About the Film
Yet another film with a history of its own, director Lee Man-hee's “A Day Off” was filmed in October and November, 1968 and completed in the same year. However, the film, which depicted a bleak, depressing reality of life in a Seoul caught between changes, ran afoul with the censor authorities upon submission. The censors insisted that a sentence be added to the narration in the final scene, one which completely changed the story and the plight of the character that was intended. Firebrand producer Jeon Ok-suk, who greenlit the project without getting the script approved with the censors, director Lee Man-hee and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter Baek Gyeol, all strongly refused the nonsensical addition. This resulted in the film being shelved without screening and it ended up on the shelves of the Korean Film Archive, forgotten and ultimately lost even to history books, to the point that it wasn't even mentioned in Lee Man-hee's filmography anywhere. It wasn't until 2005 that the original reels, still intact, were found in the Korean Film Archive and the film finally saw the day of light and audiences finally got to see it. What was is about the movie that had the crew and the censors clash to the point that they'd both rather see the film shelved than have anything but their own version of it screened?
Synopsis
On a lazy autumnal Sunday morning, a destitute but smartly dressed Huh-wook is on his way somewhere. So broke is this man that he even resorts to conning the tobacco seller out of a packet of cigarettes and his taxi driver out of the taxi fare. As it turns out, he is on his way to meet Ji-yeon, his girlfriend, who is waiting outside a coffee shop for him, herself equally broke to the point that she doesn't have money to go inside the shop. The two lovers go for a walk on Namsan mountain, where Huh-woo finds out Ji-yeon is pregnant and given the financial circumstances, has decided to have an abortion today. The penniless Huh-wook resolves to borrow enough money for the operation and goes about banging on his friends' doors while Ji-yeon waits on Namsan for his return.
Later in the film, Huh-wook raises a toast with a woman he meets in a bar. “To a gloomy Sunday”, he says, to which she raises her own glass and replies, “Gloomy people”
