Starring: Gang Hye-jung, Cho Seung-woo
Director: Kang Ji-eun
Category: IIA (Korean)
'My girlfriend is an alien' isn't the kind of storyline you might expect from a Korean tearjerker, but Love Phobia is first-time director Kang Ji-eun's attempt to give this well-trodden genre a twist.
Starring Cho Seung-woo (The Classic, Marathon) and his real life partner, Gang Hye-jung (Old Boy, Welcome to Dongmakgol), the film recounts a relationship that spans almost two decades. It begins with schoolboy Jo-kang (Park Geon-tae) falling in love with Ari (Byeon Joo-yon) the moment he lays eyes on her. As it turns out, the cute little girl winds up in his class.
But there's something odd about Ari Stranger still, she tells people she's from another planet, and that the yellow raincoat she always wears is to prevent an 'extraterrestrial curse' from spreading. Whoever touches her, she says, will suffer some mishap or die - as her parents and grandmother did.
Although the rest of the class is spooked by all this, Jo-kang becomes even more fascinated. One cold, rainy day, they finally touch - and the next day Jo-kang comes down with the measles. Ari vanishes.