Lee, who mesmerized international audiences with "This Charming Girl", returns with this 98-minute drama that is equally subtle and atypical but could be more challenging to follow and leaves less delight at the end. Written by the director and based on a Japanese short novel, the movie introduces a puzzling situation that is not explained until the final moments of the film.The young woman Bo-gyeong, played by Han Hyo-joo, is waiting for someone on a noisy street in Seoul when several young men approach her and demand she go with them, calling her "Myeong-eun". Even though she insists she is not the person they are looking for, the men ask her to pretend to be that woman and visit her dying father.Reluctantly, Bo-gyeong gets in their van and joins their return to Myeong-eun's countryside home. There she meets relatives of the woman who gather at the bedside of the dying man and spend the night debating insubstantial issues such as who borrowed money or who looked after the patient. Before the father dies, Bo-gyeong even tells him, "I'm sorry, father".The next morning, she returns to Seoul with Myeong-eun's first love. As the dawn breaks outside the car window, she finally starts talking about her life. Bo-gyeong's visit with the strangers was seemingly for their benefit but it actually helps her find her true self and learn to respect it.
Produced by the television station affiliate KBS N and shot over just 10 days for budgetary reasons, the drama only gives a vague explanation of some parts -- such as why Myeong-eun's first love shows hostility to Bo-gyeong and changes his attitude or exactly what issues each of the relatives has with the dying father.Also, the lead character seems somewhat flat and less vibrant than the one in Taira Azuko's novel, as the movie gives little chance for her to ponder her own life and sidelines her as an observer of the strange family in the main part of the story.
Still, the movie is different from a series of comedies and gangster movies that appeal to moviegoers with easy humor or sensational stories. The director said, "All audiences may not identify with Bogyeong, but if there are some who can follow her, they will observe what she observes from the strangers. That (the night she spends with the family) could be the most important part in this story".
Bo-kyung, a girl in her twenties living in Seoul happens to meet Ki-yong, who has just arrived from the countryside. He asks her a favor ? to come down to the countryside to meet an old man who misses his runaway daughter. Despite her hesitation, she gets in Ki- yong`s car. She feels strange when she encounters the old man and others in the countryside, but soon becomes interested in their lives.
