Lee Han-wi (이한위)

2006/11/27 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Sometimes, we watch films to satisfy our burning (yet often unfulfilled) desire for a better world - a cheap entertainment that whets our insatiable appetite for a sugarcoated fantasy that we hope will help replace our cheaper reality.

"Solace", directed by Byeon Seung-wook, defies such convention. The world it portrays is far from beautiful: Life is tough, all the characters are trapped, relationships are hard to forge and even harder to maintain.

In-gu (Han Seok-kyu) is a likable pharmacist. He smiles a lot, is friendly, and pleasant to talk with. His drugstore is small but he seems comfortable in the cramped space, playing an online poker game in his leisure time and ordering Chinese food for a quick lunch.

But his life is anything but happy-go-lucky. Older brother, In-seop (Lee Han-wi), is mentally disabled, and In-gu bears the burden of taking care of his brother, often involving a wild-goose chase around town because he tends to disappear. His older brother's presence po...

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2006/11/21 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Yonhap) -- The delicately written melodrama "Solace" involves less sentimentality and music than its local predecessors in the genre, but the emotional reticence creates more space for the audience to chew over the plot, and thus makes the story more engaging.

The film, about a couple in their 30s who are too experienced and saddled with worries to fantasize about love, follows the rules of melodrama and may be overly sentimental at times, but in the end conveys a powerful catharsis that overcomes the predictability.

Director Byeon Seung-wook, who spent five years working on the movie's scenario, said he hoped to distance the story from being a predictable tear-jerking melodrama. Within the love story framework lies the irresistible yoke of life, such as love, family and aging, which are also real-life issues for many in the audience, he said.

"I basically had a concern about how to make this melodrama, how to make it different from ones that we usually think o...

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