My Bossy Girl
Director: Lee Jang-hee
Year: 2019
Rating: 6.0
Country:
Korea
Ah, teenage romance. Pretty much
the same in every culture. Love and angst. I am not sure if Korea has a word
like the Japanese do for cute in all forms like kawaii - but if they do,
this is it. A beautiful girl in a wheelchair and a nerd who is in love with
her. As sweet as a Raspberry tart. This being a Korean film, I fully expected
it at some point to get super melodramatic - one of them gets a fatal disease
or has an accident or drifts away only to return 20-years later or is really
a North Korean spy. I was just waiting to see which one it would be. I mean
it's Korean. Never miss an opportunity to drag out the tears like it is a
religious mission. And for about five-minutes it gets iffy but for some reason
they just keep it cute and happy all the way through. What was director Lee
Jang-hee thinking? Well, it is only his second film, so he can be forgiven.
He will learn that the way to box office treasure is with Kleenex and tears.
Hwi-so (Ji Il-joo) along with his two buddies
are all brilliant nerds in school able to make robots and anything else.
In a strange twist, the two buddies have two lovely girls chasing after them
because they are so smart. Really? Is being a nerd in Korea a babe magnet?
Damn, I was born in the wrong place. The three of them have a tent open at
a school fair - where all the girls are stunning - to repair bikes for free
when a girl comes crashing into it in a wheelchair. This is Hye Jin (Elijah
Lee) who is unable to walk but can shoot an arrow about 100-yards down the
field for a bullseye. The nice thing about this film is that it stays away
from what happened to her or to give her hope that she can be cured. It is
what it is and she has accepted it and is making the most of her life.
One look at her and Hwi-so is smitten. Elijah
Lee has a face that could lay an army low. He asks her to lunch. Pork cutlet.
A favorite of mine in a curry. The restaurant turns out to be at the top
of about 50 steps up. Oh. I didn't think about that. But it's really good.
So, he piggybacks her up. And the wheelchair gets stolen. But he builds another
for her. Even better. Smart guy when it doesn't come to picking restaurants.
He brings her out, she brings him out and love ensues. A feel-good movie
with only a few small bumps along the way. Sometimes, I need that. The title
is misleading by the way. She isn't bossy - but bossy girls are a thing in
Korea - almost it's own genre - they are two peas in a pod. Up on YouTube.
