About This Film
“The Road to Sampo” is the final film of Lee Man-hee-I, who collapsed during the editing process and died soon after, with the film releasing in cinemas posthumously.
Synopsis
The script is based on the homonymous story by Hwang Seok-young and revolves around three misfits who end up travelling together. No Yeong-dal is a young construction worker who finds himself with no work and no place to live during the hard winter. As the film begins, he meets Mr Jeong, a middle-aged man, who makes a living doing odd jobs with the skills he acquired during his time in prison, and is on his way to his hometown, Sampo. The two of them roam in the nearby town, where a restaurant owner promises to pay them a large sum for bringing back Baek-hwa, a “hostess” who ran away with her purse. Jeong and Yeong-dal eventually find the girl, but instead of turning her in, she manages to persuade them to travel together. As they visit various places and experience both happy moments and hardships, the initial constant arguing between Yeong-dal and Baek-hwa becomes something else. Lastly, through various flashbacks, we learn the life story of all three characters.
