Asian Cinema Challenge 2023 | 24/52 | Korean New Wave
Lee Shin-ae and her son, Jun, break down on the side of the road on their way to Miryang, a conservative town with a declining population whose name in Chinese translates to “secret sunshine.” They are moving to Miryang from Seoul because Shin-ae’s late husband was born there and wanted to return there. The mechanic, Kim Jong-chan, arrives, ultimately giving Shin-ae and Jun a ride into town. When Shin-ae reveals that she is going to open a piano school and is looking for a place to build a house, Jong-chan calls a real estate friend for a favor.
Cut to them living in Miryang, with Shin-ae and Jun putting up posters for the piano school. They pass by Jong-chan’s mechanic shop, and Jong-chan gives Jun some gum. Jont-chan calls friends, telling them to get their kids into Shin-ae’s piano school. He even brings in a fake award for her to hang on her wall to attract visitors. Shin-ae is put off by his efforts, despite his claim that he’s only doing it to be kind.
Shin-ae picks up Jun from daycare, where teacher Park Do-seop is giving the kids elocution lessons. Back at the piano shop, the pharmacist waves her over. Inside the pharmacy, she gives Shin-ae some Christian literature and tells her to believe in God. Shin-ae is firm that she doesn’t believe that stuff, but takes the literature regardless.
The film follows Shin-ae as she looks for a way to process the grief of her dead husband, and a horrifying development that forces her to reconsider everything.
What do you think is here? It's just sunlight. Nothing else, okay?
The film pulls you into Shin-ae’s world, and we come to understand her way of thinking and her behavior. Jeon Do-yeon’s performance is fully locked in. She gives one of the most emotional and enrapturing performances I’ve seen in a while.
I love the way Lee Chang-dong’s script keeps the audience in the dark, watching characters arrive at startling revelations, sometimes in plain sight. Whether a scene is full of dialogue or totally quiet, we can always feel the silence underneath — the world shifting. The movie starts so saturated that I thought it was a stinger for a production company. The sky is so blue, and everything is almost blinding. This moment plays out similarly about an hour in, but with a different context.
Kim Jong-chan is such a great inversion of the romance trope, where a man helps a woman move into a new town, and they fall in love. He tries so hard to inject himself into Shin-ae’s life, but it’s always met with confusion or hostility. And yet…
The movie offers one of the most honest depictions of Christian faith I have seen put to film, especially in how it enters the lives of grieving people. Also, it’s so funny how many of the songs they perform in the church I recognized from being a Christian around the time this movie came out.
This movie is quite devastating. If you let it, it will break your heart. I came in with that expectation and still felt the ache by the end. If you are okay with that, this movie is also tremendously beautiful in its depiction of humanity.
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