Welcome to K-Movie Night — a once-a-month feature where we microwave some popcorn, put on a face mask, and get cozy with a Korean movie from yesteryear. With so many films finally streaming (with subs!), now is the time to get caught up on all those movies we missed featuring our favorite drama actors.
Each month, we’ll pick a flick, write a review, and meet you back here to discuss whether or not it’s worth a watch. Super simple. All you have to do is kick up your feet and join us in the comments!
MOVIE REVIEW
This month’s pick isn’t an awards movie or really even a runaway box office smash. It’s just a fun breather to drum up some warm fuzzy feelings and a few laughs as we make our way into fall. Plus, if I’m not the only one that recently gave up on watching Love Next Door, then I thought it might cleanse our palates to see Jung So-min in another romance role (that hopefully leaves me feeling better).
Released in October 2024, Love Reset has a standard rom-com setup, but a premise that pushes past the happy ending with a threat of divorce. Toss in a comic take on the amnesia trope, along with the happy face of Kang Haneul, and you’ve pretty much sold me the ticket to this one.
What happens when you have an enviable fairy tale romance that’s (literally) straight out of a movie? Well, it goes from sweet rom-com to terrifying thriller once you and your beloved are joined in matrimony. That’s the (hilariously told) backstory of our leading couple HONG NA-RA (Jung So-min) and NOH JUNG-YEOL (Kang Haneul) as they make their way to court to ask for a divorce.
We get to know their relationship through each of their eyes as they sit in front of a panel judges and explain why they despise each other. When asked how long it took to get to this point, they both insist that they hated each other from the beginning. Their daily routines are filled with so much contempt — like Na-ra throwing a baseball full force past Jung-yeol’s head to hit his face in their wedding photo — that it’s hard to believe these two ever thought they had anything in common.
The movie opens like a classic rom-rom. The pair had a long relationship, broke up, and are now reuniting at the last second when our leading lady is scheduled to marry someone else. She rushes into a low-rent bar in her extravagant wedding dress to find her one true love drunkenly pining over her. They’ve both decided it was a mistake to break up — they’re totally in love! — and so, they’ll make it official and get married.
But that one scene tells us a lot already about why our couple won’t be able to get along in their marriage: she’s from a rich family in Seoul, while he was raised poor outside the city. Their social class backgrounds are so much a part of who they are that they can’t agree on anything — from what to do on vacation (relax or sightsee) to what to eat for lunch (“boring” bibimbap or “snobby” pasta). What’s worse is that their families don’t get along either (for the same moneyed reasons), and the couple (and their parents) end up mocking each other in the worst ways.
But of course, this is where the jokes are. The class culture differences — and their furious responses to them — are terribly on target even as they’re over the top. This makes for fast-paced humor that doesn’t waste a second in its satirical bash of marital travails. When Na-ra is so screaming-angry that she’s spitting her mouthful of rice all over her husband’s face, he calmly tells her, “We shouldn’t waste rice. I’m unemployed.” He might be saying it to piss her off, but it’s also true.
And all of this is just the setup. Once the contemptuous couple has spilled all their dirty deeds in divorce court, they’re given thirty days to think over their decision. If, after that time, they still want to divorce, then their wish will be granted. Great. What could go wrong?
How about a car crash that causes both partners to lose their memories of each other and anything in their recent pasts? Yep, with a thirty-day countdown they’ll have to remember their spouse, their past, and their feelings for each other so they can go through with their divorce (or not).
And because we know this film is framed like a fairy tale, while still making fun of the tropes, we can guess which way the story is headed. In one of the movie’s many meta moments, the doctor (Jeon No-min) who’s “helping them recover” tells them not to be too worried — it’s amnesia, you know, just like in the dramas. And that fast, funny, spit-fire tone is what sets this little rom-com apart.
The rest of the movie then becomes a race to get their memories back. Or, possibly, to fall in love all over again. Their parents are pushing for them to remember how much they abhor each other and get on with the divorce. But that’s just the thing: they don’t remember their love or their hate. They’ll have to get reacquainted and decide how they feel this time around.
But more than getting to know each other again, they also get a chance to take a hard look at themselves. When they return from the hospital and see their apartment — full of soju bottles and an unidentifiable death smell — Na-ra assumes the marriage is in shambles due to “the husband” drinking so much. And even when her sister tells her, no, actually “the wife” is the heavy drinker, Na-ra still blames Jung-yeol: “How hard did he make my life to make me drink so much?” The deadpan is amazing, totally in character, and also a hint that to make it work, they’ll have to look inside and not just at their partner.
I really liked this one. I went in with zero expectations (or, truthfully, assuming it might be a lot of cliched filler) and I was spiritedly surprised. If you’ve got two hours to spare, and you need a little lift in your mood, I say, stream it! After many laugh-out-loud gags, I was caught off guard by how moved I felt at the climax. Both leads are great comic actors, but the success here is how they play off each other, whether they’re hating or falling in love.
The story stays centered on the couple and their interactions without getting sidetracked, which is what keeps the fast pace and makes it an easy watch. At the same time, a lot of the fun comes from the cameos and side characters — with an especially fun role for Kim Sun-young as Jung-yeol’s mom. With humor, sweetness, satire, and a firm grip on its own place in the rom-com canon, this one won’t change your life, but it might make you smile.
Join us in October for the next K-Movie Night and let’s make a party of it! We’ll be watching Miss Granny (2014) and posting the review during the last week of the month.
Want to participate in the comments when it posts? You’ve got 3 weeks to watch! Rather wait for the review before you decide to stream it? We’ve got you covered.