In this blog post, I’ll examine Director Jang Jin’s “A Woman I Know” from the perspective of a film that breaks free from the familiar myths and conventions that dominate the romantic comedy genre, and discuss how the film subverts established genre formulas through its star’s image, plot, and cinematography.

The Myth of the Romantic Comedy, Built on Familiarity

A loving couple, holding hands, walks down a path covered in a thick layer of fallen leaves, accompanied by atmospheric music. Just as you start to worry that the story might be predictable, the woman tells the man she wants to break up. Then, in a parody of the “When It’s 2% Short” commercial, Jung Jae-young spits while tossing a leaf into the air. Reactions are mixed. Some feel relieved, thinking this isn’t just another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, while others express confusion at a story that strays from the established formula. These two reactions are possible precisely because the “genre-specific traits” of romantic comedies are already ingrained within us under the guise of “familiarity.”
I consider this familiarity to be a “myth.” A myth is the dominant and prevailing meaning assigned to a specific object or symbol within society. For example, in romantic comedies, women are portrayed as characters who pretend to be strong on the outside but have hearts that race like machine guns, leaving them with no choice but to lean on men; men, in turn, are depicted as those who must protect these pure, delicate, yet strong-willed women. This is the myth. The ideology of society’s dominant groups is embedded within this narrative, and it is unconsciously instilled in the public through media such as movies and television.
While watching romantic comedies, we are unconsciously brainwashed into believing values such as “Love is, after all, a beautiful, unchanging truth of 100% purity,” or while watching action movies, “One must always fight for justice, even at the cost of one’s life.” The moment we conform to this and say “yes”—in other words, the moment we are called upon—we become the subjects of this myth.
Films that run counter to these so-called socially accepted values can be seen as falling closer to non-genre cinema. In genre films, the selection and arrangement of the symbols that make up the film are almost identical. Lévi-Strauss argued that the narrative structure in any society is identically organized into a binary opposition—that is, good and evil, human and nature, water and fire, man and woman. This is why we can easily accept films like ‘Pretty Woman’ and ‘Notting Hill’ and even predict their endings.
The Russian folklorist Propp stated the following: Folktales follow a common narrative structure that unfolds over time. This is broadly classified into 35 stages or, more narrowly, into 6 stages, and can be further broken down into 3 stages. The 6-stage model consists of the preparation stage, conflict stage, departure stage, struggle stage, return stage, and recognition stage, while the 3-stage model is divided into stability, instability, and stability.
For example, most romantic comedies begin in the “stability” stage—where a single man and woman, or two people who have broken up, meet—and progress to the “instability” stage, marked by misunderstandings and conflicts caused by a third party or the onset of a terminal illness. Eventually, the story returns to the “stability” stage through the protagonist’s personal growth, the help of a third party, or the accidental discovery of a secret.
Most of the meanings we communicate in this capitalist era contain mythical elements. Myths such as patriarchy, male-centered perspectives, capitalism, the reward of good and punishment of evil, and fantasies about women are conveyed through mass media, thereby shaping the genre known as the “romantic comedy.”
Personally, among Korean romantic comedy films, I believe Director Jang Jin’s ‘A Woman I Know’ is a film that deviates from the established trajectory of these myths. It subverted the established forms and narratives of genre films and attempted to “approach the subject from an unfamiliar angle.” Of course, ‘A Woman I Know’ also has its limitations—to some extent, it couldn’t fully escape the conventions and formats of the genre that cater to popular tastes—but it clearly stands as an “outsider” in the lineage of Korean romantic comedies, which began with ‘Marriage Story’.

