4K RESTORATION
SOUTHEAST ASIAN PREMIERE
Original title: 박하사탕
Year: 1999
Director: Lee Chang-dong
Runtime: 120 minutes
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean with English subtitles
Rating: M18
Awards
BEST NEW ACTOR (SOL KYUNG-GU)
Baeksang Arts Awards 2000
BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTOR, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (KIM YEO-JIN), BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST NEW ACTOR (SOL KYUNG-GU)
Grand Bell Awards 2000
BEST ACTOR (SOL KYUNG-GU), BEST SCREENPLAY
Blue Dragon Film Awards 2000
SPECIAL JURY PRIZE (TIED WITH THE BIG ANIMAL), DON QUIJOTE AWARD, NETPAC AWARD – SPECIAL MENTION
35th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2000
Synopsis
Young-ho (Sol Kyung-gu) is a broken and depressed man who decides to end his life by standing in front of a moving train. Following this, time moves in reverse as we witness six chapters in his life that led him to this decision. In a backwards spiral, we see him as an investor who loses a fortune in the stock market, a corrupt police officer, a soldier and an idealistic student.
A breakthrough in Lee Chang-dong’s career, Peppermint Candy established Lee as the premier poet of modern Korean misery. Melding historiography and psychoanalysis, Lee traces the 20 years of South Korean history leading up to the new millennium, highlighting formative events from the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis to the 1980 Gwangju Massacre, which irrevocably changed Young-ho. Every detail adds up to form a portrait of a man whose spirit is thoroughly crushed by the increasing difficulties of modern life.
This film is part of the programme Y2K Dreamz. The full programme for Y2K DreamZ can be found here.
Friends of AFA members, please read the membership guide on how to purchase your discounted tickets and redeem your complimentary tickets.
Oldham Theatre’s opening hours
For further assistance, please contact us at ticketing@asianfilmarchive.org
—