Yourself and Yours (2016)

Yourself and Yours (2016)

yourslef

You can tell from the opening titles exactly the kind of film this is going to be. Black Korean calligraphy on a white background suggests an intelligent and possibly artistic film and the lively classical music hints at a sophisticated comedy on love and relationships..

Yes, it’s a comedy, but one with brains. The humour is always grounded in realistic situations and believable characters.

Plot Summary

Yongsoo goes to meet a friend and they discuss Minjong, his girlfriend with whom he intends to marry. She has been seen drinking heavily in one of the local bars and when Minjong is confronted by Yongsoo she denies it was her, but Yongsoo is unable to ignore the rumours. Feeling hurt that he doesn’t seem to trust her, Minjong leaves him. Devastated, Yongsoo tries to win her back. Meanwhile, Minjong, or someone who looks very similar, is meeting men in bars and having casual relationships with them. Yongsoo eventually reunites with Minjong and they continue their relationship.

Hong Sang-soo, who makes films about relationships, has been called the Woody Allen of Asia and you can see why. His characters are somewhat world weary, and in the case of Yongsoo, given to moments of self –pity and despair. When Yongsoo tells his friends that love is all there is in the world, the rest is just compensation for when you don’t have love, it’s not hard to imagine Woody Allen saying the same thing. Meanwhile, Minjong, sexually available, yet innocent and lacking self-awareness, could be any number of Allen’s heroines. And then consider the loactions (I’d guess this was filmed in Hongdae); from coffee bars to streams and parks: we are miles away from the hectic urban centre of Seoul which is the typical backdrop of most Korean films.

Minjong (Lee You-young) is certainly a complicated character, and one who doesn’t always have the audience’s sympathy. A repeated joke in the film is that she pretends not to recognize men when they approach her and . Is she the real Minjeong, or is she in fact Minjong’s twin? In this case, the hard-drinking and promiscuous Minjong who has been seen by Yongsoo’s friends is not the same as the woman he has been in a relationship with. Or does it matter? In any relationship there must be trust, and that means sometimes ignoring rumours and gossip.

Yongsoo’s friends seem to be the jealous ones here, motivated not by care towards their friend but by wanting to punish Minjong for her perceived immoral behavior. Yongsoo is punished for his lack of faith in Minjong, first when she leaves him, and secondly by breaking his leg in an accident which we do not see. Only when Yongsoo learns to trust again is he able to finally get back together with Minjong. As the character said earlier, the most important thing in life is love, everything else is just is just compensation for when you don’t have it.

 

Cultural differences between Asian and Caucasian women

Recently someone commented on one of my blog posts  from last year. I had written about how I preferred dating Asian women to caucasian women. It was deliberately written to be as attention-grabbing as possible. I was really out to be prove a point, but I went around it in the wrong way. I didn’t really know what I was talking about.

I think that when you are in a relationship, as opposed to dating someone, the differences become even more pronounced. For example, my Japanese girlfriend is incredibly nurturing and kind. I don’t think I would be able to find someone with these qualities from England. I believe that she is much better at looking after me than other girlfriends I have had too. A big example is family relationships. Whilst I get the impression that most Western women would not be at all comfortable meeting parents of their partners, I know I can rely on her to support me and not show me up. I don’t feel comfortable with my family so it’s always great to have her there with me.

I believe that these are the qualities which explain why all kinds of caucasian are attracted to Asian women. Yeah, these girls are often more attractive too, and I think that it plays a big part. So not only are these girls from Japan and South Korea kinder and more generous than any girls from the West, they’re more attractive too. I suppose if Western girls stopped thinking about themselves for five minutes, started to look after their bodies, oh, fuck it. Who am I kidding?