Love Phobia

((summary taken from asianmediawiki.com))

Cho Seung Woo (Marathon, The Classic) and Gang Hye Jung (Welcome To Dongmakgol, Old Boy) star in this curious romantic drama that spans decades. One sunny day, a young boy named Jo Kang meets a curious young girl, dressed in a bright yellow raincoat. Jo Kang instantly becomes friends with Ari, and falls instantly in love with the beautiful but rather strange young girl - only for her to one day disappear! The story jumps to ten years later, and Jo Kang is now in high school. One day, completely out of the blue, Ari contacts him and asks to meet again. Although they have not seen each other in a decade, they have a wonderful time together, and the love between them begins to grow once more. But then, Ari disappears once more, leaving Jo Kang devastated. Can Jo Kang track down his true love? Will he ever discover why Ari keeps disappearing? Will he be able to do anything about it? All will be revealed in the tender story of Love Phobia.

 My Rating:

Although this is a typical “romantically sad, depressing” Korean drama, what sets this one apart from the pack, is that it’s good. It takes a familiar, overused plot, and makes it interesting. It boasts a strong story, likable characters, and a romance that is refreshing, unique, and fun. You’ll be weeping tears by the end, and yet, it leaves you with a nice, everything’s-going-to-be-okay, feeling—which is often lacking in these genres.

I really adore love stories where the two main characters have known each other as children. There’s something sweet about the innocence and naivety of youth, and watching as friendship develops into something more. The fact that there was no one else for them, just reinforces the “purity” of their affections, and makes their love story all the more intense and heartbreaking—I really liked the use of that strawberry song, and how him and his dad were singing it the moment he first saw her. It was almost prophetic.

There were so many cute moments in this movie—the shoelace scene was one of the cutest, funniest, saddest things I’ve ever seen and it was so short! And it’s those scenes that eventually make the ending so much more bearable and touching. The actors did a fantastic job bringing these characters to life—you really believe they’ve known each other all their lives. And the directing, music; everything was great. If I could change one thing, it would be the title, lol. There were so many different themes in this film—strawberries, purity, aliens, crop circles—it felt like they could have come up with something that would fit the story a little better.

But other than that… if you’re looking for a depressing love story, then this one won’t disappoint. It manages to add something special to the genre that usually leaves them mediocre and lacking. Still, it’s not a perfect film… but then again, what is?