Secret Sunshine
2007, 142 minutes
South Korea
Language: Korean with English subtitles
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Co-Presented by the Korean Cultural Center DC
Light Korean appetizers will be provided at 6:30 p.m. before the film is screened.
A master of intensely emotional human dramas, director Lee Chang-dong is a luminary of contemporary Korean cinema, and his place on the international stage was cemented by this stirring and unpredictable work examining grief and deliverance.
An effortless mix of lightness and uncompromising darkness, Secret Sunshine (Miryang) stars Cannes best actress winner Jeon Do-yeon as a widowed piano teacher who moves with her young son from Seoul to her late husband’s provincial hometown for a fresh start. Despite her efforts to settle down, in this unfamiliar and much too normal place, she finds that she can’t quite fit in. Helping her out is Kim Jong-chan, a good-intentioned but bothersome bachelor, who owns a car repair shop. Life plods on. However, fate takes a vicious turn when Shin-ae loses her son in the most horrific way a mother could imagine. She turns to Christianity to relieve the pain in her heart, but when even this is not permitted, she wages a war against God.
Quietly expressive, supple filmmaking and sublime, subtle performances distinguish this remarkable portrayal of the search for grace amid tragedy.
NYT Critic’s Pick: “A great movie… The cinematic equivalent of prose that is clear, elegant and lyrical.”
— A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“One of the year’s best films.”
— Michael Atkinson, Village Voice