Happiness (2007)

A love story about two people who meet while battling serious illnesses.

Director:

Jin-ho Hur

Writers:

Jin-ho Hur, Hyo-kwan Kim (screenplay)

Stars:

Jung-min Hwang, Gin-goo Kim, In-Sook Kim

3 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Jung-min Hwang	...	Young-su (as Jeong-min Hwang)
Gin-goo Kim	...	Young-Soo's mother
In-Sook Kim	...	Miyoung
Ki-Cheon Kim	...	Bu-Nam
Hyo-Jin Kong	...	Su-Yun (as Hyo-jin Kong)
Soo-jung Lim	...	Eun-hee
Kyung Jin Min	...	Truck driver
Seo-won Oh	...	Pharmacist
Suh Won Oh	...	Medicine doctor
In-hwan Park	...	Suk-Gu
Seung-su Ryu	...	Dong-Jun
Shin Ae Shin	...	Director
Seung-mok Yoo	...	Jae-Kon

Storyline

Seoul-based playboy Young-Soo learns that he is suffering from liver cirrhosis and finds his life quickly getting worse. Seeking rest and recuperation, Young-Soo admits himself to a countryside clinic. Here he meets Eun-Hee, whom is suffering from a severe lung disease. Smitten with Young-Soo, Eun-Hee starts to approach the new resident. They fall in love with one another and take up living together in a small house. With no money and suffering from severe illnesses, just how happy can they become and how long will it last?

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site [South Korea]

Country:

South Korea

Language:

Korean

Release Date:

3 October 2007 (South Korea)

Also Known As:

Haeng-bok

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$8,324,700

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rai Film, Zip Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min 119 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Eun-hee: When a couple watches a movies at a dark theater... They hold hands, right? I guess that's only in movies?
Young-su: Are you asking me to hold your hand? At a deserted place like this... a couple usually kiss.

User Reviews

Moving character study of addiction, mortality and even the nature of happiness

Happiness, director Hur Jin Ho's fourth feature find the director returning back to his melodramatic roots, exploring characters suffering from chronic and/or terminal illness. What's so fascinating about Hur is his ability to draw you into his carefully studied characters and avoid the pitfalls of melodrama by deft restraint.

In this case, we begin with the hard-partying fast-life Youngsu, whose heavy drinking alcoholism put his bar in bankruptcy and his liver in cirrhosis. Having lost almost everything to his lifestyle, he departs for a hospice-like community in the countryside to see if he can at least save his life. The battle is hard, but he meets the attractive and shy Eun-hee who immediately takes to his charm. Eunhee herself suffers from a lung-disease, but is a good-hearted girl. Eventually, they come together, but as Eunhee helps Young-su recover from his cirrhosis, he meets some old friends that remind him of his previous wild lifestyle and invite him to return. And with a title like Happiness, you know this can't end well.

Hur again draws some impressive performances from his players, provides some amazing photography and really shows his amazing capacity for drawing believable relationships, both in infancy and demise. Furthermore, the subtlety by which he draws the temptations of Young-su's vices are quite impressive. The presence of a mobile phone, a gift from his ex-girlfriend, how he takes up his old vices by the invitation of a farmer and how he is tempted at first to leave from his regimented healthy lifestyle by purchasing "medicinal liquor" all point to the life that he can't leave behind no matter how hard he wishes he could.

This is not an obvious film. It provides a study of addiction, mortality as well as, yes, happiness, but leaves a lot of the interpretation up to the viewer. But this masterful look at two characters, despite the melodramatic backdrop and the ass of a protagonist, is so well drawn that you still can't help but find pathos there. While some viewers might be tempted to label Lim Soo Jung's Eunhee (again playing a possibly terminally ill young woman after her turn in ...ing) a cardboard "pure" character, like I did at first, upon further thought it's possible to see her faults as well and so, I continue to be impressed by director Hur's projects. Gorgeous music, photography, acting, direction. Recommended, except for those that don't like those stories that could be entitled Happiness. 9/10.