My Scary Girl!

Day Forty Four.

***I wrote this two days ago but I didn’t have internet connection.***

I overslept again! I slept yesterday around 10 in the morning. I was supposed to wake up around 7 or 8 in the evening, instead I woke up at 2 in the morning the next day! Waaah! My body clock seems to be going haywire! Oh well, since I was up early, I thought I might as well go out. So I went out today. I planned on just spending a pleasant day drinking hot caramel macchiato while watching a movie. But I ended up spending lots of money on a chocolate cake and a sandwich only to throw up everything I ate! I guess, I was still a bit sick.

But that wouldn’t stop me from watching a movie! Against my better judgment, I decided to watch the American version of “My Sassy Girl”. I promised myself that I wouldn’t watch it because I seriously loved the original Korean version and American remakes of Asian films disappointed me one too many times. But, again, I had nothing else to watch so I gritted my teeth and went inside to the theater.

Truth be told, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It has its own charms and positive points but it has one huge problem: “It’s still a remake and the original was just too darn good!” I probably would have liked this movie if I haven’t seen the original…five times…in three different languages! I liked the original THAT much! This remake stayed true to the Korean version. Almost all of the scenes in this movie could be found in the original but this movie is like a simplified and shorter version. They removed most of the hilarious and really important scenes that made the original so brilliant. The throwing-up-at-the-old-man’s-head scene, the getting-caught-by-the-cops-naked-at-a-cheap-motel scene, the cheesy-futuristic-rescue scene and a whole lot more. It just felt incomplete. You know the feeling when you’re talking to someone then he stops mid-sentence and didn’t finish what he’s saying? That feeling like you were left hanging and expecting something more. Well, that’s what I felt while watching this. Another thing I hated about this film is that, not only did they remove the vital scenes but the scenes that were there were even simplified. Like that part with the crazy soldier. That was supposed to be a big scene in front of a beautiful grand carousel, with SWAT team all over the place, snipers on standby at the top of the park rides and all that; but in this movie it was so much simpler and smaller in scale. Even the fireworks display in the background looked like it was done in someone’s backyard. They just limited themselves so much instead going wild with the concept like the Koreans did in the original.

As for the actors performances, well, I have to say, Jesse Bradford was perfect for the role of the pitiful Gyeon-woo (or Charlie in this version). Even when I saw the trailer, I thought they made the right choice casting him. He pulled-off the role pretty well. I couldn’t say the same thing about Elisha Cuthbert though. First of all, I love Elisha Cuthbert. She’s a really talented actress and is one of the prettiest young faces in the business today. Unfortunately, this role is just not for her. She fits the bill in terms of good looks and she also has that incredible charm and screen-presence. But her character lacks the strong personality and “sassiness” that Jeon Ji-hyun had in the Korean version. But I don’t hold anything against Elisha, the Korean “Sassy Girl” was such a beloved character and Jeon Ji-hyun was born to play that role. That character already goes with Jeon Ji-hyun’s name and she immortalized it with her brilliant performance! Just like Matsuyama Ken’ichi with “L” and Heath Ledger with “The Joker”. Elisha had such incredibly big shoes to fill and I applaud her for her effort. It’s a failed effort but at least she tried.

All in all, the American “My Sassy Girl” is not that bad. The cinematography was beautiful, the script was quite well-written, the two main leads had good chemistry and it had a unique charm that typical romantic comedies don’t have. In fact it’s not your everyday-average romantic comedy. It’s actually quite better than most films in its genre. Unfortunately, it’s too short, too rushed and falls-short in terms of character development. In short, it wasn’t able to live-up to the original. But it’s quite an improvement compared to the past remakes of Asian horror films!

And speaking of horror films, remember Sadako? I just had a trip back memory lane this afternoon. After watching “My Sassy Girl”, I didn’t want to go home yet so I went to the bookstore to pass the time. The first book that caught my attention was Suzuki Koji’s “Birthday”. Suzuki Koji is the man behind the ever popular “Ring” novels. Yes, the same novels where the hit J-horror movie, “Ringu” and the American remake with Naomi Watts were based on. I don’t actually like to read horror novels because I’ve always believed that they are much scarier when you watch them on-screen. But man, was I so wrong!

By the way, “Birthday” is an anthology just like “Yume Juya”. It’s composed of three different stories that are all related to the “Ringu” universe. I didn’t have time to read all of them so I just read the longest one, “Lemonheart”. It’s actually the story where the screenplay of the movie, “Ringu 0: Birthday” (starring Nakama Yukie), was based on. I’ve seen the movie years ago so I thought I knew what I’d read in this book. But I was wrong. It was completely different and didn’t feel like a horror novel at all. I guess that’s the difference between watching a movie from reading a book. The movie, was interpreted the way the director wanted it to be interpreted and the viewers have no choice but to just sit back and drink it all in! But when you’re reading, you can interpret the story any way you want. It’s up to you to imagine what the characters look like, what the settings feels like and how they all interact with each other. And to be honest, I’ve never appreciated the Ringu story as much as I did when I read this book.

“Lemonheart” is a story about a man named Toyama and the one great love of his life, the woman he was never able to forget for 24 years: Yamamura Sadako. In the silver screen, “Birthday” is a horror story but in this novel it’s more like a tragic love story. It has a completely different feel. In fact, aside from the few creepy moments with the baby’s cries being heard on the recordings, this didn’t seem like a horror story at all! For the first time, I got to see a Sadako who’s not scary. I saw a Sadako who’s beautiful, young and innocent. In the movies, she’s always that terrifying girl with supernatural abilities but here she’s just you’re everyday average teenage girl who dreams of becoming an actress.

