My Ordinary Love Story

An oddball Korean outing which shifts from romantic comedy to something very unexpected…

Over the last decade, the Korean romantic comedy has become one of the most generic cinematic forms imaginable, the vast majority of films following a strict list of conventions and clichés and rarely straying from the prescribed path, relying wholly upon star power to achieve box office success. As such, My Ordinary Love Story, which comes complete with a cutesy poster and box art featuring a feisty looking Kang Hye-won (The Huntresses) and a downtrodden Song Sae-byuk (A Girl at My Door) doesn’t seem to promise much for anyone not already enamoured with the form.

The film starts off exactly according to expectations, with Kang Hye-won playing a woman called Eun Jin, whose last six relationships have ended in disaster, and who now, on the verge of turning 30, is dead-set on making things work with her latest beau, Hyun Suk (Song Sae-byuk). A nice, if somewhat clumsy sort, Hyun Suk seems a great match for her and a genuine marriage prospect, if only due to his patience and willingness to put up with her abusive behaviour, and all goes according to plan, until she starts to suspect he might be hiding something from her. Teaming with her police officer best friend So Young (Park Grina, Once Upon a Time in Seoul), she starts following him around, and soon uncovers unexpected secrets.

My Ordinary Love Story is a hard film to review without going anywhere near the third act bombshell which takes it off into very different territory – clearly, the film works best the more off guard the viewer is caught. Without wishing to give anything away, the fact that the film was chosen as the closing film of the 18th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, a very strange honour for a straightforward romantic comedy, should give some indication that it’s not the usual, run of the mill affair. The first film from director Lee Kwon since Attack on the Pin-Up Boys back in 2007, its real strength comes thankfully not from manipulation of its twist, though in the way it slowly, patiently builds up towards it, lulling the viewer into a false sense of security. For the first hour or so, the film certainly plays very close to the rules, Eun Jin being every inch the sassy heroine, right down to meeting Hyun Suk when drunk at a bus stop, and him being a meek, awkward sort who takes all kind of abuse from her – Lee even works in a subplot involving stereotypically quirky best friend So Young developing a romantic attraction with Eun Jin’s equally safe-weird younger brother.

The film breezes along in this direction, watchable and engaging enough in distinctly unambitious fashion, and it’s here that Lee Kwon’s talent as a storyteller really shines through as, while it would be going too far to suggest that many viewers would be likely to care overly much about the relationship between Eun Jin and Hyun Suk, by the time of the change, there is a level of attachment, or at least of expectation. Crucially, when the shift happens, and it does so quite suddenly, it works very well, and it’s a real tribute to Lee that he keeps the film very much on the rails, maintaining a sense of continuity and coherence through to the end. While it’s hard not to feel a little tricked, Lee’s game is clearly to play upon the viewer’s sense of anticipation, and looking back after the credits have rolled, the script and setup are intelligent and playful, various subtle hints being dropped here and there. Praise should also go to Kang Hye-won and Song Sae-byuk, who manage to nail exactly the kind of chemistry needed for the film, and through the various stages of the film their dynamic proves winning and entertaining, far more so than in the average rom com.

My Ordinary Love Story joins the very select ranks of Korean genre outings to buck the trend and to take real risks in offering up something different, and Lee Kwon has produced a film which successfully utilises and subverts the standard checklist. Of course, while some will enjoy the twist, others will inevitably rail against it, and the film does walk a fine line in that anyone who hates romantic comedies might well not last until the final act, and aficionados looking for a traditional ending may similarly be nonplussed by the direction it eventually takes – My Ordinary Love Story is a bit of a one trick pony as a result, though a very enjoyable and clever one undeniably.

My Ordinary Love Story is available via YesAsia.