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Overview from Wikipedia: “Sunny” is a 2011 South Korean comedy-drama film. The film is about a middle-aged woman who tries to fulfill her friend’s dying wish of reuniting their group of high school friends. The film alternates between two timelines: the present day where the women are middle-aged, and the 1980s when they were in high school. It is the second film by writer-director Kang Hyeong-cheol, who previously directed “Scandal Makers” (2008). The movie’s cast is led by Shim Eun-kyung, Kang So-ra, Yoo Ho-jeong, and Jin Hee-kyung.
Released on 4 May 2011, “Sunny” was the first film of that year to sell five million tickets in South Korea, and became the second highest-grossing Korean film by the end of the year. As of 20 September 2012, it is the 13th best-selling film of all-time in South Korea.
“Sunny” was shown in film festivals worldwide. It won the following awards:
48th Grand Bell Awards: Best Director, Kang Hyeong-cheol; Best Editing, Nam Na-yeong.
19th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards Grand Prize (Daesang) for Film: “Sunny”
3rd KOFRA Film Awards: Best Director, Kang Hyeong-cheol
4th Style Icon Awards Content of the Year: “Sunny”
The movie was nominated for the following: 48th Baeksang Arts Awards: Best Film; 32nd Blue Dragon Film Awards: Best Film; Best Director; Best Screenplay; Best Art Direction; Best Music.
Kang So-ra, who plays the young Chun-hwa, won the following awards: 20th Buil Film Awards: Best New Actress; 48th Baeksang Arts Awards: Best New Actress
How to use this spoiler-free synopsis
Based on the story arcs, I divided this movie into three parts, indicating the start and end of each part in minute marks. For each part, I narrated some of the main actions without revealing the twists and turns.
Part 3 is the movie’s finale (the last 35 minutes or so); you can just read Parts 1 to 2, for example, to know what the movie is all about and then go watch the movie. (Part 2 is the midway point of the movie.)
Part 1 (from start to 50:00)
While visiting her mother at the hospital, Im Na-mi meets Ha Chun-hwa, her former classmate in high school. Ha Chun-hwa reveals that she’s dying of cancer and only has two months to live; she pleads with Na-mi that she wants to meet “Sunny,” their group of friends in high school.
Flashback, 1980s ...
On her first day at her new school, Na-mi gets bullied by two girls in her class. But she’s saved by Chun-hwa, who’s the leader of a group of six girls because of her height, beauty, and dominant personality. The other girls are Jang-mi (a portly girl who wants to have double eyelids); Jin-hee (the daughter of a Korean literature professor and who swears a lot); Geum-ok (a dentist’s daughter, who wants to become a writer); Bok-hee (a flighty girl who dreams of becoming Miss Korea); and Su-ji (the most quiet and the most beautiful among the girls).
At home, Na-mi has to deal with a cantankerous grandmother and an older brother who always riles up their father because of his student activism and pro-labor sentiments.
One day, as she begins to have a diabetic episode, Na-mi gets dragged along by Chun-hwa and her friends as they confront a rival group of girls from another high school.
Present times ... Through her former high school teacher, Na-mi meets Jang-mi.
Notes:
1. Part 1 spoilers are posted below.
2. The image below will help you identify the main characters as adults and as students.
3. The video clip below might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full movie.
Part 2 (from 51:01 to 1:31:36)
After her daughter refuses to say how she got the bruise on her face, Na-mi begins following her on her way to the “hagwon” (after-school academy).
Flashback ...
Smitten by Jun-ho, Na-mi follows him into a music club. Unknown to her, however, three of the girls from Sunny’s rival group are also there. Later on, as she arrives home, she sees police officers at their gate looking for her brother.
Chun-hwa and her friends have found out how Na-mi was bullied at the music club. On a street where pro-democracy activists and soldiers in full riot gear prepare to square off against each other, they wait for their rival group to appear.
Present times ...
After attending her brother’s court hearing, Na-mi goes to the hospital to work on Chun-hwa’s portrait. When Chun-hwa asks her if there’s anything that she wants to do in her life, she replies that she’s too old to have dreams. Later on, as she arrives at the academy, she sees her daughter in a dark alley being bullied by three girls.
Flashback ...
As Chun-hwa and her friends practice their dance for the upcoming school festival, conflict arises between Su-ji and Na-mi. When Chun-hwa defends Na-mi, Su-ji quits their group and walks away.
Present times ...
Na-mi and Jang-mi find out where Bok-hee lives. Later on, at the hospital, Na-mi promises Chun-hwa that she will find Su-ji.
Notes:
1. Part 2 spoilers are posted below.
2. The video clips below might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full movie.
Part 3 (from 1:31:37 to the end)
Na-mi watches the video that she and her friends made back in high school when they spoke to their future selves. In the video, she spoke about becoming an artist, a DJ, and the owner of a comic bookstore.
The private investigator tells Na-mi that although he still hasn’t found Su-ji, he has found Jun-ho.
Flashback ...
Na-mi gets bullied again by Sang-mi, her classmate who bullied her on her first day in school. Angry that Sang-mi questioned the depth and strength of her friendship with Chun-hwa and the other members of Sunny, she challenges Sang-mi to meet her near the school’s garbage dump.
Back inside their classroom, everyone becomes shocked when their teacher beats Sang-mi repeatedly on the head. Before storming out of the classroom, Sang-mi shatters the mirror on the wall and then glares at Chun-hwa.
