Failan

Fresh out of prison after detainment for selling porn to underage teens, drunken two-bit hood Kangjae (‘Old Boy’ star Choi) is saved from the depredations of his violent boss and disrespectful juniors by the news that his immigrant wife Failan (Hong Kong star Cheung) has died. He’d never met his paper bride, but the trip up country to identify her gradually stirs something fine in him… Song’s bittersweet redemption fable begins in a jagged vein, but slowly settles down along with its protagonist: there’s a lovely, sad montage of their respective excursions toward one another. The result brushes with sentimentality, but also finds an unexpected force of feeling.