With the unexpected box-office success of her second feature, Lee Jeong-hyang has become Korea’s most commercially successful woman director. Although the popularity of her debut film Art Museum by the Zoo can in part be attributed to star actress Shim Eun-ha, her latest work offers nothing more in the way of star power than a 7-year old boy and a 77-year old grandmother. Based purely on its strengths in storytelling, this film outgrossed Spider-Man and Fellowship of the Ring to become one of Korea’s most popular and beloved features.
The Way Home... takes place in the countryside, where a young boy from Seoul is dropped off to live with his mute grandmother, whom he has never met. The boy is furious at this upheaval in his life, taking out his frustrations by misbehaving and making wild demands of his grandmother. Deprived of television, fast food, and batteries for his game machine, he begins making life increasingly difficult for his new-found relative.
The film was shot in a remote country village of only eight households, with non-professional actors taking all the roles except that of the young boy. Kim Ul-boon, the woman who plays the grandmother, was scouted from another village when the director spotted her walking down the road. Having never seen a movie before in her life, she nonetheless proved to be a talented and devoted actress, and has since become a minor celebrity.
Apart from its lessons about love and patience, The Way Home... also highlights the world of difference that exists between rural and urban Korea, after several decades of extremely rapid development. The film’s main strength lies in its storytelling, however. Although the plot contains few surprises, it develops in such natural fashion that it doesn’t feel like a story is being told at all.
Darcy Paquet