Nae maeumui punggeum

I am not generally a fan of romantic movies, but there are exceptions to every rule. For me, this movie is it. The romance between the two leads is not contrived or forced in any way. It develops naturally between two people who meet together daily. Anyone who has ever experienced a crush can identify with Hong-yeon. She searches for hidden meaning in her teacher's every action which she happily interprets to suit her fantasy. This movie is filled with warmth towards all of its characters. There is no enemy per se, just every day people. The scenery is memorable and matches the emotions of the film well. Watch the ending carefully as the credits begin to roll. It is there you can find the true conclusion to the film.

This film's story fits right in with the Koreans' great love of cutsey romance movies--which may turn off a lot of more jaded Western viewers--but its attention to detail is a great strength. All of the scenery and props create a beautiful, believable portrait of Korea in the days shortly after the Korean war. For anyone who's familiar with modern-day Korea, it's a very interesting look back. Also, the original music on the soundtrack is excellent and appropriate throughout the film.

I love Do-yeon Jeon and what I love about her is that she always appears completely genuine in performance. In this film, however, her every move is riddled with acting. It's hardly her fault as she is given the mighty task of portraying a fifth-grade girl. What is that? Ten years old? Eleven? Her character could be seventeen for all I know, given the poverty and functional illiteracy of her community, but she's still a fifth-grader. All the self-conscious insecurities and pouting of a girl that age—not to mention a girl that age whose day to day life is overwhelmed by a mad crush on her new twenty-one year old school teacher—all the mannerisms are forced. But enough about that. No use crying over spilled milk, or, thank god in this case, unrequited love.

The Harmonium in My Memory is a sweet little nostalgia film set in rural South Korea sometime after the war around 1960, give or take, centering on the teachers and students at a community school. Many of the students can't afford basic school supplies, are often rowdy in class and prove to be quite a handful for the rookie teacher played wonderfully by Byung-hun Lee (A Bittersweet Life; Joint Security Area). It's the youthful idealism of Lee's character who wants to treat the students with respect and tolerance set against the older teachers' old-school values of beating and discipline that serves as the film's basic theme. The other likable character in the film, played by Mi-yeon Lee, is another young teacher who takes her students outside to make noise and run off steam, much to the chagrin of her elders. She's Lee's love interest, and she and he share a passion for music, providing for many a musical moment in The Harmonium in My Memory. "Don't Break The Heart That Loves You", sung by Connie Francis, captures the torchy milieu of these characters perfectly—perhaps a little too easily.

The Harmonium in My Memory isn't a bad film, but expectations are extremely high for Do-yeon Jeon, and she disappoints; all the characters in the film are cliché; the use of dramatic music seems like a shortcut to emotions the characters aren't capable of making us feel; and the ending is manipulative, tacked on to make us get happy about a film that left us empty.

And what's the deal with kids bringing stool samples to class?

THE HARMONIUM IN MY MEMORY (1998): Sweet, simple, efficiently directed tale of a naive country girl, circa the late 1950's, who gets a crush on her newly-arrived teacher, an engaged, educated city boy who at first dismisses her silly efforts to impress him as so much childish infatuation, but soon comes to realize, thanks to a convenient development in one of the secondary characters, how much she really cares.

Excellent use of rural Korean backdrop and music, with a wonderfully believable performance by Jeon Do-yeon as a rural beauty coping with the bittersweet pangs of a seemingly hopeless crush.

"The Harmonium in my Memory" is nothing short of spectacular. It is the type of movie that will bring a big, heartfelt smile to your lips and rekindle your belief in love and true romance.

The movie is from 1999, but the way that it is shot and the entire feel to it really captured the feeling of being an older movie. And that worked so well, because it was really like you were right there in the Korean village, having taken a step back into the past. Hats off for the director, Young-jae Lee, for this achievement.

The story in "The Harmonium in my Memory" is about two teachers coming to a remote village in Korea to teach in school. It is a school unlike the ones in the bigger cities, and the new teachers have to adjust to the way of the rural school. The student girl, Yun Hong-yeon (played by Do-yeon Jeon) falls in love with her new male teacher, Kang Soo-ha (played by Byung-hun Lee), though he has fallen in love with the other newly arrived teacher.

The performances in the movie, by both the leading cast and the supporting cast was really amazing. People did such great jobs with their roles, and it all seemed so natural, like it was actual life and not a movie. It was Do-yeon Jeon who pulled the most weight in the movie, though. Her performance was simply phenomenal.

I was really taken by surprise when I watched this movie, because it was so much more than I had expected it to be. And it is really a movie that will stay with me for a long, long time. And be sure to watch the photographs that will show during the scrolling end credits, because they really round up the movie in the most wonderful way.

Having sat through "The Harmonium in my Memory", my spirits are really lifted and I feel much happier. This movie was really one amazing piece of cinema history. And it is no surprise why it won the 'Best Film' award at the 2000 Verona Film Festival.

If you like Korean (or Asian) movies and enjoy movies that you can relate to, movies that will sink into your heart and spirit and stay with you for a long, long time, then you owe it to yourself to sit down and watch "The Harmonium in my Memory". This movie is a testament to Korean movie-makers being able to put other great movies out there aside from action and comedies.