Windstruck (Korean, 2004)

Original Title: Nae yeojachingureul sogae habnida
Directed and Written by Jae-young Kwak
Starring Gianna Jun, Hyuk Jang and Su-ro Kim

Whether you like it or not, one of the most highly revered South Korean movie was 2001's My Sassy Girl (Yeopgijeogin). The movie's director Jae-young Kwak, as well as actor Tae-hyeon Cha and South Korea's 'It Girl' Ji-hyun Jeon's fame skyrocketed. Before 2001, romcom (romantic comedy) movies were nowhere to be found in the South Korean film industry. Through My Sassy Girl's success, South Koreans started to appreciated this kind of genre.

Thus it was not surprising that people expected a LOT from Windstruck (Nae yeojachingureul sogae habnida), after learning that it was the reunion of My Sassy Girl's director and lead actress. Surprisingly, despite being one of South Korea's highly successful movies, it hardly became a runaway success that its backers had been expecting.

The Classic (Korean, 2003)

Keulraesik (original title)
Directed and written by Jae-young Kwak
Starring Ye-jin So, In-seong Jo and Seong-woo Cho

Most romantic movies that I have watched have lousy story lines. Such stories were already taken from other movies resulting to a predictable ending. But The Classic is different.

Directed by Kwak Jae-young, The Classic was a long-awaited follow-up to his 2001 smash hit My Sassy Girl (Yeopgijeogin geunyeo). My Sassy Girl became a smash hit, making the careers of actors Jeon Ji-hyun and Cha Tae-hyeon rose into the world of stardom. It wasn't really surprising that a lot of people tagged The Classic as My Sassy Girl 2.

But unlike its predecessor, The Classic, as the movie title suggests, is a classic Korean romantic melodrama. It is totally different with My Sassy Girl in every angle.