My Love For Korean Cinema part. 2 – Sunny Side Up

It’s time for the Korean Film Blogathon hosted by cineAWESOME and New Korean Cinema! Last year was a real blast and this year it’s going to be even more fun. Why? Because I am a more disciplined writer, so therefore I will be participating more! Yay for me, but nay for me because I have lost my love for Korean cinema. Last year I wrote why I love Korean Cinema so much. I listed all of the films I’ve watched and then went on to try and find more Korean movies to watch.

A lot has happened in a year. Although 2011 was the year I saw the most amount of movies I’ve ever seen in a whole year, well, there weren’t that many Korean movies to boast about on my list. The biggest reason is the lack of distrubition of Asian movies in Sweden. All of the press screenings I attended last year where for Western movies. This is where the Stockholm Film Festival is a gem for us lovers of international cinema. Last year’s festival, as an example,  showed four Korean movies: The Yellow Sea, The Day He Arrives, Arirang and Dance Town.  I was only able to see one — part lack of interest, part me having to stop attending the festival for personal reasons.

Korean cinema didn’t have that much of my attention last year — all of it went to Korean television/dramas. But that is another post I shall share during the week.

There was one huge exception to my lack of interest in Korean cinema last year: Sunny. How can I even begin to explain how I love you? It all started back in March when the trailer for the movie caught my eye. Without any subs and my very minimal knowledge of the Korean language, that trailer managed to capture me. After I saw it, Sunny was the only movie I wanted to see during 2011. Then there was a long wait…  until November. That’s when I could finally purchase the DVD.

What made me go so crazy for Sunny? I am still not sure. When I saw the trailer, it made me feel deliriously happy. I just knew that Sunny was going to be a great movie. It was that kind of feeling you get when you know you’re about to experience something amazing. I have rarely felt that with movies. I am usually that way about music. But something about the movie just hit me in the right spot. It hit me so right that I have now seen Sunny 10 times.

I wasn’t alone in my Sunny love. Amy was very much there with me. She has also seen the movie several times. We got together to try and explain why this little movie stole our hearts. I doubt we came to any conclusion — we kept spazzing about it. We did try to explain as best we could. That conversation will be a separate post. I think I could spend this entire week just talking about Sunny

So why do I love Sunny so much? I am not sure I know where to start. Part of it is the acting. Kang Sora blew me away and Shin Se Kyung is lovely/funny as ever. The entire cast was really on point and you could feel the good chemistry between them. Also, major props for casting actresses that look like each other in both teenage and grown-up form. Part of it is the story. Who doesn’t like a funny yet warm feel-good movie about friendships, love and the pains of growing up? Part of it is the setting. You can never go wrong when doing a movie about the 80’s — the music, the fashion and the political aspects just add to a great story.

Sunny has many elements that, to me, make a good movie. And then the execution was done pretty much perfectly. No movie is ever fully perfect, but to me, Sunny came as close as possible.

Thanks to Sunny, I was back to being silly in love with Korean cinema. As I explained earlier, I have been lost to Korean dramas, but fret not. Those dramas have exposed me to young Korean actors that I intend to write about (Top 10 Young Korean Actors To Keep Your Eyes On — working title).

That’s it for me today. I shall be back tomorrow with more Sunny loving! I bet you guys will get tired of me and my Sunny love parade by the end of the week. I ask for your forgivance in advance :P.

Part of the 2012 Korean Film Blogathon

Julyssa

Music is all I do: I work in music, I write about music, I listen to music.

2 Responses

  1. amy says:

    oh, Sunny~ how we love thee~

  1. October 1, 2013

    […] continues from last year with MY LOVE FOR KOREAN CINEMA PART. 2 – SUNNY SIDE UP over at Yam […]

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