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- A FAMILY REUNION Shows the Happiness of a Troubled Family
- by HUH Nam-woong / Feb 08, 2013
Director SONG Hae-sung | Starring YOUN Yuh-jung, YOON Je-moon, PARK Hae-il, KONG Hyo-jin, JIN Ji-hee | Release Date Not decidedIn the original novel of A Family Reunion (working title), the average age of three siblings was 49 while in the film, the average age is about 39. But as the actors and actresses each have rich experience, they did not have trouble expressing the feelings among family members. For the purpose of emphasizing such scenes, director SONG Hae-sung asked HONG Kyeong-pyo, the director of photography to focus on scenes of two or more family members rather than to close in on individuals.Director SONG is already a seasoned director with six films under his belt. SONG emphasized humanity in his works such as Failan (2001) and Maundy Thursday (2006). But all of sudden, director SONG wanted to make a movie which is pure but less complicated. At that time, director SONG happened to find a novel, A Family Reunion written by CHEON Myung-gwan. A Family Reunion is a family drama where a grown-up trio of siblings embark on a series of misadventures at their mother’s home.“After reading the novel, I feel that it was very realistic,” director SONG said. “A lot occurs between family members. Through this film, I want to tell a story about ordinary families in the 21st century.” So there are no heros or heroines here.
Its main characters are In-mo (PARK Hae-il), an unsuccessful movie director, Han-mo (YOON Je-moon), a jobless man who was a gangster, Mi-yeon (KONG Hyo-jin) who is preparing for her third wedding after two divorces, Min-gyeong (JIN Ji-hee), the precocious teenage daughter of Mi-yeon and their mother (YOUN Yuh-jung) who embraces all of them unconditionally. Director SONG joked that this film is 'low-budget family Avengers'. But the best part of A Family Reunion is the point where family members suddenly unite after squabbling with one another.The first thing that crossed the mind of director SONG when he made this film was an image of a bowl of bean paste stew adorned with five spoons. Even though the film deals with a troubled family, it is was not without its own problems.For example, actress YOUN Yuh-jung asked the director to remove swearwords from her lines before the start of shooting. But YOUN said that she felt that the swearing mother looked so cute after watching an edited version. So YOUN changed her mind and they kept the swearwords. A Family Reunion is the kind of movie thateven makes a swearing mother look cute. Here, swearwords feel warm rather than offensive. This film is a family movie in every sense.
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