The long-awaited follow-up to Lee Chang-Dong's masterpiece Oasis. Americans waited longer than most. The film is finally seeing a release three and a half years after it played at Cannes. It's well worth the wait - it's a near masterpiece. Jeon Do-yeon is outstanding as a young widow trying to make a go of it by moving back to her husband's hometown, Milyang (the actual title of the film, which is Mandarin for Secret Sunshine), with her five year-old son. It doesn't take long for a second tragedy to strike Jeon, which leaves her completely destroyed. The film doesn't go to the expected places. It's all about the pain of grief, but it strays far away from melodrama. Jeon discovers Christianity, and I expected that she would eventually come face to face with the silence of God, a la Ingmar Bergman, but even that doesn't happen. Jong Chan, a very famous Korean actor whom you may remember from The Host and Thirst, has a great role as a lonely mechanic who pesters Jeon for her affection. His character is perfectly balanced between nuisance and pathos. I haven't seen Oasis in years, but I recall it being kind of a grandiose melodrama. This is just so subtle and closely observed.
Review of Secret Sunshine
