If you've had drama in your life, either your own or by someone close to you, the stages of pain this woman (but, in my opinion, it could easily have been a man too)goes through are very very real. It is a movie about not being able to cope with your pain, about not knowing what to do to help yourself get through it. Obviously it then also is a movie about not knowing how to help someone close to you get through their pain. It is a movie that makes you realize that everyone is alone in their suffering. It is a movie that might push someone over the edge...which hardly sounds like a recommendation. I'm not sure I would recommend someone to go see this film, especially someone close, but for me...it is a movie that puts things into perspective, that shows real pain, and is therefore much relevant to being alive. It makes you realize that hey, you or the person close to you have lived through pain, that hey, all the things you worry about now are of so little importance
33 Reviews
A woman fights, a man waits
linm-11 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
A young woman comes to the home town of his husband after he passed away in an accident. She barely settles down in this small town, but shortly after, loses her little son in a kidnapping and all her hopes... This could lead to all kinds following plots in a normal movie: find a new partner and being happy finally; or depressed enough to struggle and finally kill herself... She does try to kill herself, but not after a series of severe fights, with God. She trusts in God, only to find that God seems to forgive everyone, even the killer. Well, I should be careful here about God, the movie doesn't mean a thing against God. The way the movie deals the issue is quite interesting: not in the woman's point of view or from God's perspective (in this way, there would be lots of grass growing, clouds flying views, I suppose). Rather, it's from a third party's eye, the movie let us to perceive and doesn't explain a thing.
The movie wouldn't be so interesting were there only the woman. There's this man who's everywhere around the woman and obviously in love with her, but in his own way. He's a funny guy, like a clown I should say, who shamelessly hangs around our heroine. The combination of these two, the woman full of tension, crying and throwing up always, and the man, smiling and talking stupidly, ends up in a good balance of emotions: nothing absurdly wrong or too tedious.
Highly recommend.
The movie wouldn't be so interesting were there only the woman. There's this man who's everywhere around the woman and obviously in love with her, but in his own way. He's a funny guy, like a clown I should say, who shamelessly hangs around our heroine. The combination of these two, the woman full of tension, crying and throwing up always, and the man, smiling and talking stupidly, ends up in a good balance of emotions: nothing absurdly wrong or too tedious.
Highly recommend.
A harrowing tale
wondercritic9 April 2008
"Secret Sunshine" reminded me of "The Rapture" (1991), with Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny, but this Korean production is a better film. It portrays super-religious Korean Christians in a provincial Korean city, and the main character's experiences interacting with them in the wake of a horrible personal tragedy. Shin-ae is a widowed single mother who moves to the city of Milyang ('Secret Sunshine' in Chinese) from Seoul with her young son. She has chosen Milyang because her late husband (killed in an auto accident) was born there, and she feels she needs to make a new start in life in a new place. She does not react well to the overtures of the local Christian zealots, one of whose members tries to convince her to come to their church and prayer meetings. Shin-ae is essentially irreligious and brushes these people off as politely as she can. In fact, she brushes just about everyone in Milyang off to begin with, but some of them are persistent in trying to invade her world, and the consequences are often hilarious. To say more would be to give the film away, but it should be noted that the performance of the woman in the lead role (Jeon Do-yeon) is stupendous. Having read that she won the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2007, I expected her to a decent job. But Ms. Jeon is captivating and it is impossible to take your eyes off her when she is on screen. The movie is a sort of harrowing Evelyn Waugh-esquire piece of work, showing how Fate can feel insane as much as strangely inevitable.
A profound probing through a flawless performance
harry_tk_yung20 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
"Miryang" (literally translated "secret sunshine") is the name of a small town in the less densely populated part of Korea, which we see the protagonist Lee Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon) driving towards at the start of the movie. Traveling with her young son, she wants to leave Seoul to start a new life in Miryang, the hometown of her late husband just lost in a traffic accident. With her easy, friendly personality, she soon establishes herself as a piano teacher in this new home, making friends and being courted (ever so shyly) by a 39-year-old, likable, happy-go-lucky auto-repair shop owner. Prospects for a happy new life after bereavement seems around the corner until she make the mistake of going around checking out real estate properties as if she intends to buy but does not really have the money for. (She does that probably to reassure the townspeople that she is financially sound). This unfortunately induced a school bus driver to kidnap her son and, when not getting the money he wants, kill him.
All the above happens in the first hour of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour movie. The remainder of the movie is devoted to probing Lee's mental state after suffering from this horrible, devastating double bereavement.
In its skillful story-telling, under an easy direction style, this movie is one of those (my apologies for saying so) designed with the aim of fetching the lead actress awards. With resounding success, it became instrumental to Jeon Do-yeon earning the highly esteemed Cannes best actress earlier this year. A most deserved win, I hasten to add.
Watching this movie is sometimes like watching Jeon taking a series of tests, each one harder than the one before, towards winning the highest honour. This starts with a sequence of establishing scenes to show the bonding between the little boy and mother, Lee, who is sometimes childlike herself in the simplicity of her affection. Then comes the kidnapper's phone call, a scene Jeon handles with pitch perfection precision. The scene of victim body identification at the riverside is shot with a combination of distance shot and close ups, where Jeon, through both facial expression and body language, conveys the mother's agonizing journey through shock, disbelief and clinging to one last hope.
The range of emotions now gets even more complex. There in the painful, tearless silence facing her wailing, screaming mother-in-law (the murdered boy's grandmother) and the eerie feeling that her son is still around in the house. Then comes the most difficult part. Quite naturally, Lee seeks religious solace, through an Evangelist-ish group. Smile begins to come back to her face, as well as a serene, peaceful glow, until she decides to visit her son's murderer in jail to personally give him her forgiveness.
This is probably the award-winning scene. She holds the flowers she brings to show the prisoner that it signifies her forgiveness. With an even more serene and loving expression, the prisoner thanks her and reassured her that since he started serving his jail term, he has sought, and been granted God's forgiveness. The audience will observe the subtle change in the expression on Lee's face, so superbly portrayed by Jeon. Back at the parking lot, while her companions on the visit are chatting merrily about how wonderful the transformation of the prisoner has been, Jeon remains ominously taciturn. Finally, she drops the flowers and murmurs "If God has already forgiven him, what is there for me to forgive?" and sinks on the ground, fainting right beside the car.
In the remainder of the movie Jeon portrays Lee's heart-wrenching struggle between a desire to forgive and an instinct to hate a performance that earns her a place among the best of the very best.
All the above happens in the first hour of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour movie. The remainder of the movie is devoted to probing Lee's mental state after suffering from this horrible, devastating double bereavement.
In its skillful story-telling, under an easy direction style, this movie is one of those (my apologies for saying so) designed with the aim of fetching the lead actress awards. With resounding success, it became instrumental to Jeon Do-yeon earning the highly esteemed Cannes best actress earlier this year. A most deserved win, I hasten to add.
Watching this movie is sometimes like watching Jeon taking a series of tests, each one harder than the one before, towards winning the highest honour. This starts with a sequence of establishing scenes to show the bonding between the little boy and mother, Lee, who is sometimes childlike herself in the simplicity of her affection. Then comes the kidnapper's phone call, a scene Jeon handles with pitch perfection precision. The scene of victim body identification at the riverside is shot with a combination of distance shot and close ups, where Jeon, through both facial expression and body language, conveys the mother's agonizing journey through shock, disbelief and clinging to one last hope.
The range of emotions now gets even more complex. There in the painful, tearless silence facing her wailing, screaming mother-in-law (the murdered boy's grandmother) and the eerie feeling that her son is still around in the house. Then comes the most difficult part. Quite naturally, Lee seeks religious solace, through an Evangelist-ish group. Smile begins to come back to her face, as well as a serene, peaceful glow, until she decides to visit her son's murderer in jail to personally give him her forgiveness.
This is probably the award-winning scene. She holds the flowers she brings to show the prisoner that it signifies her forgiveness. With an even more serene and loving expression, the prisoner thanks her and reassured her that since he started serving his jail term, he has sought, and been granted God's forgiveness. The audience will observe the subtle change in the expression on Lee's face, so superbly portrayed by Jeon. Back at the parking lot, while her companions on the visit are chatting merrily about how wonderful the transformation of the prisoner has been, Jeon remains ominously taciturn. Finally, she drops the flowers and murmurs "If God has already forgiven him, what is there for me to forgive?" and sinks on the ground, fainting right beside the car.
In the remainder of the movie Jeon portrays Lee's heart-wrenching struggle between a desire to forgive and an instinct to hate a performance that earns her a place among the best of the very best.
Secret Sunshine is a life story of a woman who lost families
byungkeepark11 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Secret Sunshine (2007) is famous for its awards at the Festival de Cannes in 2007 and other film festivals. Jeon-Do Yeon, who played the newly widowed Shin-ae, won the best actress trophy at the 60th Cannes festival. Secret Sunshine was also a winner of best feature film and Jeon-Do Yeon received a best actress nod from Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In addition, this movie won the best film awards in virtually all Korean film festivals. Masterfully written and directed, and uniquely photographed, Secret Sunshine expressed the hope and salvation that can be found when life is painful because of continuous tragedy. This film also talked about the forgiveness of God and people. Lee Chang Dong, director and writer of this movie, said in an interview, "In a vast sense, I wanted to express what love is and this movie could be a melodrama in a sense. Without love, we can't talk about hope and salvation." Lee acknowledged that Secret Sunshine had no apparent genre. This movie is not a movie about religion, but it drew attention from many Christians in Korea because there were a lot of Christian elements in the movie.