“Lemonheart” started as a love story between Sadako and Toyama that happened 24 years ago when Sadako was only 19 years-old. I think there’s something sweet and innocent about their love for each other. Reading about how they met and how they fell in love just put a smile on my face. Sadako was a very beautiful girl who worked as an intern for a theater troupe. She’s smart, talented and pretty and all the men admired her. Among these men were Toyama, a fellow intern who’s in charge of the sound effects. It was love at first sight for him. Toyama was your typical nice guy. A hopeless romantic, a little shy and timid but an overall good guy. At first he was contented in loving Sadako from a distance. But when he saw her dance on-stage, he fell even more in-love with her and knew he had to talk to her. The first time he talked to her, he said “You dance really well! Good job!” But she took it the wrong way. She thought he was being sarcastic.

Even though she knew she’s a great dancer she thought everyone else thinks she was terrible and so she treated all their praises as sarcasm. When she got mad at him for praising her, I caught a glimpse of myself in her. I too have always been like that. From middleschool, to highschool, to college until I got a job: I’ve never had full confidence in myself. When guys come up to me and tell me that I look cute or pretty, I always thought they were making fun of me and that they’re laughing at me behind me back. When I look in the mirror, I see a pretty girl, not exceptionally beautiful, but still quite pretty. But even though I see that girl there, I don’t believe that’s what other people see when they look at me. I’ve always believed that even though I see myself as a pretty girl, I think what everyone sees is an ugly and very ordinary girl. So whenever someone praises me, I always treated it as sarcasm. I’m also like that with my work. When I draw, I could see that I draw really well but I doubt that other people would see it the way I do. That’s why I rarely show my work to anyone. If it weren’t for my past teachers who encouraged me to join art contests I would probably hid my drawings from the world forever. But even when I won in those contest, I always felt like I won because I got lucky and not because I’m good. I guess you could say that I didn’t trust people’s judgment. I didn’t trust that their judgment would be the same as mine. Or is it the other way around? I don’t trust my judgment. I don’t trust that my judgment of myself would be the same as others. Does that makes sense?

Anyway, in the novel Toyama once told Sadako “You know, you shouldn’t hate the world so much. Everyone’s not always out to get you.” For some reason, that line made me laugh because I’ve always had that same mentality. That the world is out to get me. That everyone’s judging me. That everyone doesn’t like me. Another funny thing about this novel is when the people in the theatre troupe called Sadako: “That creepy girl”. Although she’s beautiful and they all had a crush on her they found her really creepy. Not because of her supernatural powers (There was no mention of that at this point of the story) but because of her gloomy nature. It’s funny because I used to be “that creepy girl”. Back in my last few years in college (after I got sick) up until when I was working in various companies, I’ve always been labeled as “the cute girl whom guys were afraid to approach”. I remember my first day on my first job. I was wearing a really nice dress because I wanted to make a good impression. When I got there, some guys eagerly approached me trying to be “helpful” seniors. They were so attentive to my needs and were incredibly nice to me. But a few days later, they all started backing away from me because my creepiness started to come out. I guess they thought I was cute at first but my weirdness scared them away in the end.

I guess that’s why I really enjoyed reading this novel. My friends used to call me “Sadako” before, because I had the same long dark hair as Nakama Yukie (I’ve got bangs now though) and I did make a couple of guys at the office scream like a girl when I suddenly popped out from behind them. But after reading this book, I realized, I didn’t just look like Sadako, I even had the same personality as her! But let me just say, I’ve improved so much this past couple of years in terms of accepting praises. I believe more in other people now and I don’t treat praises as sarcasm anymore. I guess, I owed that to Kazu.

That’s why while I was reading this novel, the Sadako I was picturing in my head was a young Nakama Yukie but the Toyama in my head was Kazu. They just have the same personality and I just couldn’t help but see his face while reading this. Especially, since Toyama was always there to encourage Sadako. Anyway, what started out as a pure and innocent love story, slowly became a dark and creepy tale when strange things began happening in the theater. There were weird noises appearing on the recordings and a strange altar was found in the sound booth. I thought horror scenes are scarier on-screen but I felt more chills down my spine while I was reading them. I guess, it’s because they were told in a very detailed manner and your mind could make them look as scary as you want them to be.

Of course, the story ended tragically even though it could have had a happy ending. Toyama was never able to forget Sadako even though he hadn’t seen her for 24 years and he’s already a married man. He kept asking a lot of “What-ifs”. “What if Sadako didn’t disappear 24 years ago?” Maybe they would be happily married now. “What if he was able to prevent the terrible event that happened before?” Maybe his life would be completely different now. I’ve been asking a lot of “What-ifs” myself. I’m only 21 but I already have many regrets in life. But you know what? It’s perfectly useless asking these questions. If there’s one line in the American “My Sassy Girl” that I would never forget it’s this: “Fate is the bridge you have to cross to get to the person you love”. Even though you are destined to be with someone, it’s still up to you to make the move. You still have to cross that bridge. Like when I was in highschool, a guy I liked courted me for a year but I was too scared to cross the bridge so he moved on and now I keep thinking “What if I said yes to him? Would we still be together until today? Is he the one I’m destined to be with? But since I didn’t cross the bridge, Fate moved on and he became destined for someone else? It’s just too darn confusing! Oh well, I guess I’ll never truly understand this. But I do know that I have to cross the bridge right in front of me now. But I’m still too scared. The bridge is far too shaky and unstable. I think I may never have the courage to cross it but at least I could see the other end from where I stand.

End of Day Fourty Four.