Crazy First Love

CRAZY FIRST LOVE (2003) Directed by Oh Jong-rok. Typically overblown tragicomedy that signifies much of what westerners find inaccessible about Korean cinema and, to some extent, the Korean psyche. Let's call this lecture Misogyny and the Posessive, Overgrown Man-Child. To protect the virtue of his daughter (Son Ye-jin), an authoritarian high-school teacher (Yoo Dong-geun) sets - and keeps changing - unreasonable standards for the young slacker (MY SASSY GIRL's Cha Tae-hyn) who has loved her since childhood, then must work WITH him when she grows tired of their constant meddling and surveillance and becomes involved with another man. Korean men do not come off particularly well in this film (but then,that would depend on who you asked). They're either shallow gadflies or control freaks with maturity issues. How fitting, then, that the only way the male filmmakers could rationalize their crazed behaviour in the greater social theme of things is to slap the progressive-minded female lead with myelodysplastic syndrome, the same terminal disease - read punishment - that killed her mother at 18. Faced with her own immortality, and in a scene far, FAR too reminiscent of MY SASSY GIRL, we FINALLY discover why she couldn't be with the man who has gone to insane lengths to win her affection and why she COULD be with a lothario who will one day find happiness with yet another woman.

While it's tough to deny the calculation behind emotional scenes like those that end this film - and in Korean cinema scenes like these are legion - one can't shake the feeling that for Korean comedic cinema - indeed MUCH of Korean cinema in general - to truly move on and perhaps capture a larger international audience, Korean filmmakers may need to dispense with a great deal of the contrived, subtly misogynistic heart string manipulation that, ultimately, reinforces dated stereotypes about patriarchy, makes childish men look like pariahs and punishes women for thinking outside the box. People crying on mountaintops (and this film is has one!) are starting to wear thin. See also SEX IS ZERO for a similar treatment of these themes. 3

This is a painfully awful film. I've seen worse, but not lately (It's worse than CATWOMAN, even!). I usually find something good to write about in all the Asian films I watch, especially the Korean comedies. This one has absolutely nothing. It's not funny, it's not romantic, and i already have 4 year old that whines all day long, so why would i want to kill nearly 2 more hours of my day listening to a grown man do it. The only saving grace is the lead actress, but unfortunately it is for her beauty and not her acting.

Save your dollars for the "better" comedic films like "My Wife is a Gangster", "100 Days with Mr. Arrogant" or even "Please Teach Me English". Your brain will thank you (maybe).

I found this movie to be very ejoyable. I laughed, and I cried. Yes, the lead character's shouting was a bit much. But I wasn't that bothered by it. I don't know what else to say about it. I thought the explanation of why she didn't want to marry him was a good one. The acting was adequate. It was nice that the lead character was pretty ordinary looking. The misogny went completely over my head. I'm afraid I don't think of stuff like that when watching a movie. Should I give low marks to a film, because it shows women in a bad light, or give high marks to a film because it embraces feminism. I don't think so. The film entertained me enormously. I hope i have enough lines written now, let's see. Yes, I have. Hooray.

The synopsis of the movie is mentioned in other reviews, so I'm just going to tell you what I didn't like about this movie. It's far too inconsistent and what starts off as a light comedy - in the mold of say, My Sassy Girl or 100 Days with Mr Arrogant - skews into soap-opera melodrama at the drop of a hat, with all players involved shouting and crying their way through proceedings. Tae-hyun Cha, who was pretty good alongside the fabulous Ji-hyun Jun in My Sassy Girl, is mistaken when he thinks that screaming at the top of his voice constitutes good comedy while all Ye-jin Son has to do is stand around and cry a lot. If you like shopping for the odd Oriental movie on auction sites and are looking for a nice comedy, I would recommend either of the previously mentioned titles, including Spy Girl and the 2 My Wife is a Gangster movies.

This is a great movie!!! I'm seeing some bad reviews about this movie on this site, but I think I know why (btw, I'm Korean). Among many Korean movies I've watched, I think this movie has a little more depth to it then some other Korean movies with simpler plots. This movie takes place in the southern region of South Korea, and about 95% of the dialogue is in southern dialect, meaning very unique and distinctive words/expressions which are very hard to translate in English while carrying the full intended meaning. For example, one of the ending lines of the movie quotes, "I will protect her until I paint the walls with my poop," in Korean (before translation) this is a very comical and meaningful line, but when translated in English as above, it sounds rather awkward than funny. In addition, there are parts in the movie which may seem very very strange and weird (or simply difficult to understand or find funny) to viewers who aren't Asian. Some parts of the movie may only be understandable to it's actually intended meaning if the viewer had lived in Asia(??) I have lived in Canada for over 8 years and can see the different perspectives of the Asian viewers and the other viewers on this movie. Anyways, I found this movie GREAT!!! and recommend it to any viewers looking to look (more) into Asian culture, or are willing to challenge themselves with trying to understand what the actors/plot actually mean, other wise I recommend other Korean comedies such as "my sassy girl" or "100 days with Mr.Arrogant". Thanks for reading my babbling, I hoped it didn't offend anyone, and I hope it helped you.