Big (2012)

Gong Yoo's supra stellar physical acting skills

The Hong Sisters' 8th script, 2012, 16eps at 1hr ea. A wonderful watch, made deceptively simple by a truly sophisticated production. Gong Yoo's supra stellar physical acting skills alone would have made this series way better than the 1988 film Big which supplies the original premise. Not only is GY's performance superior to Tom Hanks', but thank you very much, TH would have withered under 16 hrs of acting and character arc.

Pastiche references to the 80s are common with millenials, but this is a true and subtle loving homage to sitcoms and films of the period by consummate professionals all the way down the line of cast and crew. Directed by Ji Byung Hyun, who did the HS' first script, and by Kim Sung Hoon, whose first series was Dream High, Bae Suzy's debut as a Hallyu star actress.

Suzy has a magnetic screen presence even here in 2012, and although as Mi Ra, the unlikely 2FL, she is about as blunt as a hammer, her own pure sincerity and emotional boldness work well inside this storyline. It is also the nicest foreign cinematic compliment to the essential innocence and idiocy of the American teenager that I have ever seen. Brilliant casting. The other idol actor, who would normally have been the 2ML, spends most of the film in a coma, as his character has migrated to the body of a classic "good son" Korean doctor.

As part of the American homage, not only is the lighting warm and consistently bright and the acting style more naturalistic in the vein of US comedy, but the FL has a loveable, cozy and intact family around which revolve all the other characters, most of whom are written with American connections. Her brother is, I think, the real 2ML opposite Suzy, amidst an absolute storm of romantic connections which background the central storyline.

The HS, in an intelligent loyalty to the genre, often run an underlying theme of romance: the love within an enduring marriage (Chunhyang), teen love (Youre Beautiful), dating conventions (My Girlfriend is a G), sex before marriage? (Warm and Cozy) and the theme of fairytale weddings here in Big.

At first seemingly another naive short-skirted FL, Lee Min Jung's character as written avoids the skewered, frozen and frustrating stereotype current in kdrama recently. Much more easily read by a western audience as representative of the girl who lives in the heart of every woman, her hopeful innocence is one of the factors which helps Big avoid the skeaziness of the '88 film. The other is the relatively minor age gap between an 18-20 yearold and the middle 20s of the substitute teacher. She keeps calling him a kid, which may be a joke about Korean reckoning but is definitely part of her goodhearted naivete and essential moral nature.

Just as Gong Yoo dominates the first part of the series and Suzy 's character rises to the fore in the final dramatic events, MIn Jung's beautiful eyes and Barbra Streisand-like soulful upturned gaze focuses the central part of the series. Her conflicted guilt at two-timing her husband- to-be (the doctor) by falling in love with her de facto husband, a brilliant characterization by Gong Yoo of a moody, rebellious and intelligent American teen in her original fiance's body, seems annoying at first but draws the viewer into the necessary suspension of disbelief.

In short, you will fall in love with Da Ran and her Kyung Joon. This is such a long review that I barely have room to say that GY's physical acting is insane, and the rest of the cast are so sensitive -- example: as a well brought up Korean American the teen is aware of social conventions but tends to automatically evince american behaviors. GY actually DOES that! Da Ran's family notice this but sweetly attribute it to something else...amazing stuff.

ps. The ending isnt perfect but is classic kdrama driven (think about twins...the true lovers do unite! But the now older younger twin looks exactly like his older brother, duh!. The HS often pack some character development into a forced separation in the last two episodes, and indulgence in a little ambiguity is common event in kdrama when tidiness isnt possible. Until recently, the plot of a series is written on the fly after the first few weeks, via negotiation or balancing act between the audience reactions in real time, the scriptwriters original intentions if any, and the director's plans, if any.

The SK television audience has a much higher tolerance for loose ending, in consequence. But now with the internationalization of asian drama on streaming svcs, as drama lengths shorten and regional differences (unfortunately from my sentimental perspective) tend to be ironed out, likewise quick or ambiguous wrap-ups will become less common.

first posted sept 1st, 2024 on Viki

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