One Fine Spring Day

Young sound recordist Sang-Woo (Yoo) lives in Seoul with his father, aunt and senile grandmother; he accepts a gig recording natural sounds for a radio series which takes him to Gangleung City and introduces him to divorcée Eun-Soo (Lee). They meet-cute (he has her mobile phone to wake her in the station waiting room), and so it's no surprise that they drift into a sexual relationship. But as winter shades into spring, she tires of her toy-boy and calls it all off - whereupon he falls to pieces. The emphasis on male vulnerability could be seen as a reaction against the gains in social/sexual status made by Korean women in recent years, except that the film's identification with the hapless Sang-Woo is so obviously heartfelt and personal. In its low key, contemplative way, this well-acted and observed movie offers a modern counterpoint to von Sternberg's The Devil Is a Woman.