At this point in the film, Shin-ae identifies as atheist, though she's had Christianity pushed on her by the pharmacist across the street. He unthinkingly attends church as a means to support and court Shin-ae, but continues to attend after she has rejected the respite of faith, calmly embracing the sense of order and peace it grants him. Secret Sunshine Directed by Lee Chang-dong A compelling and poignant Korean film about a besieged widow's journey into the far country of forgiveness. Released , 'Secret Sunshine' stars Jeon Do-yeon, Song Kang-ho, Jo Young-jin, Seon Jeong-yeop The movie has a runtime of about 2 hr 22 min, and received a user score of 71 (out of 100) on TMDb . She winds up outside of a house where her Christian friends are holding a prayer vigil for her and shatters a window with a rock. Regardless, they had a child, Jin Kazama. She seems to feel it all. Oxygen Insider Exclusives. Although Shin-aes journey into faith and out again ultimately rails against the undiscriminating forgiveness of god, the film does not fall back on easy stereotypes of the vacuously happy Christian or of a rigid fundamentalism. By no means is this an analysis of the entire film. Soon, thanks to gossips, everyone in Miryang knows Shin-Ae has money to purchase some valuable land, and a man who moved here from Busan kidnaps her son and asks for ransom. Juns slain body is found by the local reservoir, and mom goes into a deep funk. This drives. [17], On August 23, 2011, The Criterion Collection released the film on DVD and Blu-ray, both of which includes a new video interview with Lee Chang-dong, a behind-the-scenes featurette, the US theatrical trailer, and a booklet featuring a new film essay by film critic Dennis Lim. Driven by unrelenting mental anguish, church and becomes a re-born Christian. This whole string of scenes constitutes the first major breakdown she has in the film. We look back at one of Combs most underrated performances bringing the master of the macabre to life. Once she arrives with her young son, Jun, in Miryang (which translates roughly to the "secret sunshine" of the title, a mysterious phrase that wonderfully embodies the elusiveness and the ultimate privacy of true joy), Shin-ae sets up her own piano-teaching school. Musetto. The film is also something of an odyssey, subtly dramatising the developing journey of Shin-ae as she attempts to come to terms with the subsequent abduction and murder of her son, and tries to find ways to absorb, externalise and defer her grief. More from JustWatch. But, in her performance, Jeon goes beyond these emotions, and in a tearful prayer, a gaze at the sky, or a blank stare, she gives us powerful insight into the core of Shin-ae. Later, police officers arrive to take her to a reservoir, where Jun was drowned. Tony Holden, who turned himself in to authorities, was arrested for allegedly murdering rapper, Lil Snupe, seen here in his June 25, 2013 mugshot. Shin-ae has completely embraced Christianity, but now Lee really starts to show the inadequacies of religion when it comes to dealing with grief. But open displays of melancholy were nonexistent in my household, to the point that I would have been about as shocked to witness an adult family member weeping as I would have been to stumble on one of them having sex. Deadly Secret 42:49 S11 - E13 Endgame Load More. The scene is not between Shin-ae and the man. Shin-ae zieht mit ihrem Sohn Jun in die Geburtsstadt ihres krzlich verstorbenen Mannes, um einen Neuanfang zu wagen. When Jong-chan takes her brother to the railroad depot, he tells him that he's not Sin-ae's type. Grief can also make you lose your moral compass and any real semblance of right and wrong. Desperately seeking community in her college years, the writer discovered the world of experimental cinema when she stumbled on a short-film program at an art-house in Manchester, England. The initial, if superficial hope of change and cleansing offered by this routine action is undermined by the fact that her young hairdresser turns out to be the daughter of her sons murderer, herself recently released from juvenile detention. Shin-ae (Do-yeon Jeon) and her son Jun (Jung-yeop Seon) move to the small town of Milyang - also known as "Secret Sunshine." Shin-aes failure to ingratiate herself to others is contrasted with the figure of Jong (the wonderful Song Kang-ho), a mechanic who becomes infatuated with Shin-ae. Less than halfway through Chang-dong Lee's Secret Sunshine, tragedy strikes for single mother Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon). She has won many awards in her career, including the best actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of a broken woman who has lost everything in Lee Chang Dong's "Secret Sunshine". Shin-ae lays on her back, looks up at the sky and says something to the effect of "Can you see this, god?" December 21, 2010 | Rating: B+ | Full Review. Finally, she goes back to her house and has her last psychotic break. Now she is forced to learn a new kind of grief altogether. The most interesting thing about Miryang (Secret Sunshine) is the actors. Take, for instance, a moment after Shin-ae claims to have found God. She is seemingly in a state of bliss as a result and decides to visit Juns killer in prison and forgive him. While entering Miryang, Shin-ae's car breaks down. Whether innate or self-willed, her optimism is apparent every time she puts on a happy face for her son, whos still young enough to respond to his mothers attempts to