...ing

Korea has a long tradition in the romantic melodrama, and the concept of a young woman with a serious illness has been done countless times. However, rarely has this topic been covered as delicately and emotionally as it is in "...ing".

The cast is superb all around. Su-jeong Lim and Rae-won Kim have great chemistry as Min-a and Yeong Jae, but the show stopper is Mi-suk Lee as the mother. Her quiet desperation and struggle for her daughter to enjoy "quality of life" rather than "quantity of life" is just heart breaking.

The director, Eon-hie Lee, does an excellent job of engaging the audience with what is a very simple love story, but then as the third act gets going you slowly realise that there is much more going on than you first thought. This is not to say there are any real shocks or surprises, but this film takes the viewer to new emotional depths very subtly and unexpectedly.

Well worth seeing if you are in a quiet and contemplative mood, or if you need to exercises your heart-stings or tear-ducts.