The turning point in Secret Sunshine comes when Jun, Shin-ae's son, is kidnapped and killed. The kidnapper asks for money because he presumes that since she can buy land, she must be rich. Her lie causes much sorrow.
Shin-ae becomes a church-goer and wants to forgive the murderer. She decides to visit her son's murderer in prison and forgive him. Jong-chan, Shin-ae's guy friend, says, "Just forgive in your heart. Do you have to go to the prison?" Her church fellows cheer for her and say they will pray for her. Her pastor agrees with what she wants to do. That is a sad moment because it is too early for her to do an action. The result of the meeting with the murderer is another turning point in Shin-ae's life. The murderer says with a peaceful smile that he has already been forgiven by God. This sparks anger in her toward God. She says, "How could You forgive the man before I forgive?"
She begins to fight against God. She looks up to the sky and proclaims, "I won't lose to You." She becomes a snare, her heart is a trap, and her hands are chains. It is more bitter than death. She becomes crazier and crazier and is sent to a mental hospital. On the day Shin-ae is discharged from the hospital, she goes to a beauty shop and sees a familiar face. The daughter of her son's murderer works in the shop and cuts her hair. The murderer's daughter has helped kidnapped Shin-ae's son. While she cuts Shin-ae's hair, the protagonist can't understand what's going on and gets out of the shop quickly.
It is difficult not to talk about Jong-chan in the movie. Jong-chan does his best to be by Shin-ae's side. Although Shin-ae doesn't care about him at all, he is beside her all the time. Shin-ae leaves church quickly, but Jong-chan, who started attending church because of Shin-ae, stays there because he feels peace with God. Lee Chang-dong, the director of Secret Sunshine, says that Jong-chan is like Milyang( secret sunshine), the rural city or vice versa. He seems to "be too secular and frivolous, but he is always two steps behind her and takes care of her. Milyang is like him." Mr. Lee adds, "Someone joked that Jong-chan could be an angel. I think that he could be the angel. Who knows? We can't say for sure that there is no angel." If there is a person like Jong-chan who forever accompanies his lover's twists and turns, we can defend ourselves against the overpowered. The life of Shin-ae is full of meaninglessness. Her husband died after he cheated on her, and her only son was killed cruelly by a murderer after she moved to her husband's hometown. And her soul was damaged because she learned Christianity in a wrong wayand that makes her crazy, literally. It is too easy to say that her life is filled with meaninglessness. Does she still have hope in her life? Can she find meaning in her life? The final scene gives us hope. Shin-ae tries to cut her hair by herself: we walk our life's journey by ourselves. She, however, realizes that it is hard to do it by herself, and we know that we can't do everything by ourselves. We see Jong-chan holding the mirror for her while she cuts her hair. That's her hope. She has Jong-chan beside her and he is willing to help her in whatever situation she is. As I mentioned earlier, Jong-chan is like an angel for her. If we feel that an angel is always beside and behind us, we can find joy in life even though we face adversity in our lives.
Secret Sunshine was a hot topic of conversation in Korea. It is like Da Vinci Code. While Da Vinci Code helps us discuss the early church history, Secret Sunshine prompts us to deal with life's messiness and find meaning when life seems unbearable. With a shallow interpretation of the movie, people misunderstand Christianity and its theology. With a deeper interpretation, this movie will help us see beneath the surface. Some people say they quit attending church worship service after they watched Secret Sunshine, and Lee Chang-dong responds by saying, "They were already anti-Christ before they watched this movie. Secret Sunshine is a life story of a woman and we can interpret our life through Shin-ae's life.
The turning point in Secret Sunshine comes when Jun, Shin-ae's son, is kidnapped and killed. The kidnapper asks for money because he presumes that since she can buy land, she must be rich. Her lie causes much sorrow.
Shin-ae becomes a church-goer and wants to forgive the murderer. She decides to visit her son's murderer in prison and forgive him. Jong-chan, Shin-ae's guy friend, says, "Just forgive in your heart. Do you have to go to the prison?" Her church fellows cheer for her and say they will pray for her. Her pastor agrees with what she wants to do. That is a sad moment because it is too early for her to do an action. The result of the meeting with the murderer is another turning point in Shin-ae's life. The murderer says with a peaceful smile that he has already been forgiven by God. This sparks anger in her toward God. She says, "How could You forgive the man before I forgive?"
She begins to fight against God. She looks up to the sky and proclaims, "I won't lose to You." She becomes a snare, her heart is a trap, and her hands are chains. It is more bitter than death. She becomes crazier and crazier and is sent to a mental hospital. On the day Shin-ae is discharged from the hospital, she goes to a beauty shop and sees a familiar face. The daughter of her son's murderer works in the shop and cuts her hair. The murderer's daughter has helped kidnapped Shin-ae's son. While she cuts Shin-ae's hair, the protagonist can't understand what's going on and gets out of the shop quickly.
It is difficult not to talk about Jong-chan in the movie. Jong-chan does his best to be by Shin-ae's side. Although Shin-ae doesn't care about him at all, he is beside her all the time. Shin-ae leaves church quickly, but Jong-chan, who started attending church because of Shin-ae, stays there because he feels peace with God. Lee Chang-dong, the director of Secret Sunshine, says that Jong-chan is like Milyang( secret sunshine), the rural city or vice versa. He seems to "be too secular and frivolous, but he is always two steps behind her and takes care of her. Milyang is like him." Mr. Lee adds, "Someone joked that Jong-chan could be an angel. I think that he could be the angel. Who knows? We can't say for sure that there is no angel." If there is a person like Jong-chan who forever accompanies his lover's twists and turns, we can defend ourselves against the overpowered. The life of Shin-ae is full of meaninglessness. Her husband died after he cheated on her, and her only son was killed cruelly by a murderer after she moved to her husband's hometown. And her soul was damaged because she learned Christianity in a wrong wayand that makes her crazy, literally. It is too easy to say that her life is filled with meaninglessness. Does she still have hope in her life? Can she find meaning in her life? The final scene gives us hope. Shin-ae tries to cut her hair by herself: we walk our life's journey by ourselves. She, however, realizes that it is hard to do it by herself, and we know that we can't do everything by ourselves. We see Jong-chan holding the mirror for her while she cuts her hair. That's her hope. She has Jong-chan beside her and he is willing to help her in whatever situation she is. As I mentioned earlier, Jong-chan is like an angel for her. If we feel that an angel is always beside and behind us, we can find joy in life even though we face adversity in our lives.
Secret Sunshine was a hot topic of conversation in Korea. It is like Da Vinci Code. While Da Vinci Code helps us discuss the early church history, Secret Sunshine prompts us to deal with life's messiness and find meaning when life seems unbearable. With a shallow interpretation of the movie, people misunderstand Christianity and its theology. With a deeper interpretation, this movie will help us see beneath the surface. Some people say they quit attending church worship service after they watched Secret Sunshine, and Lee Chang-dong responds by saying, "They were already anti-Christ before they watched this movie. Secret Sunshine is a life story of a woman and we can interpret our life through Shin-ae's life.
An instantly sobering, brutally honest character piece
movedout6 March 2008
Lee Chang-dong's exceptional "Secret Sunshine" is the single most emotionally ravaging experience of the year. It is an instantly sobering, brutally honest character piece on the reverberations of loss and a graceful memento mori that resonates with a striking density of thought, yet remains as inscrutable as the emotions it observes. Through its layered naturalism and stunningly trenchant view of small-town dynamics, Lee implicitly deconstructs the traditional Korean melodrama by pulling apart the cinematics of excess and ripping to shreds the arcs that shape its characters and grounds the proceedings into a crushing grind of stoic realism.
"Secret Sunshine" remains an immensely compelling, fluid work throughout its 142-minute runtime. Its bravura first hour is filled to the brim with subtextual insinuations, remarkable foreshadowing and adroit reversals of tone brought about by humanistic capriciousness. Adapted from a short story, Lee infuses the film with his sensitivity for the sublime paradoxes of life, last seen in his transgressively comic and irreverent "Oasis". Understanding how personal revolutions are forged when views of our universe are changed, Lee not only sees the emotional cataclysm of a widow's sorrow through an inquiring scope but also feels the tumultuous existential currents that underpin the film when religion becomes a narrative scapegoat in comprehending the heinousness of the human experience.
Do-yeon Jeon's ("You Are My Sunshine") Best Actress accolade at Cannes in 2007 is well deserved. Her performance as the widow Shin-ae remains an unrelenting enigma. As a character pulled apart by forces beyond her control, the sheer magnificence of this performance is central to the film's turbulent nature. With Jeon essaying one cyclonic upheaval after another, there's a tremulous sense of collapse that the film, to its credit, never approaches. Instead it finds a delicate balance that saps the charged theatricality and subsequent banality from ordinary tragedies and its fallouts. She becomes the centre of the film's universe as well as ours. Filmed in glorious hand-held CinemaScope, the film demolishes the cinematicism of frames and compositions by becoming visually acute just as it is quietly harrowing when the camera never relinquishes its gaze from Shin-ae through times of happiness, guilt and remorse.
