When the title comes up on the screen it appears next to the dead body of a teenage girl floating in a river. A poetry teacher in the film describes poetry as the search for beauty. The juxtaposition of the tragic and the beautiful is a current that runs through this Korean drama. It seems that sadness and beauty go together in life more than we think.
Mija (Jeong-hie Yun, TWO FLAGS) is a 60-something maid who takes care of her grandson Wook (Da-wit Lee, THE FRONT LINE). Her daughter has dumped him on her and the grandmother doesn't like telling her child anything that might be going wrong. The old woman is feeling tingling in her arm and starting to forget words. Wook is a lazy slob who is running with a bad crowd who get him deep in severe trouble. Mija works for a lecherous old man who has suffered a stroke and needs her to bathe him. She has a hard time dealing with any of these problems directly. Her mind seems completely consumed with the poetry class she is taking at the cultural center.
As a young girl, she was told that she would be a poet one day. It has taken her to now to start. The writing process is difficult for her and she seeks out open mic poetry readings for inspiration. One poet there tells her to just write down her thoughts because it is the closest she will get to the truth. At some of the most emotionally crushing moments, we see her pulling out her notebook and writing as a way to escape.
For her one problem builds upon another and her inability to deal with them only makes matters worse. She is a proper woman who dresses up in conservative clothes you expect a grandmother to wear. She comes off naive, but she will surprise you on what she is capable of when she needs to act. She does things that nice old grandmothers do not do.
Yun's performance is full of rich subtlety. She communicates her feelings in looks and the timing of her actions. Mija says more in what she doesn't do than in what she does. The poetry class is difficult for her because she has a hard time opening up. She's ashamed to deal with the feelings that she is having.
Peppered throughout the film are scenes from Mija and her classmates answering the question about their most beautiful moment. All generate tears. Beauty seems to be fleeting. It comes too early. It comes too late. It comes in the simple things in life that make the person feel happy, but make the listeners feel sad for them. The fate of the dead teen from the opening shot and how it connects to Mija brings together the tragic and the beautiful. To write a poem, Mija will have to confront the truth of her life.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
