What Do Films My Sassy Girl and 2046 Have in Common - Movie Review Example

Asian films gained worldwide recognition over the past years with exceptional storylines, sophisticated production details and quality comparable to Hollywood films. Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 and Kwak Jae-yong’s Korean film My Sassy Girl are among the remarkable Asian films that earned positive reception in the international film scene. 2046 was nominated for the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival, earned numerous nominations at the Hong Kong Film Festival and won awards at the Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival. (Awards for 2046) My Sassy Girl on the other hand, won Best Asian Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards, Best Foreign Language Film at the Hochi Film Awards, earned a nomination at the Awards of the Japanese Academy and the story also had a Hollywood remake. (Awards for My Sassy Girl) The two films also have similarities that can be compared and analyzed in terms of the genre characterized by the target audience, historical value, socio-cultural importance, the narrative sequence, the over-all result on the film of the visual effects, set design, colors, musical score and performances of the actors. The genre of both films is similar on the tones of Romance and Science Fiction. Contrastingly, My Sassy Girl is infused with elements of Comedy throughout the story while 2046 possess more factors of Drama. Romance, science fiction and drama genres are evident in 2046 and can be seen in the storyline as well as in the settings and visual elements of the film. The Romance and Drama aspect of the film is shown in the story wherein the writer named Chow Mo-wan had lost the woman he loved in the past and tried to deal with his past by writing a futuristic novel called 2046 inspired by the women he met in the present time he was living in. In the film, Mo-wan was narrating the series of events that lead him to start writing the novel; the novel was about a place called 2046 where people wanted to go in search of their past especially their love. In going to 2046, which was depicted as a futuristic place, one has to take a train where androids serve and entertain passengers. Narrations describing the futuristic place 2046 and scenes showing the settings inside the train with androids illustrate the Sci-Fi facet of the film. On the other hand, the film My Sassy Girl is categorized mainly as Romantic Comedy with a hint of Science Fiction. Romance can be immediately identified in the film immediately because the main theme of the movie tells about the unusual love story of the two main characters played by Jun Ji-hyun and Cha Tae-hyun (as Kyun-woo). All the way through the film, the out of the ordinary romance between the characters is heavily interspersed with comical scenes and dialogues which shows the Comedy feature of the film. Hints of Science Fiction in the film can be recognized on the scenes showing parts from the sci-fi and heroine stories written by the female character one of which was the scene where the Sassy Girl was a girl from the future who arrived to save the endangered Kyun-woo. In terms of categorizing the genre of 2046 and My Sassy Girl, they are in some way, under the same genre but are different as well since 2046 is more of a Romantic Sci-Fi Drama while My Sassy Girl is mainly a Romantic Comedy. Another similarity between 2046 and My Sassy Girl is that there are other films made by their respective directors that are related to the two films. Wong Kar-wai’s 2046 is a sequel to Days of Being Wild which was about Su Li Zhen, Chow Mo-wan’s love interest in In the Mood for Love which also caused Mo-wan’s fictional writings on finding his frustrated romance in 2046. Similarly, Kwak Jae-yong also made Windstruck which was linked to My Sassy Girl as a prequel. Although characters from Windstruck were different from My Sassy Girl, it explains how the girl in My Sassy Girl lost her boyfriend and met the guy who was called Kyun-woo in My Sassy Girl. The connecting scene between Windstruck and My Sassy Girl was the familiar scene at the subway station. Films related to 2046 were part of a trilogy while Windstruck may be connected to My Sassy Girl due to the positive response to My Sassy Girl. Another point of comparison between My Sassy Girl and 2046 is the target audience. While the two films have similar genres, they differ largely on their target audience obviously because 2046 was aimed at mature audiences with adult romantic themes and issues on defective relationships and individuals who have difficulties with their selves particularly on letting go of their past as well as on starting their lives over. In comparison, My Sassy Girl is directed towards a teen audience. Kwak Jae-yong skillfully lightened the mood of the film by using humor to a great extent despite the depression and angst of the girl’s character over her boyfriend’s death. Both films engage viewers on the contrasting approach of the main characters in dealing with their lost love on the presumption that majority of the viewers had experiences on romantic love. In 2046, the male character Mo-wan had difficulty on dealing with the loss of Su Li Zhen that in the process he cannot start a serious relationship with other women. Mo-wan symbolize an individual who, after being frustrated in a failed relationship, resorts to having short-lived relationships with numerous partners and unsympathetic behavior because of the inability to accept the loss. My Sassy Girl, on the other