Lee captures the details of life in the small, suspicious town of Miryang the awkwardness of communal situations, its uncomfortable silences and its devastations spun out of personal dramas. Shin-ae's interactions with the townsfolk rarely inspires dividends, especially when they are merely done out of obligation to fit in for the sake of her son, Jun (Seon Jung-yeop). The one recurring acquaintance is Jong-chan (Song Kang-ho), a bachelor mechanic of uncertain intentions who helps her en route to Miryang in the film's enchanting open sequence set to a captivating stream of sunlight. Song has situated himself as a comedic anti-hero in South Korea's biggest films but his nuanced, low-key delivery here purports the director's thought process of never having to reveal more than plainly necessary.
If pain is ephemeral, then grief can never truly dissipate. And Lee finds complexity in subsistence. When Shin-ae attempts to head down the path of reconciliation only to be faced again with unimaginable heartbreak, she unsuccessfully employs the fellowship of evangelical Christianity as a foil to her sorrow. But Lee knows better than that when he understands that religion, in the context of the human canvas of strife and misery, is never a simple solution. But Lee never rebukes the essence of religion as he realises the value of salvation for some through a higher power even if it serves a form of denial in others. The scenes in its latter half which deal with religion doesn't allow itself to become aggressively scornful, which is a feat in itself considering how many filmmakers let the momentum of the material take over from what they need to say to be true to its story and characters.
Lee's first film since his call to office as his country's Minister of Culture and Tourism is an uncompromising dissertation on human suffering. In a film so artless and genuine, it arduously reveals that there's nothing as simple as emotional catharsis, just the suppression and abatement of agony. "Secret Sunshine" leaves us with tender mercies pulled out of evanescence, and points towards a profound understanding of despair and faith.
"Secret Sunshine" remains an immensely compelling, fluid work throughout its 142-minute runtime. Its bravura first hour is filled to the brim with subtextual insinuations, remarkable foreshadowing and adroit reversals of tone brought about by humanistic capriciousness. Adapted from a short story, Lee infuses the film with his sensitivity for the sublime paradoxes of life, last seen in his transgressively comic and irreverent "Oasis". Understanding how personal revolutions are forged when views of our universe are changed, Lee not only sees the emotional cataclysm of a widow's sorrow through an inquiring scope but also feels the tumultuous existential currents that underpin the film when religion becomes a narrative scapegoat in comprehending the heinousness of the human experience.
Do-yeon Jeon's ("You Are My Sunshine") Best Actress accolade at Cannes in 2007 is well deserved. Her performance as the widow Shin-ae remains an unrelenting enigma. As a character pulled apart by forces beyond her control, the sheer magnificence of this performance is central to the film's turbulent nature. With Jeon essaying one cyclonic upheaval after another, there's a tremulous sense of collapse that the film, to its credit, never approaches. Instead it finds a delicate balance that saps the charged theatricality and subsequent banality from ordinary tragedies and its fallouts. She becomes the centre of the film's universe as well as ours. Filmed in glorious hand-held CinemaScope, the film demolishes the cinematicism of frames and compositions by becoming visually acute just as it is quietly harrowing when the camera never relinquishes its gaze from Shin-ae through times of happiness, guilt and remorse.
Lee captures the details of life in the small, suspicious town of Miryang the awkwardness of communal situations, its uncomfortable silences and its devastations spun out of personal dramas. Shin-ae's interactions with the townsfolk rarely inspires dividends, especially when they are merely done out of obligation to fit in for the sake of her son, Jun (Seon Jung-yeop). The one recurring acquaintance is Jong-chan (Song Kang-ho), a bachelor mechanic of uncertain intentions who helps her en route to Miryang in the film's enchanting open sequence set to a captivating stream of sunlight. Song has situated himself as a comedic anti-hero in South Korea's biggest films but his nuanced, low-key delivery here purports the director's thought process of never having to reveal more than plainly necessary.
If pain is ephemeral, then grief can never truly dissipate. And Lee finds complexity in subsistence. When Shin-ae attempts to head down the path of reconciliation only to be faced again with unimaginable heartbreak, she unsuccessfully employs the fellowship of evangelical Christianity as a foil to her sorrow. But Lee knows better than that when he understands that religion, in the context of the human canvas of strife and misery, is never a simple solution. But Lee never rebukes the essence of religion as he realises the value of salvation for some through a higher power even if it serves a form of denial in others. The scenes in its latter half which deal with religion doesn't allow itself to become aggressively scornful, which is a feat in itself considering how many filmmakers let the momentum of the material take over from what they need to say to be true to its story and characters.
Lee's first film since his call to office as his country's Minister of Culture and Tourism is an uncompromising dissertation on human suffering. In a film so artless and genuine, it arduously reveals that there's nothing as simple as emotional catharsis, just the suppression and abatement of agony. "Secret Sunshine" leaves us with tender mercies pulled out of evanescence, and points towards a profound understanding of despair and faith.
Brilliantly directed and shot, but it feels about 30 minutes too long (or 10 minutes too short)
FairlyAnonymous7 February 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This is a movie that is a little difficult for me to describe because there are aspects of the film that I think are stunning and brilliant, but I also think that the movie jumps the shark in a few areas and the last 40 minutes of the film were... well... awful. Not sure how else to describe the last chunk of the movie.
The Good: The acting, cinematography, dialogue, and just about everything in this movie is well executed. Every scene gets across exactly what it intends the audience to feel at just the right time. There were many emotional scenes throughout the movie that had me tearing up a little. In terms of filmmaking, this movie is one of the best movies I've seen in such a long time.
The Bad: This movie is depressing to a degree that almost feels counter-productive and actually hurts its plot a little bit. Some scenes that are supposed to be emotional, anxious, and terrible start to feel like melodrama and misery-porn (especially in the last fourth of the movie).
It might seem biased of me, but that last chunk of the movie is really what killed the movie for me. It started to feel more contrived, miserable, and angsty to a degree that didn't feel like it fit in with the character and it felt like misery for the sake of misery. Here are my main issues (which goes into spoilers):
The crux of the final act of the movie deals with our protagonist forgiving her son's murderer because she believes that it is important to forgive even the worst of sinners based on her faith in Jesus Christ. Surprisingly, the murderer actually has become a Christian as well and realizes that he committed a terrible crime and that he will forever be praying for her based on the suffering he has brought on her.
What is the protagonist's response? She becomes an atheist, suicidal, tries to have sex with a reverend (and he goes along with it even though that is shown to be out of character with him), and is constantly trying to make God angry and does everything in her power to make sure God knows that she is fighting against him. These aren't really issues if they were in the second act, but the movie has a really weird reverse character arc that I don't think I've ever really seen before in a movie. She goes from being happy, to miserable, to being happy and learning to move on with life, to becoming highly self-destructive, bitter, and a psychopath. The end of the movie is just her being miserable, paranoid, frightened, and unable to show any love to anyone even though everyone is going out of their way to show her love.
The reason why this feels contrived to me is from first-hand experiences with people who have faced similar situations, and I haven't met anyone undergo a reverse character arc like when they have had to forgive murderers. I used to grow in a missionary oriented church as a kid and I knew people who had their entire families murdered and we able to learn to forgive and even eventually turn the lives around of the people who did the most damage to them. Based on my experience, the character arc she is going through is usually the arc that everyone goes through BEFORE the forgive. Usually the depression, grief, God hatred, and atheism occur right after something terrible has happened. In all of my life, I've never witnessed a reverse arc like this.
Regardless of whatever real-life examples I have experienced, it is also rather narratively unsatisfying to just end the movie with our character being a broken husk of a human being who is unable to love or show compassion. The end of the movie is just open-ended misery with no real statement. If she were to have another reversal in character where she adapts to the situation (regardless if she stays atheistic or confirms her faith once again) then it would at least being saying something powerful. But as is, it feels a little incomplete which makes me feel like the movie is either too long or it's not long enough.
I think the movie was worth watching, but I honestly can't think of a single movie I've seen where I thought the movie destroyed all of its rewatchability in the third act. Everything that I like about this movie happens in the first hour and forty minutes. After that it's just misery porn.
The Good: The acting, cinematography, dialogue, and just about everything in this movie is well executed. Every scene gets across exactly what it intends the audience to feel at just the right time. There were many emotional scenes throughout the movie that had me tearing up a little. In terms of filmmaking, this movie is one of the best movies I've seen in such a long time.
The Bad: This movie is depressing to a degree that almost feels counter-productive and actually hurts its plot a little bit. Some scenes that are supposed to be emotional, anxious, and terrible start to feel like melodrama and misery-porn (especially in the last fourth of the movie).
It might seem biased of me, but that last chunk of the movie is really what killed the movie for me. It started to feel more contrived, miserable, and angsty to a degree that didn't feel like it fit in with the character and it felt like misery for the sake of misery. Here are my main issues (which goes into spoilers):
The crux of the final act of the movie deals with our protagonist forgiving her son's murderer because she believes that it is important to forgive even the worst of sinners based on her faith in Jesus Christ. Surprisingly, the murderer actually has become a Christian as well and realizes that he committed a terrible crime and that he will forever be praying for her based on the suffering he has brought on her.
