Awesome experience (Spoilers)

I watched the film last night and was completely mesmerized by it and I am still thinking what made this way over the top movie tick?

One answer is possibly superb technical work. Films coming out of Korea these days are too slick, these guys are getting something right. It is not just the technical quality but a lot of detailing and creative ideas are going into minor matters. The camera relentlessly pursues the characters, innovative angles, virtuoso editing, beautiful sense of composition - I could go on and on but you get the idea.

The story itself, while quite trite had a big twist to it. Usually a tragic story ends with the death of one of the lovers or protagonists. In this case, the character dies in the middle. So, the film glides over the tragic part and sort of becomes an exhilarating study of coping with sorrow.

Perhaps the biggest asset of this film is the adorable Jeon Ji-Hyun. In my opinion she carries the film. It is yet to be seen whether she can carry more subtle and deep themes, but in this case, her vibrant energy gives a whole new lift to the film. You can not help but want her to live, be happy.

I disagree that the second part of the film was not as great. I feel that was the best part of the movie. Tragedy is part of life and we have different ways to deal with it. Some succumb to it (suicide solution), some gradually recover, some become broken and scarred forever in life, some indulge in high risk behavior to mitigate the guilt, some quickly overcome tragedy and embrace life. The brilliance of the second part of the film is that all these different options are beautifully examined without making the difficult options to overwhelming or the easy options too cheesy.

This could be a whole new genre in the making. We will see.