Based on the novel by Korean author Sang Young Park, Love in the Big City is a coming-of-age and coming-out story set in Seoul, against a backdrop of a society too rigid to accept people who are different.
Love In The Big City
E.oni (director), Nadeul Kim (writer), Sang Young Park (novelist), Hyoungju Kim (cinematography), Sun Min Kim, Hyun Mee Lee (editors)
Kim Go-eun, Steve Sanghyun Noh (cast)
September 13, 2024 (TIFF)
CONTENT WARNING: This article contains mention of suicide, hate crimes and gender-based violence.
Set in Seoul, South Korea, Love in the Big City follows two university students: Jae-hee (Kim Go-eun) and Heung-soo (Steve Sanghyun Noh) who unwittingly become best friends. Jae-hee is a free spirit who doesn’t worry about what others think and speaks French fluently as she went to Europe for a bit. Heung-soo, on the other hand, has a secret to hide and cares deeply about others’ opinions. Aren’t they a match made in heaven?
In Love in the Big City, we see how these unlikely friends journey through university and other major life events, all the while chafing against a culture that refuses to accept them. Add to that the perennial problem with being friends of different genders, and no one’s ready to believe they are just friends. Through it all, the question this film asks is not whether this friendship will last, but how.
Love in the Big City is a quintessential coming-of-age tale. There is nary a trope nor cliché that this movie does not include. But it’s all so sweet that I can’t help but love it. The film is a reminder that people, especially young women, do not need to fit in a box to be liked or loved. And serves most especially as a reminder to young queer people that there’s someone out there like you, and you deserve love. Yes, it’s hard but love doesn’t start till you love yourself. All of this works because Love in the Big City is set in a culture with very different expectations than the usual Western films consumed (in North America at least) — the ramifications of what the characters are doing and who they want to be have very different stakes than you would find in a mainstream American film. The film is peppered throughout with humour — I didn’t expect to laugh out loud as often as I did, but that definitely helped engage me with the story and the characters even more.
And that’s not all. I wouldn’t have been sucked into the story if it wasn’t for the two main characters.
Heung-soo is very restrained. He has to be because he is scared of what will happen if his truth is out. How long do you live life as a lie and is that life worth living? Meanwhile, for Jae-hee, she’s too blasé about life before realizing that life has a habit of biting you back with consequences. It helps that Kim Go-eun and Steve Sanghyun Noh have an easy chemistry with each other — and they gel together without that chemistry encroaching on the story. At first, I thought Jae-hee didn’t have much of a character because she came across as a quintessential Manic Pixie Dream Girl. This really bothered me. But then, partway through the film, she explains why we can’t understand her. And it all makes sense.
One of the things Love in the Big City does well is show the audience why these two are friends rather than telling. There’s a scene where the two of them have a huge bust-up where both characters make valid points, and you’re willing to believe: this is it, they’re done for. But the way they come back to each other, my word! That’s friendship. All they do is ask each other a question, and it feels so real that they care for each other in this way.
You can tell that Love in the Big City is based on a book because there’s a richness to the characters and characterizations that hints at the lives they’ve been living beyond the confines of the two-hour runtime. On the other hand, because it’s based on a book, you can’t help but feel some relationship dynamics are fast-forwarded.
The third act was the weakest of the film as it had far too many contrivances — the amount of melodrama made it feel a lot like watching a classic Bollywood film. This is also the act when they namedrop Call Me By Your Name. I do wish that film was not the yardstick used for queer storytelling. It has great name recognition, but it’s hardly a good queer film. But, who am I to dictate what is an entry-level introduction to being queer outside of North America?
Fair warning, the film, though mostly light-hearted, can go very dark with mentions of suicide attempts and instances of hate-based and gender-based violence. There isn’t a lot of it, but the film doesn’t shy away from these horrible realities of life as a woman and a queer person.
I do wish E.oni’s precise but simple direction had a little more flair to it because the combo of unoriginal writing and direction doesn’t lift the story to truly inspiring. That being said, how many coming-of-age and coming-out stories set in South Korea have we seen before? I haven’t seen any, so maybe this film could be a game-changer for younger generations accepting their differences.
Love in the Big City is endearing and heartwarming. The story may not be all that original but there’s so much to love about this film. You’ve got glorious cinematography by Hyoungju Kim that’s vibrant inside the clubs, while being down-to-earth in the everyday scenes at home and at work, a stunning soundtrack full of amazing Korean songs, and lively performances by Kim Go-eun and Steve Sanghyun Noh, and a twee, adorable tale of what makes a good friendship.
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