Anna
Two people who make pit stops, in this journey called life, right next to each other.
Josée is a mysterious, pretty woman who is helped up onto her wheelchair by an engineering student, Lee Young-seok. She offers him free meals every time he goes by their house and he helps her out, closing the distance between them little by little.
The movie is shot mostly from a third person's perspective thus lessening the probability of forming a real connection with the characters. Much like we're looking into their lives through the hole in the wall that Josée uses to look outside.
To be perfectly honest, I expected there to be waterworks because this pairing brought us one of the most heartbreaking dramas, Light in your eyes. But I gradually came to realise that this movie isn't supposed to make you cry. It is meant to bring you to tears, to leave them dangling for their lives right at the waterline. It needs you to think which then brings in this feeling of knowing, of understanding the characters and why they did what they did and why they brought in conflict when it didn't seem necessary. We don't really see how the characters feel but rather how they express it. The movie captures you not because of the characters individually but how they interact in a closed space. The feeling is so surreal and something I have never experienced before.
There are just a handful of characters and it is extremely aesthetic. While it seems like a vague and open ending to most, I really saw finality in it. There is great beauty in Josée and her white lies. A great beauty in their little world. A world built on loneliness and helplessness but one that blossomed into independence.
Do I recommend this movie? Yes but only in a specific kind of mood. Like I said it won't give you a good cry, you are just left sitting and staring at the void as the credits roll in and a beautiful song plays. However, it gives you an immense sense of empathy, of understanding without hearing. So, if you're in the mood for a slow-burning, introspective movie filled with beautiful cinematography and exceptionally acting especially from Nam Joo-hyuk, then yes.
I give Josée an 9/10.
(PS: I see so much of kind-hearted Nam Do-san in Young-seok. These two were also engineers, so it made me smile, all nostalgic. And Han Ji-min is just wow, but I don't think I've to say that specifically.)
The movie is shot mostly from a third person's perspective thus lessening the probability of forming a real connection with the characters. Much like we're looking into their lives through the hole in the wall that Josée uses to look outside.
To be perfectly honest, I expected there to be waterworks because this pairing brought us one of the most heartbreaking dramas, Light in your eyes. But I gradually came to realise that this movie isn't supposed to make you cry. It is meant to bring you to tears, to leave them dangling for their lives right at the waterline. It needs you to think which then brings in this feeling of knowing, of understanding the characters and why they did what they did and why they brought in conflict when it didn't seem necessary. We don't really see how the characters feel but rather how they express it. The movie captures you not because of the characters individually but how they interact in a closed space. The feeling is so surreal and something I have never experienced before.
There are just a handful of characters and it is extremely aesthetic. While it seems like a vague and open ending to most, I really saw finality in it. There is great beauty in Josée and her white lies. A great beauty in their little world. A world built on loneliness and helplessness but one that blossomed into independence.
Do I recommend this movie? Yes but only in a specific kind of mood. Like I said it won't give you a good cry, you are just left sitting and staring at the void as the credits roll in and a beautiful song plays. However, it gives you an immense sense of empathy, of understanding without hearing. So, if you're in the mood for a slow-burning, introspective movie filled with beautiful cinematography and exceptionally acting especially from Nam Joo-hyuk, then yes.
I give Josée an 9/10.
(PS: I see so much of kind-hearted Nam Do-san in Young-seok. These two were also engineers, so it made me smile, all nostalgic. And Han Ji-min is just wow, but I don't think I've to say that specifically.)
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