Notes:
1. Part 3 spoilers are posted below.
2. The video clip below might contain some spoilers that could ruin your viewing of the full movie.
Historical / cultural backgrounders and other information
1. YouTube videos that show life in South Korea during the 1980s:
2. The flashback scenes are set during South Korea’s military dictatorship in the 1980s. Na-mi’s brother is depicted as a pro-democracy activist, and the epic girl fight between Sunny and their rival group is set within the clash between the activists and the soldiers. This clash references the 1980s “Gwangju Uprising” and pro-democracy movement in Korea.
K-movies about 1980s Gwangju Uprising and pro-democracy movement in Korea:
Part 1 spoilers:
Na-mi is married to a husband who’s a good provider but is emotionally distant, just like her daughter. Despite her pleas, her husband and daughter do not visit or communicate with her mother who’s confined in a hospital.
After meeting Chun-hwa, Na-mi goes to her mini-library at home and looks at her high school yearbook and her drawings of her friends. To her surprise, she sees her daughter come into the mini-library and try to take some money that’s hidden inside a book.
Flashback ...
During the confrontation between Chun-hwa’s group and the rival group of girls from another high school, Na-mi has a diabetic episode. Mouthing off her grandmother’s curses, she scares the rival group into running away. Later, despite Su-ji’s sullen reluctance, Chun-hwa and the other girls accept Na-mi into the group. As they celebrate, they meet the friends of Jang-mi’s brother, including the good looking Jun-ho. Na-mi gets teased after Jun-ho says that she’s pretty.
Through a radio program, Chun-hwa and her friends get the name “Sunny” for their group.
Present times ...
Jang-mi works as an insurance agent, but her sales are far below than those of the other agents. With Chun-hwa paying for the expenses, she and Na-mi hire a private investigator to find the other members of “Sunny.”
Through the private investigator, Na-mi and Jang-mi find Jin-hee at a golf course.
At the private investigator’s office, Na-mi asks the private investigator to look for somebody else besides her friends. Hiding inside the office is Jin-hee, who has just retained the private investigator to find out if her husband is having an affair.
Posing as religious proselytizers, Na-mi and Jin-hee find Geum-ok. Unlike the Geum-ok they knew in high school as a bright student who wanted to be a writer, she’s an unemployed stay-at-home wife who takes care of her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law’s baby. As they leave, she runs after them and gives them an envelope with some cash in it for Chun-hwa.
Na-mi takes the cash that her husband gave her and places it inside Geum-ok’s envelope.
Part 2 spoilers:
Flashback ...
At the music club, Jun-ho saves Na-mi from the bullies. Later, near Na-mi’s house, he tells her that if the bullies bother her again, she should tell them that he is her boyfriend.
As the pro-democracy activists and soldiers battle on the street, Chun-hwa and her friends also fight with their rival group.
Su-ji dislikes Na-mi because she’s from Jeolla-do, just like her stepmother whom she hates. At a “pojangmacha” (street stall), she and Na-mi iron out their misunderstandings.
Present times ...
Na-mi, Chun-hwa, Jang-mi, and Jin-hee beat up the high school girls who have been bullying Na-mi’s daughter.
Na-mi and Jang-mi find out that Bok-hee became a prostitute and that her daughter is in a government facility. Jang-mi doesn’t want to meet Bok-hee, but having just seen how Chun-hwa suffered from intense pain at the hospital, Na-mi says that friends are for hard times.
When Na-mi says that they will help her find a new job so that she can reunited with her daughter, Bok-hee breaks down and wails that Chun-hwa shouldn’t be dying because she was supposed to take care of every one of them.
Part 3 spoilers:
Flashback ...
Sang-mi was once friends with Chun-hwa, but Chun-hwa rejected her after finding out that she was sniffing glue.
At the garbage dump, Su-ji saves Na-mi from being humiliated by Sang-mi and the other bullies. She threatens to burn Sang-mi’s face, but Na-mi pleads with her to stop.
At a get-together in the countryside between Sunny and the friends of Jang-mi’s brother, Na-mi becomes brokenhearted when she sees Jun-ho and Su-ji kissing.
Present time ...
Na-mi goes to the record bar owned by Jun-ho and, without explaining who she is, gives him the portrait that she did of him during high school.
Flashback ...
At the school cafeteria, Chun-hwa stops Sang-mi from bullying Na-mi. But using a broken bottle, Sang-mi slashes Su-ji’s face.
As Su-ji is rushed to the hospital, the members of Sunny are beaten up by the teacher; they’re also expelled from school.
On the street outside Su-ji’s house, Na-mi finds out that Su-ji tried to kill herself. Chun-hwa challenges everyone that they’ll meet each other again and perform the dance that they were supposed to present during the festival. She says that in the future, if anyone of them ignores the others because her life has become too good, they will punish her; if anyone’s life sucks in the future, the rest will make her life better.
During Chun-hwa’s funeral wake, her attorney arrives and reads her will to Na-mi, Jang-mi, Jin-hee, Geum-ok, and Bok-hee. In her will, she generously provides financially for Jang-mi, Geum-ok, and Bok-hee. She appoints Na-mi as Sunny’s new leader and Jin-hee as the vice-leader.
After Na-mi, Jang-mi, Jin-hee, Geum-ok, and Bok-hee finish the dance that they were supposed to present during the school festival, Su-ji arrives.
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