MYST #5: Never Ending Story

    I just kind of stumbled across this film, Never Ending Story, directed by Yong-joo Jung, while bored one day.  I knew absolutely nothing about it, other than it was a Korean romantic comedy, and I thought hey, wouldn't it be interesting to see what a Korean romantic comedy is like?  The basic premise of this story is that the two main characters, Song-Kyung (played by Ryeowon Jung) and Dong-Joo (played by Tae-woong Eom), are both diagnosed with malignant brain tumors.  They end up running into each other at the hospital enough times that they form a strong friendship, which, of course, turns into a romantic relationship.  Both of them struggle with what to do as their lives slowly come to an end and they face the harsh reality of having to leave each other.  It has a cheesy, optimistic ending, but it's kind of cute.

I'm really sorry, but I can't find a trailer that has English subtitles.

    

Cast members promoting the movie.

    It's got all the romantic comedy elements.  The two characters are complete polar opposites.  Song-Kyung is a super-organized overachiever, as is shown by the many scenes of her scribbling in her planner and pasting sticky notes with lists and reminders onto her windowpanes.  Dong-Joo is a lazy, broke slacker living with his brother and sister-in-law.  Most of the scenes about him involve his desperate attempts to win the lottery by buying massive amounts of tickets and him lounging around in his bed with his stuffed animals.  So we've established the cliché of "opposites attract" and followed the formula set out by countless romantic comedies.  We've also got the banter between the two as they figure out their relationship, as is necessary in a romantic comedy.  And there's crying.  The whole passionate scene of love proclaimed at the end involved some very intense sobbing by all involved.    We also have the obligatory pop/love songs to set the mood.  Dong-Joo even sings to Song-Kyung, adding that cliché as well.  So it is, in many ways, a romantic comedy like all other romantic comedies.The camera is always very straightforward, intending more to get the point across than to make an artistic statement.  A couple of things stood out to me, which were the split-screen editing used during their phone calls, and the shots of them staring at each other as the elevator doors close dramatically in front of their faces until only an eye is seen, and the panning shots circling the two as they hug and make up at the end.  So there were a few interesting elements, but on the whole this movie went for the more formulaic approach.  In fact, throughout the whole movie only the beginning and the end discussed the cancer.  What could have been a really powerful story about living with cancer got lost within that formulaic approach, and for a while I forgot they even had cancer.

    I think my favorite part of the whole film was the opening sequence.  It really did a good job of establishing the two characters as different and setting the scene for the inevitable romance.  In the beginning, the camera is set up to look like a shaky recording of the two as they are separately being interviewed for a dating agency.  The scene cuts between the two as they describe their personality and what they're looking for in another person, all of which is very contrary to each other.  Then we have several sequences of the two headed for the hospital and almost, but not quite, running into each other.  Song-Kyung takes the bus, which pulls up right next to Dong-Joo's car.  They both end up in the same waiting room.  They almost pass each other in the hospital hallway.  All these near-meetings really get us worked up and excited for their actual first meeting.  Going into this movie not knowing what to expect, this establishing sequence really did a fantastic job of getting me all caught up and prepared for the plot to begin.

The main characters testing out a coffin.

    Compared to other romantic comedies I've seen, this one seems pretty standard.  Of course, with this movie being Korean, there were some cultural things I wasn't keyed in on.  For example, the lottery system is confusing to me, and it's a big part of this film, so I had to muddle along for a while.  The customs of funerals and burials is different in South Korea as well. All throughout the movie Song-Kyung is preparing for her death, so I had to make some assumptions about what exactly she was doing to prepare.  And since the film was subtitled, certain context probably got lost in translation.  But other than that it was comparable to The Proposal or You've Got Mail, with one major exception.  Most romantic comedies have some sexual content, some more serious than others, but this one focused more on the cutesy innocence of love.  There were two or three short kisses shared between the two, but that was it.  And it was nice to not be bombarded with overly-sexualized content like in, say, Pretty Woman.  Apparently the film censorship in South Korea is very strict, and many films are denied a rating until they cut out or darken/digitally blur some sex scenes (Source).  This most likely stems from the more conservative views on touching between opposite sexes in public in South Korea.  Any more than holding hands or linking arms is considered too much for being out in public.  If you're interested, there's a very informative video about public displays of affection in South Korea here.

   All in all, this is a very typical rom-com, so if you're into that kind of film and don't mind reading subtitles, I'd say go for it.  It was cute and innocent and a touch sad, but on the whole it wasn't bad.  2.5/5 stars.