AllMovie

Lacking the ambitious originality of his debut, My Sassy Girl, Kwak Jae-yong's The Classic is meant to evoke the melodramas of old. Occasionally, as with Ji-hyae's (Son Ye-jin) comic reaction to the doves that alight on her windowsill in the beginning of the film, Kwak slyly subverts expectations, but for the most part, The Classic wears its heart, cliché and all, on its sleeve. This is a well-executed romantic melodrama, with gorgeous visuals courtesy of cinematographer Lee Jun-gyu, a very appealing cast (particularly Son and Lee Gi-woo, who brings the necessary dark undercurrent to his depiction of the initially goofy Tae-soo), and a sweetly evocative score by Jo Yeong-wook. But the film does have its flaws. It's in no hurry to go anywhere, which is fine when it shows us an attractive couple caught in the rain gradually warming to each other, but less so when it slows to a crawl, ruining what should be a dramatic moment (as when Ji-hyae [Son] discovers Sang-min's [Jo In-seong] charming subterfuge with the umbrella), spelling things out in an overly emphatic way when it's already perfectly clear to the audience what's occurred. This wouldn't be much of a problem if the film weren't about 15 minutes too long, though it is nicely balanced between the contemporary romance and the "classic" one. Like a lot of recent South Korean films, this one offers an interesting mixture of nostalgia and regret in regard to recent history. Obviously it's an homage of sorts to the country's cinematic legacy, and in its old-fashioned romanticism, it's emotionally satisfying, if a bit silly, and not particularly memorable.