Sweet & Sour: Who Do You Love?

I like a movie that emphatically changes gears midway and Lee Kae-byeok's Sweet & Sour definitely does that. What starts off as a giddily silly rom-com about a chubby guy (Lee Woo-je) with severe jaundice and an overworked nurse (Chae Soo-bin) who's an irresistable flirt turns into a harshly realistic drama about a couple unable to find time for each other because they're so overtaxed by jobs with no security. Admittedly, the nurse tries even as the engineer (Jang Ki-yong) is diverted by a sloppy but talented co-worker (Jung Krystal). But eventually, you question whether the two even belong together. Either pair actually. It's then that Sweet & Sour takes a mindspinning twist, which elevates the movie to a whole other level.

Rather then give you the details on that front and rob you of the fun that I promise you lies ahead, I'll simply say that this feel-good/feel-bad/feel-I-don't-know-what movie ends up stitching together three genres instead of two: romantic comedy, workplace drama, and time-dislocating head-spinner. To Lee's credit, each section of the film contains hints of the other two so the final product (art!) doesn't feel disjointed. To the contrary, I'd say Sweet & Sour is a bit of a miracle, modest as it may be.