What is the protagonist's response? She becomes an atheist, suicidal, tries to have sex with a reverend (and he goes along with it even though that is shown to be out of character with him), and is constantly trying to make God angry and does everything in her power to make sure God knows that she is fighting against him. These aren't really issues if they were in the second act, but the movie has a really weird reverse character arc that I don't think I've ever really seen before in a movie. She goes from being happy, to miserable, to being happy and learning to move on with life, to becoming highly self-destructive, bitter, and a psychopath. The end of the movie is just her being miserable, paranoid, frightened, and unable to show any love to anyone even though everyone is going out of their way to show her love.
The reason why this feels contrived to me is from first-hand experiences with people who have faced similar situations, and I haven't met anyone undergo a reverse character arc like when they have had to forgive murderers. I used to grow in a missionary oriented church as a kid and I knew people who had their entire families murdered and we able to learn to forgive and even eventually turn the lives around of the people who did the most damage to them. Based on my experience, the character arc she is going through is usually the arc that everyone goes through BEFORE the forgive. Usually the depression, grief, God hatred, and atheism occur right after something terrible has happened. In all of my life, I've never witnessed a reverse arc like this.
Regardless of whatever real-life examples I have experienced, it is also rather narratively unsatisfying to just end the movie with our character being a broken husk of a human being who is unable to love or show compassion. The end of the movie is just open-ended misery with no real statement. If she were to have another reversal in character where she adapts to the situation (regardless if she stays atheistic or confirms her faith once again) then it would at least being saying something powerful. But as is, it feels a little incomplete which makes me feel like the movie is either too long or it's not long enough.
I think the movie was worth watching, but I honestly can't think of a single movie I've seen where I thought the movie destroyed all of its rewatchability in the third act. Everything that I like about this movie happens in the first hour and forty minutes. After that it's just misery porn.
Simply the masterpiece of Lee Chang-Dong
joonhojptr29 June 2010
Warning: Spoilers
A friend of mine who'd watched Milyang on my strong recommendation didn't look so satisfied. Feeling guilty of wasting her time, I took a little conversation with her and was somewhat surprised to find that she ended up being a little bit against the main female character, Shin-Ae.
In the first scene, Shin-Ae's car has broken down on a highway near Milyang. Her phone call is connected to Jong-Chan, a car mechanic who has his own local shop. Jong-Chan's curiosity toward the good-looking woman tells us she lost her husband recently and decided to move to Milyang for good with her only son, Jun. If a handsome male single who meets a pretty widow shows excessive kindness from the very beginning, it's not difficult to imagine what he is thinking of her. "Because it is my husband's hometown," she answers to Jong-Chan's question why she chose Milyang. However, it is hard to tell whether she really meant the reason not only because she doesn't look for any links to her husband in town but also because nothing of Milyang seems to comfort her physically or mentally throughout the movie. "What kind of place is Milyang?" she asks to Jong-Chan looking out the car window. It was her first question in the car fixed and driven by Jong-Chan. Shin-Ae starts to think about Milyang seriously only after it appears in the eyes long after having decided to leave Seoul for good, and even after hours of long winding drives. Shin-Ae is, however, confident and spontaneous in starting a new life in a new place, but at the same time, she resists to be assimilated to her surroundings, not to mention Jong-Chan's consistent approach of affection. She is the mother of her son, Jun, anyway.
Jong-Chan's kindness summons not just good wills around her. One twisted mind who runs a kindergarten where Jun is enrolled to kidnaps and kills him to make up money for his gambling debt. Shin-Ae collapses internally and externally. Her world has been lost. Now she desperately needs a real reason why, why she has to suffer so much, or the meaning of her pain. Spectators should not give much significance to the specific kind of religion, which is Christianity in the movie, or its ritual process. Anyone who's been in South Korea would know how common Christian churches are especially in urban areas. So, it is more appropriate that Shin-Ae needed a religious consolation, and it happened to be Christianity due to its wider availability in the culture.
After a brief period of peace won from participating in religious process, waiting for her is one event. One day Jong-Chan drives Shin-Ae to the prison for her to meet and forgive the killer of her son despite all the discouraging of her religious fellows just because she was so determined to. She looks confident and spontaneous again before entering the interview room but comes out with unimaginable furious. All she says is a repetition of a simple sentence, "How God can forgive him even before I forgive him?" The killer told her that he also found God in jail and was forgiven by him.
Now Shin-Ae seems to desperately try to follow just the opposite of the religious doctrine she learned. She seduces a married man to have sex and even cuts her in the wrist with a knife in a suicide attempt. In that way, she thinks she can win against God. Her world is so twisted that her life becomes a chess piece on the board overlooked by a tormenting super power. Meanwhile, Jong-Chan who lives a simple life never fails to show up for consistent affection for Shin-Ae and accepts even the most hysterical behavior of hers as it is without leaving her any moment. The movie ends when Shin-Ae is cutting her hair by herself in front of a mirror held by Jong-Chan, and the secret sunshine falls on a mingled trash in her yard.
Milyang is definitely not a movie of vengeance or religious salvation. It is a story of our life where we tumble down and stand up as if on an endless loop. It doesn't matter whether Shin-Ae saw a possibility of new hope cutting her hair in the yard. I don't care whether Shin-Ae would marry Jong-Chan or not. I just respect both of her resilience and his consistency in life. Every shot and angle was carefully and beautifully created and woven together by Director Lee Chang-Dong. This is surely one of his masterpieces.
In the first scene, Shin-Ae's car has broken down on a highway near Milyang. Her phone call is connected to Jong-Chan, a car mechanic who has his own local shop. Jong-Chan's curiosity toward the good-looking woman tells us she lost her husband recently and decided to move to Milyang for good with her only son, Jun. If a handsome male single who meets a pretty widow shows excessive kindness from the very beginning, it's not difficult to imagine what he is thinking of her. "Because it is my husband's hometown," she answers to Jong-Chan's question why she chose Milyang. However, it is hard to tell whether she really meant the reason not only because she doesn't look for any links to her husband in town but also because nothing of Milyang seems to comfort her physically or mentally throughout the movie. "What kind of place is Milyang?" she asks to Jong-Chan looking out the car window. It was her first question in the car fixed and driven by Jong-Chan. Shin-Ae starts to think about Milyang seriously only after it appears in the eyes long after having decided to leave Seoul for good, and even after hours of long winding drives. Shin-Ae is, however, confident and spontaneous in starting a new life in a new place, but at the same time, she resists to be assimilated to her surroundings, not to mention Jong-Chan's consistent approach of affection. She is the mother of her son, Jun, anyway.
Jong-Chan's kindness summons not just good wills around her. One twisted mind who runs a kindergarten where Jun is enrolled to kidnaps and kills him to make up money for his gambling debt. Shin-Ae collapses internally and externally. Her world has been lost. Now she desperately needs a real reason why, why she has to suffer so much, or the meaning of her pain. Spectators should not give much significance to the specific kind of religion, which is Christianity in the movie, or its ritual process. Anyone who's been in South Korea would know how common Christian churches are especially in urban areas. So, it is more appropriate that Shin-Ae needed a religious consolation, and it happened to be Christianity due to its wider availability in the culture.
After a brief period of peace won from participating in religious process, waiting for her is one event. One day Jong-Chan drives Shin-Ae to the prison for her to meet and forgive the killer of her son despite all the discouraging of her religious fellows just because she was so determined to. She looks confident and spontaneous again before entering the interview room but comes out with unimaginable furious. All she says is a repetition of a simple sentence, "How God can forgive him even before I forgive him?" The killer told her that he also found God in jail and was forgiven by him.
Now Shin-Ae seems to desperately try to follow just the opposite of the religious doctrine she learned. She seduces a married man to have sex and even cuts her in the wrist with a knife in a suicide attempt. In that way, she thinks she can win against God. Her world is so twisted that her life becomes a chess piece on the board overlooked by a tormenting super power. Meanwhile, Jong-Chan who lives a simple life never fails to show up for consistent affection for Shin-Ae and accepts even the most hysterical behavior of hers as it is without leaving her any moment. The movie ends when Shin-Ae is cutting her hair by herself in front of a mirror held by Jong-Chan, and the secret sunshine falls on a mingled trash in her yard.
Milyang is definitely not a movie of vengeance or religious salvation. It is a story of our life where we tumble down and stand up as if on an endless loop. It doesn't matter whether Shin-Ae saw a possibility of new hope cutting her hair in the yard. I don't care whether Shin-Ae would marry Jong-Chan or not. I just respect both of her resilience and his consistency in life. Every shot and angle was carefully and beautifully created and woven together by Director Lee Chang-Dong. This is surely one of his masterpieces.
Secret Sunshine
MartinTeller30 December 2011
When I saw Lee Chang-dong's OASIS, my main problem with it was that the characters seemed calculated to behave in unexpected ways. Here, I have the same problem, but in reverse. After the pivotal moment of the film, everything that Shin-ae did made me think, "Oh, she's going to do THAT now?". It felt like someone running down a checklist of various reactions to grief, predictable, no surprises, no real insight. I didn't even really think Jeon Do-yeon's performance was that great, despite all the accolades. She does have her moments (the scene at the prison is a brilliant piece of facial expression) but other times I cringed a bit. I did like the relationship with the eager mechanic (Song Kang-ho, who seems to pop up in about half the Korean movies I watch) and also the teenage girl. And I liked how even-handed Lee is in his approach to religion, and how the film spends some time with that subject and then moves on. But mostly my reaction was merely lukewarm. Other people whose opinions I respect really like Lee's work, but I'm afraid I haven't found the appeal yet.
