Failan

Kang-jae is a minor gang member. He is in his forties, incompetent, and nobody gives him work. He is asked to take the blame for a killing in someone else's place and accepts. At the same time word comes from the police: his wife has died. Kang-jae had forgotten he was married. Years ago he signed a paper for money; a false marriage was arranged so that a woman from China could stay in the country. He never saw her. He goes for the funeral. There he takes her belongings and finds a letter. Song Hae-sung directs. Choi Min-sik plays Kang-jae and Cecilia Cheung plays Failan. It is a Korean production. The source is a story by the Japanese writer Jiro Asada. Its form proceeds in two strands; the man's present and the woman's past are shown separately and never meet. Choi Min-sik's performance carries the picture and the character is made heroic nowhere. The matter it treats is what a person learns about himself from someone else; Failan's letter shows Kang-jae his own life through another eye. The film also takes up the situation of migrant workers; where she worked and the question of her permit are inside the narrative. The narrative builds no romance; the two never meet. Its limit is pace; the narrative is slow and the emotional dose rises in the last section. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean drama and Choi Min-sik. Who it is not for: it is slow, sad, and the ending heavy.