In this blog post, I’d like to reflect on Director Kwak Jae-yong’s film ‘Classic’—specifically, the love story spanning two generations that bridges the past and the present; the symbolism and foreshadowing embedded in the characters and scenes; the directorial style that connects time and emotion; and the personal emotional impact left by the beautiful scenes of the campus in the rain.

A Heart That Remains Unchanged Despite the Passage of Time

Within all my memories of college life, the joys and sorrows of my early twenties clearly coexisted. Looking back now, those memories were undoubtedly beautiful. But at the time, living in a corner of Seoul while holding onto those memories felt strangely burdensome. Perhaps it was due to my own weakness—my inability to face the world with confidence.
Then came my military service—a choice made partly by my own will and partly by circumstance—and my discharge, which arrived at the end of a time that flew by like an arrow, transformed me into a person very different from my past self in many ways. No, to be blunt, the me of 2000 and the me of 2003 were completely different people. But even amid the passage of time, if there is a single thread connecting my past self to my present self, I believe it is my “attitude toward love.” That purity toward love—the heart that pursues love as luminous as dew—was a precious treasure deep within my heart that no one could take away from me, despite the long passage of time and the changes it brought. And the movie that gave me the strength to cherish that treasure and the courage to never lose my warmth throughout my life was ‘Classic’.
One winter morning in January 2003, six months before my discharge from the military, I watched a movie that melted my heart—a heart that had grown frozen from living in the cold weather and the rigid military environment. It helped me rediscover the passionate emotions that had been hidden away in a corner of my heart.

A Love Between Two Generations, Brought Together by Chance

Sometimes, in ways that defy common sense, love always comes disguised as chance.
Ji-hye and Soo-kyung, who attend the same university, both have a crush on Sang-min, a senior in the drama club. However, the impulsive Soo-kyung asks Ji-hye to ghostwrite a letter to Sang-min, and Ji-hye confesses her own feelings for him in Soo-kyung’s name. As Soo-kyung and Sang-min grow closer thanks to the letter Ji-hye wrote, Ji-hye tries to distance herself from Sang-min out of a sense of unnecessary guilt. But by chance, the two keep running into each other.
Meanwhile, Ji-hye, who lost her father at a young age, lives alone with her mother, Ju-hee. While cleaning the attic while her mother is away on a trip abroad, Ji-hye accidentally discovers her mother’s secret box. As she looks through the box, which holds all of Joo-hee’s memories of her first love, Ji-hye gradually learns about her mother’s long-ago love story, and the more she learns, the more deeply she feels the heartbreak of that unfulfilled love.
In the summer of 1968, Jun-ha visits his uncle’s house in the countryside for summer vacation and meets Joo-hee there, falling for her at first sight. One day, Ju-hee secretly asks Jun-ha to accompany her to a house rumored to be haunted. Jun-ha readily agrees and, barely suppressing his excitement, heads to the meeting place. However, a sudden downpour causes their boat to drift away, delaying their return. As a result, Ju-hee is severely scolded by her family’s elders and sent to Suwon. Jun-ha watches Ju-hee leave without even being able to say goodbye, and is filled with regret.
When the vacation ends and Jun-ha returns to school, his friend Tae-soo asks him to ghostwrite a love letter. Jun-ha is shocked to discover that the recipient is none other than Ju-hee. Unable to tell Tae-soo about his connection with Ju-hee, Jun-ha writes the letter in Tae-soo’s name, pouring his own feelings into it. However, due to the circumstances around them and the practical barriers surrounding the two, Jun-ha and Ju-hee’s love cannot be realized, and they ultimately choose to part ways despite loving each other.
Ji-hye realizes, through another connection fate has brought her, that she is experiencing a first love that strangely resembles her mother’s. Even the fact that her love deepened while writing a letter on someone else’s behalf was similar. While inwardly puzzled by this coincidence, Ji-hye’s feelings for Sang-min only grow deeper. However, she resolves to give up on him, as he has already become her friend’s boyfriend. Yet the more she tries to let go, the closer Sang-min and Ji-hye grow; eventually, as they experience a series of events reminiscent of her mother’s first love, they confirm their feelings for one another. In this way, the two fulfill the heartbreaking love that Ju-hee and Jun-ha were unable to achieve in the past.

