Review: The Classic (2003) ~ My Feeling Heart

Being in the BPO industry gives you all the free time in the world when you're off work. Yet too much free time can sometimes be a lot to handle you'd probably start wondering if it was actually a good thing or a bad thing. Then, somewhere in between, The Classic happened. Verdict? It was a good thing.

Image via Naver Movie.

The Classic is a 2003 South Korean film that depicts the story of two starcrossed lovers in the 60s (Son Ye-jin, Jo Seung Woo) and its parallelism to another story of love from the present (Son Ye-jin, Jo In-sung). It's a story narrating constant shift of events from then and now, until, eventually, everything came full circle.

Ji-hye (Son Ye-jin) stumbled across a box one day while in the process of cleaning her room. Stopping a moment to check what's inside, there she found various love letters from her late father. What piqued her interest though are similar kinds of letters from a man named Joon-ha (Jo Seung Woo), whom she barely know. Thus begins the flashbacks about the heartbreaking relationship of Joon-ha and Joo-hee (her mother) and how they hadn't ended up being together after her mother had been arranged to marry his father. These flashbacks, coincidentally, are intertwined with her own affairs of the heart regarding Sang-min (Jo In-sung), a man whom her best friend likes.

Poignant and beautifully written, The Classic is one of those movies that will forever hold a special place in my heart. I love how it was presented as two different stories that parallel each other through one thing: unchanging feelings of love. And I love that at the end, Joon-ha and Joo-hee's story has been completed when Ji-hye and Sang-min eventually fell in love—a fulfilled aspiration that their parents couldn't have.

The Classic's strongest point (for me), was the story of Joon-ha and Joo-hee in the past. Not only does it have the movie's most emotional weight, but also has the best performance and delivery from Son Ye-jin and Jo Seung Woo. That man totally stole the film. Yet that wasn't enough, because he totally stole my heart thereafter.

Aside from the Jo Seung Woo eye candy, I also love how director Kwak Jae-yong was able to showcase vast differences of Korea then to Korea now through the use of vivid landscapes and amazing panoramas—such as Joon-ha and Jo-hee's walk on the wooden bridge accompanied by fireflies so bright, giving off an even better cinematic feel for the movie as a whole.

Truly one classic movie that will not only make you fall in love but will also make you believe in love over and over again, The Classic is one movie very worth your effort and time. Recommended watch.