The Classic

An everlasting romance movie. It's a set of two love stories told across two generations; the stories maintain few similarities, and deal with with the themes of love, loss and destiny. The screenplay is quite unique and mesmerizing, switching between the two story lines; it holds your interest throughout the two-hour long movie. The cinematography and background score are exceptionally brilliant; they give the movie it's particular charm and feel.

The acting is terrific; Ye-jin Son is charming and delightful as Ji-hae, as well as her mother. The supporting actors In-seong Jo and Seung-woo Cho are charming as the love interests. Ki-woo Lee is hilarious as Oh Joon-ha's dorky and good-hearted friend, Tae-su.

There are many memorable scenes in the movie; they include the fireflies beside the lake scene, the dance practice scene, the manure collection scene, the running in the rain scene. Coincidentally, all these scenes are in the first half of the movie. The second half may seem a little mushy to some people; it will only appeal to lovers of romance movies. But without the second half, you won't get a perfect romance like this!

The movie is a modern-day romance classic; the music and songs from the movie still linger in my mind.

After finding out that the same director for Yupki Girl was directing Classic, I immediately went to watch this movie. And I was glad I did. Classic is a movie that is definately worth watching and it incorporates many of the same themes and styles from Yupki Girl such as great scenery shots and similar music (like Pachabel's Canon).

If this movie had not been called "Classic," I would have given it a lower rating. But because it is, it is definately classic. I'm sure the director wasn't making this movie unique so that it would stand out like his previous movie, but instead wanted to make a movie that makes people remember what cheesy romances were like back in the days. Yes this movie is VERY cliche and VERY cheesy, but that's why it's called a classic. The director's intention was to create a film that reminds people what a perfect romance is and how perfect things will eventually turn out.

I loved this movie and would recommend it to anyone who wants to watch a perfect romance.

The story involves a girl, whose best friend is dating a guy that she secretly likes. She one day finds a diary and letters from the past that belonged to her mother. The story then shifts to the past where the mother is a young woman who falls in love with a guy, but she herself is arranged to be married with the guy's friend. There's a parallel between the past and present and the story shifts back and forth between two romances. I found this movie to be a well-executed Korean melodrama. The cinematography is quite beautiful. However, it is rather cliche in some parts (as some aspects of the director's previous work feels a bit repeated here), yet as a movie itself, it is a well-filmed, nicely delivered piece of work. It is kind of unfortunate, however, given the popularity and the expectations given to the movie due to the director's more accomplished, previous work, "My Sassy Girl," this reviewer couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed. If I hadn't seen the previous work and saw this movie for the first time, I might've given higher praise. As it is, however, the movie almost accomplishes in being a truly great movie (as opposed to good, which it is). Occasional inventiveness in composition and atmosphere and timing is excellent. The movie does tend to be a bit predictable (particularly if you know what kind of themes the director has presented in his previous work) and admittedly I saw the ending coming sooner than I probably should have (althogh it didn't really distract me from enjoying it either). One can't help whenever one sees a rainy scene or when a certain Pachebel music comes out, one is reminded of a scene directly from "My Sassy Girl" (As "My Sassy Girl" actually pokes fun at melodramas) Without some of those distractions, it may have resonated a lot more strongly as an original piece of work. In terms of characters, they are certainly memorable, and the romantic elements (while, not as multidimensional or as deep as the director's previously mentioned work) are convincing. There are some historical backdrops to go along the romance that gives the film a somewhat a denser, almost epic, if not nostalgic, feel, yet doesn't really go in the way of an epic (which itself might not have been a bad direction to go). Some of the attention to detail are also pretty well done. Overall, though, I enjoyed the film as a romantic melodrama, while being a bit hampered by tough expectations and some cliches, the characters and the romance certainly leaves a nice impression.

I gave this movie 10/10 because it's, beside My Sassy Girl and The Notebook, one of the best love stories I have ever seen. Storytelling is perfect, actors are excellent and music is very nice and ads to the atmosphere.

I highly recommend this to anyone. Not just to people who love romantic movies, but to people who love good movies, regardless of genre.

I just started to explore a wonderful world of Asian cinematography and so far, I'm absolutely amazed! :)

I'll also use the opportunity to recommend: Thirst, My Sassy Girl, The Classic, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and A Tale of Two Sisters if you haven't watched them already.

What can I say about The Classic, except that I never thought I'd like such a film. Cheesy romances featuring teenagers are really not my usual viewing, but The Classic was just beautiful.

I am not familiar with Korean cinema, and have never seen 'My Sassy Girl' so I cannot comment on how it measures as a follow-up. But as a movie standing on its own, it was a touching, tear-jerking and humorous 2 hour journey for me. The cinematography was outstanding, and paired with an equally impressive soundtrack it created beautiful scenes of the Korean countryside, as well as enhancing the generally poignant, nostalgic mood of the film. The acting was first class all around in my opinion, the movie could've so easily gone overboard with bad-acting considering the general plot of the movie, but never once did I find myself irritated by the lead female. The casting was perfect, and I was absolutely charmed by the characters of Jun-ho and the hilarious Tae-su. There were also a lot of comical elements in the movie which had me laughing off my sofa, making the characters endlessly endearing. The film takes us through a journey of many years in the past from when the characters' parents first meet, and had me bawling my eyes out at the end. The modern day story is just as good too. The film also finishes with what I consider two big surprises which had me thinking about the movie for ages afterwards.

All in all, I am really surprised that I liked this film. After considering why this was so since I really don't like romantic/comedy dramas, I came to the simple conclusion that this was just great filmaking, where the watcher gets utterly lost in the movie. It may not be very realistic, and however long we analyse it and it's clichés at the end all we know is that we were moved and entertained by this movie.