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[Guest Film Review] "An Affair"

Another entry in the vast category of romantic films, "An Affair" stands on a level above the majority of contemporary ones, despite the fact that it was screened in 1998.

Seo-hyeon is an ordinary, big bourgeoisie housewife, almost 40 years old, wife to a very successful architect, Joon-il, and mother of a10-year-old boy. Eventually, her younger sister, who cannot return from Los Angeles, asks her to help her fiancé, Woo-in, to find an apartment in the city. As the two of them more and more, So-hyun starts to be attracted to the young man, and when it becomes obvious that he carries the same sentiment, the two of them become lovers. So-hyun, gradually starts to realize that she has been unsatisfied by her life all these years, as a wife and a mother, and that the way she feels for the young man she has never felt for her husband. However, their relationship does not stay hidden for long, and she must decide what is it that she wants from her life.

Lee Jae-yong, in his debut feature film, directs a film with two main advantages. The first one is that he presents the story with simplicity, without hyperbole, but with realism and naturalness. The second one is that he manages to avoid including melodramatic scenes and using intense music to strengthen his scenes, retaining a subtle, but quite meaningful flow throughout the whole film. The above traits become evident in the love scenes, where his sensitivity highlights the protagonists' feelings for each other.

The film benefits the most by the overall presence of Lee Mi-sook as Seo-hyeon and Lee Jung-jae as Woo-in. Both of them are gorgeous, a prerequisite for this kind of film, and act with minimalism, without any outbursts, in a fashion that fits perfectly the general aesthetics of the film. Song Young-chang is also quite good as Joon-il, who is actually the "villain" in the story.

Overall, "An Affair" is an intelligent film that stands apart due to his general, subtle style.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"An Affair" is directed by Lee Jae-yong and features Lee Mi-sook, Lee Jung-jae, Song Young-chang and Kim Min.

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