I had the pleasure of discovering this by accident
mjr-1324 September 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I saw this film in the worst possible circumstance. I'd already missed 15 minutes when I woke up to it on an international flight between Sydney and Seoul. I didn't know what I was watching, I thought maybe it was a movie of the week, but quickly became riveted by the performance of the lead actress playing a young woman who's child had been kidnapped. The premise started taking twist and turns I didn't see coming and by the end credits I was scrambling through the the in-flight guide to figure out what I had just watched. Turns out I was belatedly discovering Do-yeon Jeon who'd won Best Actress at Cannes for the role. I don't know if Secret Sunshine is typical of Korean cinema but I'm off to the DVD store to discover more.
Grief, faith and survival
moviesknight21 April 2020
The acting is great. The concept of God, His presence and fight with Him. The movie about grief, mourning, faith and survival. The enactment of a game of separation and loss that became all too real and you can feel it. The pain and loss of loved ones and can we be able to cope it? The directors view of God, is it up in heavens or where we are living...
This movie from a Christian perspective
jarjarkiller2 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I love Korean films because they have the ability to really (quiet eerily really) capture real life. I tend to watch Korean movies just for that reason alone. I've seen this directors other movies before. The one that comes closest to the feelings I got from this is Oasis and another awesome film called This Charming Girl.
However, my title summary is supposed to be from a Chrstian perspective so I'll just start doing that instead of just showering it with praise.
For a non Christian perspective Director Chang-dong Lee has captured an unbiased and almost eerily real portrayal of a modern Protestant church (regardless of denomination) warts and all. I've always been waiting for a Christian film that truly portrays the darker recesses of church life. Because Christian films tend to speak in a language that is different to those they want to share their faith to. Many films with religious undertones, though having good motives, tend to just have the resonance of a Disney film or after school special. They need to show life as it is. Real people curse, real people lust, real people fall. And though Christians believe that salvation is available to those that seek it, we are still challenged by the everyday horrors of this life. And Do-yeon Jeon's character is a totally honest and almost brutal portrayal of a woman that found God, but because of life's bitter realities, loses that love for Him she once had. She doesn't deny God exists. It is just that she refuses to accept to live with the idea that He is an all loving and forgiving God.
In her decent to the edges of morality and madness, her character asks questions that are in the mind of every one, religious or not.
"If God is Love, why does He allow such terrible things to happen?" This film doesn't answer that, rightly so. And I believe the last 10 minutes of the film, though open to interpretation, leaves us with a hopeful future for our main character and brings the idea of "secret sunshine" full circle.
I don't believe for a second that this film tried to be religious or had in any way tried and set out to be that. There in lies the reason why it worked even more. It's real, it's honest. And because of that, it is by far the best summation of a real Christian life I have seen on film.
However, my title summary is supposed to be from a Chrstian perspective so I'll just start doing that instead of just showering it with praise.
For a non Christian perspective Director Chang-dong Lee has captured an unbiased and almost eerily real portrayal of a modern Protestant church (regardless of denomination) warts and all. I've always been waiting for a Christian film that truly portrays the darker recesses of church life. Because Christian films tend to speak in a language that is different to those they want to share their faith to. Many films with religious undertones, though having good motives, tend to just have the resonance of a Disney film or after school special. They need to show life as it is. Real people curse, real people lust, real people fall. And though Christians believe that salvation is available to those that seek it, we are still challenged by the everyday horrors of this life. And Do-yeon Jeon's character is a totally honest and almost brutal portrayal of a woman that found God, but because of life's bitter realities, loses that love for Him she once had. She doesn't deny God exists. It is just that she refuses to accept to live with the idea that He is an all loving and forgiving God.
In her decent to the edges of morality and madness, her character asks questions that are in the mind of every one, religious or not.
"If God is Love, why does He allow such terrible things to happen?" This film doesn't answer that, rightly so. And I believe the last 10 minutes of the film, though open to interpretation, leaves us with a hopeful future for our main character and brings the idea of "secret sunshine" full circle.
I don't believe for a second that this film tried to be religious or had in any way tried and set out to be that. There in lies the reason why it worked even more. It's real, it's honest. And because of that, it is by far the best summation of a real Christian life I have seen on film.
Faces of a suffering woman
moimoichan621 December 2007
Corean cinema can be quite surprising for an occidental audience, because of the multiplicity of the tones and genres you can find in the same movie. In a Coreen drama such as this "Secret Sunshine", you'll also find some comical parts, thriller scenes and romantic times. "There's not only tragedy in life, there's also tragic-comedy" says at one point of the movie the character interpreted by Song Kang-ho, summing up the mixture of the picture. But don't get me wrong, this heterogeneity of the genres the movie deals with, adds veracity to the experience this rich movie offers to its spectators. That doesn't mean that it lacks unity : on the contrary, it's rare to see such a dense and profound portrait of a woman in pain.
Shin-ae, who's in quest for a quiet life with her son in the native town of her late husband, really gives, by all the different faces of suffering she's going through, unity to this movie. It's realistic part is erased by the psychological descriptions of all the phases the poor mother is going through. Denial, lost, anger, faith, pert of reality : the movie fallows all the steps the character crosses, and looks like a psychological catalog of all the suffering phases a woman can experience.
The only thing is to accept what may look like a conceptual experience (the woman wears the mask of tragedy, the man represents the comical interludes) and to let the artifices of the movie touch you. I must say that some parts of the movie really did move me (especialy in the beginning), particularly those concerning the unability of Chang Joan to truly help the one he loves, but also that the accumulation of suffering emotionally tired me towards the end. Nevertheless, some cinematographic ideas are really breathtaking and surprising (the scene where a body is discovered in a large shot is for instance amazing). This kind of scenes makes "Secret Sunshine" the melo equivalent of "The Host" for horror movies or "Memories of murder" for thrillers. These movies are indeed surprising, most original, aesthetically incredible, and manage to give another dimension to the genres they deal with. The only thing that "Secret Sunshine" forgets, as "The host" forgot to be scary, is to make its audience cry : bad point for a melodrama, but good point for a good film.
Shin-ae, who's in quest for a quiet life with her son in the native town of her late husband, really gives, by all the different faces of suffering she's going through, unity to this movie. It's realistic part is erased by the psychological descriptions of all the phases the poor mother is going through. Denial, lost, anger, faith, pert of reality : the movie fallows all the steps the character crosses, and looks like a psychological catalog of all the suffering phases a woman can experience.
The only thing is to accept what may look like a conceptual experience (the woman wears the mask of tragedy, the man represents the comical interludes) and to let the artifices of the movie touch you. I must say that some parts of the movie really did move me (especialy in the beginning), particularly those concerning the unability of Chang Joan to truly help the one he loves, but also that the accumulation of suffering emotionally tired me towards the end. Nevertheless, some cinematographic ideas are really breathtaking and surprising (the scene where a body is discovered in a large shot is for instance amazing). This kind of scenes makes "Secret Sunshine" the melo equivalent of "The Host" for horror movies or "Memories of murder" for thrillers. These movies are indeed surprising, most original, aesthetically incredible, and manage to give another dimension to the genres they deal with. The only thing that "Secret Sunshine" forgets, as "The host" forgot to be scary, is to make its audience cry : bad point for a melodrama, but good point for a good film.
a cold, cruel world
mtharter29 January 2010
Warning: Spoilers
I just read all 16 reviews of this movie and I feel like no one hit the point at all. I'm writing now, worried that perhaps my culture shock will come off in the wrong way. I hope it doesn't. I am profoundly affected by this movie and in need of some catharsis. In the same way as movies like "Happiness" by Todd Solondz or "Punch Drunk Love" by P.T. Anderson depict characters that just keep getting more and more awkward and inward, lonely and depraved--through some nameless self-loathing and bad-luck in the first instance, and from the abuse of a family of overbearing sisters and a dreary, compartmentalized business in the second instance--I see this movie as depicting the fundamental grotesquery of modern society. I have now spoiled three movies. All three are about big cities, where life moves fast and no one cares about anyone.
So here is my catharsis. To a person in trauma, this is the world. The woman in this movie was free and fun, with a song to her voice and a playful nature with her child Jun. When a sick man takes her child for ransom and then kills her, she is broken.
Now this is how I see it, without the good-Christian bad-Christian banter. No one in the world comforted her. Surely not the man following her around looking for a wife in a widowed woman who outlived her child. I find it sickly disturbing that no review saw him as an unwanted opportunist. The church, whether witting or unwitting in this case, served the same function. With no one to comfort her, she took the fast and necessarily false comforts of a group of strangers and adopted a somewhat schizophrenic supernatural farce, always present underneath the eyes in the incredible acting. If spirituality has a place, certainly it is not to *replace* the true empathic care of an *actual person*.
These systems, the gossiping women, the possesivist patriarchy, the sexual repression, the evangelical trap, the commodification and plastification of the world. All these were the abusers of a woman who could not find solace. She prays, she hopes, she witnesses more evil, she battles God in passive-aggressive schizophrenia, she commits suicide, she fails. And she gives up.
Into the arms of a man that she doesn't love of care about.
