BriarMoone
United States
This review may contain spoilers
When a Movie Works, it Works
[Written/Watched 28 Aug, 2019 for Letterboxd. Expanded 1/21/2021]
There was a part of me that was apprehensive about "On Your Wedding Day". Romances in K-Dramas, for the most part, tend to sour on me. I end up not liking how the dynamic is set up between the romantic pair. To some degree the story becomes about why the male protagonist deserves the heroine (and sometimes, why he's the only chance she has left at love), so I expected this film to follow that pattern to a fault.
But the film surprised me. "On Your Wedding Day" is bold enough to reject the idea that Hwang Woo-yeon (Kim Young-kwang) is somehow entitled to Hwan Seung-hee (Park Bo-young) because he pursues her aggressively, and doesn't give up until she decides to date him.
They start a romantic relationship on a high, fluffy and montage-y. He commits to doing things in her name he would've otherwise never done without her as a motivator. They come out of the end of the relationship that crumbles in a moment of despair, friends after time apart. They respect each other's choices, still trust each other enough to confide in each other.
They're not fated to be together because he saved her from a building sign that almost her killed her. There's no big scene where Woo-yeon crashes the wedding and asks Hwan Seung-hee not to marry her intended because he's the better choice.
The movie ends on a bittersweet note (as far as he is concerned), but Hwan Seung-hee steps forward toward the future she worked for and the meaning behind the film's name becomes extremely poignant. I loved the heck out of this film.
There was a part of me that was apprehensive about "On Your Wedding Day". Romances in K-Dramas, for the most part, tend to sour on me. I end up not liking how the dynamic is set up between the romantic pair. To some degree the story becomes about why the male protagonist deserves the heroine (and sometimes, why he's the only chance she has left at love), so I expected this film to follow that pattern to a fault.
But the film surprised me. "On Your Wedding Day" is bold enough to reject the idea that Hwang Woo-yeon (Kim Young-kwang) is somehow entitled to Hwan Seung-hee (Park Bo-young) because he pursues her aggressively, and doesn't give up until she decides to date him.
They start a romantic relationship on a high, fluffy and montage-y. He commits to doing things in her name he would've otherwise never done without her as a motivator. They come out of the end of the relationship that crumbles in a moment of despair, friends after time apart. They respect each other's choices, still trust each other enough to confide in each other.
They're not fated to be together because he saved her from a building sign that almost her killed her. There's no big scene where Woo-yeon crashes the wedding and asks Hwan Seung-hee not to marry her intended because he's the better choice.
The movie ends on a bittersweet note (as far as he is concerned), but Hwan Seung-hee steps forward toward the future she worked for and the meaning behind the film's name becomes extremely poignant. I loved the heck out of this film.
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