Ruby (played by Seohyun) is the kind of woman who's perfectly pretty in a normal conventional way yet is paralyzed by shyness into hiding in her room all the time and wearing giant cute glasses. This lifestyle is enabled by Ruby's profession. As a freelance jewelry designer, Ruby relies on her best friend Won-seok (played by Lee Cheol-woo) to convey important information to the outside world. But upon receiving official recognition from the somewhat important Ji-seok (played by Lee Yi-kyung), Ruby must rely on magical powers to break out of her shell.
That was not a metaphor, Ruby does indeed gain access to magical powers to solve her problems. But as expected. "Ruby Ruby Love" is in fact a story about Ruby learning to have enough self-confidence to not have to rely on magical powers in order to have important business meetings. The magic powers are purely a fairy tale style plot device and not something to be overanalyzed.
In general overanalysis is a good way to ruin "Ruby Ruby Love", as the story is so archetypal I'm having trouble thinking of anything about it that qualifies as even remotely unique. It doesn't even appear to have a credited writer or director, and honestly? If you told me that the cast and crew just filmed this story outline spontaneously for a few days without any more specific instructions, I'd believe you.
Still, unambitious though "Ruby Ruby Love" may be, there's a definitely a strong cuteness factor at play. The contrast between Ruby's disparate personality traits is fun. She is creatively skilled, yet incapable of using her designs personally. Ruby is smart enough to know the rights words to say, yet completely oblivious and disinterested when it comes to questions like why Won-seok carries a camera around with him all the time.
The wish fulfillment aspect of the story achieves its purpose quite well- even speaking as a guy. Sure we want to be a success like Ruby, but I like the idea of just being a successful assistant to a success like Ruby, giving her assurance and confidence to actually be the best she can be. Also Won-seok teases Ruby all the time, which she deserves, and that's always a lot of fun. "Ruby Ruby Love" may not be terribly remarkable, but it does manage to be just barely fun enough I felt it was a good use of my time.
"Ruby Ruby Love" is directed by Won Jeong-woo and features Seohyun, Lee Cheol-woo, Lee Yi-kyung, Z.Hera and Hwang Seok-jeong.
Source:HanCinema
