Festival De Cannes 2007
Winner: Best Actress (Jeon Do-yeon)

In this somber Korean drama, a young mother and widow, Shin-ae, moves with her young son, Jun, from Seoul to a small town called Miryang following her husband’s death. Having given up on her career as a concert pianist when she married her husband, she starts up a piano school, but soon it begins to feel like the polite people who inhabit her new home aren’t as friendly as they seem on the surface. Judgmental whispers and disapproving gossip begin to reach Shin-ae’s ears, and pressure to join the Christian cult that thrives in the town begins to mount. She’s hesitant until an unimaginable tragedy alters her life forever, setting Shin-ae on a dark path of withdrawal from society as a whole.

– Rotten Tomatoes

Also read NY Times article on this movie: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/movies/30lim.html

*Theological Themes: Faith. Church. Theodicy. Providence. Suffering. Prayer. Evangelism.

Categories: Features