Opens, much like perhaps his best (along with Burning) work- Peppermint Candy with a suicide on a bridge. Here Chang-dong Lee
distorts the water to his trademark green to open and then it slowly turns to a
more normal river/water color—great opening
Jeong-hie Yun (playing Mija) is going through some things here—she’s
facing a diagnosis of Alzheimer, her grandson has committed a heinous crime,
she’s out of money (she needs a large sum to pay for her grandson’s crime), she’s
wrecked with guilt and the entire time, is trying to escape, find art (poetry)
and evolve. Really well done moral meditation and character study
Chang-dong Lee goes half-way in with the green
color again- the strong opening, the plants, the bath tub of the house she
cleans, the bus—but go all in and give me more
Great costume on Jeong-hie Yun- called chic in
the film and she is, even if it’s not flashy as she repeats outfits. It still
works with the context of her being poor
Great long-take at the hospital near the
opening of the mom reacting to the suicide in the opening- long-take pivotal
moments are a Chang-dong Lee trademark
Art (poetry) as an escape from harsh reality
Sadly there is a lot of poetry reading here—lots
of words in general in the film—novelistic
The ending comes full circle after we see the
green bus and kid with a green hula-hoop again– she starts reading the poem
and the girl victim finishes it—we go back to the river and bridge. Bookends
[…] Poetry – Chang-dong Lee […]