Failan arrives in Korea after the death of her parents. However, the aunt she was supposed to live with has left the country. All alone, she tries to find work, but before this, she must first acquire an extended residence permit.
Kang-jae is a pathetic individual, a low-grade criminal of a minor organization. He agrees to a sham marriage with Failan, without ever having seen her even once, in order to earn some extra money and for her to get her permit.
Song Hae-sung directed an unusual romantic film based on the Japanese novel “Love Letter” by Jiro Asada, since the two protagonists almost never meet and neither are actually aware of the other’s existence, until one of them dies.
In that fashion, the film is quite melancholy, with Hae-sung focusing as much on the romance as on loneliness, yearning, and hope. The biggest asset of his direction is the narration, which is presented in an easy-to-understand way, despite the flashbacks and the complexity of the story.
Both of the protagonists, Cecilia Cheung as Failan and Choi Min-shik as Kang-jae, are magnificent in their respective parts, with the former portraying a naive but determined woman and the latter a total loser without any hope of redemption. The way love seems to blossom in the film is also a point of excellence, particularly due to its originality.
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