imizrahi2002 i would've used another word instead of crap, but i don't think IMDb would allow it... i agree with LOTS of the previous commentators... including the one that said(and i was REALLY surprised that someone else mentioned this, much less THOUGHT of it...) it reminded them of the movie 'the Rapture'. if you've missed that one, you have my sympathies. one of the best original stories i've ever been lucky enough to partake of... i agree that the lead role's acting was excellent. i agree that it was very realistic in a lot of ways. i agree that it didn't pull punches. but what am i really left with? i've seen THOUsands of movies, literally. it's not as if my story telling vocabulary is limited to happily ever after endings, middles OR beginnings... i love a VERY wide range of movies/ways of telling stories cinematically... this movie had soooo little payoff for me that i felt the need to write this... and it's not as if i haven't seen slow movies...i LOVE 'stranger than paradise'...and i could name gods know how many more 'off beat' films... and two and a half hours? for WHAT? yes...i felt like i was there...i guess i don't 'go there' for the same reason i won't see something like 'cyborg soldier' or 'hellraiser 6'...no reason for me to... i don't feel enriched or transformed or entertained... but i AM glad my vlc player has a fast forward... consider yourselves informed.

Ingeving If you've had drama in your life, either your own or by someone close to you, the stages of pain this woman (but, in my opinion, it could easily have been a man too)goes through are very very real. It is a movie about not being able to cope with your pain, about not knowing what to do to help yourself get through it. Obviously it then also is a movie about not knowing how to help someone close to you get through their pain. It is a movie that makes you realize that everyone is alone in their suffering. It is a movie that might push someone over the edge...which hardly sounds like a recommendation. I'm not sure I would recommend someone to go see this film, especially someone close, but for me...it is a movie that puts things into perspective, that shows real pain, and is therefore much relevant to being alive. It makes you realize that hey, you or the person close to you have lived through pain, that hey, all the things you worry about now are of so little importance

wondercritic "Secret Sunshine" reminded me of "The Rapture" (1991), with Mimi Rogers and David Duchovny, but this Korean production is a better film. It portrays super-religious Korean Christians in a provincial Korean city, and the main character's experiences interacting with them in the wake of a horrible personal tragedy. Shin-ae is a widowed single mother who moves to the city of Milyang ('Secret Sunshine' in Chinese) from Seoul with her young son. She has chosen Milyang because her late husband (killed in an auto accident) was born there, and she feels she needs to make a new start in life in a new place. She does not react well to the overtures of the local Christian zealots, one of whose members tries to convince her to come to their church and prayer meetings. Shin-ae is essentially irreligious and brushes these people off as politely as she can. In fact, she brushes just about everyone in Milyang off to begin with, but some of them are persistent in trying to invade her world, and the consequences are often hilarious. To say more would be to give the film away, but it should be noted that the performance of the woman in the lead role (Jeon Do-yeon) is stupendous. Having read that she won the Best Actress award at Cannes in 2007, I expected her to a decent job. But Ms. Jeon is captivating and it is impossible to take your eyes off her when she is on screen. The movie is a sort of harrowing Evelyn Waugh-esquire piece of work, showing how Fate can feel insane as much as strangely inevitable.

mjr-13 I saw this film in the worst possible circumstance. I'd already missed 15 minutes when I woke up to it on an international flight between Sydney and Seoul. I didn't know what I was watching, I thought maybe it was a movie of the week, but quickly became riveted by the performance of the lead actress playing a young woman who's child had been kidnapped. The premise started taking twist and turns I didn't see coming and by the end credits I was scrambling through the the in-flight guide to figure out what I had just watched. Turns out I was belatedly discovering Do-yeon Jeon who'd won Best Actress at Cannes for the role. I don't know if Secret Sunshine is typical of Korean cinema but I'm off to the DVD store to discover more.