Film Screening
My Dear Enemy
Directed by Lee, Yoon-ki, 2008
24 September 2010
My Dear Enemy is one of those rare films, like Lost in
Translation or Adrift in Tokyo, that is able to say so much
with so little. The film stars two of South Korea’s most
in- demand performers: Do-yeon Jeon and Jung-woo Ha.
For Do-yeon Jeon, this is her first performance since her
performance in Secret Sunshine which won her the Best
Actress Award at Cannes.
Jobless and single in her thirties, Hee-soo is miserable.
One day, she sets out to find Byoung-woon, her exboyfriend.
It is not love that brings them together but the
$1,000 that Hee-soo had lent Byoung-woon a year ago.
Byoung-woon is also penniless but happy, relying on the
many girls whom he knows are willing to give him money.
Afraid Byoung-woon may run off before clearing his debt,
Hee-soo follows him as he visits girl after girl to borrow
money. The two ex-lovers set out on a one-day journey
to collect the money and unwittingly, memories of the past
as well.
High tension drama is absent in this film. Crazy plot
twists and violence are non-existent.. Yet, My Dear Enemy
floors one with its striking combination of realism and
idealism. Director Lee, Yoon-ki in a recent interview stated
“I basically wanted to audience and be able to reminisce
about things that they had forgotten and retrieve certain
memories or fragments of the self in the past that they
had forgotten. To realise that the meaning of life is in
small things, not in grand successes, that’s what I’d like the
audience to take away”.
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