• An achievement of film form
  • Chang-dong Lee sets the narrative like Citizen Kane meets Memento (this is only description here as this is 1 year prior to Memento)—the “peppermint candy” is the “Rosebud” if you will – lost innocence told in flashback, but structured in a reverse chronological order like Memento. The interludes are even stronger than Memento– Chang-dong Lee simply cuts to the same reoccurring shot of train tracks—gorgeous work
  • It’s a political film, an anti-war film, a sort of “making of a monster” but here it’s his suicide—spans 20 years, the peppermint candy (a little on the nose) is a bit like the butterflies in All Quiet on the Western Front as well- symbolic-
  • Timeline titles and opens on the train tunnel
  • Bookends with the gathering of friends (haunting coda as it’s the victim)
  • Disillusionment after war/military—it breaks him
  • A freeze frame in the bookends as well- first as the train comes at him, then on his face at the end of the film
  • A mystery with the first viewing—“what drove this man to suicide?”
  • The reoccurring train motif is very inspired—it’s fabulous film form- not just in the great interludes (think Breaking the Wave’s establishing shots) but in the forward moving narrative flashbacks
  • It’s not as heavy as 1997’s debut Green Fish but Chang-dong Lee loves his use of green—the apron at the barbers, the signs just sitting there in the parking lot, glasses and bottles like Ozu
  • A great tracking shot moving in on a barred window with the naked lovers inside at 75 minutes—Chang-dong Lee doesn’t put style in every shot, but a spot here and there (think middle and end of Burning) to great effect
  • A tragic love story like the other works I’ve seen
  • A great long-take apprehending a criminal as a cop—we’re on the train tracks (yet again) and green forest
  • Kyung-gu Sol is the protagonist- lost, complex (which sometimes looks a little like inconsistency but we’re in good hands with Chang-dong Lee)
  • Like Burning and Green Fish there are short scenes with bursts of great violence – he flips out at a café—starts (as a civilian now) barking military orders—long take- shot behind his head for part of it- clearly PTSD
  • Kyung-gu Sol is a tough hang during that first hour when you’re solving the riddle- mean to kids and dogs
  • Like Burning we have the larger context here- student protest on TV
  • Great shot from inside the café–  Chang-dong Lee frames the open doors—during this scene he’s teaching a girl how to ride a bike
  • Everyone asks why he became a cop—“you always wanted to be a photographer”- army is coming into view—he’s changed and hardened—disillusioned and corrupted- it’s tragic
  • We get the reveal of the limp (which is the entire film), the horrific climax at the railroad
  • The epilogue is Eden, heaven, the peppermint candy origin—freeze frame ending on face with train noise accentuated like Pacino in The Godfather hinting at the nightmare coming
  • Must-See