Secret Sunshine

[alexandral]

"Secret Sunshine" is of the most unexpected and may be the most honest film I have watched. I was interested in it because I wanted to see Do-yeon Jeon in her Cannes Festival winning role as a Korean widow living and struggling through her loss, grief, more loss and more grief. She absolutely deserved her Best Actress prize in Cannes Festival 2007. But the film was so much more than that. It had several big themes and each theme was thought-provoking: the nature of grief, small-town life, Christian Protestantism, romance, "crime and punishment". I think it is a film that will give something different to different viewers and will be understood differently by different people.



I was personally the most affected by the themes I listed below. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as possible:

Honest representation of the present day Christian Protestant church. I have never expected to find this in a film from Asia. It shows it all: pluses, minuses, downs and ups. Without any bias, any prejudiced mocking or saccharine coating. This is a hot topic of conversation between my friend and I, how faith and religious organisations are two totally different things and how any religious organisation (not only Christian Protestant) is the same as any human organisation with the same people as everywhere else, and how faith is something that is uniquely yours.

Forgiveness I have read in quite few reviews that the main herouine, Shin-ae, couldn't forgive the man that did her a terrible wrong, that she could not accept God's forgiveness for this man, etc, etc.

My understanding of the situation is completely different. I often ponder about this: can people who commit terrible crimes be forgiven by God? I must accept "Yes" in general, but I want to look at individual cases.
For example, in "Secret Sunshine", Shin-ae (with her newly found faith) goes to a prison to meet the person who committed the terrible crime against her. She wants to forgive him. And what does he say to her? He says that he himself found God, that he is forgiven by God and happy. In this situation I see a terribly selfish man, still thinking about himself and himself only. The God's forgiveness doesn't mean that this man is forgiven by people and it does not absolve him from trying to do every possible thing for the person he committed the crime against. I am completely on the side of Shin-ae in this situation, I don't want to forgive this guy, and I think it is he himself who has forgiven him, not God.

Job's friends The story about Job is one of my favourites. The story goes like this: Satan sees Job who is all-around good and prosperous guy. He comes to God and challenges him to test Job. God says "I have given you the Earth as your domain, do what you want to do. I am sure Job is a good guy". Job loses everything: his possessions and children. Finally, he becomes infected with some terrible skin disease. He sits and he grieves. His friends come to visit him and under the mask of kindness tell Job that "he is punished by God because he must have sinned in the past". When Job starts asking questions "Why is God doing this to me?", his friends cut him short by saying that asking these questions is evil. Then a young man comes along and proves Job's friends wrong.

I see the story of Job's friends repeating itself in the film. When Shin-ae starts asking "Why is this happening to me?", her church friends act terrified as if she is saying some horrible hypocrisy. They are lovely people and they keep her best interests at heart, but they don't hear her at all.

Summary "Secret Sunshine" has it's flaws. It is too long and could benefit from removal of some scenes. But I thought it was an excellent movie, filmed beautifully and innovatively. Some of the scene compositions were absolutely unique. Also the space seen by the corner of your eye was utilised in amazing ways. I am going to try find another film by the director, Chang-dong Lee, "Oasis". He has really impressed me.

Warning: May be if you are not interested in small town life, cultural and class differences or Protestantism the film could be less interesting to you than to me. Also I must warn that this film is very hard to watch, it left me exhausted.

Comments

[sajia.livejournal.com]

I must see this movie! I'm writing a multi-faith, multi-ethnic superhero comic set in Vancouver and one of the male protagonists is a young Korean Mennonite.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

It is an excellent movie in more ways than one!

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

It sounds absolutely wonderful, like exactly the kind of film I would be interested in. Thank you very much for your thoughtful review.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I apologise for the late commenting, I am still thinking about the film..

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

This was a really beautiful write-up! I must track this film down. Thank you.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!! (I appreciate it!!!)

[jacganda.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this entry. I would love to watch this film. I find "exhausting films" interesting.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I agree - it seem that for I need to be absorbed into the hard-to-stomach themes sometimes, to make me think.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the this review! I have the movie but haven't watched it yet. I am putting your entry in Memory :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you found this interesting - I wonder what your reaction will be like!

(Who are these lovely people kissing on your lovely icon?? Looks so good :D)

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeeeeee! This is taken from Dal Ja's Spring. And the 2 people are the OTP of course! I am really curious whether you will like this drama or now :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I watched the first episode. I can't get over the strange way Dal Ja looks (and the stylist, hairdresser and make-up artist deserve slow death because the actress is so pretty in "Powerful Opponents"!). I have a personal niggle with her character too. She is a bit on the side of men-chasing (or being submissive in a relationship) which is not my thing. :D I need to watch more, however, before I make up my mind. Most likely during the next week's holidays.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

You liked Kim Samsoon, right? I think the characters are quite similar, in terms of being submissive in a relationship. But I don't find Dal Ja as abrasive as Samsoon. Initially I felt sorry for Dal Ja, more than anything, about her love situation. I kind of felt that I could relate to her in some instances, too :) As the story progresses, though, I really liked the fact that she developed good friendships with even people that she thought she disliked. The friendship with her colleagues at work, and also the lady "mentor" for Dal Ja - I found all that quite interesting.

You are right, though, that her hair (!!) and eyeliner are just total killers for her looks. I think the stylists deliberately wanted someone who looked "queer" yet have a loveable personality as well. Thus is Dal Ja :D I adored her stylish clothes, though!

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I liked Sam Soon , I thought even though she had a low self-esteem she had more fire and fighting spirit. But may be jal Da develops it later on too.

I am interested in colleague-friendship in fiction too, it is such a big part of RL!

I am glad you reminded me about Dal Ja - I was trying to look for something easy to watch on this holidays and I think i'll watch this.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Yay! Please let me know how you like Dal Ja. I'm hoping that you will like it, but even if you don't, I'd be interested in knowing why :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I watched the episodes 2 and 3 and I think I am getting to like Dal JA and the young guy. And total YAY! to all the "In the mood for love" references.

The thing I find slightly grating is that this seems to be one of those dramas where everyone shouts all the time, but may be everything will quiet down soon.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Yay! I am so glad you are liking it better! :) I can't recall the drama being overly "loud" but perhaps you are right. Btw, I haven't watched In the Mood for Love - what references are there???

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I have watched even more - after the destiny guy have appeared I am completely sold.

"In the mood for love" is an absolute classic and my HUGE love . If you remember the moments when Dal Ja was imagining herself kissing the young guy (with a very red lightening) - this is from "In the mood for love", the scene and the music.

[miss-dian.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, YES! I am so glad you are liking Dal Ja's Spring even more! :) *twirls*

I need to get my hands on In the Mood for Love. I adore your lovely icons from the movie! :)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I am loving it more and more as it goes. I don't work in the same field as Dal Ja, but I can relate with her story so much now. And she is gathering her pride and resilience!