Netflix ‘Sweet and Sour’ Movie Review

Have you ever seen the new Netflix movie ‘Sweet and Sour’? A story of a young couple struggling between work and love life. Spoiler ahead so please read at your own risk.

‘Sweet and Sour’ (새콤달콤) is a newly released movie on Netflix starring Jang Ki-young as Jang Hyeok, Chae Seo-bin as Da-eun, and Krystal Jung as Bo-young. The movie was based on the novel of Kurumi Inui, Initiation Love. It was directed by Lee Kae Byeok and confesses that the movie’s title was named after a chewy candy he ate. The candy was called ‘saekomdalkeom‘ which means sweet and sour in English. He said that it was very tart and sweet but melts on the mouth very quickly. He also added that it was such a mystery where you find yourself in a situation where you don’t stop from hitting for something new. Then he decided to take the candy’s name as the title of the movie because it gave him a fascinating feeling after tasting it.

What is ‘Sweet and Sour’ all about?

The movie is about a young couple (Jang Hyeok and Da-eun) who met in a hospital and fell in love at first sight. Dae-eun works as a nurse while Jang Hyeok is a hard-working employee who got an opportunity to work in a large company. After taking the opportunity, they were drifted apart due to work issues where Jang Hyeok needs to travel from Incheon to Seoul and vice versa every day. Jang Hyeok met Bo-young, his new co-worker at the company, and work together to finish their projects and designs.

READ: Korean Movie Review: Hope (소원)

What do I think about the movie?

The movie is far from the story of Move to Heaven or other romantic fairy tales. This one portrays the reality of the life of young people who are struggling to balance their work commitments and relationships. A nurse who works on a long rotating shift and has a hard time eating and sleeping while having her duty. A temporary employee who hopes for a better and long-term job. As they wanted to keep their job commitments, their relationship suffered. These days it’s really to find love or have a romantic relationship when you have a hectic job.

The characters from the movie are very realistic where the viewers can even relate to them. Honestly, these are the problems of young people these days. Living in a hectic life, anxiety, and restlessness. But then, the movie showed that no matter how hard it is there will be someone who will comfort us and understand what we feel. Like for Da-eun she was cheered up by Jang Hyuk, the patient who was admitted to the hospital with Hepatitis B. While Jang Hyeok finds some closeness to Bo-young as they work together until late at night. As the closeness they found from another person, they felt unhappy and tired of seeing each other. It left them the misery, “Where did it all go wrong?”

This movie never gave me the tear-jerking feeling but gave me the taste of life, sweet and sour. I love the simple storyline of the movie and the twist at the end.  As I said, it’s very realistic and relatable. I myself felt the same but since I am a mom and a wife, I’m struggling on how to balance my time when it comes to my family and work.  It’s not easy at all. It’s tiring, hard, and exhausting but as the ahjussi from the movie said,

If it is tough, it’s love.

Words to live by,

If you miss a cab, you can wait for the next one.
But if you lose a person, they’re lost for good.
-Ahjussi

Remind us that if we truly love someone, despite the hardships we shouldn’t give up. Because when we lost them, they’ll never come back again.

What do you think about this movie? Did you also ask yourself ‘What is love if not sweet and occasionally sour?’Sweet and Sour’ was released last June 4, 2021, on Netflix.

READ: Why ‘Move to Heaven’ is Worth the Watch?

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Xoxo, Hyejin 

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