Pretty Crazy (2025): Night and day
2025 • Lee Sang-geun • 1.85:1 • Jump to Gallery ↓
Starring actress Im Yoon-ah and directed by Lee Sang-geun, Pretty Crazy (2025) is a blend of romance, comedy, mystery and light fantasy, reuniting the pair after EXIT (2019). The film centres on Jeong Seon-ji, who is a sweet aspiring pastry chef by day, but transforms into an “unruly demon” at night, a persona she has no memory of in the morning. Gil-gu, a socially awkward, unemployed neighbour, becomes her night-time guardian at her father’s request, sparking confusion and a sense of affectionate tension.
Due to the dichotomy at the heart of the story, the film is built around a visual contrast between the brightness of daylight and the surreal energy of nighttime. Warm, romantic tones are mixed with more unpredictable, sharply contrasting lighting and colour cues at night to suggest a surreal transformation without resorting to horror clichés.
Rather than relying on heavy effects, the film uses practical lighting shifts, actors’ energy and framing to signal mood changes, giving the transformation sequences a stylised yet grounded feel. It’s a character-centred story that, at times, feels like a sitcom, focusing on performance first and amplifying it with colour.
Technical Specs:
- The Story: An aspiring pastry chef lives unaware that she transforms into a wild she-devil every night. Her family hires their neighbour to keep an eye on her at night, and he falls for her during the day while trying to break her curse. Read my review of Pretty Crazy.
- Actors: Im Yoo-nah, Ahn Bo-hyun, Sung Dong-il, Joo Hyun-young, Shin Hyun-soo, Ko Gun-han.
- Director: Lee Sang-geun
- Year: 2025
- Cinematographer: Kim Il-yeon
- Origin: Korean Cinema
- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Genre: Romantic Comedy / Fantasy
