S Diary (2004)

Director:

Jong-kwan Kwon

Writers:

Jong-kwan Kwon (writer)
Seong-Hun Park (writer)

Release Date:

22 October 2004 (South Korea)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Cast

Seon-a Kim	...	Jinny
Su-ro Kim	...	Jeong-seok
Hyeon-woo Lee	...	Gu-hyeon
Yu Kong	...	Yu In
Mun-hee Na	...	Jinny's mother
Kwang-il Kim	...	Ho-woo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Sun-yeong Ahn
Yoo Gong	...	Yu In
Hyuk Jang	...	Lim Chan
Jae-hyeong Jeon
Mi-Kyeong Kim

Runtime:

South Korea:106 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Singapore:NC-16

Company:

i Film Co. Ltd.

A Nutshell Review: S Diary

This Korean movie is told in 2 halves.

The first half opens with a relationship break up between the protagonist Jinny, and her current boyfriend, who says that she is suffocating him in their relationship. She is puzzled, and starts to ponder about her love life, and we are transported back to each one of them (there are 3), with each having a diary of its own.

The first is with a church choir teacher, who succumbed to lustful temptations during tutoring, but eventually left her to become a priest. The second is a traffic cop who left Jinny abruptly when he found a rich woman via a matchmaking agency, and the last is a graffiti-spray-painter-good-for-nothing-with-a-doggy dude, whom she left because he was too flirtatious.

In all these relationships, attempts are made to philosophize exactly what love is, and to what extent do you demonstrate this love to the other. As Jinny matures, her outlook of love and relationships also changes, and her thoughts are punctuated with common and familiar statements of love. While all of the past relationships started on the oh-so-sweet note, as it goes on, you start to think if it's really anchored on love, or lust and physical desire.

In those breakups, we are also shown how each party takes it in their stride. Some are remorseful, though almost all are in it for sexual gratification.

And that's where the 2nd half of the movie kicks in, when Jinny decides to take her revenge on all of them, using various unorthodox methods which draws in the laughs. Also adding to the humour is the character of Jinny's mother, who somehow has a physical knack in communicating with her daughter. You have to see it to believe.

However, the movie ends in a more sombre note - that in each relationship, there exist beautiful memories, and that these memories are shared, and can never be taken away. This is very true and I can somehow identify with the ending.

For those who have loved and lost, this movie is for you.