keep him entertained, distracted from their less than fortunate reality. Shin-ae is a glass-half-full type, we assume, not one of those people predisposed to sadness, not someone who easily crumbles. As she tries to come to herself and | dG1fMC1EWkhveFczVVk. After Jun's death, Shin-ae is a completely different person. One afternoon, Shin-ae meets a middle-school girl (referred to as "the girl" from now onwards), whose father is Jun's daycare teacher. The FBI Wall of Honor remembers Special Agent Sang T. Jun, who died on October 22, 2008 after collapsing during SWAT tryouts earlier that month. TV-MA . It opens with Lee Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon) lost in her car on the outskirts of Miryang, a Korean town whose name means " Secret Sunshine ." The film was similarly acclaimed in its American release in 2010. "[11] With 6 reviews, it scored 84 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim. Feeling unwell one day, Shin-ae visits the pharmacist, who convinces her to join their faith, even though Shin-ae doesn't understand why God would let an innocent child like Jun die. When attempting to impress her new neighbors, she lies about her wealth and drinks and laughs in a way that is jarring and unlike the Shin-ae we have become familiar with. Rating. In the middle of her cut, Shin-ae leaves the salon. The Christians portrayed in Secret Sunshine are just suggesting a cookie cutter process they'd suggest to almost anybody who isn't Christian. After she visits the prison, Lee seems to suggest that Shin-ae's conversion was really just a way for her to feel like she had power over Do-seop. Sign Up for Free. Tomatometer. Its based on the novel by Chong-jun Yi. Adopting religion in the midst of grief simply swaps one set of intense emotions for another and both are harmful in the long run. But when Juns killer tells her that he, too, has found God, and, whats more, that God has forgiven him, Shin-ae suddenly meets the depths of despair. When Shin-Ae pays him less than the amount required, the boy is killed.Jun's slain body is found by the local reservoir, and mom goes into a deep funk. The scene where the police show her his body is one of the most interesting shots in the film. V.A. 4.4star. Addeddate 2022-01-23 21:24:16 Identifier Secret Sunshine - watch online: stream, buy or rent Secret Sunshine is a frequently beautiful film with a cold, dark heart. Lee presents Christianity as the easy way out. This draws the anger of Jun's grandmother, however. But the book was written by Coralee June and as much as I hated it, it was a fucking impressive read. Shin-ae responds with a blank, lifeless stare, and the reaction is surprising, to say the least. Even though god's love and purpose may briefly replace your grief, that pain and suffering will always come back up to the surface. By Kirk Honeycutt, AP. Jeons performance shows us early on in Secret Sunshine that Shin-ae is a character subject to dramatic changes from lost, to heartbroken, to blissful, to angry, and back again. This gives her temporary relief believing that God is by her side. Bea's family are happy. Shin-ae doesn't understand how God can absolve him of his sins before she has forgiven him and felt true peace. The film was widely acclaimed on the festival circuit, with particular and universal praise for Do-yeon's performance. Onto the film. The experience of watching [Chang-dong's] films is not always pleasant yet his quiet and exacting humaneness infuses even the most dreadful moments with an intimation of grace. This page was last edited on 20 January 2023, at 09:29. Csar Albarrn-Torres Amanda Barbour Tara Judah Abel Muoz-Hnonin Fiona Villella. Sin-ae moves with her son Jun to Miryang, the town where her dead husband was born. Tuoba Jun receives a letter about his father. Shin-ae likely believes this is the lowest point of her life and that going to church certainly couldn't cause her any more pain and suffering than she's already endured. And at the same time how close to sacred, how much like a spiritual possession. The forgiveness that Shin-ae offers is doubled by the faith and inner peace her sons murderer has found in prison; god has supposedly absolved his guilt. They may genuinely want to help Shin-ae, but their faith makes them unable to actually reach out and sympathizing with her in any sort of meaningful way. The central thing you should take away from Secret Sunshine is that intense grief is overwhelming, destructive and changes who you are at a fundamental level. We acknowledge the sovereignty of the Wurundjeri and Boon Wurrung people of the Kulin nation and support all Aboriginal people on their paths to self-determination. It was in the movies where the grown-up world was allowed to reveal itself in various states of despair. The more interesting implicit idea that Lee puts forth is that grief is, in its own way, a process of being born again. But now everything around Shin-ae beckons her back to normalcy, that world where grown-ups dont cry. After she's released from the hospital, Jong-chan takes her to a salon where Do-seop's daughter now works. family_home. Melodrama in particular was like an alternate universe, not just because tears flowed more freely there, but also because instead of condescending to the miserable among us, the genre seemed to use every device at its disposalharrowing plot twists, invasive close-ups, swelling musicto build a case for their misery. AKA: Sol Secreto. 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