KWAK Jae-yong, the director behind My Sassy Girl (2001) and The Classic (2003), has introduced his new film Meet Miss Anxiety, which was released on December 12th in China. As My Sassy Girl, which starred CHA Tae-hyun and JUN Ji-hyun, was very popular in China and could be seen as the template for Meet Miss Anxiety, local expectations were high for the film. Meet Miss Anxiety stars China’s ZHOU Xun, who plays the main character, along with TONG Dawei, Wallace CHUNG and ZHANG Zilin.
 
Meet Miss Anxiety is a romantic comedy which adjusted its tone according to the current trends of Chinese cinema. Director KWAK has built up a fan base in China due to his ‘girlfriend series’, which includes My Sassy Girl, Windstruck (2004) and Cyborg She (2008). A sequel to My Sassy Girl called My New Sassy Girl starring CHA Tae-hyun and Chinese actress Victoria is also on the way. But this film won’t be in theaters until 2015, so Meet Miss Anxiety is the first to follow the popularity of the original film. KWAK’s film is about a woman who faces early menopause after a break-up, but meets a new love who helps her heal mentally and physically.
 
‘Early menopause’ is a new term which was introduced in China that refers to women below 40 who undergo menopause due to extreme stress. It has been said that ZHOU Xun realistically depicts a cranky and sensitive woman who goes through menopause. CAO Jinling, the writer of the film, also published a book with the same title for which director KWAK wrote a prologue. The book has been getting positive reviews as it deals with the societal problem of ‘early menopause’ and is expected to have a positive impact on the film as well. According to the Chinese film news source MTime, the film hit the top spot in the Chinese local box office on the 15th of December.