The Star’s Image and the Romantic Comedy Formula

One of the most striking characteristics of Korean romantic comedies is that, more than in any other genre, the star’s off-screen image not only does not hinder the audience’s identification with the character but actually reinforces it. Just as the lead in ‘My Sassy Girl’ had to be Jeon Ji-hyun, who was causing a sensation in commercials at the time.
For this reason, Korean romantic comedies are sometimes criticized as “star vehicles”—pop culture products designed to exploit a star’s multifaceted image for commercial gain. Precisely because they make full use of this formula, the casting of Lee Na-young and Jung Jae-young—who might otherwise create dissonance—served to fulfill the public’s fantasies and expectations regarding romantic comedy leads.
Based solely on the image Lee Na-young has projected through broadcast media, one could predict that she would play a role far removed from traditional femininity. The public likely expected a male lead—what is nowadays called a “perfect guy”—who would delicately complement Lee Na-young’s slightly lacking femininity.
However, the “hidden card” Director Jang Jin played to quench the public’s thirst for a non-romantic female lead was “Jung Jae-young.” Looking at his previous works—’Silmido’ and ‘No Blood, No Tears’—one might suspect that the casting was driven by the personal friendship the two actors have shared since their days on the theater stage.
However, this pairing creates a peculiar fusion effect—much like making pasta with kimchi in today’s world—reminding audiences that this is not a dissonance, but rather an improvised performance that breaks free from conventional codes and scores.
Perhaps it was precisely because the leads—Jung Jae-young and Lee Na-young—had no prior image as romantic comedy actors that the film was able to successfully convey its fantastical element—the “power pole as a dead lover”—to the audience.
It’s difficult to completely break free from the established image of Jeong Jae-young as the actor from ‘Silmido’ and immerse oneself in the character of “Dong Chi-seong.” That’s why, even without riding in a limousine, holding a bouquet of roses in his mouth, or climbing a ladder like some other actors might, we can sense that the lines he cautiously utters in the film’s final scene—“What’s your name? What’s your blood type? What are your hobbies?”—are his way of confessing his true feelings.
If an actor like Kang Dong-won or Jo In-sung had played the lead, the film would have needed moving lines, dramatic moments, and close-ups worthy of trending on real-time search lists; but because it was Jung Jae-young, this alone was enough.
To the public, a star is an icon. Just as celebrities like Kim Jung-eun and Cha Tae-hyun come to mind when one thinks of comedy films, and Son Ye-jin when one thinks of romantic dramas, ‘A Woman I Know’ ruthlessly shatters the “myth” the public holds about that actor and that film genre.

Director Jang Jin’s Style of Comedy and the Rejection of Sentimental Drama

Director Jang Jin’s signature brand of comedy is also evident in the conversation between the doctor and Lee Yeon in the film.

Doctor: “Patients with Dongchi-seong syndrome are currently hiding their condition. If the capillaries inside the nose have ruptured and weakened to this extent, they would have had nosebleeds all the time.”

Lee Yeon: “Why does that happen?”

Doctor: “There are two possible causes. First, people with congenitally weak blood vessels in their nose may experience this when fatigue and stress accumulate. Second, it can happen if someone has had the habit since childhood of scratching the inside of their nose too vigorously using some part of their body.”

Lee Yeon: “Probably… it’s the first one you mentioned.”

Doctor: “Everyone wants to believe that at first.”

This is director Jang Jin’s brand of humor. His unique worldview—which is both absurd and at times cynical, yet cheerfully satirizes society—shines through the film’s overall plot.
It’s true that the film ‘A Woman I Know’ has been criticized for having a weak main storyline, as it weaves together a series of fragmented stories and attempts to explain the causal relationships between them to give meaning to each character and lead to the conclusion. In other words, it’s a case of burning down the whole house to kill a bedbug. Even so, this film—which playfully shatters the conventional romantic comedy formula and imprints Director Jang Jin’s unique style—offers plenty to appreciate upon closer viewing.
One reason the film was able to unfold its story so straightforwardly is that it thoroughly excluded any elements likely to trigger melodramatic sentimentality. In traditional romantic comedies, evoking such sentimental emotions was considered an indispensable element for justifying the love between a man and a woman.
In ‘My Sassy Girl’, Jeon Ji-hyun’s grief over losing a past lover, and in ‘Everyone’s First Love’, Son Ye-jin’s sorrow over an incurable illness, served as catalysts for the misunderstandings and conflicts that were ultimately overcome by the power of love.
In contrast, ‘A Woman I Know’ leaves the audience unable to laugh or cry. Clearly, the shared sorrow of Han Yi-yeon and Dong Chi-sung—both of whom have lost their parents—is enough to evoke the audience’s sympathy. However, the absurd premise—where a neighborhood group tour coincides with most households in the neighborhood holding memorial services—shows that melodramatic elements have been actively excluded.
Just as there’s no steamed bun without its red bean filling, an incurable illness inevitably appears in this film as well. The incurable illness is one of the extreme methods used to actively seek the audience’s approval—a “judgment” on their love.
In ‘A Woman I Know’, the terminal illness also serves as a motivating factor in the early stages, driving Dong Chi-seong’s journey to find answers about love. However, rather than simply shedding tears and seeking the audience’s sympathy after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, Dong Chi-seong takes out a loan using his house as collateral.
Han Yi-yeon’s reaction upon learning that the terminal illness stems from his bad habits—“Don’t pick your nose; you can’t do that anymore”—further underscores this. By leaving no room for melodramatic sentimentality, the film thoroughly shatters the formula for eliciting audience sympathy, a staple of romantic comedies.

