You may have heard about the growing trend of Korean art films, filled with intellectual wit and social commentary--this isn't one of them. You might consider it another one of those Hollywood-copy-cat films, which try to beat off Hollywood's imports with domestic productions (after all, it was top at the box office for six weeks in Korea, topping AI, Planet of the Apes, and Jurassic Park 3). But you could never mistake this for a Hollywood film, or ignore its distinct korean-ness. So what is it? Maybe teen-romantic-comedy-melodrama is the best description, but that doesn't really say much either. All in all, you just have to see it to really know.

On the comedy side, there are some jokes I found really funny, and other moments were just too weird to laugh at... and the ending is truly moving. This is also one of those rare romances where you can really sympathize for the guy, he's probably more kind-hearted and caring than the girl, although I guess some guys will just find this too unrealistic--I don't. In fact, much of the film will strike you as unrealistic, and I doubt that the director was looking for realism so much as entertainment value and emotion. In all honesty, if you can't stand unrealistic situations in movies, you'd be better off watching a socialist realism documentary. Otherwise, you'll probably love this film which gives a rare and inquisitive look into contemporary Korean college culture which is both playful, celebratory, and delicate.

Korea has had quite a few number of films like JSA, which have sparked a large number of purely entertaining and thought-provoking films that take a simple genre and expand it in all kinds of new ways. Yeopgijogin Kunyo might just be the start of a new genre of enjoyable and moving romance-comedy films that will challenge everything that Hollywood has produced.