"Secret Sunshine"

Not a frame is wasted in this 142-minute Korean drama from director Lee Chang-Dong, which begins with a mother and son stranded on the road to Miryang, the Korean town whose Chinese characters translate as the film's title. The mother and son are rescued by The Host's Kang-Ho Song, here with another bad haircut, playing a friendly auto mechanic who falls hard for the woman, a piano teacher settling in the town of her late husband's birth.

The first 40 minutes or so comprise fish-out-of-water comedy/drama of the sort that might have Hollywood pursuing remake rights, but an awful tragedy sends the movie and its heroine into another direction altogether—a direction I think is best experienced with as little foreknowledge as possible, hence my skimpy plot description from here. The story's component involving religion evokes Bunuel without adopting his barbed irony; the theme of a woman losing control of her life recalls Cassavettes, but Chang-Dong Lee doesn't go for the burn-rubber emotionalism of the American director. What makes this movie so hard to pin down critically, especially in blog-time, is how little Chang-Dong Lee's style recalls other directors'. I admit that I haven't seen his three prior films. But I'm very much looking forward to catching up.

Comments

[Caz]

Traditional Korean names start with the family name first, therefore you would be referring to the director as Lee.
That is unless you meant to be informal.

[Jo]

Yesterday night, I saw it. I think about "Film"...Abatract term "Pain" makes concret term..vividly!! It's amazing! conglaturation the award!

[Jo]

Yesterday night, I saw it. I think about "Film"...Abatract term "Pain" makes concret term..vividly!! It's amazing! conglaturation the award!

[kimmi]

He made a deep impression on the audience.

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