Sang-soo Im

“Hey, Yoon-hee, stop haunting me.”

Director Im Sang-soo imbues his take on the events leading up to the Gwangju tragedy with an elegant sadness and beauty. The uprising of citizens in South Korea against the government came to a violent head over a nine day period in May, 1980. It was, at that time, represented as a North Korean communist plot. Only afterward, was it recognized as a valiant and, for many, fatal effort to defend a democracy from military rule and corruption.

Since 2002, May 18th has become a day of commemoration to restore honor to those who died for a free and democratic South Korea. Rather than simply make this a political film, however, Sang-woo centers it around a love story. Told in flashback, it encompasses those events and the lives it changed, as well as the futures it altered. As in many Korean dramas, snow is used to beautiful effect, helping create an intimacy to a story told with gentle restraint, making it all the more powerful. Based on Hwang Sok-yong’s novel, Ji Jin-Hee and Yeom Jeong-ah lend fine and heartfelt performances in this atmospheric and involving drama first released in 2006, but not widely seen until 2007.

A gorgeous score by Kim Hong Hul is augmented by a haunting Korean ballad sung at the end. Sang-soo pulls his camera back on a snowy Seoul at night, haunted by love, as the song is sung. The feeling it creates stays with the viewer long after the final credits roll. Not an angry film, despite the subject matter, it is instead like walking in on someone quietly sobbing in the darkness. Portraits of Cho Duk-hyun and art from Song Jae Hee deserve mention, in a film about love during a time of change, and sacrifices too great to calculate.

Prisoner number 1444 is being set free after nearly 17 years of imprisonment as the film opens. Hyan-woo has a touch of grey in his hair now, but is still relatively young. Returning home he has great difficulty adjusting. Yoon-hee is the great love he left behind to fight, but she has died of cancer, leaving him only letters.

Caught and imprisoned before the real rebellion occurred, there is guilt and anguish at both the events that happened and regret that he was not there for his great love. Ji Jin-Hee is terrific here, lending middle-age dignity to a man whose life passed him by while he was in prison. Sang-soo uses the letters as a device for flashbacks in which their love story, and what happened after Hyan-woo was gone, slowly unfold before the viewer — just as they do for Hyan-woo. His old comrade Kun brings back memories as well. The anguish of body bags and slain comrades pale in comparison to the quieter tragedies which occurred while he and Kun were away, however.

There is wonderful use of rain and snow in this film, often at night, which become a part of the mood Sang-soo creates in this beautiful drama. Agonizing decisions regarding when to leave become a way of life when Yoon-hee, a teacher, falls in love with Hyan-woo, who sympathizes with his cause but is also angered it won’t allow them a life together. She remains faithful while he is away, and leaves him more than one gift when he returns. One is a gift he will share, as Yoon-hee guides him towards peace in his soul.

Yeom Jeong-ah’s lovely performance is terribly moving, and her contribution to the narrative’s success cannot be overstated. A beautiful film of sadness and understanding, this Korean drama has much to offer film lovers. A film poetic and tender, Sang-hoo has restored honor to those who died through the telling of a flashback-laden love story, at a time when happiness and beauty could not exist for some.… (més)

Eun-yi har fått arbeid som au pair eller hushjelp hos det velstående ekteparet Hae Ra og hennes mann Hoon. De har ei lita jente på seks-syv år fra før, og Hae Ra er gravid med tvillinger.

Hoon er en mann som vet å ta for seg av livets goder. Når kona ikke makter å stille opp til hans forventninger på soverommet, faller hans øyne på den nye hushjelpen. Eun-yi er skilt og har ingen barn, og hun lengter etter kjærlighet. Derfor er det ikke lett for henne å avvise husets herre, som at på til er en meget flott mann. Men dermed innleder hun seg på et spill som skal komme til å koste henne dyrt.

For ikke bare er den noe aldrende hushjelpen i huset meget sjalu og misunnelig på den oppmerksomhet som blir Eun-yi til del. Hun hvisker noen ord i øret til Hae Ra´s mor om svigersønnens utroskap, og begge skjønner også lenge før Eun-yi selv at hun er gravid ... Både Hae Ra og hennes mor er livredde for at deres posisjoner i det velstående hjemmet skal være truet, og dette blir begynnelsen på noen desperate handlinger som ingen helt aner konsekvensene av ... Men uansett hvilke prøvelser Eun-yi utsettes for, klarer hun ikke å få øye på ondskapen rundt seg.

Først og fremst ønsker jeg å fremheve hvor vakker denne filmen er! Sånn sett føyer den seg inn i rekken av mange asiatiske filmer jeg har sett, som er så estetisk nydelige at bare det i seg selv gjør filmen meget severdig. Det bygges opp en spenning rundt Hoon og hans utroskap med au pair´en, og til slutt må også den eldre hushjelpen bestemme seg for hvilken side hun egentlig ønsker å stå på; herskapets eller hushjelpen som står henne nærmest i sosial rang? Slutten på filmen er spektakulær, men der ramlet også jeg av lasset. På grunn av det vakre og estetiske uttrykket i filmen, den gryende uhyggestemningen, nydelig musikk og fine skuespillerprestasjoner, blir det terningkast fem. Og så gleder jeg meg veldig til å komme over flere filmer fra Korea fremover!… (més)