Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Patience Watson One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

poikkeus Director Sang Sun-Woo has been the guiding force behind a series of often visionary films notable for their willingness to take chances. A PASSAGE TO BUDDHA was the stroking updating of a Buddhist scripture; LIES, conversely, was his unrated tale of sexual perversion; A PETAL is one of the more shocking stories of childhood lost; A ROAD TO THE RACETRACK is a penetrating battle of the sexes. With MATCH GIRL, Jang updates the legend to modern Korea - of course, with a differences. A clumsy, dull man in his early 20s is a social failure and probably doomed to poverty and loneliness, but in a Seoul rippling with video game parlors, he finds a game that operates on a different level. Giving away more would take away from the surprise to be enjoyed here.Jang keeps his allegory cooking with a striking set of characters (all of them after the Match Girl), and a playful humor that works even on multiple viewings. Each of Jang's film's has a sense of visual freshness. but this one is a complete surprise.

geoffrey zhong Like the cult hit The Matrix, Sun-woo Jang's latest sci-fi work The Resurrection of the little match girl contrived an exquisitely woven web of ruthless reality and subversively violent fantasy-land in which our heroes and heroines had alternated from being manipulated by game players to manipulating one another by themselves. Combining such game-within-game plot with the original idea of the well-known Danish fairy tale by HC Andersson, the director captures fatuous egotism and unreasonable superciliousness of the X-Generation.This time his approach appears much closer to the heart and mind of the contemporary Korean young groups. They have seemed so lost in their real society that they have been consuming time and money in the internet world in order to find the release. It is, therefore, quite natural that frequent abusiveness, pervasive violence, sardonic cartoonized characters take up the major part of the movie. The most refreshing point is owed to utilizing the "little match girl", who is pathetic in the beginning and becomes a revengeful lady in the latter part. Unlike the cult hit The Matrix, the obviously obnoxiousness of this movie lies in the lavish minor characters, most of whom could not function effectively or contribute to the development of the complicated plot but trivialized and metamorphosed into an enervating mess.Recommend it to those who like Director's previous anarchist work Bad Movie and Lies, then put it away if you're a fan of cult classic.

dennisyoon Just like Tampopo made fun of so many genres the Resurrection of The Little Match Girl is the modern incarnation. Video games, Matrix themes, wacky characters abound in a dimension hopping adventure that comes from everywhere. HK action and Wire Fu with Matrix graphics and Music Video FX make for a very busy film that goes all over the place and doesn't let up. I can see why it might have tanked in Korea because the story is really over the top and the characters aren't developed as much as the FX and Gun fighting craziness. I didn't know what to expect so I couldn't stop watching because it was unpredictable and all over the place. Being a fan of over the top violence and unusual narratives I came away thinking this was ambitious and gets and A+ for effort. Forgot the story but did get swept away by the goofy fun and visuals.

c75 The other reviews here make many good points. It is true that "Resurrection Of The Little Match Girl" is a very unorthodox film and it is certainly true that it does have its problems. But, quite simply, I was thrilled and excited watching it in a way I have been by few other movies.Most films do not take anywhere near as many risks, or have anywhere near as many ideas, as this movie. True, the film does seemingly try to work in every single genre simultaneously and wildly fluctuate between reality and fantasy, humour and sadness, beauty and violence. But I felt this was a definite strength. From the USA to Mainland Europe, from Britain to Asia, there are so many films that do not push boundaries, do not take risks and are far too scared to step outside themselves and I think this film should be applauded for daring to risk these flaws.For all of its faults, this was easily far and away the best film I saw in 2003.