The Meaning of Pure Love Embodied in the Phrase “Classic”

Classic. What would it feel like to use this word—which is classical yet somehow feels difficult—as a verb?
“To be classic.”
Generally, meanings like “old-fashioned” or “childish” might come to mind. However, if you’ve seen the movie ‘Classic’, the phrase “classic” might resonate with you as meaning “innocent,” “pure,” or “poignant.” And at the heart of this shift lies the warm laughter, love, and tears of the 1960s that the film ‘Classic’ captures.
Directed by Kwak Jae-yong—who sparked a nationwide “crazy girl” craze with ‘My Sassy Girl’—’Classic’ is a pure, beautiful, yet sad love story. Through two narratives—a mother’s love in the past and a daughter’s love in the present—it shows how connections that seem coincidental are, in fact, bound by fate. Ultimately, “Classic” can be described as a fresh and innocent tale of fated love.
The 1960s, brought to life through Ju-hee’s love story—featuring water striders, dung beetles, haunted houses, fireflies, stool tests, student assemblies, student council members, and folk dancing—is colored with beautiful and nostalgic memories. Furthermore, Director Kwak Jae-yong’s homage to Hwang Sun-won’s novel ‘Shower’ continues in ‘Classic’. It’s not hard to recall a scene from ‘Shower’ when Joo-hee and Jun-ha take shelter in a hut to escape a sudden downpour. The innocent dialogue exchanged between Ju-hee and Jun-ha—whose feelings for each other are just beginning to blossom—such as “I’m just kidding” and “No, I’m not,” naturally transports us to the “classic” 1960s.
Above all, the character who most impressively embodies 1960s romance is Jun-ha, played by Jo Seung-woo. I believe Jo Seung-woo is the actor who truly shines brightest in ‘Classic’. From his pure expressions of love to his anguish as he struggles between love and friendship, he masterfully conveys the shyness and flutter of a simple-hearted boy. With his crew cut and neatly tailored school uniform, Jo Seung-woo uses his innate acting talent to infect the audience with the fever of pure love. If you feel a twinge of heartache after watching ‘Classic’, it’s likely because you, too, have been infected by his fever. I believe it is also thanks to Jo Seung-woo’s talent that Ju-hee’s love from the past stands out more than Ji-hye’s love in the present.

A Love Story Structured Like ‘My Sassy Girl’, and the Symbolism of Rain

“Classic” features a narrative structure and composition similar to director Kwak Jae-yong’s previous film, “My Sassy Girl.” The scene where Jun-ha waits in front of Ju-hee’s house as the streetlight flickers overlaps with the scene in “My Sassy Girl” where Gyeon-woo stands in front of her house as the streetlight turns on, watching her back as she enters.
Just as in the relationship between the wealthy young woman and the ordinary young man Gyeon-woo, Ju-hee—the daughter of a Republican Party congressman—and Jun-ha also suffer from insurmountable differences in social status and wealth. The structure of the film—where comedy dominates the first half, the romance takes center stage in the middle, and the story spirals into tragedy toward the end—is also strikingly similar. These similarities in scenes and narrative feel like a montage of the images of beautiful and tragic love that Director Kwak Jae-yong has cherished in his heart. His attachment to the film ‘Shower’ also seems to stem from this sentiment—just as a flutter of excitement turns into love and ultimately brings pain.
The same can be said for the “rain,” which repeatedly appears in key scenes throughout the film. In this film, where it rains exceptionally heavily, the rain carries symbolic meaning as a convergence of all emotions—the excitement and joy of love, as well as its sadness and pain. A prime example is the scene where Ji-hye and Sang-min run toward the library in the rain; it blends exquisitely with the song playing in the background, bringing Ji-hye’s joy and the audience’s romantic sensibilities to a climax.
So, is ‘Classic’ merely a romantic drama that relies on beautiful, wistful sentimentality? In fact, it’s not hard to find moments of humor hidden throughout the film—moments that rival those of a comedy. In particular, the early and middle sections, filled with witty dialogue and scenes, keep the audience laughing from start to finish.
Examples include the scene where Jun-ha, after meeting Ju-hee and turning to leave, jumps for joy only to fall flat on his face, then lies down propping himself up on his arm as if nothing happened; the scene where Jun-ha brings cow dung to a stool sample test and ends up swallowing 32 roundworm pills; and the folk dance scene where the usually demure Ju-hee breaks out into a wild, eccentric dance. Tae-soo’s parting words to Ju-hee—“Thank you for your hard work”—also elicit laughter. And the line “Oh, I don’t know!” that a terrified Ju-hee blurts out when Jun-ha scares her inside the haunted house is simply the highlight.
As such, ‘Classic’ doesn’t just tell a story of heart-wrenching love. It becomes even more charming because it captures not only the awkwardness and excitement of the moment love begins but also the playfulness and innocence of youth.

