2008|
118 MIN |
Drama, RomanceDIRECTOR KANG Yi-kwan
CAST MOON So-ri, KIM Tae-woo, LEE Sun-kyun
RELEASE DATE Oct 16, 2008
CONTACT Chungeorahm Film
Tel : +82 2 548 2952
Fax : +82 2 548 2946
Email :
chungeorahm@gmail.com
KANG Yi-kwan’s understated debut
Sakwa was quickly welcomed on the festival circuit in 2005, screening in both the Toronto and San Sebastian International Film Festivals, and earning the Mont Blanc Award for New Screenwriters from the latter, yet it would take over three years for the film to secure a release date back in Korea.
Featuring
MOON So-ri, shortly after her acclaimed performances in
LEE Chang-dong’s
Oasis (2002) and
IM Sang-soo’s
A Good Lawyer’s Wife (2003),
Sakwa follows the poignant but all too familiar love trials of Hyun-jung, an office worker who is devastated when her long-term boyfriend Min-suk (
LEE Sun-kyun) breaks up with her, and quickly enters into a questionable relationship with Sang-hoon (
KIM Tae-woo), a man working in the same building who has been aggressively courting her. Feeling pressure from her loving but anxious family, they marry and she soon becomes pregnant, but their budding love never truly comes to fruition.
Director KANG, who would later go on to make the darker but just as intimate indie drama
Juvenile Offender (2012), frames Hyun-jung’s first relationship through claustrophobic close-ups which highlight both the intense passion shared by the partners, as well as the nagging uncertainty that accompanies this couple that has long-since entered marrying age. This comes to a head at the end of a trip to Jeju Island, as the camera stalks the pair when they descend a seaside stairway and registers the subtle but drastic changes in their expressions when Min-suk breaks up with Hyun-jung in this idyllic location.
For her cautious interactions with Sang-hoon, the camera stands further away, highlighting their lack of intimacy. Gifting her multiple bouquets, booking tickets for the opera, which he professes no interest in, or bringing them to a secluded spot for a picnic, Sang-hoon does all the right things, but none of his actions feel particularly romantic. This comes to a head in a picture-perfect but emotionless wedding, where both Hyun-jung and Sang-hoon resemble pawns in an orchestration beyond their control.
Affording context to Hyun-jung’s decisions and adding color to the narrative is her family. The nagging mother, ambivalent father and moody younger sister follow Korean melodrama stereotypes to a tee. Yet what sets them apart from mere stock drama characters is their ability to change and recognize the impact of their actions. Noticing her daughter’s unhappiness, Hyun-jung’s mother later admits that perhaps she should not have pushed the union so aggressively.
The film’s title, a homonym meaning both apple and apology, alludes to the imperfections of romance. As Hyun-jung and Min-suk, and later Sang-hoon, go through perpetual cycles of hurting and forgiving one another, Sakwa is a testament to the constant push and pull of all romantic partners.