The first time I saw Park Shin Yang's TV appearance was in the soap 'Try to snatch my Heart' in Phoenix Channel, sometime highschool days. (See I've been watching koreanovela way way back before the koreanovela mania started) Funny, I and my sisters were commenting, 'grabe pwede na plang pang-artista ang ganon sa Korea'. He played the role of a doctor, looked so plain with the geeky glasses on. The soap was a so-so one.
Yet, he is also the cause I got myself so teary-eyed for the first-time in watching a movie. 'The Letter'. My sister and I accidentally chanced upon this movie in Arirang TV (sometime college days). I didnt expect too much, but the theme is overwhelmingly touching.
It talks of a newly-wed couple who loves each other so much. Then one day the guy was diagnosed with cancer with a few months left on his life. It was obviously a shock for both of them. Somehow in the corners of her mind, the wife wanted to commit suicide once after her husband dies to join him in his journey, and somehow the guy sensed it and confronted her not to do so.
Then the guy died, the wife mourned. Suddenly the wife kept on receiving letter from him day after day. The twist of this movie, it actually has a slightly frieky suspense-like element. The wife didnt know where the letters were coming from. Was it the guy is still alive, or was it the ghost is after her. The contents of the letters were encouraging, sweet, and talked about their moments together (flashback styles). It somehow gave the wife a reason to stay alive, as she looked forward getting her letters from the mailman every morning.
Then after like 2 weeks or 10 letters (cant remember exactly), the wife received a video tape instead. The guy video-taped himself and explained what is happening. He looked so haggard, already bald with a cap (typical chemo patient), dark undereye cirles, pale lips. When he was struggling hard and feeling his end days were near, he managed to keep on writing letters and made arrangement with the postal company for the schedules of delivery, so that his wife will receive these letters once he dies. He knew that his wife would be left lonely and nowhere to go, weak and devastated. He planned all these to help her get through the agony. There was a scene in the tape that made a big impression on me. While the tape was running, he got a phone call from his wife leaving some voice message, and he cried so much after listening to the voicemail, saying that even he has a hard time leaving her. There were several heart-warming dialogues that I actually cant quite remember now. But I do remember cleary, tagaktak-luha ako nun. I cant control it, tears just kept falling down naturally. Probably it helps that I havent heard any feedbacks and doesnt have any expectations at all on this movie while watching it.
It doesnt seem like a high-budget movie, but cinematography's good and acting is superb! 2 thumbs Up for a movie with so much HEART in it.
P.S. No offense, walang sinabi ang The Notebook d2 - The Notebook has always been regarded as a movie that made a lot of people cry, somehow I wasnt moved while watching it. Probably my standards for a 'crying' movie has risen a bit after watching The Letters.
Can someone help find me a copy?! This was filmed 10 years ago (ang tagal na pla). I wonder if I would still be moved watching it again. I cant even search for a decent picture in the net! Ganon ata ka-rare or kakonti ang nakakaappreciate nito. :)
Synopsis from net: http://www.parkshinyang.com/English/film/film.php
An Unforgettable Love
With the tag line, “a tear-jerking melodrama”, the film pulled a record-breaking 770-thousand viewers in 1997. Park Shin-yang plays a man working in an arboretum as a tree specialist who bumps into a Korean academic at a train station. She drops her wallet while running to catch a train and, when he retrieves it for her, it leads to the start of a romantic love affair. Willing to do anything for his love, he promises to be with her forever. But shortly after they marry, he is diagnosed with a fatal disease and dies, leaving his love on her own. But letters start arriving from her lover just as she starts to think there is no point to life without her husband.
Innocent Purity
Park Shin-yang encapsulated the endless gentleness and purity of one man’s love in this film that had audiences reaching for boxes of tissues. The movie became famous in Korea for a sentimental scene focusing on the dying husband’s video-taped message to his wife in which the character reads a poem. Park Shin-yang received the Popularity Award at the 34th Baek-Sang (White Elephant) Art Award and the Best New Male Actor Award at the 18th Film Critics Award among others, reserving him a spot among the nation’s best-loved actors.
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