Korean Reviews Reviews

Film Review: Salut d’Amour (2014) by Kang Je-gyu

Sung-chil is an extremely grumpy old man who lives alone and works at a supermarket. His boss, Jang-soo, who is also the director of a project regarding the district's redevelopment, is constantly trying to persuade him to sign a deal that will let the contractor demolish the old houses in order to rebuild. Sung-chil however continuously denies. Eventually, he meets his new neighbor and owner of a florists, Geum-nim, and a romantic relationship initiates, with the whole of the neighborhood watching, encouraging and occasionally offer advice to inexperienced Sung-chil. Something however, seems amiss.

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directs a film that initially seems as a romantic flick between two elderly, but as the story progresses, it is revealed as a heart-breaking melodrama. In that fashion, the permeating humor of the first half soon gives its place to a number of heartbreaking moments, retaining nevertheless, its artfulness, despite the change in genres.

Two scenes particularly stand out due to their hilarious nature: the fight between Jang-soo's sultry girlfriend and a bunch of girl-bullies, which includes some preposterous kung-fu moves, and the fight between Sung-chil and a bus driver that ends up in a belly-pushing contest.

Both of the elderly protagonists, as Sung-chil and as Geum-nim, are great in their respective roles, both in the comedic and the dramatic moments, proving once more that talent and ability do not fade so easily with age. I especially enjoyed Yoon Yuh-jung's distinct voice, that gives her performance an added level.

Technically the film is stunning, with great cinematography filled with impressive colors and a highly realistic depiction of the old neighborhood the film takes place for the most part.

Lastly, I could not neglect mentioning that all the women cast in the peripheral roles are gorgeous, a fact that makes the film even more appealing, at least for the male audience.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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