Sunshine girl Jeon Do Yeon

I don’t go gaga over Jeon Do Yeon. BUT she is ONE great actress. In all her movies, from ‘Harmonium in My Wind’, to ‘Untold Scandal’ to ‘My Mother, the Mermaid’, she has not failed me.

In ‘You are my Sunshine’, together with Hwang Jeong Min, they have both made what might have been a very mediocre movie into an enjoyable one.

Many of Korean movies have the usual formulaic love story.. the funny, heart-warming, innocent first half and then followed by bring-out-your-tissues, tragically sad boy/ girl dying second half. Often, they seemed determined to make the terminally ill person look even sicker than necessary, but they still looked impossibly beautiful, accompanied by lots of dramatic shots. (eg, the boat terminal scene in My Girl ) Sometimes they forget that more is not better and less may be right.

Thankfully, this did not happened in this case, even though death was hinted at… with AIDS. But as Seok Joon said poignantly, “We are all going to die one day.”

Gist of story:
In a rural village, farmer (he has one cow), Seok Joong, would very much like to get married… but at the same time he still harbors romantic thoughts about getting to the girl he love. But a life among cow dung, pigs and an elderly mother aren’t exactly appealing for many girls.

Then one day, En Ha cycled past by him and he was electrified. Literally.

En Ha was on her way for her medical check up. During the daytime, En Ha works in a cafe, delivering coffee (and some) to men in motels. At night, she works in a girly bar, entertaining men with booze, song and her body. Definitely not your usual girl-next-door type. He woos her with flowers, cards and freshly squeezed milk, cleans the cafe signboard and orders lots of take-away coffee, so that she could rest. She resists his advances because she is not good enough for him. He persists because she is the most beautiful woman in the world and he loves her.

They got married finally… and share some beautiful moments as a couple.

This is one of the most beautiful scene in the movie, probably because of the abundant cherry blossoms in bloom and 2 persons very much in love.

Then her past catches up with her. Their lives changed. Even the village is affected.

For a person who is used to seeing all the melo K dramas and over tragic movies….. I actually cried. I cried at their steadfast love for each other despite the dramatic turn of events.

It was quite interesting to note that the director had interwoven the scene “How can love change so suddenly?” from ‘One Fine Spring Day’ into the movie to emphasize their unchanging love for each other. But what I like was that this point was not brought out in a sickly sweet way.

But this movie would not have been as great if not for the brilliant performances of the 2 leads. The movie has won some prizes in various film awards and one of them is for the best couple in the 26th Blue Dragon Awards. It is not surprising as they were really great as a couple in the movie.

And Seok Joon’s mother was very memorable too, if only because she was the most understanding and forgiving person in the movie. She must be quite advanced in age already but she doesn’t seemed to have aged since ‘Have We Really Love?’

The actual Korean title is ‘You are My Destiny’. But the English title is apt enough as the song was used frequently in the movie. (it was the same song we used in the Meet The Fan session with Bae Yong Joon. hehehe!) I think I like the ‘You are my Sunhine’ title much better.