Just a woman and nothing more...

First and foremost, can I just fangirl over this film for a little bit? This was my second time viewing this film and it sure still managed to keep me very entertained. It was difficult to concentrate in writing my film notes. Because, well, Cha Tae Hyun is the actor for Kyun Woo. The character Kyun Woo is just cute but the actor is just so adorable and Cha Tae Hyun plays the role exceptionally well. 'My Sassy Girl' is comical yet sentimental, realistic yet dramatic (overly exaggerated). The factors which make the film a romantic comedy.  

Now that my fangirl session is through, what I wanted to mention about the film was the girl's identity. Throughout the whole two hours, we are never introduced her name. We only know the guy character's name, Kyun Woo. This is weird. Not knowing a character's name for the entire movie? Doesn't this suggest that identity of the girl is not as significant? This nameless 'sassy' girl may be the one 'wearing pants' in the relationship but is she really in control of the man? She is seen as a strong feminine figure. But to what point can she be an individual without being limited by the 'gender norm'? She is just another woman character who helps the main male role to redefine his masculinity.  Throughout the film, we do see the girl succeeding in subverting the stereotypical gender norms. In the end, however, the girl converts back to the 'normal' woman. Also we see the emotional limitations to how much she can be masculine. At the beginning of the film, Kyun Woo is introduced as a girly man who gets pushed around by the 'sassy' girl, never wins anything, always gets hit, does not have a job, and even his school grades are very low. Kyun Woo does not fit in the category of a stereotypical Korean male. But through meeting the girl and the desire to woo her, he rebuilds himself (and by the word 'himself', I mean his masculinity). He restores his manliness (now that I think about it, he never had the manliness to 'restore', which made the movie so much more comical). Kyun Woo finally gets settled down, stabilizes his social status. The girl comes back, or the fate decides to bring them together, when he is ready for her and ready to 'wear the pants'. Therefore, I think the girl in 'My Sassy Girl' is very similar to the woman character from 'Shiri' in a sense that they are both used as a way for the men to stand back up. 

On a side note, did any of you think the grandpa at the tree was actually Kyun Woo from the future? There are apparently couple evidences in the film supporting that idea. The old man being present at the subway when Kyun Woo first meets the girl. UFO passing by after the girl comes to the tree of the memories. Both Kyun Woo and the old man saying the same thing about coincidence is a bridge built for two people striving to be together. Because of these clues, many observing audience thought the old man is Kyun Woo who visited past to act as a bridge for them. Believe it or not, the director apparently 'admitted' that he IS actually Kyun Woo from the future but it was suppose to be a secret. I guess I was not as observative as I thought I was. But I have an excuse for that. ;) *wink wink.