Shijibganeun nal

A sweet little Korean movie about an arranged marriage, and the upcoming wedding ceremony. The bride is lovely and the groom is rich, though otherwise an enigma because the marriage broker, blinded by the groom's vast wealth, forgot to ask to meet him. Everyone connected with the bride is excited for her, until a troubling rumor gets out about the groom, and suddenly the bride faces ridicule, and the bride's family faces a dilemma. Should they proceed with the wedding to which they formally agreed, and return the rich gifts, or should they cancel it and lose face? Then one family member gets a brilliant idea...

This is one of those beautifully shot black and white films that looks better than it would in color. Somehow the cinematography reminded me of Black Narcissus and of early Ingmar Bergman films. The story is simple but engaging. The acting style and the story reflect the time and the place, so don't expect modern sophistication, but for me they were just fine. The only problem with the film is that the subtitles were provided by volunteers, and are slightly ahead of the speaker.

Nevertheless, I'm surprised at the mediocre (6.3) score on IMDb. Maybe it's not quite up to the 8.7 shown on Viki, where it is currently playing for free, but I give it a solid 8, because it's a movie I truly love and will probably return to more than once.

This film essentially begins with a conniving village elder by the name of "Maeng Jin-sa" (Seung-ho Kim) arraigning a marriage between his daughter "Gap-bun" (Yu-Hee Kim) and a man named "Mi-eon" (Hyeon Choi) who he has never met. What he does know, however, is that Mi-eon belongs to a royal family and is extremely wealthy--and that's all that Maeng Jin-sa cares about. At least, that's all he cares about at first. For her part, Gap-bun recognizes the honor bestowed upon her by this upcoming marriage and is delighted by her father's shrewd marriage negotiation. Unfortunately, everything changes when a rumor is circulated which reveals that Mi-eon suffers from a birth defect that has rendered him exceedingly crippled--which Maeng Jin-sa would have known about if he had bothered to meet the prospective groom and hadn't been so blinded by the potential status and wealth brought on by the promise of this marriage. Likewise, this news doesn't please Gap-bun either as the thought of marrying someone who is crippled is quite revolting to her. That said, faced with the complete loss-of-face over this marriage, Maeng Jin-sa comes up with an ingenious plan to remedy the situation--which subsequently creates a new set of problems for everyone concerned. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that I was honestly didn't expect too much from this movie--due in large part to the economic devastation brought on by the Korean War only 3 years earlier. That said, Having now seen it in its entirety, I must say that this little romantic comedy left me pleasantly surprised. Admittedly, I didn't know any of the actors involved, but they all performed quite well with M-Lyeong Jo (as "Ip-bun") and the aforementioned Seung-ho Kim and Yu-Hee Kim probably standing out the most. In any case, those viewers looking for a cute romantic comedy could certainly do worse, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.