Oechul (2005)

Director:

Jin-ho Hur

Writers:

Jin-ho Hur (writer)
Won-sik Lee (writer)

Release Date:

7 September 2005 (South Korea)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

A man and a woman meet in the hospital after their respective partners are involved in a car accident. After learning that their spouses have been having an affair, the two begin one of their own. |

Plot Keywords:

Car Accident | Hospital | Stage Crew | Widow | Phone Video

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Yong-jun Bae	...	In-su
Ye-jin Son	...	Seo-young
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kook-huan Chun
Sang-hyo Lim	...	Su-jin
Seung-su Ryu	...	Gyeong-ho

Also Known As:

April Snow (Philippines: English title) (USA)

Runtime:

Canada:105 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Color:

Color

Certification:

Hong Kong:IIB | Singapore:NC-16 | Taiwan:R-12 | South Korea:18

Filming Locations:

Samchuk, South Korea

Company:

Blue Storm Production

A story of grief, betrayal and solace

April Snow is the third film by Corean melodrama auteur Hur Jin Ho and features none other than Bae Young Jun, whose turn in the popular Corean drama series "Winter Sonata" made him an icon of the Corean Wave exported all over Asia and sometimes further. However, since I couldn't bear watching the series, my only context for the Bespectacled One was his rather capable performance in the Corean adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Untold Scandal.

The story is related to both the stories for In the Mood for Love and Random Hearts, in which two people come to realize that their spouses are having affairs with each other and in this shared knowledge, develop a relationship with each other. While I haven't seen Random Hearts, I can say that the same tensions that run through In the Mood for Love also run through April Snow, but they are different movies. April Snow is definitely a Hur movie, as it's primarily composed of moments of silence and watching the protagonists do what they do and seeing the subtle messages implied by how they do it.

One thing that struck me while watching the relationship form between the pair was just how aware they were of the irony of their situation and how their relationship was a sort of escape for them. A strong empathy pours out between the two characters as they deal with their grief and their betrayal. But all things are not even. While the Bespectacled One's character, In Ju, should be the primary protagonist, his performance was a little underplayed which allowed Son Ye Jin's Seo Young to capture more emotion and depth, and consequently steal the focus.

But, the pictures were gorgeous, the acting still good (again, Son Ye Jin really pulls it off), and the way that director Hur captures it all managed to remind me just how much I like his approach to storytelling. This is a quiet melodrama that, while reserved in expression, can't help but leak out the grief, pain, and longing in the two characters. I kind of the wish that the end of the movie cut back more like In the Mood for Love does, but I imagine that audiences more adapted to mainstream Hollywood fare will appreciate the degree of closure provided. While this isn't a masterwork like Hur's previous two films, it is still, I believe, a solid entry into his filmography. Great for lovers of art films. 8/10.