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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Drama Festival - Old Goodbye"

Soo-hyeok (played by Jang Hyuk) is a battered man who's made his livelihood by fighting others. Note that outside from one short action scene and a few brief snippets in flashback Soo-hyeok never actually acts violent at all. In the present day, at least, his attention is consumed entirely by his ex-wife Chae-hee (played by Jang Nara). Chae-hee is dying, and Soo-hyeok is all that she has left. Soo-hyeok, too, appears to be alone in the world for mostly unexplained reasons. We do, at least, eventually get a good idea why Chae-hee is alone.

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Literally, the storyline does have a pretense of a possible happy ending. Soo-hyeok hopes to use an apparently magical Polaroid camera to travel through time and get Chae-hee the treatment she needs. But like most good time travel stories, here the apparatus is merely a storytelling device. Consider for a moment why anyone, even in 2011, would use a Polaroid camera of all things. And then look through Soo-hyeok's journey, as he inadvertently discovers the answer to that question.

What's most striking about "Drama Festival - Old Goodbye" is the performance of Jang Hyuk as Soo-hyeok. He isn't a very outwardly emotional man, and the only time we see him get upset about anything it's too late for that to really matter anyway. But the depth of his love for Chae-hee is palpable. He's quiet, rational, and reasonable- all for the sake of spending just a few more moments with her, in any form possible. Even though the entirity of the drama is a life-and-death situation, there's a peace to his attitude and a simple joy in the moment that's difficult to describe in words.

What ultimately defines both Soo-hyeok and Chae-hee as characters is their permanent sense of loneliness, and a genuine desire for true emotional connection above all else. Note the restaurant scene in 2002- a time when everyone in Korea was focused on one big event, and there Soo-hyeok and Chae-hee are so intently engaged with each other. Frequenty there's the sense that their love is ephemeral mostly because they simply don't fit in with the bustle of modern life. They live for the moments.

It's worth noting that, especially by the end, the title could really be more accurately translated as the long goodbye. Even though Soo-hyeok and Chae-hee ultimately meet tragic, almost contrived fates, they never really had any such pretensions of a traditionally happy ending anyway. For them, being together was always the greatest moment of them all. That's why their lives merited a look back in this way- and therein lies the beauty that makes "Drama Festival - Old Goodbye" truly emotionally affecting television.

Review by William Schwartz

"Drama Festival - Old Goodbye" is directed by Kim Hee-won-II, written by Min Ji-eun and features Jang Hyuk and Jang Nara.

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