[HanCinema's Drama Review] "I Need Romance (2011)"

I first caught a glimpse of "I Need Romance" by chance while flipping channels. I noticed that the camera was constantly focused on the lead actress, who was doing an fantastic job emoting. I immediately realized from the context and direction that she was seeing various random men as her ex-boyfriend- what's more, this was happening in a very funny way. The actress was overreacting and clearly playing the overall situation for laughs. Earlier this week I saw a similarly intriguing scene wherein characters act very dignified in a largely empty courtroom- then a comic situation erupts outside only when all the lawyers are gone. Because of the different characters in the scene, it was several minutes before I realized this was the same show. From there, I resolved to see it to the end, in spite of my (at the time) limited Korean.

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The show, "I Need Romance", is about three 30-something women who navigate personal relationships in Seoul. You're probably thinking "like Sex and the City?" and it sort of is. The general premise and basic aesthetics bear obvious similarities to Sex and the City, but once you go into the show on any deeper level it quickly becomes something quite different. The immediate obvious point is the music- the opening theme has a striking similarity to the ditty played at the beginning of Sex and the City. For anyone who's watched Sex and the City, that song is probably the only tune from the show you remember. The score of "I Need Romance" is quite different- it's just as eclectic, but spread out over several songs, constantly shifting music genres between latin, jazz, and classical. The main theme is Amado Mio by Pink Martini, and this song showcases a good mix of a lot of the different music used here.

Of course, the characters and story are the real essential part of the show. The main character is In Young. She's a hotel concierge who at the start of the series is in a ten-year-old relationship with Sung Soo, which now seems to be in its last throes. This is the character I first saw that got me interested in the show. That scene proved to be a harbringer for the overall narrative theme- relationships are emotionally difficult. Even situations with obvious "correct" responses such as cheating prove to be far, far more complicated when the people involved have years of romantic history together.

This depth is the single aspect of this series I enjoyed the most. When I really thought about it, I was surprised how insultingly simple most romantic relationships are portrayed in American television. Sex and the City is a prime example- the characters often discuss weird rules and emphasize sexuality at the expense of everything else in a largely futile effort to prevent sex from being anything other than physical. They seem, compared to the characters in this show, emotionally stunted. What makes this even stranger is that one character, Seo-Yeon, does match this highly sexualized character profile quite closely, yet over the course of sixteen episodes in a foreign language I felt I understood her philosophy toward life and relationships better than I understood that of any character in Sex and the City.

Much of this has to do with the fact that the characters are better fleshed out. In the first scene I saw, In-Young was clearly wearing the uniform of a hotel concierge. This sparked my interest because it meant she had a real job. Indeed, all of the women on this show have jobs, and these professions are central to their motivations- Seo-Yeon, for example, is a fashion mogul, which fits quite comfortably with her love life of serial paramours. With many American shows I often get the feeling that jobs and personal relationships exist in completely different universes and never the twain shall meet. Here, there is quite a bit of mutual influence- the result being that this really is a dramatization of actual people's lives, and not merely a romantic story.

It also helps that there is a quite a bit of character variety. The three main characters have different, clearly defined philosophies about romance, and they actually discuss the issues involved and don't always agree, though they do respectfully disagree. Even though Seo-Yeon's is comfortable in her own lifestyle, in one episode she has to call In Young in order to get a man out of her apartment. She knows that this is a man that should not be in her apartment, but she's so unused to being in this situation that she needs her friend's help in order to solve it.

The third character, Hyun-Joo, is a lawyer and a virgin- yes, that's right, a virgin in her thirties, albeit one that's going to be married soon. In American television it's usually assumed that there is something horribly, horribly wrong with anyone who's even a virgin at 25, but in this show it's treated as a valid lifestyle choice just the same In-Young's long term relationship or Seo-Yeon's serial dating. When Hyun-Joo decides that her virginity is an issue in her life, it has nothing to do with societal pressures or being mocked by her friends, but the realization that she's a virgin largely because she's been trying too hard to avoid being like her thrice-divorced mother. She's also a bit of an eccentric- the first major plot she goes through in the series involves faking a wedding when her groom absconds so that she can still go on her honeymoon to Bali. In much American fiction, this kind of eccentric behavior is the province of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl- but here, Hyun-Joo is very much an actual person, and her weird behavior causes as many problems as it does endearing moments. One fantastic scene involves her doing and saying something very cruel to her love interest. She's not trying to hurt his feelings, but these things happen when a person thinks using only their own weird internal logic.

And I really love being able to write that- "his feelings". Too long with American productions I've seen men portrayed as carnal entities interested in nothing more than a good lay. In "I Need Romance", most of the male characters are genuinely interested in long-term relationships, and they're often hurt by the ongoing drama just as, if not more badly than the women are. I really emphathized with them on the same level as I did with the women- a fact that frankly surprised me, even though it really shouldn't. After all, if you prick us, do we not bleed?

Let me be clear, though, that this is still very much a women's show in one important sense- the sex appeal. The actresses are attractive to be sure, but the sheer handsomeness of the men on this show really needs to be seen to be believed. I've heard that foreign women who watch Korean dramas often have an exaggerated opinion of the sexiness of Korean men- I now understand this mindset completely. The camera often lingers on the chest of a sexy man, not because chest shots are easier to get past the censors, but because the men have absolutely fantastic abs. This is only accentuated by the aforementioned emotional character focus. With one character this was so effective he even managed to turn me on- I can only imagine the impact the set-up would have on an actual woman.

On top of everything else, the show is also very funny. I watched the episodes in the morning via syndication. After they were finished I would read an online recap to see what had happened specifically. In spite of this language barrier, I understood nearly every joke. While much clever wordplay was involved, most of the funny scenes also have a strong element of comic timing coupled with an appropriate visual. Great as the actresses are, I find myself giving a lot of credit to the director, editor, and writer as well- rather than simply settling for a witty zinger, most jokes are funny on multiple levels, and so they rarely fall flat.

This show is fantastic on its own merits. What it's really done for me, though, is helped me reconsider a lot of the ways I've become used to dealing with this kind of genre fiction. Romances, particularly romantic comedies in the United States are often considered low art. I am quite convinced now that this has little to do with concept and everything to do with execution. If you don't have experience with Korean romantic comedies, they absolutely must be seen to be believed.

Review by William Schwartz. William Schwartz is an American currently living in Gyeongju, South Korea, where he studies Korean and themes in Korean media.

William's blog : teslsilla.blog.com

"I Need Romance" features Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Yeo-jin, Choi Song-hyun

 

Available on DVD from YESASIA