Yunhui-ege

Director Im Dae-Hyung skillfully crafted this visual vignette of a woman haunted by time and regret and revisiting her pieces of the past to her journey of acceptance.

Although labeled as "romance", it is not the raison d'être of this film, but the plot does root from unresolved love that will aid them to their present self. I truly believe that this film is a sincere ode to freeing one's self of things that could have been but did not.

Characters were beautifully written and told. They were carefully separated with their own story then, collaborated in quite a climactic fashion and I would not have wanted it any other way.

Its screenplay stood out the most for me as it was neither vague nor shallow, and presented the story and its characters' sentiments with justice.

This film is a hidden gem, underrated perhaps. Slow but definitely not one to bore.

I watched this movie because I am a fan of the Korean band Se So Neon who did the song Winter on the movie's OST. The video for the song gives you a good sense of the movie itself. Although the plot isn't overly dramatic and there wasn't a lot of tension, I felt that the actors made me care about them and there is just enough plot to get to know what motivates them. A lot of emotions is shown through expression rather than through talking which is something that I appreciate in Asian films.

I recently watched two other Korean movies with female protagonists House of Hummingbird and Kim Ji-young: Born 1982. There is one thread that seems to run through them all and that is Korea's cultural view of women. In all 3 of these movies there was mention or implication that the boy's in the family were the most revered among the siblings. It's maybe more examined in the two other movies I mentioned but it is something that had affected the mother in this story when she was a teenager. I have been living in Korea for a number of years and often wonder if that male centered ideology is changing with the new generations having kids of their own. I hope so.

Kim Hee Ae who is my admired idol pulls me to this movie. After watching this movie, it brings me some emotions that I need to share it. First, obviously I love the way of Kim Hee Ae acting. She always knows how to play the role truly and honestly. From my perspective, she might be an actress who plays many Korean dramas but keeps the character's soul distinctly and uniquely. People can't have a sense of similarity if she plays a certain role. Second, I'm quite impressed with the way of telling a story from the director. This movie is about lesbian romantic and it's really hard or unnatural expression if you don't know how to tell it subtly. No need sexual, erotic or hot scene, but the movie still keep me finish till an end because of its smooth, soothing and emotional story. Such a good movie to watch if you need to slowly calm down in a hurry world.

" Moonlit Winter " or full moon, was a nice movie.

The drama was just enough and the character interesting. Especially the daughter, she was feisty and just the perfect partner for her mother, who was dynamic, but pretty closed to herself. The movie did a nice job with keeping things interesting, however, even though the idea of the story was original and very emotional, it felt like it wasn't well presented. At times, it got a bit confusing and it would have been better, in my opinion, if they had given us some information about their past relationship, or some scenes from the past, as to built a better intensity for the couple. The performances though were very good, and the young couple extra cute.

So, overall, six out of ten, because the story deserved a better presentation.

A tea cozy movie about a mother's unhappiness and her feisty teenage daughter's quest to learn more about her mother and help her come to terms with repressed desires and memories, during a trip to Japan. This is a slow-paced and subtle movie about forbidden love and societal pressures but it never gets boring. I really liked the chemistry between the mother and daughter, how she tries to gently challenge her mother's social isolation. The cinematography is also quite nice, I like the contrast between the warmth of the characters (the young couple in particular) and the cold winter landscapes of Hokkaido. I hope Kim Sohye (who plays the daughter) gets more movie roles in the future, she is a natural in many ways.