The inevitability discovered within chance, and the foreshadowing hidden throughout the film

Broadly speaking, ‘Classic’ is a story about the gem-like inevitability discovered within chance. The film is imbued with the joy and ecstasy of lovers, as well as the regret and sorrow of unrequited love.
If one were to name the work that best embodies Director Kwak Jae-yong’s vision of romantic imagination and the sensibility of Korean melodrama, Hwang Sun-won’s novel ‘Shower’ would likely come to mind. This is evident in the parody of ‘Shower’, which is considered one of the iconic scenes in ‘My Sassy Girl’. “Classic” is also based on the structure of this traditional Korean melodrama. And within it, audiences can dream a happy dream—that pure love still exists, and that is why the world is worth living in.
If you look closely at the film, you’ll find elements throughout that connect the loves of the past and present. Since the love between Ju-hee and Jun-ha, as well as that between Ji-hye and Sang-min, is linked by fate, the connection between the past and the present is one of the most important themes addressed in ‘Classic’.
For example, an elegant window frame appears almost identical in Ju-hee’s 1960s setting and in the present-day setting of her daughter, Ji-hye. This seems to illustrate, through the visual element of the window, that love in the past and present are interconnected. Furthermore, the small log bridge by the stream is both the place where Ju-hee and Jun-ha first met and fell in love, and the place where Ji-hee and Sang-min confirm their love. The necklace, which symbolizes the inevitability of love, is also one of the key props connecting the past and the present.
Not only that, but ‘Classic’ is dotted with traces of unrequited love, arranged like riddles. The buildings, props, and situations that appear alongside them serve as foreshadowing in their own right.
When Joo-hee and Jun-ha first meet, Joo-hee asks him to accompany her to a “haunted house” where no one lives. The haunted house is an abandoned building, deserted and devoid of any remaining hope. This implies that the love that began in such a place is ultimately doomed to remain unfulfilled.
Furthermore, in front of the theater on the street in Suwon where Ju-hee and Jun-ha meet, movie posters for films such as ‘Cleopatra’ and ‘Roman Holiday’ are displayed. Since in both films the protagonists’ love stories do not end happily, this can be interpreted as a hint that Ju-hee and Jun-ha’s love will also remain unfulfilled.
The streetlight in front of the alley where Jun-ha and Ju-hee used to meet in secret stops shining once their love faces opposition from those around them. In contrast, Ju-hee’s house—though beautiful on the outside—is a gray building situated in front of a retaining wall. This seems to symbolize Ju-hee’s reality of being unable to escape her father’s shadow.
The scenes where Jun-ha’s friend Tae-soo occasionally collapses while walking are also interpreted as a hint that he will not live long. These scenes are also linked to the fact that Ji-hye’s father passed away early in her childhood.
Finally, the scene where Ji-hye and Sang-min run across the rain-soaked campus contrasts with the events that Joo-hee and Jun-ha experienced in the past. The upbeat background music playing during this scene suggests that while the couple’s love is deeply connected to the love between Jun-ha and Ju-hee in the past, it will lead to a happy ending different from theirs.
In this way, the film’s settings, props, weather, and music go beyond serving as mere backdrops. They reveal the beginning and end of love, as well as the relationship between the past and the present, and play a role in driving the narrative forward.

Cinematic Direction That Seamlessly Connects the Past and Present

When I first saw the poster for ‘Classic’, I assumed it was just another tear-jerker romance. I thought it would be a film with a predictable plot designed solely to make the audience cry, and I didn’t think it was worth seeing in theaters. It’s true that the film’s runtime—just over two hours—also made me think it might be a bit tedious. However, the emotions I felt after watching the movie went beyond what I’d experienced in ordinary romantic dramas; it was something that pierced deep into my heart.
Through meticulously crafted scenes, ‘Classic’ moves naturally from the story of the past to the present, and then back to the past again. This directorial style is clearly evident in the scene where, while Ji-hye goes to answer a call from her friend Soo-kyung, the letters and diaries her mother, Ju-hee, had collected are scattered by the wind, taking the audience back to cherished memories that had been buried for over 20 years. Another striking scene shows a photograph Ji-hye pulls from her mother’s diary gradually zooming in, only to transition to a shot of Jun-ha striking the exact same pose as in the photo.
Although on screen it appears as though the image in the photograph has simply shifted to a moving scene, the audience finds themselves transported back in time before they even realize it.
This method of transitioning between scenes using similar forms or compositions is called “form-correspondence montage.” Through this technique, ‘Classic’ seamlessly connects stories set in different eras.
In addition to formal correspondence montage, the film also uses the seasons to bridge the past and the present. In the film, when Jun-ha goes to see Ju-hee’s concert, it is late fall, with leaves falling. And when Ji-hee is reflecting on her mother’s memories, it is also late fall. This is a moment where one can sense that the past and present are connected through the shared seasonal backdrop.
In addition to scene composition and the seasons, sound also serves as a bridge connecting the two eras. When we examine the connection between the music used in the scene where Ju-hee, her friend Na-hee, Jun-ha, and Tae-soo are learning folk dance and the present-day string instrument performance, the song “To You, I Am; To Me, You Are” from ‘Scenes on a Bicycle’ feels like the musical element linking the two eras. While one might expect polkas or waltzes in the folk dance scenes and refined classical music in the present-day scenes, the film unites these different time periods through familiar melodies. Thanks to this, the audience can naturally accept the temporal leaps facilitated by sound.
Ultimately, ‘Classic’ is not simply a film that alternates between scenes from the past and the present. It is a work crafted to ensure the audience does not feel the barrier of time too strongly by connecting different time periods through various elements—such as similar compositions, spaces, seasons, and music. This directorial approach naturally aligns with the film’s theme of fated love.

