"Don't go."
A romantic film without a single kiss. It's an amazing feat, especially for a film so critically acclaimed. A Werewolf Boy is a Korean film about the forbidden love between a werewolf and a young girl. While the premise may seem shallow and overdone, A Werewolf Boy goes a completely different direction from the Hollywood stories. A sickly girl, Soon-yi (Park Bo-young), moves with her family to an open countryside, where they encounter a homeless boy with wolf/dog like behaviors. The family decides to take care of the young man for the time being, giving him the name, Chul-soo (Song Joong-ki). Soon-yi "trains" Chul-soo, resulting in the growth of a beautiful bond between master and boy.
The film may start slow for some, but the first half is filled with many charms, usually just from simple interactions. Song Joong-ki does a very convincing job acting like a wild canine, especially considering that most of his acting comes from facial expressions and body language alone. A lot of the early lighthearted humor comes from him scoffing down meals and fetching objects. Strangely enough, seeing him act like a dog doesn't seem a bit ridiculous whatsoever. Even though Soon-yi initially treats Chul-soo like a pet, their relationship steadily turns into something more: he is a (good looking) human being after all. The chemistry between the two characters and two actors work perfectly. Basically the first half of the film is innocent fun, mainly strengthening the ties between Soon-yi and Chul-soo in order to make their conflicts more devastating. And Park Bo-young, with her superb acting, really sells the devastation.
A Werewolf Boy easily succeeds in creating a really despicable villain character. Ji-tae, a son of a rich family, stops at nothing in order to get rid of Chul-soo and claim precious Soon-yi as his own. It's safe to say that the film builds up Ji-tae to be a bit too nasty, to the point where I found myself constantly wishing for him to just rollover and die. The antagonist almost seems to come straight out from a play, where his actions and mindset are cranked to extreme levels of arrogance and evil. I hate him more than Joffrey from Game of Thrones.
While the film is geared towards young women, it still has the potential to be entertaining for men as well. The film is a lot deeper than your average love story, relying more on character development, story, and emotional turmoil rather than CGI, love making scenes, and fantasy action. Viewers not only see the bond between Soon-yi and Chul-soo, but feel it as well. However, the very end of the film is slightly disappointing and has a missed opportunity to really sink in the emotions and leave the story with some mystery. Even so, A Werewolf Boy is most definitely a better love story than Twilight.
