There’s a trailer for the US version of My Sassy Girl that’s been making its way around the Korean blog circuit. For those unaware, My Sassy Girl was a Korean film starring Jun Ji-hyun, made about a decade ago. The American version will star Elisha Cuthbert.
Remakes of fairly recent films are always easy targets, so I’ll resist (although a comparison of the music choices in the trailers below says a lot). But as this new film becomes part of your three-week vernacular I would implore everyone to hunt down the Korean version of the film.
“My Sassy Girl” was revolutionary in its own goofy way and ended up speaking for an entire generation of then young Koreans. If you walk around the streets of Korea you’re bound to still see its dramatic affect on popular culture. For one, the performance by Jun was so mesmerizing, she’s remained a star despite not having produced anything even close to comparable. She’s not the it girl, but she’s still one of them whenever she wants to be. That’s star power.
You’ll also hear the catch phrases and jokes from the film still being used in everyday conversation. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen nightclub advertisements with young people flexing their ID toward the camera in a playfully defiant way, as Jun and her male lead played by Cha Tae-hyun.
It probably sounds like I’m overselling Jun’s performance in the film, but I’m not. It’s that good. I’m talking “Some Like it Hot” Marylin Monroe good. A kind of classic Hollywood good, that Hollywood itself is probably incapable of making at this point.
No, I think I’m right on about this.
Here’s the trailer for the new version:
And an English language trailer for the original Korean version:
5 responses so far ↓
1 Epicurus // Apr 2, 2008 at 1:10 am
Obviously the original will always be a defining film and a fantastic piece of work. But I think people should judge a remake of a film like this by its own standards and not by comparing it to the original. It’s GOING to be different and made to appeal to a different audience, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be a good film in its own right.
After all, there’s no possible way a remake of a film could in any way damage the original film, unless the remake is superior. The only effect it can have is to cause another audience, that would never have been aware of the original had it not been for the remake, to seek it out.
Watch the movie and judge the performances for their own merits, instead of trying to fit them into the mold of the original, and you might find yourself enjoying a new movie a little bit more.
2 Simon Currie // Apr 2, 2008 at 2:30 am
Obviously, the original is superior, and that’s why they create remakes.
But I remember enjoying the original to about halfway through the movie, then somehow finding the scenes repetitious after a while. Maybe somthing didn’t translate into the Japanese subtitles (I often see it with English language movies here in Japan where the subtitles can’t fit everything in, or just misses the point entirely).
If, and this is a big if, the producers wanted to maintain the indie feel of the original (probably not, by looking at it’s typical romantic comedy treatment in the trailer, unlike the original, I can see how you can get a bit worked up about this), they could’ve used the original director, if he wanted to work in the States, like how the Ring series did with its Hollywood version.
3 Shinsano // Apr 2, 2008 at 8:32 am
I like your open minded attitude Epicurus. It will turn at least a few people on to the original. Although, I would go so far as to say I hope the original somehow pays tribute to the first in some way. You could argue they already are doing that by remaking it, but I’m talking about some sort of nod within the film. That at Liz Cuthbert should come out publicly and admit she’s not even in the same league as Jun. If that happens I promise to have an open mind.
And Simon I think you’re right. The original could have used a few edits in the second half, and the ending dragged on for quite a while as well.
4 Simon Currie // Apr 2, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Oh, and how timely, Japan’s doing a remake of My Sassy Girl as a weekly serial drama. I like Rena Tanaka, not for her acting ability though, and having a SMAP guy is never promising. Guess they’re gonna stretch out the plot or introduce some new original material to fill out the 450 minutes or so of airtime..
http://www.tbs.co.jp/ryokiteki/intro/
5 itchy // Apr 2, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Is there a site to see Korean trailers, preferably of both films?
Leave a Comment