The Note and Necklace: Beautiful Props, Yet Somewhat Disappointing

The note inscribed with Goethe’s poem and the necklace—which serve as mediators connecting the love of the past and present—function as foreshadowing that hints at the film’s conclusion; however, personally, I found this aspect somewhat disappointing.
Certainly, when viewed in the context of the entire film, the note and the necklace played a positive role in enhancing the work’s lyricism and maintaining the flow of the narrative. They also serve as symbolic props demonstrating that the love from the past continues into the present.
However, Goethe’s poem and the necklace passed down from the father may be elements that feel somewhat out of place for young people living in the 21st century. The way these props are used to connect the past and the present seems somewhat out of step with today’s cultural sensibilities and, at times, feels overly contrived. As a result, the film’s sense of realistic plausibility is somewhat diminished, which I personally find regrettable.
Nevertheless, overall, ‘Classic’ beautifully portrays a wistful and pure love, naturally evoking emotions that lay dormant in the audience’s hearts. It can be evaluated as a good commercial film in that it accurately identified and satisfied the emotions and desires of the audience.

The Most Memorable Scene: The Two Running Together Through the Rainy Campus

If I had to pick just one scene from ‘Classic’ that left the deepest impression, it would undoubtedly be the scene where Ji-hye and Sang-min run together through the rainy campus.
As they run together through the rain-soaked campus, the two gain a faint yet clear confirmation of their love for one another. Through this scene, the audience—myself included—feels a subtle contrast with the love that once existed between Ju-hee and Jun-ha, and begins to hope that Ji-hye and Sang-min’s love will lead to a happy ending. This aligns perfectly with the traditional Korean melodrama structure, which uses “rain” as a weather element to convey romantic emotions, thereby stirring the audience’s emotions.

The scene of Ji-hye and Sang-min running is depicted in slow motion, allowing viewers to sense their innocent and beautiful love through the falling rain and the actors’ facial expressions. In this scene, shots focusing on the characters from the waist up or just above the chest are primarily used, rather than long shots showing the entire scene and background from a distance. Rather than focusing on showcasing the campus atmosphere and the beautiful scenery itself, the scene centers on the two characters enjoying the rain and the emotions they feel toward one another.This filming technique conveys the joy and excitement the two feel in the rain even more vividly. At the same time, it draws the audience’s attention to their expressions and emotions, effectively evoking the emotional response the film intends to elicit.The reason this scene resonated so deeply with me wasn’t simply because the visuals were beautiful. The rain that Joo-hee and Jun-ha experienced in the past and the rain that Ji-hye and Sang-min are experiencing together now are similar yet convey different emotions. While the rain of the past is intertwined with the heartbreak of an unfulfilled love, the rain of the present instills a sense of excitement for a new love and anticipation for a happy ending. The fact that the same rain illuminates two different kinds of love makes the connection between the stories of these two eras all the more striking.At first, I thought ‘Classic’ would be just another predictable romantic film, but the emotions it left me with were far deeper than I expected. The love depicted in the film may sometimes seem childish or old-fashioned, but within it lay a purity and warmth that do not easily fade with time.So much has changed that the “me” of 2000 and the “me” of 2003 feel like completely different people, yet my heart’s perspective on love still retains its former essence. “Classic” was the film that allowed me to reaffirm that very sentiment.To some, it may be nothing more than an old love story, but to me, it was a film that warmed my heart, which had grown cold on a chilly winter morning. And it was a film that left me with the resolve to live my life without ever losing that pure heart toward love.