With all of its nostalgic goodness, Sunny warmly captures the drama and fun of catching up with high school friends.

Movie Rating:

Hyorifeels watched on Netflix.

Sunny Quick Plot Recap

Im Na Mi (Yoo Heo Jeong), devotedly cleans the house and cooks for her busy husband and equally busy daughter. After eating her breakfast alone, she went to the hospital to visit her mother.

While passing the hallway of the patient’s room after the visit, a familiar name on one of the rooms caught her attention: Ha Chun Hwa (Jin Hee Kyung). Seeing that name prompted her to visit her old high school, as the flashback of her first day in that school started to roll.

Teenage Na Mi (Shim Eun Kyung) is timid, a self-conscious transferee who is extremely aware of her accent, as well as the state and style of her shoes and clothing. She was almost an easy target for bullies until Ha Chun Hwa ( Kang So Ra) introduces her and took her into her existing group of friends, a group which they belatedly named Sunny ( after the suggestion of a radio DJ who has read their letter on air).

Chun-hwa’s last wish

Back to the present time, Na Mi confirmed that the patient and her high school friend are the same person. Chun Hwa confided that her days are numbered because of the terminal stage of her cancer, and she wishes to see all the members of Sunny reunite before she dies.

Na Mi took it upon herself to find the whereabouts of her once closest friends, now turned strangers due to lost communication over the years.

One by one, she managed to track them down in an attempt to reconnect: the eye cosmetic fanatic Kim Jang Mi, the swearing queen Hwang Jin Hee, the enthusiastic writer and dreamer Seo Geum Ok, and the group’s Miss Korea Ryu Book Hee.

Except for one.

Sunny’s the one that got away: the quiet beauty and brain Jung Su Ji.

Sadly, Chun Hwa succumbed to her illness before Nami was able to successfully look for Su Ji.

The five girls had a bittersweet reunion at Chun Hwa’s funeral service. As the lawyer shared with them the contents of Chun Hwa’s last will and testament, all of them are unable to contain their combined laughter and tears (they could not help but also laugh as Chun Hwa’s strong and hilarious personality clearly reflects on her last will).

In an attempt to honor Chun Hwa’s unfulfilled wish, the girls danced in front of her funeral picture, using their high school choreography to the song “Sunny”. While the song and the dance are coming to an end, a mysterious girl entered the room.

Su Ji has come home.

As she exchanged glances and a smile with Nami, and as the rest started to approach, they turned back into their teenage versions, fondly smiling at each other. Chun Hwa’s portrait smiles approvingly at them.

Sunny Peak Points

Sunny versus Girls Generation

Just the names of these rival girl groups are already comedy gold!  ( For those who are unfamiliar with the ‘joke’, Sunny is actually a member of K-Pop girl group Girls’ Generation or SNSD). The verbal banter showdown between the two groups is hilarious. That one big girl fight which they literally held in between a riot is nothing short of being amusingly memorable.

Na Mi’s First Love

Joon Ho, Na Mi’s first love, is a friend of one of the older brothers of a Sunny member. He once protected Na Mi, making her initial interest in him grow bigger.

Na Mi drew Joon Ho once while they are on the way to a trip with the rest of their respective friends. Just when she find the courage to secretly approach him, she witnessed Joon Ho kissing Su Ji, making her leave with Joon Ho’s sketch still in her hands.

Years after, while hiring a private investigator to look for Sunny members, Na Mi also requested for Joon Ho’s whereabouts. She went to Joon Ho’s record shop, stared at both Joon Ho and Joon Ho’s son ( who looks exactly like a younger version of his father), and silently left the sketch of his first love, properly closing the chapter of that unrequited love.

The sisterhood that is Sunny

Life is not particularly smooth for each of the girls, and their individual struggles as grown-ups come in different forms. Their journey of reconnection has been all sorts as well, natural for some, awkward to downright embarrassing for others.

And yet, what matters is that they are willing to lean on each other again and that their fondest memories of being together are always sure to stay.

Sunny Musings

Hopeful that Chun Hwa’s wish of reuniting with all of the members will be met, it’s difficult not to waver when the dark present lives of some of the members of Sunny have been introduced. Those conflicting feelings intensified once the film reached the point of no return: the confirmation that Chun Hwa passed away.

Despite setting my mind to have zero expectations on how the movie ends, the curiosity of guessing if Su Ji will appear or not remains. Her appearance at the funeral, and the way the camera shifted to Chun Hwa’s portrait while the rest of the Sunny members’ transition to their teenage selves, is a bittersweet – a gentle reminder of a friendship that has withstood the awkwardness of long separation now that they are finally complete.

Photos: CJ Entertainment | KOFIC

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