Following a series of bad relationships, pretty 29 year old Eun-jin (Kang Ye-won (강예원) again finds herself on the receiving end of heartache. Dumped by her boyfriend, Eun-jin gets horribly drunk and, unable to pay for a taxi home, shares a ride home with geeky Hyeon-seok (Song Sae-byeok (송새벽). Despite being very different people Eun-jin and Hyeon-seok feel the spark of romance and begin dating, with the relationship going so well that they eventually begin to talk of marriage. However as they pick to choose furniture for their future together, curiosity gets the better of Eun-jin and she checks her lover’s phone…only to find a message from another woman. Filled with anger and jealousy Eun-jin starts investigating Hyeon-seok to prove he’s the same as every other bad guy. Yet as she digs deeper, nothing could prepare Eun-jin for the dark secret of Hyeon-seok’s identity.

The closing film for the 2014 Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, My Ordinary Love Story (내 연애의 기억) is an enjoyable and quite refreshing romantic-comedy from director Lee Kwon (이권), who is more recently known for the 2012 TV drama Shut Up: Flower Boy Band (닥치고 꽃미남밴드). Initially My Ordinary Love Story is a formulaic rom-com yet in true Korean style the story comes to embrace a multitude of genres, with the blend elevating the film out of mediocrity to be a surprisingly effective viewing experience.

My Ordinary Love Story is very much Kang Ye-won’s film, with her performance the central reason why the story is so endearing. Kang captures Eun-jin’s selfish, jealous and nagging personality well yet never makes the character unlikeable, largely due to Eun-jin’s terrible dating history and potential as a victim of cheating, but also thanks to Kang’s unique overacting style which suits the role – and filmic style – agreeably. As the film is, for the most part, a generic rom-com the sexual politics are particularly unenlightened – the desperation for a woman to be married before 30, for example – however as Eun-jin takes agency and launches an investigation to prove Hyeon-seok’s guilt, a sense of empowerment also pervades and promotes Eun-jin as a character to root for.

Director Lee Kwon attempts to infuse various strands of quirkiness within the film in order to generate a sense of identity, seemingly inspired by the remarkably fun How to Use Guys With Secret Tips. He somewhat succeeds, yet the lack of consistency ultimately undermines his attempts as onscreen text, animation and voice-overs appear and disappear randomly, creating a sense of stylistic incohesion. Luckily such issues don’t impact the entertainment too deeply as the flighty stylisation, coupled with the enjoyably silly supporting characters and jokes, still serve to entertain.

The unique nature of My Ordinary Love Story comes from merging typically disparate genres to become one of the more memorable recent rom-coms. In steering the generic romance into macabre territory director Lee takes a big gamble yet it’s one that works, adding new layers of enjoyment to an otherwise predictable narrative. The change in direction unfortunately comes a tad too late in the story as the compelling nature of such scenes, and Hyeon-seok himself, lack sufficient exploration to be effective, yet as the story is largely a light-hearted comedy it’s perhaps understandable and is enjoyable regardless.

My Ordinary Love Story is an enjoyable genre-bending outing by director Lee Kwon. The film elevates itself out of mediocrity by beginning as a generic rom-com before delving into darker territory, carried ably by the charismatic performance of Kang Ye-won. While there are pacing and technical issues within, My Ordinary Love Story is an entertaining feature and is one of the more refreshing examples of the genre.

★★★☆☆