Warm vs. Cold, "Salut D'Amour" vs. "Revivre"

Published on 2015/04/08 | Source

Two movies about middle aged love are being revealed on the 9th.

Im Kwon-taek's "Revivre" and Kang Je-gyu's "Salut D'Amour" are the two.

The end of the movie is much too dramatic for a romantic comedy but it does the job of getting everyone's attention. Seong-chil (Park Geun-hyung) and Geum-nim's (Youn Yuh-jung) date scenes are what does it. Park Geun-hyung plays a grumpy grandpa who is actually quite soft on the inside and Youn Yuh-jung is a haughty but eager granny.

Seong-chil is inadaptable and grumpy but falls for the granny that lives across from him. He is the only one in the neighborhood who is against the land development and the neighbors are trying to get his agreement. They play a big part in getting him to soften up.

The problem is that, everyone is too nice so the movie is flat. Dealing with the matter of development which anyone would kill for in reality, the fact that everyone helps out this grandpa and the family that might have been hurt because of him seems unreal. Some of the appearing characters are so unlikely in some cases.

It's hard to tell if the audience will like it or not but if anyone likes a fantastical story very unlikely to happen in real life, then one could leave the theater with tears streaming down their cheeks.

"Revivre" - Cold but warm

There's nothing outstanding about "Revivre". Other than the fact that his wife (Kim Ho-jung) is dying, the movie flows around Oh Sang-moo's (Ahn Sung-ki) emotional dilemma. He is mesmerized by Chu Eun-joo (Kim Gyu-ri) but his fantasy and reality confuse each other and things get out of control from there.

The movie is quite calm but the tension between Oh Sang-moo and Chu Eun-joo draws attention. The only physical contact between them is the brush of each others' fingers but Chu Eun-joo is only in Oh Sang-moo's imagination. Im Kwon-taek's middle aged desire is cold but warm at the same time.

The scenes of the dying wife is desperate. Oh Sang-moo is committed to his wife but that doesn't come from love but responsibility. The wife finds out what he's really thinking and doesn't get angry but sad. The same goes for the pet she used to own. He's only doing what she asked him to do in her will and not because he wants to.

The highlight of the movie is when Oh Sang-moo helps his wife clean herself up in the bathroom. The wife ends up crying out of apology and complication. She cries in his arms and the camera catches the emotions well.