Love in the Big City

It’s crazy bitch meets gay friend – their words, not mine –  in E.oni’s sweet comedy.

“How can being yourself be your weakness?”

Jae-hee (Kim Go-eun) and Heung-soo (Noh Sang-hyun) are outsiders living in Seoul, who both attend the same French philosophy and literature course. They become close friends after backing each other up when their classmates give them shit. They hang out and eventually live together, and navigate the complexities of life as a free-spirited woman and gay man, following their lives and loves throughout their 20s and early 30s. Jae-hee slowly adapts to the tedium of adult life, while Heung-soo struggles to come out and accept love.

And that’s kind of it. There isn’t much of an overarching narrative, except possibly following Heung-soo’s growth over a decade. Instead the film looks at slices of a life as they transition from young adults to full-blown working professionals who, presumably, have their shit together. It’s a simple premise, told pretty efficiently and with an astonishing amount of relatable realism.

Based on Sang Young Park’s novel of the same name, Love in the Big City is, to anyone who’s familiar with the source material, a little bit of a departure. In terms of story, it largely follows the same beats, but as for the tone it’s an entirely different beast. Personally, I never read it – I only have a passing idea of its themes – so I can only brush on this aspect lightly. That said, removing some of the heavier aspects of the story will likely alienate viewers looking for something that speaks in more specific ways to them and to their struggles. While I love how genuine the story feels, there’s an argument to be made that it might be too wide-reaching.

Personally I enjoyed the story greatly: Heung-soo’s life reflected greatly in many ways to my own – and this could be the issue. I’m not a gay man, and I’ve not had to face the same struggles as they have. But in the film, Heung-soo’s lack of emotional intelligence, and the walls he builds are universal themes, as are Jae-hee’s struggles with growing up and finding out who she is. The question then becomes: is it better to tell a story everyone can understand, or delve deeper into something for a specific few?

I can’t answer that. It’s true that by removing certain elements and by running it through a My Sassy Girl filter, the film does feel like it loses a bit of its identity. That it references heavier queer films Happy Together and Call Me By Your Name is telling. But it thankfully creates a new identity through other means. Director E.oni leans heavily on dark humour and heart-wrenchingly sweet moments of friendship. She turns the story into a You’re the Worst-style black humour sitcom, loaded with seriously bleak scenes and some super shitty characters designed to make the leads look good.

Love in the Big City is a movie that is entirely driven by the chemistry of its leads, and so much of the heavy lifting is done by Kim Go-eun and Noh Sang-hyun. If no one actually cares about their characters, how on earth are we supposed to root for them when things go wrong, and cheer when they succeed in life? Thankfully, they work so well off each other, developing their 13-year relationship so strongly you’d be fooled into thinking the actors were childhood friends already.

Ultimately, I think whether or not you liked Love in the Big City is going to depend largely on whether you can accept the film for what it is. It’s not a hard-hitting queer film, and it does its source material something of a disservice, but it’s also a pretty strong depiction of love, life and friendship your 20s, and one that will no doubt appeal to a huge audience, who look back on those times with fondness. The end result is a crowd pleaser that never goes quite as deep as it could, but is genuinely affecting, sweet and funny throughout.

Verdict: Designed to be as affable and likeable as possible, Love in the Big City does succeed at that, perhaps at the cost of being something deeper.

Overall entertainment: 8/10
Violence: 3/10
Sex: 1/10
Alcohol: Never drinking again. Unless it’s an entire bottle of Bomby Sapphire.
Noh Sang-hyun: Looks more like Andy Lau, but I guess that’s not really the point
Snack of choice: Frozen blueberries
Raspberry wine: Looks shockingly like blood, huh
If you want a more accurate adaptation: I hear the TV version is good too

Love in the Big City (2024)
Also known as: 대도시의 사랑법, How To Love in the Big City
Korean

Director: E.oni
Writers: Sang Young Park (novel), Kim Na-deul

CAST

Kim Go-eun  – Jae-hee
Noh Sang-hyun  – Heung-soo
Jung Hwi  – Su-ho
Oh Dong-min – Ji-seok
Jang Hye-jin  – Heung-soo’s mother
Lee Sang-yi  – Min-jun
Kwak Dong-yeon  – Jun-su
Joo Jong-hyuk  – Ta-tu
Lee You-jin  – Seon-woo
Salim Benoit – Olivier