Peppermint Candy
| Peppermint Candy | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster
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| Hangul | |
| Hanja | |
| Revised Romanization | Bakha Satang |
| McCune–Reischauer | Pakha Satang |
| Directed by | Lee Chang-dong |
| Produced by |
Myeong Gye-nam Makoto Ueda |
| Written by | Lee Chang-dong |
| Starring |
Sol Kyung-gu Moon So-ri Kim Yeo-jin |
| Distributed by |
Shindo Films Cineclick Asia |
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Release date
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Running time
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130 minutes |
| Country | South Korea |
| Language | Korean |
Peppermint Candy (Hangul: 박하사탕; RR: Bakha Satang) is a 1999 film, the second from South Korean director Lee Chang-dong. The movie starts with the suicide of the protagonist and uses reverse chronology to depict some of the key events of the past 20 years of his life that led to his death. It was the ninth highest grossing domestic film of 2000 with 311,000 admissions in Seoul.
It was received well, especially in film festivals. Spurred by the success of Lee Chang-dong's directorial debut, Green Fish, Peppermint Candy was chosen as the opening film for the Pusan International Film Festival in its first showing in 1999. It won multiple awards at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and won the South Korean cinema industry's Grand Bell Awards for best film of 2000.
At the beginning, the main character Yong-ho wanders to a reunion of his old student group. After causing some general mayhem with his deranged antics, he leaves and climbs atop a nearby train track. Facing an oncoming train, he exclaims "I want to go back again!" What follows is a series of prior events in the main character's life that show how he became the suicidal man portrayed in this scene.
The first flashback takes place only a few days before Yong-ho's death. At this point he is already clearly suicidal, confronting his former business partner and ex-wife Hong-ja before the husband of his teenage crush Sun-im pays him a surprise visit. Yong-ho is taken to visit a comatose Sun-im in a hospital.
The next flashback shows Yong-ho's life five years earlier. At first glance, he seems to be a rather successful businessman, but the problems in his life become clear when he confronts his wife, who is having an affair with her driving instructor. Yong-ho is unable to claim moral high ground, since he is also shown having an affair, with an assistant from his workplace. Finally, Yong-ho is shown with his wife at their new house, having dinner with his colleagues, where it becomes apparent that the marriage isn't working.
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Wikipedia