Movie Score Breakdown / Appreciation Paragraph / Perception of Symbolism
Story 8/10 Intensity 8/10 Cinematography 9/10 Emotion 10/10 Scenery 10/10 Acting 10/10 Symbolism 10/10, too much?
Other reviews have already summed the plot up, and wonderfully expressed how FANTASTIC this movie's pacing, editing, cinematography, and story blends together. So instead lets dive a bit deeper into some symbolism. Disclaimer: this is purely my perception and I could be 100% wrong, that's the beauty of this level of symbolism. DISCLAIMER #2: I think many users who didn't enjoy this film took no note of the depth this film goes into.
The Sea, and the Mountains: We begin this movie in the mountains, and end in the sea. And everything between is a descent and ascend to or from one, to the other. Tang Wei likely represents the sea as this is where she returns. However, she is also said to have a mountain assigned to her by her family, and her phone's wallpaper and case are both the sea and the mountains depending on when we see them, and which phone we are looking at. She also choses to wear clothes that are green or blue, and later on an interesting comment is made regarding different characters seeing the colors differently where only our protagonist sees her in blue.
The mist: Hae Jun's wife never leaves the fog of Ipo. She is shrouded throughout the film and honestly, clueless. Hae Jun and Tang Wei are free from the mist, until Hae Jun choses to return to his wife. This lasts 13 months until Tang Wei moves to Ipo and the fog immediately lifts but just for these characters, when they go to the mountain and officially address their feelings for the first time. This is when we see Tang Wei not push our MC off the cliff and can truly confirm she isn't a psychopath murderer, as much as she is in love with him. Once they return to the town, he even remarks "It didn't snow here", for our 2 lovers the snow brought with clarity, clarity that was only shared between the two of them.
The crow and the turtle: This one's tough, and honestly I am not the right person to answer this one. It is very likely Park knows something about crow & turtle symbolism between the Chinese/Korean cultures and that these may have represented something much deeper than I can fathom. But my simplistic explanation: the crow is the sky (mountain) and the turtle is the sea. The crow dies, and the turtles are set free. The turtles are also set free in a misplaced scene between the love tension we are constantly indulged in. After the crow died Jun keeps a feather and seems to hold it close to him. The last time we see it is post 13month gap, when the new female officer picks it up and he slaps it from her hand and places it back in the safety of a pen mug. Clearly the deceased symbol of Tang Wei's mountain association was something dear to the character.
That's where I'm going to leave it as I feel this review could otherwise be a short novel. Things not addressed that are most peculiar: was Hae Jun truly abused? We see she faked a great deal of the scenarios she was placed in such as the police ravaging her house. Was there more to her arrival from China by boat and trauma regarding the 10 days at SEA covered in feces? Did Jun's wife leave him? We see her leave with her recently divorced June coworker, both with luggage and then Jun is sleeping alone with his CPAP machine. Also why is she carrying away the last turtle Jun had brought home?
TA, JV, AA.
Story 8/10 Intensity 8/10 Cinematography 9/10 Emotion 10/10 Scenery 10/10 Acting 10/10 Symbolism 10/10, too much?
Other reviews have already summed the plot up, and wonderfully expressed how FANTASTIC this movie's pacing, editing, cinematography, and story blends together. So instead lets dive a bit deeper into some symbolism. Disclaimer: this is purely my perception and I could be 100% wrong, that's the beauty of this level of symbolism. DISCLAIMER #2: I think many users who didn't enjoy this film took no note of the depth this film goes into.
The Sea, and the Mountains: We begin this movie in the mountains, and end in the sea. And everything between is a descent and ascend to or from one, to the other. Tang Wei likely represents the sea as this is where she returns. However, she is also said to have a mountain assigned to her by her family, and her phone's wallpaper and case are both the sea and the mountains depending on when we see them, and which phone we are looking at. She also choses to wear clothes that are green or blue, and later on an interesting comment is made regarding different characters seeing the colors differently where only our protagonist sees her in blue.
The mist: Hae Jun's wife never leaves the fog of Ipo. She is shrouded throughout the film and honestly, clueless. Hae Jun and Tang Wei are free from the mist, until Hae Jun choses to return to his wife. This lasts 13 months until Tang Wei moves to Ipo and the fog immediately lifts but just for these characters, when they go to the mountain and officially address their feelings for the first time. This is when we see Tang Wei not push our MC off the cliff and can truly confirm she isn't a psychopath murderer, as much as she is in love with him. Once they return to the town, he even remarks "It didn't snow here", for our 2 lovers the snow brought with clarity, clarity that was only shared between the two of them.
The crow and the turtle: This one's tough, and honestly I am not the right person to answer this one. It is very likely Park knows something about crow & turtle symbolism between the Chinese/Korean cultures and that these may have represented something much deeper than I can fathom. But my simplistic explanation: the crow is the sky (mountain) and the turtle is the sea. The crow dies, and the turtles are set free. The turtles are also set free in a misplaced scene between the love tension we are constantly indulged in. After the crow died Jun keeps a feather and seems to hold it close to him. The last time we see it is post 13month gap, when the new female officer picks it up and he slaps it from her hand and places it back in the safety of a pen mug. Clearly the deceased symbol of Tang Wei's mountain association was something dear to the character.
That's where I'm going to leave it as I feel this review could otherwise be a short novel. Things not addressed that are most peculiar: was Hae Jun truly abused? We see she faked a great deal of the scenarios she was placed in such as the police ravaging her house. Was there more to her arrival from China by boat and trauma regarding the 10 days at SEA covered in feces? Did Jun's wife leave him? We see her leave with her recently divorced June coworker, both with luggage and then Jun is sleeping alone with his CPAP machine. Also why is she carrying away the last turtle Jun had brought home?
TA, JV, AA.