Korean Movies Review

If film can accurately be described as a marriage between art and industry, then there is always bound to be conflict. In countries where the industry side of the equation is weak, a national cinema runs the risk of shrinking or being overwhelmed by Hollywood imports. In rarer cases such as Korea where you have a strong industry, worries rise that commercial pressures will straightjacket filmmakers' creativity. This fear is widespread in Korea these days, partly because industrial developments are rushing ahead at such incredible speed.

The best way to counteract this is to support diversity -- not just in topics, genres, filmmakers' backgrounds, etc., but also in the way that films are made. If all Korean movies are financed, produced and shot in the same way, then they are all bound to turn out rather similar. In today's industry, the Korean Film Council is probably trying hardest to support alternative modes of filmmaking, but it faces an uphill battle.

We begin by watching a woman (played by Han Hyo-joo) waiting for someone. That someone is neither of the two men we soon begin watching watch her. They think she is a woman from their distant past who left their town for Seoul years ago and about whom they have heard nothing but rumors since. When they approach her, her hesitation leads them to believe that she is in fact who they claim she is. But she insists that she is not. Eventually they concede to her protests, but in a bit of a bind to find the daughter of a family friend so that his last dying wish is granted, one of them (played by Kim Yeong-min) pleads, implores, and startlingly close to demands, that she come with them anyway and lie that she is the man's daughter since she resembles the daughter enough that they believe she can fool the dying man.

Ad Lib Night Why would this woman go along with these strangers, particularly since one of them has serious anger management issues? Is she the woman they claim she is? Is she trying to get away from the person who later texts her a disturbing message? Or is it because, as much as they need a momentary surrogate for the dying man's daughter, she needs a surrogate for her own family? Although the premise may seem unbelievable at first, if you suspend that disbelief, your efforts will be rewarded at the end.