I give this movie an overall 4, but not because it I thought it was generally really bad - I thought some aspects were excellent, while others were pretty much terrible, which is why I figured a more detailed explanation was in order. Other people will opine on the actual plot, so I'll mention some things that were more important to my experience of the movie:


The visuals are great, both in terms of a pretty cast and gorgeous cinematography. This is probably my favorite part of the whole movie - visually, I absolutely adored the feel of it. Also, I don't know how qualified I am to say this, seeing as I generally won't call acting bad unless the actors look like grade school students putting on their first play, but I thought the acting was pretty good. The fellow students in the rural school were rather endearing, as was Lee Yeon Hee. However-

The movie does not flow at all. The editing is frequently jarring - especially when poignant scenes are cut before their full emotional impact could be felt. Character development - in fact, development of any sort - is really jumpy. I still have no idea when the main guy suddenly fell in love with the girl, or when there were any developments in their relationship, because all the viewer sees is that in one scene they feel one way about each other and in the next they feel completely differently. Major aspects of the story, like the lost mother storyline or the boy's grandfather's story, are left awkwardly underdeveloped. I also feel that the supporting cast and their stories are severely underutilized/developed.


The result of all this is that it frequently feels like the actual movie is happening between the scenes we get to see. The sense of "Wait, when did that happen?" or just "Wait, what?" steals some of the poignancy from the scenes that individually are really well done. What we do see could have been part of a really great movie, but that movie was never made. Perhaps if it had been a drama instead and had more time to develop things - or if everything had just been better developed in this shorter time frame - it could have been much better. As it is, though, it's pretty disappointing.


That being said, I do have a soft spot in my heart for this movie, mostly thanks to its vibe and its potential [and those endearing characters], which is why I couldn't rate it poorly without an explanation. Also, while I totally wouldn't mind rewatching certain scenes, I would never watch that whole movie again.