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Review | Love in the Big City movie review: Kim Go-eun leads mould-breaking Korean romantic comedy

Korea’s rampant misogyny and homophobia are highlighted in this intelligent romcom, boosted by a fine performance from Kim Go-eun

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Kim Go-eun as Jae-hee (left) and Steve Sanghyun Noh as Heung-soo in a still from Love in the Big City, directed by E.oni.

5/5 stars

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The year 2024 is turning into a banner one for Kim Go-eun. The Korean actress follows up an eye-catching turn as a young shamanist priest in horror hit Exhuma with an exceptional performance as a headstrong social misfit in E.oni’s mould-breaking romantic comedy Love in the Big City.
Adapted from a novel by Park Sang-young, which also provides the source material for TVing’s new K-drama series of the same name, it tells the story of Heung-soo (Steve Sanghyun Noh), a young gay man and aspiring writer, who meets the whirling dervish Jae-hee (Kim) while both are studying French at university.

Jae-hee has recently returned from studying in France. Her brazen attitude towards social mores and academic regulations immediately sets her at odds with her classmates.

LOVE IN THE BIG CITY | Main Trailer — In Cinemas 3 October

Her penchant for hard drinking, late nights and casual hookups triggers rumours, which she can only put to rest by defiantly flashing her chest to the entire class. Not since Jeon Ji-hyun’s pugnacious protagonist in My Sassy Girl has a heroine been this forceful and fun.

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Fearing similar treatment, Heung-soo is desperate to keep his sexuality under wraps, while still actively looking for a partner. His sole attempt to come out to his mother only inspired her to pray fanatically for him to be “cured”. Jae-hee alone seems to understand him, and share his club rat lifestyle.

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