Miss Granny

Mal-soon at seventy is a woman nobody escapes the tongue of, generating tension in her son's house. Hearing she is about to be sent to a care home, she wanders into an old photographer's studio at night for a portrait and walks out a woman of twenty. She hides her identity, takes the name Doo-ri and tries the one thing she gave up sixty years ago: singing. Hwang Dong-hyuk builds the comedy without letting go of the real ache of old age, and as it proceeds the question stops being rejuvenation and becomes what the mother sacrificed. Shim Eun-kyung plays a seventy-year-old inside a twenty-year-old body through voice and bearing. It was a large hit in Korea and has been remade in at least seven countries. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean family comedy and generational stories. Who it is not for: anyone avoiding an emotional finale.