Good morning, Erin.
There was never a doubt
(in my mind, at least) that, given your assessment, I would very likely agree
with you about the ending of 20th Century Girl, but to
finally see that ending—and, mind you, I always go into these things ready to
split hairs and be all contrarian, so this wasn’t a matter of pre-informed
bias—was…quite something.
But we’ll get to that.
First, let’s run through a few other points about 20th Century
Girl:
1. CHAE-RAN IS IN IT YOU
DIDN’T TELL ME CHAE-RAN WAS IN IT I LOVE CHAE-RAN.
1A. This past weekend, I
casually mentioned to my anime friend in England that I was trying to square
away my official “Who’s my K-drama girlfriend???” list, so she asked to see the
four people the list had been whittled down to and to get my thoughts on each.
So I sent all of this to her, and, after a very quick look, she decided that
Chae-ran was my girl. I tried to protest and say that maybe I should be
the one to make that decision, but she disagreed. So.
2. This is going to seem
a little silly, but my favorite thing in the movie was the friend with the
heart condition playing that song as the phone message for the boy. Maybe it
wasn’t all that original, but I thought it was adorable and wonderfully
innocent-flirty. (What can I say: I like cheeseball stuff.)
3. …like, I’m just saying, I think my friend may
not have properly weighted the way Kim Go-eun wrinkles her nose when she
smiles, is all.
4. The main roma—wait,
is there any other romance? I guess not. Hmm…okay—the only romance is
actually pretty cute. I think the slow buildup really draws you into the
process of them coming together. There’s just the right mix of spark and
resistance as Bo-ra decides whether or not she’s actually feeling what she’s
feeling, and it’s great. (And when he gets the job across the street from her…so
cute!!!)
5. Early on, Bo-ra tries
to dissuade the other guy from falling for her by saying that she “eats too
much.” To which I laughed and said, “Yeah, ‘cus boys don’t love it when a girl
has a big appetite.” Silly girl.
5A. Also—you’re
gorgeous, Bo-ra. What idiot is going to care that you eat two full pizzas at a
time? Okay, it’s a little expensive, but substantively it totally balances
out.
6. …okay, so
there’s a jumping spider in my apartment, and it escaped when I tried to smoosh
it. And now I don’t know where it is, and I’m paranoid that it’s going to sit
on my face in the night. F***.
7. I paused the video to
see to where in the U.S. Bo-ra was mailing her letter to her friend…and she was
sending the letter to Baltimore. Which I assume means she had gotten the
surgery at Johns Hopkins. At least, that’s the conclusion I draw as the WORLD’S
GREATEST DETECTIVE!
8. Speaking of: I
totally suspected we were in for the “she’s checking up on the wrong guy!”
twist pretty much right away. (I bet you did, too.) They wouldn’t have obscured
the dude’s face, in the friend’s flashback, otherwise. Which is a bit cheat-y
of me, I know, but…still.
8A. …I also totally forgot
that I suspected this, once I got invested in the main duo’s romance. But
it still counts as me having guessed it!
9. Let’s see…Fila
sneakers, people psyched about Dance Dance Revolution, VHS rentals, and a giant
advertisement for the Angela’s Ashes movie. Yup, that’s 1999 all
right!
9A. I had to read Angela’s
Ashes in high school. It’s a pretty good memoir, all things being equal,
but it’s also got A LOT of stuff about the author’s…pubescent, um, habits. And
there was one particularly lengthy stream-of-conscious run-on sentence
paragraph that I had to read out loud in class, likely because the teacher
assumed I’d keep my composure when reading it. And I absolutely did keep my
composure, I’ll have you know. But I also read the whole thing in one breath,
because distracting myself with the impending possibility of passing out was
the only way I could think to get through it.
10. I found it amusing
(if somewhat needlessly quirky) that Bo-ra’s school friends were only known as
“Madam” and “Darn It.”
11. But…what the f***
was that ending?
11A. No, seriously, I
half-expected to find out the dude was going to travel back to Korea after,
y’know, a quick vacation to NYC in September 2001. That’s how stupid it was
that he died.
11B. Why did he need to
die? (Heck, why did he need to go back to New Zealand? (Australia? I think it
was New Zealand, but my memory’s not what it used to be, before the jumping
spider was loose in my apartment.) Why disrupt the flow of the romance by
adding a long-distance element to it?) What did it add to the story or theme or
purpose of the narrative to have him die? What was gained from doing that?
Like, in one of my favorite anime movies, I Want to Eat Your Pancreas,
the whole point is that one of the characters is going to die. We know that
from the start, and knowing that is what frames up everything in the story. It
gives everything weight and meaning, at least insofar as it grants everything
narrative focus. I don’t have any idea what his death helps us do, in this
movie. Totally extraneous.
11C. And what genius
thought that the emotional climax of the whole thing should come after a
20-year time jump?! Bo-ra is being played by a totally different actress! She
may as well be a different character, at that point, because I have absolutely
no emotional attachment to her. I know teen Bo-ra. I’m ready to cry with
teen Bo-ra. This late-30s lady? Who is she, and why should I care about
anything she does?
11D. And don’t even get
me started on the whole art exhibition thing. Just send her a letter telling
her what happened to your brother, you absolute toolbox. Who do you think you
are, the Riddler? Why are you luring the poor girl to some weirdo frikkin’
warehouse to—you hope—have her see a hologram that lets her know her
high school love died? Good heavens.
12. But you know what
was pretty cool? The dad. I thought he and Bo-ra had a fun relationship, and I
particularly liked that he was the one who was slickly rooting for her romance.
Usually, the dads are very pouty over this kind of thing and the moms are like,
“Oh, it’s fine.” But not this time. And that was not only nice to see but also
very much made sense, given how they interacted with each other in every other
scene in the movie. (And that bit they do where she wishes boys were more like
him? Just great.)
13. I also liked the
friend’s description of falling in love, at the very beginning. But I would,
wouldn’t I.
So, yeah, I had a pretty
good time with this one—until the end. Which…I mean, you saw it. You know.
Anyway. Hope you’re
doing well. Or, at least, doing better than the end of this movie.
—Daryl
P.S. - I totally watched
Alchemy of Souls, this week, and I totally recommend it. It’s not great,
but I was kind of obsessed with it, while I was watching it—and not just
because of Ji-ho from Because This is My First Life. I’m debating
whether I should write you a letter about it now or wait because part two is
out in December. And this is the most stressful thing in my life, at the
moment, which is just…fantastic news.
P.P.S. – Chae-ran is
also in Alchemy of Souls. Which means she’s been in three things I’ve
watched IN A ROW. So spoiled, I am.
P.P.P.S. – I’m
definitely doing a rewatch, over Christmas break. Vincenzo? Start-Up?
A Business Proposal? Something else entirely? Let it percolate in the
back of your mind. We’ve got time.
Comments
Post a Comment