hyun-chae (bae doo-na) works at a supermarket, she's unlucky in love, a little goofy and seems to spend her days off at the library, getting books for the hospitalised father. one day, she discovers a note in an art history book, professing love and leading her to a string of other notes. meanwhile, dong-ha (kim nam-jin), an old friend from high school, comes back in to hyun-chae's life. dong-ha has always carried a torch for hyun-chae and moved to seoul especially to be nearer to her, but she seems too focussed on the notes, which she is convinced are for her, to realise...
a sweet rom-com, which is well written and executed. the main thread of the story is a pretty standard; boy loves girl, boy is perfect for girl, but girl has dreams of an unobtainable romance, which blinds her to the love that is right in front of her. still, 'spring bears love' has nicely constructed world, to surround this premise, and provides just the right amount of humour and romance, without degenerating into a weepy love story. although, i was rather puzzled to read that it was written by hwang jo-yun who, in the same year, also worked on the screenplay for 'oldboy'...
another thing that this film has is bae doo-na, who i recently waxed lyrical about, after watching her in the excellent 'linda linda linda'; she's just so good, i may have developed a little crush on her...
opposite bae is kim nam-jin, who i hadn't seen in anything else, but who did a great job of matching bae and bringing the likeable, if slightly screwy, bong-ha to life. kwang-rok oh and yun ji-hye provide solid support as hyun-chae's father and work colleague. overall, 'spring bears love' is an under-stated, enjoyable rom-com, with two very likeable leads.
good stuff...
the dvd is hk$62 from buyoyo.com
Bae Doo Na, works at a supermarket
