Secret Sunshine

Secret Sunshine is a Korean film that won awards at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007, but must not have been released in the U.S. until 2010, as it pops up on some best-of lists for that year. I don't know what the wait was for, as it has more Western appeal than many art-house Asian films. But then again, it's a complex, ultimately depressing look at the aftermath of a death of a child.

Unlike Rabbit Hole, the recent American film on the same topic, Secret Sunshine doesn't begin after the fact. We meet Lee Shin-Ae (Joen Do-Yeon), a young widow, who is moving back to her husband's home town (the name of the town is Chinese for "secret sunshine"). She has a son, about six years old, and starts a piano school. She meets some of her neighbors, who are polite but find her a bit odd. That is except for Mr. Kim (Song Kang-Ho), an auto mechanic who gives her a tow on the day she arrives in town. He is captivated by her, and over the course of the film dedicates himself to helping her, even though she shows no sign of reciprocation of feelings. In fact, she often tells him to leave her alone.

As the film wanders along one can sense impending tragedy, as there is a moment of false terror when Joen can't find her son. Soon enough, the boy is kidnapped (Joen had made it sound like she was richer than she was) and found dead.

The rest of the film then covers how she handles the grief. She is drained and stoic at first, which angers her husband's relatives. But soon she is overwhelmed, and she finally accepts the proselytizing advice of a pharmacist across the street and attends a Christian church. She is almost immediately comforted.

At this point I thought I had stumbled into a Christian-themed movie, but there was too much time left, and the film wasn't going to be that easy to figure out. Joen has a crisis of faith, and turns her back on religion, eventually slipping into madness.

The film was directed by Lee Chang-Dong, and it's well-shot. The performance by Jeon, who won an award at Cannes, is extraordinary in its complexity. I found the character of Kim even more interesting, a man who fears he is a loser (he is unmarried at 39, unheard of in Asian society) and though he clearly loves the woman (he even starts to attend church with her) he will not make a move, immobilized.

But as the film wore on (it's 142 minutes) I found it start to get too heavy. The film inflicts so much on the woman that it starts to feel sadistic. The final shot, of Kim helping her cut her hair, suggests some hope, but it was almost too late.

This is an above-average film, though.