So, it's Korean film. I haven't built up any prejudice against Milyang, Korea or the evangelical church. If people can't grieve properly, civilization eats them up. All over the world. Society makes us cold and beats us down everywhere. Remember that being human happened before all this did, when you think of God. And then remember your Nature.
Sick, twisted, life. Please, people. Love each other. Grieve and let grieve. Or the world will eat up the weak and empower the evil.
I gave the movie a 5, because if you are watching closely, there is a foreboding warning about allowing yourself to be mechanized into any sort of order: capitalist, religious, socio-normative. That is what this movie was about. Look again
So here is my catharsis. To a person in trauma, this is the world. The woman in this movie was free and fun, with a song to her voice and a playful nature with her child Jun. When a sick man takes her child for ransom and then kills her, she is broken.
Now this is how I see it, without the good-Christian bad-Christian banter. No one in the world comforted her. Surely not the man following her around looking for a wife in a widowed woman who outlived her child. I find it sickly disturbing that no review saw him as an unwanted opportunist. The church, whether witting or unwitting in this case, served the same function. With no one to comfort her, she took the fast and necessarily false comforts of a group of strangers and adopted a somewhat schizophrenic supernatural farce, always present underneath the eyes in the incredible acting. If spirituality has a place, certainly it is not to *replace* the true empathic care of an *actual person*.
These systems, the gossiping women, the possesivist patriarchy, the sexual repression, the evangelical trap, the commodification and plastification of the world. All these were the abusers of a woman who could not find solace. She prays, she hopes, she witnesses more evil, she battles God in passive-aggressive schizophrenia, she commits suicide, she fails. And she gives up.
Into the arms of a man that she doesn't love of care about.
So, it's Korean film. I haven't built up any prejudice against Milyang, Korea or the evangelical church. If people can't grieve properly, civilization eats them up. All over the world. Society makes us cold and beats us down everywhere. Remember that being human happened before all this did, when you think of God. And then remember your Nature.
Sick, twisted, life. Please, people. Love each other. Grieve and let grieve. Or the world will eat up the weak and empower the evil.
I gave the movie a 5, because if you are watching closely, there is a foreboding warning about allowing yourself to be mechanized into any sort of order: capitalist, religious, socio-normative. That is what this movie was about. Look again
How did (does) she do it?
BlissQuest30 November 2019
There are a few stills on IMDB from the film, one in particular where the lead character (played by Jeon Do-yeon) is sitting in a Church. I looked at that picture a year after I watched the film and tears came to my eyes. This woman doesn't just play the role, she becomes it. There is no other way to explain the grief she expresses. You know when you are watching an incredible performance when for moments, if not the duration, you are hypnotized into believing you are watching someone truly experiencing what they are sharing in a performance. I can only imagine the potential traumas of "channeling" such a performance. In an interview by another actor (Michael K Williams), he talked about tools that are available to actors to allow them to comfortably return to reality without the stress (ptsd) from going in "too deep". Jeon Do-yeon's performance reminded me of that interview because I wonder how she did not "crack-up" after this film. You do not simply switch on and off without being affected unless you are extremely talented. I repeat, EXTREMELY talented. It is not enough to say Jeon Do-yeon is the best (that I am aware of) from South Korea; she is among the absolute best on this planet!
A Fable of Resilience
sumeerm-1850731 July 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Lee Chang-Dong is a Korean auteur recognized for presenting the frail and fragile nature of human beings. His films depict the idea of how sociopolitical situations can play a pivotal role in shaping the personality of an individual. His second feature film, Peppermint Candy (1999), a narrative told in reverse chronological order, presents how the dark and dictatorial history of South Korea contributed to the jaded protagonist's loss of innocence and poetic curiosity for life. Like Peppermint Candy, Secret Sunshine tells the story of an emotionally wounded woman by the name of Shin-ae (Jeon Do-Yeon), who is yearning for a fresh start in the small of town of Miryang, which is where her deceased husband was born and raised. She moves into the town with her adorable son, Jun, and earns a living as a piano teacher.
Secret Sunshine does not employ a complicated narrative structure, lavish visuals, and boisterous camera movements to tell its intimate story. This is a normal film. It deals with the mundane activities that the people of the town Miryang engage in within an apt and simple approach. Even the biggest plot points, which in another film would be portrayed with heightened crescendos and dramatic overtures, are portrayed in a sophisticated and subdued manner. Even the color palette, which has blue and white pervading the visuals, is very plain, simple, and normal... The camera moves, but you forget that it is even moving. The screenplay foreshadows the biggest plot points by subtly using the interactions Shin-ae has with the people of Miryang. Every element of Secret Sunshine is a reflection of our daily lives, which is what allows Lee Chang-Dong to tell a story that is authentic and intimate. Just like his previous films, this too is an in-depth case study of an individual who is trying to make peace with the reality they are a part of. Instead of using the sociopolitical situations that are permeating in the town of Miryang, Lee Chang-Dong deals with the themes of God and religion as the pillar of discovery for Shin-ae. But this film is neither preachy nor a criticism towards religion; it is an unbiased reflection of how organized religion functions and how people attain a sense of spiritual enlightenment through it. Shin-ae deals with the graceful nature of religion as a coping mechanism for the tragedies she faces later on in the film.
If Peppermint Candy conveyed the idea that innocence can be lost at any moment, without one realizing it, then Secret Sunshine conveys the idea that our inner notions can be rejected by reality at any moment. At times, Shin-ae is presented as an idealistic character. She is in peace when the reality is mirroring her inner notions; she becomes rebellious when reality fails to mirror her inner notions. Her character may seem obnoxious from this lens, but Lee Chang-Dong allows the audience to empathize with her emotions because she is a woman who has experienced every depth of calamity one can ever experience. She lost her husband in a car accident, her family does not keep in touch with her, and the people that know her very well don't have a favorable opinion about her. Of course, this does come from how the screenplay establishes the building blocks of Shin-ae's character, but if it weren't for Jeon Do-Yeon's performance, Shin-ae's humanity may not have come to fruition on the screen.
The Queen of Cannes, Jeon Do-Yeon, is indeed phenomenal. The sheer physical nature of her performance is just brilliant. When she runs her hand all over her chest, her stomach, and coughs endlessly, one can't help but experience the fatigue and exhaustion with her. Her grief becomes our grief. Her moment of catharsis becomes our moment of catharsis. Her moment of epiphany becomes our moment of epiphany. The greatest achievement of her performance is that her vulnerability and flaws have a graceful nature to them. Her sad and lonely eyes beautifully enhance the interior nature of her character. As a piano teacher who is trying to teach her students how to craft melody and harmony, she too is trying to learn how to bring melody and harmony into her life. Her want for grace is mirrored by Song Kang-Ho's character, Jong-chan. Song Kang-Ho easily could have overstayed his welcome, but he does not do that. Just like Shin-ae, he too is a lonely soul yearning for affection and impact. In some moments, he is someone who has one-sided feelings for Shin-ae and does everything he can to help her walk on a straight path. In other moments, he is a sad and lonely person who thinks of himself as a loser and has this deep desire to leave an impact and obtain a sense of affection from someone. It's a brilliant and graceful performance.
The natural demeanor of the actors' performances is reflected by how the film utilizes nature as a character. The film opens with the image of a blue sky, shrouded by clouds and sunshine. The film closes with the image of the moist soil and chucks of Shin-ae's hair being gently blown by the breeze. Nature as a character is what grounds the melodramatic narrative of the film. It represents the "secret" in the film's title. This is one of Lee Chang-Dong's more philosophical films. It does not embody the socially relevant nature of his previous films. The idea of duality becomes the antagonist that the characters grapple with.
Duality is unpredictable. Duality sometimes has no face, which is what causes Shin-ae's obstacles and disillusionment to be much more daunting and challenging. Lee Chang-Dong utilizes the symbols of the sky, the ground, the color blue, and the color white as a reflection of Shin-ae's companions. Without her awareness, these elements are providing her with the moral support she needs to cope with her hardship - they are her secrets which she is withholding. Jong-Chan becomes her companion too; his outfits reflect the colors of nature. These abstract metaphors are what allow Lee Chang-Dong to prevent the conventional characteristics of a melodrama from permeating in the narrative.
The end result is a film that deals with these existential and philosophical questions with an unfiltered, unbiased, and subdued approach. Secret Sunshine does have its fair share of hard-hitting and grim moments, but ultimately, it is a film that represents the notion that hope is right in front of us. When one acknowledges its existence and impact, it becomes less of a symbol of secrecy. It becomes a symbol of grace, catharsis, and sunshine...
Secret Sunshine does not employ a complicated narrative structure, lavish visuals, and boisterous camera movements to tell its intimate story. This is a normal film. It deals with the mundane activities that the people of the town Miryang engage in within an apt and simple approach. Even the biggest plot points, which in another film would be portrayed with heightened crescendos and dramatic overtures, are portrayed in a sophisticated and subdued manner. Even the color palette, which has blue and white pervading the visuals, is very plain, simple, and normal... The camera moves, but you forget that it is even moving. The screenplay foreshadows the biggest plot points by subtly using the interactions Shin-ae has with the people of Miryang. Every element of Secret Sunshine is a reflection of our daily lives, which is what allows Lee Chang-Dong to tell a story that is authentic and intimate. Just like his previous films, this too is an in-depth case study of an individual who is trying to make peace with the reality they are a part of. Instead of using the sociopolitical situations that are permeating in the town of Miryang, Lee Chang-Dong deals with the themes of God and religion as the pillar of discovery for Shin-ae. But this film is neither preachy nor a criticism towards religion; it is an unbiased reflection of how organized religion functions and how people attain a sense of spiritual enlightenment through it. Shin-ae deals with the graceful nature of religion as a coping mechanism for the tragedies she faces later on in the film.
