What is a happy ending – and should every film have one? A happy ending is not universal, but subjective, and a film does not need a happy ending. It needs the right ending – which is also subjective. To me …ing definitely has the right ending.

Mina has been seriously ill since she was a little girl, going in and out of hospitals. The doctors say, they cannot do anything more for her – it’s only a matter of time. She’s been in hospitals so much, so that she hasn’t had time to get any friends. Her mother says, she’ll be her friend, so her mother is Misuk to her (a nice little touch) and not just “mother” – and she is her only friend. She is now 19 and lives in an appartment with Misuk; her father has passed away.

A goofy photography student moves in downstairs and for him it’s love at first sight. Mina is reserved and afraid to open up – but gradually he wins her over. For the first time in her life she has found a male friend and the romantic love, that she has been dreaming of.

Had Hollywood made this film, it would have been sponsored by Kleenex – and no man would have been caught within a mile of the theatre showing it.

Instead this Korean film has real characters with real feelings. It will make you both laugh and cry, and there are some scenes, where they pour it on a bit thick. You may be a bit sad, but you will leave the theatre with a feeling of having seen some real people fighting real problems in a heroic way. The right ending.

Uffe Stegmann
March 17, 2004

GALLERY