Movie 'Sunny' review

If you ask me what snack I like best, I'd of course say 'kkul-kkwabaegi' (honey twists). Slightly sweet yet curiously not hard, it crunches and crumbles finely in your mouth, and because of the honey coating the outside, it's just a tiny bit sticky. The reason I abruptly put this story at the beginning of a Sunny movie review is that in this film too, 'kkul-kkwabaegi' appears as an absolute truth. hahahahahaha

Actually, films like Sunny that let you look back on your own 'childhood' are, frankly, all over the place. Even while watching the 'Harry Potter' series you can look back on your own childhood, after all. It's not that 'Sunny' is something special. I think it's certainly a 'film' that unfolded very ordinary 'stories.' Of course, you might feel a sense of discomfort or distance toward the group called 'Sunny,' centered on 'Ha Chun-hwa,' who was good at fighting. But I think I prefer this kind of somewhat turbulent school days over school days spent close with only one or two people and doing nothing but studying. For one, there are many 'episodes,' and second, the more episodes there are, the more 'memories to remember' you have, and because it's an 'experience not easily gained,' it has more value. I think this is the hidden reason this kind of material can't win the general public's approval.

This film doesn't seem to target a specific age group. Of course the age ranges that appear in the film are only these two—teens and people in their 40s—but the people who'll watch 'Sunny' are mostly those who are making or have made 'teenage' memories, so first of all it can win empathy from them, and on the other hand, adults in their 40s and older too, going 'ah... I was like that too,' will dream of the future wondering 'will I be like that too,' or reminisce about the past. So when word of mouth spreads and the people around them watch it, most come back with 'ah, that was good~' as the conclusion. (Not everyone is like that. There are surely people who watched it filled with discomfort from beginning to end. But I think those people have far too 'narrow a perspective.' I'm not saying being narrow is wrong. It's just that I think they fail to gain empathy from this film because they haven't had diverse experiences.)

What does a women's 'faction' mean? As a man, I find it hard to understand the 'world' of women that this word 'faction' signifies. Most men have 'groups' they hang around with, but these groups aren't fixed. They band well with other groups, and compete well too (the competition here is not a fistfight but other kinds of competition, e.g., sports or games...), and at the same time they respect one another. But women's factions are different. For women, a 'group' appears to be an absolute bond-community in which even 'fights' can occur. Right away, Suji's 'blood,' brought about by the fight between Sang-mi and Chun-hwa that appears in the film too, easily shows that extreme example. Should I say I felt the terror of a 'faction' in this part?? hahaha As we came out after watching with friends, as a parting line

'The theme of this film is the pros and cons of a 'sector.''
so I said.... well, that's a fair point.

This film really needed a 'large number' of actors. Because it needed childhood actors and 40-something actors to make up the broad framework of the 7-member faction, the casting work must have been at the highest level of difficulty. And yet, the production team showed a high 'synchronization rate' and got to hear the words 'amazing' from the people who came to watch the film. If they had simply constructed the characters by making only the 'personalities' similar, it would have been mediocre, but they reflected a degree of similarity even in 'appearance,' so what a wondrous thing this is..... Personality is something an 'actor' can create. But 'appearance' must be inborn. Harmonizing well the childhood and middle age of this inborn appearance is no easy thing, but the production team that made this film pulled it off. That's why it was even more amazing.