If Peppermint Candy conveyed the idea that innocence can be lost at any moment, without one realizing it, then Secret Sunshine conveys the idea that our inner notions can be rejected by reality at any moment. At times, Shin-ae is presented as an idealistic character. She is in peace when the reality is mirroring her inner notions; she becomes rebellious when reality fails to mirror her inner notions. Her character may seem obnoxious from this lens, but Lee Chang-Dong allows the audience to empathize with her emotions because she is a woman who has experienced every depth of calamity one can ever experience. She lost her husband in a car accident, her family does not keep in touch with her, and the people that know her very well don't have a favorable opinion about her. Of course, this does come from how the screenplay establishes the building blocks of Shin-ae's character, but if it weren't for Jeon Do-Yeon's performance, Shin-ae's humanity may not have come to fruition on the screen.
The Queen of Cannes, Jeon Do-Yeon, is indeed phenomenal. The sheer physical nature of her performance is just brilliant. When she runs her hand all over her chest, her stomach, and coughs endlessly, one can't help but experience the fatigue and exhaustion with her. Her grief becomes our grief. Her moment of catharsis becomes our moment of catharsis. Her moment of epiphany becomes our moment of epiphany. The greatest achievement of her performance is that her vulnerability and flaws have a graceful nature to them. Her sad and lonely eyes beautifully enhance the interior nature of her character. As a piano teacher who is trying to teach her students how to craft melody and harmony, she too is trying to learn how to bring melody and harmony into her life. Her want for grace is mirrored by Song Kang-Ho's character, Jong-chan. Song Kang-Ho easily could have overstayed his welcome, but he does not do that. Just like Shin-ae, he too is a lonely soul yearning for affection and impact. In some moments, he is someone who has one-sided feelings for Shin-ae and does everything he can to help her walk on a straight path. In other moments, he is a sad and lonely person who thinks of himself as a loser and has this deep desire to leave an impact and obtain a sense of affection from someone. It's a brilliant and graceful performance.
The natural demeanor of the actors' performances is reflected by how the film utilizes nature as a character. The film opens with the image of a blue sky, shrouded by clouds and sunshine. The film closes with the image of the moist soil and chucks of Shin-ae's hair being gently blown by the breeze. Nature as a character is what grounds the melodramatic narrative of the film. It represents the "secret" in the film's title. This is one of Lee Chang-Dong's more philosophical films. It does not embody the socially relevant nature of his previous films. The idea of duality becomes the antagonist that the characters grapple with.
Duality is unpredictable. Duality sometimes has no face, which is what causes Shin-ae's obstacles and disillusionment to be much more daunting and challenging. Lee Chang-Dong utilizes the symbols of the sky, the ground, the color blue, and the color white as a reflection of Shin-ae's companions. Without her awareness, these elements are providing her with the moral support she needs to cope with her hardship - they are her secrets which she is withholding. Jong-Chan becomes her companion too; his outfits reflect the colors of nature. These abstract metaphors are what allow Lee Chang-Dong to prevent the conventional characteristics of a melodrama from permeating in the narrative.
The end result is a film that deals with these existential and philosophical questions with an unfiltered, unbiased, and subdued approach. Secret Sunshine does have its fair share of hard-hitting and grim moments, but ultimately, it is a film that represents the notion that hope is right in front of us. When one acknowledges its existence and impact, it becomes less of a symbol of secrecy. It becomes a symbol of grace, catharsis, and sunshine...
A Nutshell Review: Secret Sunshine
DICK STEEL15 March 2008
Initially, I would have thought that Secret Sunshine had something critical to say of religion (and here being Christianity), and wondered if it would be something of a rant against the ills of blind faith, or the manipulative power of those who are supposedly holier than thou. Surprisingly, it was none of the sort and was largely non-judgemental, putting in place events as a matter of fact, and allowing the audience to draw their own judgement and conclusion.
And I can't help but to chuckle at the role of Song Kang-ho, a man who's taken a liking for widower Shin-ae (Jeong Do-yeon), and starts going to church when she does. The reasons for church going are many I suppose, either to find inner peace, to seek help, being afraid of eternal damnation in the fires of Hell, to reaffirm faith, or even things like wanting to get married in a church, or to skirt chase (I kid you not). But to each his own reasons for turning up in church every Sunday and participating in prayer groups for fellowship, what is indeed dangerous, is when the underlying ulterior motives, do not get satisfied, and that's when frustration sets in. Or when you discover how hypocritical man can be, portraying one face inside the house of God, and displaying yet another outside.
Shin-ae and her son Jun moves to the town of Miryang, which is the birthplace of her deceased husband. Wanting to start life anew, she opens up a piano shop to give lessons, though in discovering her new found freedom and in a moment's lack of good judgement, has another tragedy befall her. And that takes one hour to get to. Secret Sunshine really took its time to get to this point, where things then begin to get slightly more interesting with Shin-ae now taking to embracing religion to deal with and accept her current state, reveling in the comfort that religion, and fellow believers, can offer.
What began as crying out for sympathy turns into acceptance and belief that religion offers that silver bullet to solve the ills of all mankind, and sometimes you wonder if it's because of your personal myopic view of what the almighty is doing for you, that you begin to adopt a somewhat selfish opinion that everything's good going your way, and in Shin-ae's case, her magnanimous attitude in wanting to forgive others who had trespassed against her, forgetting something very fundamental that it the feeling can cut both ways too.
The last act is probably the most fun of the lot as it says plenty, where most of us can identify with - why me, and why not someone else, as we rage against our faith and start questioning, unfortunately, with no hard and fast answers available. It is then either we fall by the wayside, or continue with destructive deeds so rebelliously. But somehow the plug gets carefully pulled in Secret Sunshine so as not to offend, and what could have been an ugly character mouthpiece, got muted.
If you bite into the hype this movie is generating, then perhaps you'll realize only Jeong Do- yeon's excellent portrayal is worth mentioning, as she totally owns her role as the widow Shin-ae who is probably the most unluckiest person on Earth in having to deal with that many tragedies over a short period of time, and if you look at it carefully, most of which are of her own doing. Watching her transformation, is worth the ticket price, and despite having my personal favourite Korean actor Song Kang-ho in the movie, this is something he just breezed right through.
And I can't help but to chuckle at the role of Song Kang-ho, a man who's taken a liking for widower Shin-ae (Jeong Do-yeon), and starts going to church when she does. The reasons for church going are many I suppose, either to find inner peace, to seek help, being afraid of eternal damnation in the fires of Hell, to reaffirm faith, or even things like wanting to get married in a church, or to skirt chase (I kid you not). But to each his own reasons for turning up in church every Sunday and participating in prayer groups for fellowship, what is indeed dangerous, is when the underlying ulterior motives, do not get satisfied, and that's when frustration sets in. Or when you discover how hypocritical man can be, portraying one face inside the house of God, and displaying yet another outside.
Shin-ae and her son Jun moves to the town of Miryang, which is the birthplace of her deceased husband. Wanting to start life anew, she opens up a piano shop to give lessons, though in discovering her new found freedom and in a moment's lack of good judgement, has another tragedy befall her. And that takes one hour to get to. Secret Sunshine really took its time to get to this point, where things then begin to get slightly more interesting with Shin-ae now taking to embracing religion to deal with and accept her current state, reveling in the comfort that religion, and fellow believers, can offer.
What began as crying out for sympathy turns into acceptance and belief that religion offers that silver bullet to solve the ills of all mankind, and sometimes you wonder if it's because of your personal myopic view of what the almighty is doing for you, that you begin to adopt a somewhat selfish opinion that everything's good going your way, and in Shin-ae's case, her magnanimous attitude in wanting to forgive others who had trespassed against her, forgetting something very fundamental that it the feeling can cut both ways too.
The last act is probably the most fun of the lot as it says plenty, where most of us can identify with - why me, and why not someone else, as we rage against our faith and start questioning, unfortunately, with no hard and fast answers available. It is then either we fall by the wayside, or continue with destructive deeds so rebelliously. But somehow the plug gets carefully pulled in Secret Sunshine so as not to offend, and what could have been an ugly character mouthpiece, got muted.
If you bite into the hype this movie is generating, then perhaps you'll realize only Jeong Do- yeon's excellent portrayal is worth mentioning, as she totally owns her role as the widow Shin-ae who is probably the most unluckiest person on Earth in having to deal with that many tragedies over a short period of time, and if you look at it carefully, most of which are of her own doing. Watching her transformation, is worth the ticket price, and despite having my personal favourite Korean actor Song Kang-ho in the movie, this is something he just breezed right through.
