SYNOPSIS:

Tae-suk, a young drifter enters strangers' houses and lives there while the owners are away. He guards the house for a few days, fixing broken items and even does the owner's laundry. Before leaving, he puts everything back as it is used to be. One day, sneaking into a wealthy home, Tae-suk meets his destiny- a married young woman named Sun-hwa who has been tormented by her abusive husband is ready to escape with him from her unhappy and abusive marriage.

DISC REVIEW :

Silence is easy, but it's also very powerful.

The story follows drifter Tae-suk (Jae Hee) who inhabits empty houses when their owner are away. In return, he would do chores around the house and fixes defective appliances things. He leaves the house before the home-owner returns, in search of his next empty abode to squat. One night he gets into a house he believes to be empty, and is met by a girl with bruises on her arms and face, Sun-hwa (Lee Seung-yeon). They don't say a word to each other and quietly, Tae-suk leaves. Tae-suk returns to the house out of pity to find Sun-hwa's husband abusing her, he apprehends and he and Sun-hwa ride off together. Between them both, they share no dialogue and all of their thoughts and feelings are put into their actions, and the manner in which they perform their actions. Considering the complexity of their relationship you'd expect the last thing they'd be is silent, but it acts as an excellent metaphor to how silence entitles you to absolute freedom; the ability to lock up your problems and leave them behind affords you the chance to be someone different for the duration. Their silence speaks volumes about their characters.

The majority of the movie being left without dialogue does not mean to say that the acting is only half-decent. If anything, not having dialogue makes it as hard a job for the two lead actors involved, as a decent level of ability is demanded to be able to convey things through expression and body language rather then speech. Jae Jee and Lee Seung-yeon put in very affectionate performances; absent of over-dramatics, and instead, focusing on delivering humane subtlety.

SOUND/VISUAL:

The disc comes equipped with both Korean Dolby Digital 2.0 with subtitles in English and Chinese.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Like all art movies, budget seems to be the main concern for dvds so unfortunately, none is presented in this edition.

MOVIE RATING: B+


Review by Lokman BS