Jibeuro (2002)

Director:

Jeong-hyang Lee

Writer:

Jeong-hyang Lee (writer)

Release Date:

5 April 2002 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Discover the magical movie that has captured the heart of a nation.

Plot:

Seven-year-old Sang-woo is left with his grandmother in a remote village while his mother looks for work...

Plot Keywords:

Grandmother Grandson Relationship

Awards:

7 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Eul-boon Kim	...	Grandmother
Seung-ho Yu	...	Sang-woo
Hyo-hee Dong	...	Sang-woo's Mother
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kyung-hyun Min	...	Cheol-e
Eun-kyung Yim	...	Hae Yeon

Also Known As:

The Way Home (International: English title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild thematic elements and language.

Runtime:

80 min | Argentina:89 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival) | Canada:85 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | Canada:88 min

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Singapore:G | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:PG | Germany:o.Al. | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG | Mexico:A | South Korea:All | Spain:T | Taiwan:GP | UK:U | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Jeetongma, Choongbuk Province, South Korea

Company:

CJ Entertainment

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Film Geek (2005)

Choco-pies and batteries can be so affirming.

With his mother forced to go out and find work, Seven-year-old spoilt brat Sang-woo is taken to go and live with his grandmother out at some remote village. His grandmother is mute, she's crippled by old age and years of hard graft, Sang-woo is therefore thrust into a world that he just can't comprehend. No Kentucky chicken or the niceties he is used to getting at the shriek of his voice, he is most certainly a fish out of water in the extreme.

Jibeuro is as simple as it gets, but that's the films strength, working on very little dialogue and confining itself to barely a handful of characters, its point is made thru a series of wonderful situations between Sang-woo and his grandmother. The first half of the piece literally had me wanting to throttle Sang-woo, he's actually a villain with very few redeeming features, but as things roll on the film engrosses with its subject without ever being heavy handed. Not trite or sickly, Jibeuro knows what it's about and gets in does its job without fanfares or bunting.

The performances are great and the score from Dae-hong Kim & Yang-hee Kim is just delightful, Jeong-hyang Lee directs with simplicity of ease and Hong-shik Yoon's cinematography frames the remoteness with pleasing on the eye ease. It's a film that was a monster hit with Korean's back on its release, it's not hard to see why because it's a simply lovely piece of work, so give it a go and take in its message. 8/10