A Female Lead Who Subverts Male-Centric Fantasies

In ‘Pretty Woman’, Julia Roberts sits at a bar wearing an elegant dress, waiting for Richard Gere, who—as if completely taken aback by the sight—is momentarily speechless and stares at her blankly. Scenes like this reveal that many romantic comedies tell their stories through a male perspective and voice.
In other words, the mysterious, romantic female lead is one of the key elements that showcase the male-centered fantasies and desires presented to the audience. In ‘My Sassy Girl’ as well, the “eccentric girl,” viewed from the male protagonist’s perspective, is portrayed as lively and sexy, yet ultimately as an image of a pure and innocent woman.
The reason why female leads in romantic comedies are mostly beautiful, while the men are, by comparison, ordinary, is—as explained earlier—because the female lead serves as an object onto which men’s fantasies are projected.
In ‘A Woman I Know’ as well, Dong Chi-sung buys Han Yi-yeon a red dress. Lee Na-young, a former model, would undoubtedly have pulled off the outfit brilliantly, and it would have been an opportunity for her to shed her tomboyish image and appeal not only to Chi-sung but also to male audiences.
However, Han Yi-yeon—wearing a dress with sloppy shoulder lines that didn’t fit properly—performs an incredibly awkward turn without background music or slow motion, saying, “This is ridiculous; you can’t even wear a tracksuit with a dress like this. “I get a stomachache if I don’t wear running shorts.” This completely shatters the audience’s expectations—who had hoped to hear Dong Chi-sung’s exclamation of admiration upon rediscovering her previously unrecognized beauty.
However, ‘A Woman I Know’ also has its limitations as a male-centric plot, in that the focus isn’t on Han Yi-yeon’s 10-year-long, heart-wrenching unrequited love, but rather on Dong Chi-sung’s journey to discover what love truly is. Nevertheless, unlike other works, it breaks away from genre conventions by not treating the female lead as an object of male fantasy.

Unexpected People Who Provide the Answers to Love

Another instance of “myth-busting” involves the people who provide answers to Dong Chi-sung’s questions about love. In British romantic comedies such as ‘Notting Hill’ and ‘Love Actually’, the protagonist’s advisors are usually friends.
In contrast, in Korean romantic comedies, the protagonists’ love mentors are people who serve as beacons in their lives—such as parents or respected acquaintances. These figures are close to the protagonist, hold a social status similar to or higher than the protagonist’s, and possess a certain degree of foresight regarding life.
Throughout the film, Dong Chi-seong continually asks what love is. It is only at the very end, following the death of a woman, that he comes to understand the very nature of the love he had been searching for so desperately.
He finds the answers he seeks from a bank robber he meets while trying to secure a loan just before his death; a robber who suddenly takes refuge in his home; Im Ha-ryong, who rejoices at his opponent’s victory thanks to Dong Chi-seong’s mistake; and a woman who commits suicide.
In a sense, it is the socially marginalized—including the bank robber and the woman attempting suicide—who ultimately provide him with the correct answer to the film’s ultimate message. By extracting the film’s core message from those deemed socially vulnerable or outcasts, Director Jang Jin offers the audience a new perspective. Even though they may be shunned by society, they are simply ordinary people living their lives to solve humanity’s greatest challenge: “love.”

Handheld and Realistic Cinematography

Director Jang Jin explained the handheld shooting in the early part of the film as follows.

Q. The handheld shots in the beginning of the film shake the screen to the point of distracting the viewer. Then they suddenly disappear—was there a specific reason for this?