A great Movie to savor
Bhuiyan_Muhaimeen11 October 2007
Warning: Spoilers
I did not intend to write this review, but having read the default review that shows up on this movie's URL, I felt compelled to write a rebuttal. The movie in a word is superlative. It does not deserve the slanderous review that the writer has written. I think the writer has totally missed the point of the movie to a large extent. In fact, I too was turned off by the excessive show of Evangelist devotions that occupied the middle of the movie to a large extent. However, I must beg to differ with the reviewer in that, this movie in the end is not a propaganda piece for evangelist action. I think, what the director has shown is that how religion is not enough to find all the answers, how religion is to a large extent incapable of providing answers to basic, simple questions that one may ask and all that religion has to offer is sometimes just banal platitudes of one kind or another. This does not demonstrate a value judgment on religion as we have to remember that religion is transmuted and expressed by ordinary, mostly well meaning, basically good people and they usually have no monopoly on truth and thus religion can not in the end provide the ultimate answers to some questions in life. Ultimately, it is a matter of faith. You have to take it on faith and that's all. And if you are given to faith, then you can appreciate any show of faith. And if you are not given to faith then any show of faith is tiresome. It is thus at the same time, instructive to note the reviewer reaction to the movie. In any case, the director shows us that one can choose not to accept the religious interpretation of events and answers to questions and in spite of that life goes on and there are 'secret sunshine' in this world that awaits all wounded souls, regardless of their religious orientation. And that's just the core message of the film! Please note the last scene of the movie, if you don't get this! In the end, the movie is a great one and very thought provoking and confronts you - the viewer with questions that you have to answer for yourself. Thus it is a work of art that is challenging to you personally. I do agree with the reviewer in that, the Evangelical stuff was a bit too much. However, given the above interpretation of religion as shown in the movie, I think the director was trying to balance the act whereby he might not be called an Evangelist basher! The actor Kang-ho Song was great as always. He's so balanced and just perfect that he's just amazing. He's my favorite Korean actor no doubt. I know the actress Do-yeon Jeon got the Cannes award for best actress for this movie. However, I did not find any specialty in her acting. It seems that to get awards you just have to act really convincingly in crying and hysterical scenes and all
All in all a great movie. If you don't like it please watch it again and see if you get it! If it leaves you dissatisfied or uncomfortable or asking questions then think, if that was not what the director was actually aiming at through this movie in the first place!
Fantastic
zetes7 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The long-awaited follow-up to Lee Chang-Dong's masterpiece Oasis. Americans waited longer than most. The film is finally seeing a release three and a half years after it played at Cannes. It's well worth the wait - it's a near masterpiece. Jeon Do-yeon is outstanding as a young widow trying to make a go of it by moving back to her husband's hometown, Milyang (the actual title of the film, which is Mandarin for Secret Sunshine), with her five year-old son. It doesn't take long for a second tragedy to strike Jeon, which leaves her completely destroyed. The film doesn't go to the expected places. It's all about the pain of grief, but it strays far away from melodrama. Jeon discovers Christianity, and I expected that she would eventually come face to face with the silence of God, a la Ingmar Bergman, but even that doesn't happen. Jong Chan, a very famous Korean actor whom you may remember from The Host and Thirst, has a great role as a lonely mechanic who pesters Jeon for her affection. His character is perfectly balanced between nuisance and pathos. I haven't seen Oasis in years, but I recall it being kind of a grandiose melodrama. This is just so subtle and closely observed.
Great Acting, Sometimes Hard To Take Film
crossbow010623 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
This is a story about Shin-ae, who moves to Milyang from Seoul with her young son Jun to start over after the accidental death of her husband. Her husband was born here, and she is opening up a piano school, but also has ambitions to own some land with the insurance money she received from the death. If that is what the film was about, it probably would have been like a Hollywood film, with her falling for some local guy and being happy with her son in their new home. But, this is not Hollywood. Her son gets kidnapped and murdered, ostensibly because it is known she has cash from the settlement. The grief process, attempts at moving on, attempts to clear her conscience of guilt, are all done admirably, and the lead actress is superb. The only caveat, and it has to be stated, is that this is a depressing film. You have to know that going in. You want Shin-ae to go through her grief and find some measure of happiness. Again, this is not Hollywood, it is Korea and in Korean cinema, especially drama, they pull no punches. Life is what happens to you. Great acting, but sometimes a tough film to watch, due to the goings on. If you stay, you'll be rewarded. Do that.
Totally unsatisfying, deeply boring film about a tragic story
svescapekey1 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I disagree with most of the glowing reviews of this movie. I am generally a big fan of Korean movies and series. Most are technically excellent with matching performances. This movie had fine acting, especially from Jeon Do-yeon; the cinematography was variable, certainly not spectacular. But great acting doesn't make for a great movie. This could have passed for a French new wave movie: except for the tragedy, nothing meaningful happens. It is a story about grief and rather superficial religious support by pushy people. The movie is way too long for the story it is telling. There is no resolution, let alone a satisfactory one. To me this was a waste of 2:22 hours.
very good and even better acting
mtlsyr6 January 2010
I've waited to see this movie for a long time and at last I could manage to see it in Istanbul Film Festival. Maybe because I expected too much from this film and that's why i was slightly disappointed. I was not the best movie from Korea but still it is really worth watching.
The subject was nice and the film makes you keep watching without getting bored though it is long. But there are gaps in the movie and you jump from one point to another. However, the acting of Jeon Do-Yeon is incredibly beautiful. It was was one of the best performances in the early cinema history and I think this movie wouldn't be that nice if she was not in the leading role.
The subject was nice and the film makes you keep watching without getting bored though it is long. But there are gaps in the movie and you jump from one point to another. However, the acting of Jeon Do-Yeon is incredibly beautiful. It was was one of the best performances in the early cinema history and I think this movie wouldn't be that nice if she was not in the leading role.
Intriguing
Multipleh20 April 2011
The Secret Sunshine is a throughly modern film. It serves as an example of what American movies are missing these days. The acting is good although not great. The cinematography serves the story. The plot is solid and uncliched. The Secret Sunshine isn't just about religion it is many things. It deals with several issues of modern life in 144 minutes-death, psychology, the role of women, the role of family, money and etc. The movie seems sterile at times but has tight intriguing moments and transformations at times that it feels fresh and is therefore modern. American filmmakers should take note. It's okay to take risks and not overly simplify all the issues.
Superb
innerproduct14 January 2014
This is a truly great film. Don't waste your time reading this or any other review: watch the film instead. And once you have watched it, come here and give it a rating.
Obviously, this was not a commercial blockbuster and it is not for everyone but still I recommend it. For most (but not all) viewers the worst that can happen is that they find it boring but even they would at least have watched something a bit different from the usual fare. It is unpretentious, it isn't deliberately hard to follow, but it *is* art. I am grateful to Lee Chang-dong for making this film and for picking Jeon Do-yeon for the leading role; her performance, for me, is perfect.
Obviously, this was not a commercial blockbuster and it is not for everyone but still I recommend it. For most (but not all) viewers the worst that can happen is that they find it boring but even they would at least have watched something a bit different from the usual fare. It is unpretentious, it isn't deliberately hard to follow, but it *is* art. I am grateful to Lee Chang-dong for making this film and for picking Jeon Do-yeon for the leading role; her performance, for me, is perfect.
A tale of anger with God
gizmomogwai7 December 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Secret Sunshine, a 2007 South Korean film, is above all else a tale of gaining and then losing faith. It revolves around a non-religious mother named Sin-ae whose son Jun is kidnapped, and then murdered when the kidnapper was dissatisfied with the ransom. Sin-ae, who already lost her husband, is in grief, until she takes comfort in Christianity and surprisingly achieves happiness. But when she visits the prison to forgive her son's killer, ("love your enemies") she is shaken to hear he has also turned to Christianity and believes God has already forgiven him.
The movie doesn't appear to be anything special before the kidnapping. When Jun is kidnapped, I was surprised that when Sin-ae is on the phone with the kidnapper that the audience doesn't hear what he's saying. The movie starts getting more interesting as a tale of faith. I'd have to say I don't quite understand why after all she's been through she comes to think of God as a loving being. She'd have plenty of reason to doubt that. But I totally understand her frustration with her son's murderer being "forgiven" for his terrible crime, before she could have any say in the matter. Anger and frustration with God is, I think, a sympathetic subject, something that Ingmar Bergman explored to a degree, although his movies were less about anger than despair with the "silence of God." The movie doesn't seem to deny God's existence, and I'm not sure it really endorses Sin-ae's disillusionment, but it offers her perspective for consideration. For many, Secret Sunshine may be a hard film to take, but it shines a light on personal tragedy and a victim's relationship with God.
The movie doesn't appear to be anything special before the kidnapping. When Jun is kidnapped, I was surprised that when Sin-ae is on the phone with the kidnapper that the audience doesn't hear what he's saying. The movie starts getting more interesting as a tale of faith. I'd have to say I don't quite understand why after all she's been through she comes to think of God as a loving being. She'd have plenty of reason to doubt that. But I totally understand her frustration with her son's murderer being "forgiven" for his terrible crime, before she could have any say in the matter. Anger and frustration with God is, I think, a sympathetic subject, something that Ingmar Bergman explored to a degree, although his movies were less about anger than despair with the "silence of God." The movie doesn't seem to deny God's existence, and I'm not sure it really endorses Sin-ae's disillusionment, but it offers her perspective for consideration. For many, Secret Sunshine may be a hard film to take, but it shines a light on personal tragedy and a victim's relationship with God.
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