hand, shows the slow acceptance of the female character by letting herself start a new relationship with the male character. Though the male and female characters had to wait two years before deciding on their relationship, the girl gradually progressed towards coping with her loss unlike the male character in 2046. In relation to the association of the two films to the audience, socio-cultural, historical and economic importances of the films are also significant areas of interest to be considered in this comparative analysis. The economic implication of both films in their respective countries demonstrates the capability of the countries to produce quality films that are competent internationally catching the attention of the Cannes Film Festival for 2046 and Hollywood for My Sassy Girl. Films competitive in quality are of economic importance because positive reception of such films means more revenue for the country and can pave way for investments from foreign and local financers to create more quality films thus creating jobs for people and eventually create a need to build infrastructures particularly film production studios. Moreover, the economic and institutional significance of the two films can also be noted as 2046 was distributed in other countries by Sony Pictures Classics and Tartan Films while My Sassy Girl was produced by Shin Cine Communications and distributed by Korean pioneer film studio and distributor Cinema Service. The socio-cultural relevance is shown in the film 2046 with the implied disclosure on the relationship of Hong Kong with Singapore, Cambodia and Japan. With the male character Mo-wan freely going to and fro Hong Kong, Singapore as well as Cambodia, the film shows the good ties between the countries during the 1960’s setting. However, the unstable relation with Japan during the 60’s was pointed out in the film straightforwardly by the scene wherein Jingwen, the hotel owner’s daughter was prohibited to continue her romance with her Japanese boyfriend because Jingwen’s father and his family suffered during the Japanese war. As for the film My Sassy Girl; the showcase of Korean food, places and products as well as the way of life at school and an everyday life of college students were intended to introduce Korea’s culture represented in the film on scenes where the characters were dining in local food houses, visiting the tree on top of the hill that provides a scenic view of the lush Korean hillside and the daily activities of college age Koreans as well as their teens. After addressing the socio-cultural significance of the films, the historical context on both 2046 and My Sassy Girl should also be discussed. Set in the 1960’s Hong Kong, the film 2046 shows the riots that occurred in 1966 and 1967. The riot during 1967 marks the onset of independence of Hong Kong from British rule. (Ma 93) In contrast, the historical context of My Sassy Girl is more on being a documentation of its time since the film shows present day cultural and social manners of Koreans. Both films mark the historical development of film production in their respective countries and regions because the two films gained international popularity and recognized by award-giving institutions. Upholding the essence that the two films intend to convey to the audience, the first person narrative of both films added on to effectively relay the meaning of the stories while the arrangement if the narrative by time sequence helped present the gist of 2046 and My Sassy Girl in a different approach catching the attention of the audience until the end of the film because missing a scene would cause less appreciation of both films. The first person narrative also gave the feel of a personal conversation with the main characters of 2046 and My Sassy Girl. Furthermore, colors played an important role in both films as well as the lighting, set design, wardrobe selection, musical score and special effects hold equally essential roles in providing the audience better appreciation of the two films. Neutral colors, lights, set design, wardrobe and musical score differentiated the 1960’s setting in 2046 from the futuristic train to 2046 while the special effects showed the transition from the 1960’s to the train going to 2046. Vibrant colors, lights, modern wardrobe and the musical score facilitated the fresh and young themes of My Sassy Girl setting it apart from the vintage feel brought on by the same cinematic elements used in 2046. In conclusion, 2046 and My Sassy Girl are two similar films in terms of genre, economic importance and narrative style. They slightly differ on the age group audience target and greatly vary in terms of historical and socio-cultural value as well as in the use of film elements and misce en scene. CITED WORKS 2046. Dir. Wong Kar-wai. Perf. Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Li Gong, Faye Wong, Ziyi Zhang, Carina Lau, Maggie Cheung. Block 2 Pictures, China Film Co-Production Corporation, Fortissimo Films, France 3 Cinéma, Jet Tone Films, Jet Tone Production, Paradis Films, arte France Cinéma, 2004. wmv. “Awards for My Sassy Girl (2001)”. imbd.com. n. p., n.d. Web. 24 October 2010. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293715/awards “Awards for 2046 (2004)”. imbd.com. n. p., n.d. Web. 24 October 2010. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212712/awards Ma, Eric Kit-wai, Jiewei Ma. Culture, politics, and television in Hong Kong. New York: Routledge, 1999. Print. My Sassy Girl. Dir. Kwak Jae-young. Perf. Tae-hyun Cha, Gianna Jun. Shin Cine Communications, 2001. wmv. Read More