The unhappiness of lost love is an irresistible target for storytellers, but these tales can be trying for filmmakers ― and for viewers. All the elements need to come together just right: actors with more than a spark of chemistry, good camera work and an intriguing and meaningful script.
Though "The Power of Gangwon Province" comes up short of this ideal in a few important ways, it is still a worthy attempt, with a stimulating plot, a beautiful natural setting and good casting.
The structure of the film is unusual and clever. Ji-sook (Oh Yoon-hong) travels to Gangneung, Gangwon province, on vacation with her friends Mi-sun (Im Sun-young) and Eun-kyoung (Park Hyeon-young), where they meet a policeman (Kim Yoo-seok), who shows them the village and drinks them all under the table. In tantalizing flashes, dialogue reveals that Ji-sook is depressed after the ending of an unhappy love affair with an older, married man. One awkward groping by the policeman later, the friends return t...|
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