk/Heok, a physic teacher at an all-girl school. Their initial meeting is as strange as her first meeting in MSG. However, both would eventually fall in love until the tragedy occured.

In both WS and MSG, the notion of love and fate are so intertwine that one would start to believe that both are two of the same. In WS, Myung-woo tells Kyung-jin of his most memorable high-school trip when both of his hands are in a cast. By the end of the movie, the viewer discovers, as does Kyung-jin herself, that she too was on the same high school trip as she is clearly visible in the background. Myung-woo once told her before his death that he will always be with her and the photo links his fated devotion to her. In MSG, Kyung-jin/the girl falls for Gyeon-woo played by Cha Tae Hyun but cannot forget her first love. On the day Gyeon-woo was to meet a girl to please his aunt, he had met Kyung-jin. Gyeon winds up unable to meet up with his aunt for the meeting as he had to take care of the drunken Kyung-jin. However, by the end of MSG, the viewer finds out that the aunt had wanted to introduce the two of them in the first place. In both movie, fate plays the role of love as without it, the love story would have never occur. Love, in-turn plays fate, by bringing two different people together that would likely never meet up if not for love.

I find the performance of the actors/actress in both movie very top-notched. The character they portray each has their own special quirks. Kyung-jin is brave yet can be vulnerable when in love. She is also too outgoing physically and mentally: she can come up and scold anyone in the street just as her mind can create lavish stories without any reservation. Both Myung-woo and Gyeon-woo share the same trait as they are somewhat linked spiritually. Both men are gullible but adorable in that way. They also adher to Kyung-jin demand no matter the ridiculousness (adding on to the adorability). However, they are also devoted lovers and can almost portray a man’s pure love for his woman completely without lust. Without these talented actors/actress, the movie would definitely not be as successful as it is.

To be added, I find the musical score of both movies very good. I will post a review for that later on. Thanks for reading!