Peppermint Candy

It was emotionally powerful and hard to watch in places. Korean movies are often overwrought, but I’m glad I sat through this one. Some historical events from Korea’s recent past (the Gwangju massacre for example) and how they shaped the life of the movie’s protagonist were particularly interesting to me,Another enjoyable feature was how the movie started out showing one messed up individual and then went back in time to show how he became so deranged. A train was utilized as a recurring theme throughout the movie and served as a makeshift time machine to carry the story backwards as it were.Anyway, it was well-made, powerful, and sad. Which is what a Korean movie ought to be. Give it a watch and see for yourself.

It's one Korean guy's life, told backwards. This turned out to be a very good idea, because this man is not what he was when he was a boy. The pieces of his life that are shown permit the filmmaker to touch the high points and the very low points of South Korean history of the last 40 years. There was apparently a lot of conflict in South Korea during that period (long after the Korean war had ended), and this movie conveys what it all most have felt like just by concentrating on the experience of this one man, and the changes that occurred in his personality as he grew up and passed middle age.This is not a fun movie, but I think it's a realistic one. The availability of movie like this elswhere than in the USA is what has made me eager to see foreign movies ever since I first saw some from Europe 50 years ago.

Director Lee Chang-dong wrote the scripts for the movies he directed. Before directing his first movie (Green Fish), he was a script writer and a full-time high school teacher teaching Korean. Like all other movies he wrote and directed, this movie Peppermint Candy was not made just for entertainment or commercial success though all of them were moderately successful. There is no action or excitement. This is a movie intended for a small audience. This movie focuses on a young man (a factory worker) and follows his traumatic experience in military, and shows his career as a cop during the dark era of South Korea under military dictatorship. and then a co-owner of a furniture store before killing himself, ALL IN REVERSE TIME SEQUENCE.I strongly recommend his other movies as well, SECRET SUNSHINE, POETRY, OASIS to name a few.

A truly clever and magnificently acted story of a man who commits suicide. Unsentimental and honest analysis of a promising life destroyed by unfortunate chance events. Isn't that what REAL LIFE is all about in the end?

If you've read the book Rant, it's along the same style of format. You need to have a decent memory to piece together what links an old character with their modern counterpart, etc. It's definitely a great film, very realistic fight scenes. Taking off one star for one actual animal abuse scene.

I haven't seen anything like this. Its incredible how such a despicable character could pull me in. I was at the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next (or first). Genius!

You will have to wait to the end to understand why he is the jerk he is, but by that time you'll dislike him so much you really want care. Zero pity for this jerk.

It made me think what is like to be getting older in Korean society.I do not grasp the core message of this movie. It is really hard to sit through.The movie is like a phrase the moment you died you can see your life like a film scene -by -scene,

A prime example of the incredible talent that lies within Korean cinema. This is one of the very best; the acting is top notch, the direction is classy and the story (told in reverse to illustrate and explain the demise and destruction of a once up-standing man) is gritty and tragic in equal measure. To say it is thought-provoking is an understatement. A must-see. Please note however that this is a subtitled film as it is in the Korean language.

Après l’excitation causée par la réception du DVD, j’ai malheureusement un peu déchanté. La qualité de l’image n’est pas adaptée à 2020. Ensuite les sous-titres sont directement sur la vidéo. Je suis ravie qu’il y ait des sous-titres en anglais mais j’ai acheté le DVD du film en pensant avoir accès aux sous-titres coréens. Comme un DVD normal. Or il n’y a pas possibilité d’y avoir accès.Donc bien qu’enchanté du film, je suis déçue d’avoir les sous-titres incrustés sur l’image.