A. There are a great many specifications within the technical parameters of handheld cinematography. I think it was a bit of trial and error because we proceeded without establishing or interpreting those guidelines. It felt good when viewed on a monitor, but when seen on the big screen, it felt a bit excessive. Handheld cinematography is like a drug—there are specific “dosages” for how much shaking is needed to evoke a particular emotion, but we weren’t able to extract the precise data during the production process.

This interview could be considered Director Jang Jin’s explanation—if one can even call it that—for the handheld shots used early in the film.
Handheld shooting is a technique rarely seen in romantic comedies. The dictionary definition of the handheld shooting technique refers to a filmmaking method in which it is clearly evident that the camera is not attached to a fixed tripod or mechanical stabilizer. This refers to the unstable quality of footage captured with a handheld camera or resulting from such use, and it is often employed intentionally to give a film a spontaneous and unrestrained style.
The deliberate use of this technique—which one might expect to see in a Hong Kong action film—was likely intended to reflect Dong-cheong’s unstable psychological state in the early stages of the film. Ultimately, the handheld technique failed. Although audiences pointed out that it might be an editing issue, I believe this attempt was a fresh approach from a genre perspective.
In a romantic comedy where psychological portrayal is key, this technique—which closely follows the characters’ rhythm—allows the audience to focus more on the characters’ perspectives and immerse themselves in the film. Of course, in this particular case, it actually hindered immersion.
In this film, Lee Na-young—who was solidifying her position as a cosmetics model at the time—chooses not to look pretty. The most important aspect of camera work in a romantic comedy is likely the use of all sorts of tricks to make the female lead stand out.
However, this film appears to have refrained from excessive lighting and sparingly used close-ups, focusing instead on depicting ordinary men and women in their everyday lives, close to reality. There isn’t even the typical scene—a staple of romantic comedies—where the female lead is depicted as dazzlingly radiant in the reflection of the lights.
While not quite on the level of Choi Min-sik’s action scenes in ‘Oldboy’, the film frequently employs relatively long takes and often uses full shots to convey the scene objectively, thereby avoiding the direct emotional conveyance through visuals that is common in conventional romantic comedies.

Conclusion

We have examined Director Jang Jin’s film ‘A Woman I Know’ from the perspective of “debunking myths”—a departure from genre conventions—focusing on three aspects: the star as an icon, the plot, and cinematographic techniques. In terms of breaking away from genre cinema, we identified “myth” as the root cause of why genre conventions persist. Myth, as an ideology that subconsciously dominates people, has perpetuated the genre attributes of the romantic comedy.
I wanted to analyze a work that breaks away from this genre, and ‘Sweet and Deadly Lovers’, which my professor mentioned in class, is also a film that fits within this same context. However, since ‘A Woman I Know’, released in 2004, faced greater challenges in breaking free from the genre mechanism—and because it is a film I personally enjoy—I chose it as the subject of this report.
Genre films satisfy the myths that audiences expect by delivering an element of “entertainment” that is already mutually agreed upon between the audience and the director. However, this has the drawback of homogenizing audience thinking and undermining the diversity of our film industry.
Just as there is an unspoken rule that “a pitcher must never throw a baseball into the stands,” this system forces people to think and act in only one direction. Production companies seeking guaranteed box office success by pandering to these genre conventions find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle where they have no choice but to repeatedly recycle the same formula.
However, unlike ‘The Woman I Know’, ‘Sweet and Deadly Lovers’ achieved box office success as a low-budget film, earning enthusiastic acclaim from audiences weary of formulaic, one-dimensional genre films.
Moreover, in the current transitional period of a “consumer sovereignty revolution” in the mass media sector—where the public no longer remains merely in the role of consumers but also assumes the role of producers—more creative and fresh attempts are needed.
Audiences, too, must transform into active recipients through a continuous cycle of interpretation, rather than being dominated by the ideological aspects inherent in genres. In other words, audiences must move beyond being controlled by films to a stage where they can “play around” with them as they please.
We must constantly remind ourselves of what genre elements signify and by whom they are intended. Sometimes, this shift in thinking requires great courage and may even necessitate taking on the role of a maverick. However, through such efforts, we will be able to encounter a wider variety of films.