In Korea, so many masterpieces have been missed and passed among a bunch of trendy movies since early 1970s. They did not witness some jewels dumped with many anti-communist and Christianity movies in 70s. They cannot but toss over several THINGS mixed with pointless semi-pornographic STUFFS in 80s. They did not keep the tradition due to trial of many experimentals in 90s. Now, time gave a room for contemplation to feel for their basics that have not been grasped for long time - Korean realism.

Failan is on the prolonged line of Korean realism initiated by Dae-Jin Kang, Hyun-mok Yu, maintained by Kil-jong Ha, Kwon-taek Im. It has its own perspectives on contemporary Korean society, and they were well laid out by a foreign woman's life in Korea - Failan. It catches every glimpse of Korean underworld not only in urban society but also in rural life. Below the touching story, there is a sharp edge to cut a crosssection of Korean modern society that reveals multi-layered social conglomerate of utterly bereft individuals represented by a Korean dude - Kangjae.

Among trendy Korean gangster movies now, Failan is still taking its own unique position, and furnishing good worth watching as far as Korean realistic society can be experienced.

Choi Min Sik plays a gangster, Kang-jae, but he has kind of just fallen into that place by being lifelong friends with the gang's leader. He is angry, aggressive, and violent - but sucks at all the gangster stuff and has earned a bad reputation within his gang for it. After a drunken fight that turns deadly, the gang's leader suddenly appreciates him again.... because he wants him to take the fall. But, Kang-jae soon gets news that his wife, Failan, has died and he must travel to make final arrangements about her death.

Failan (Cecilia Cheung) had come to Korea to live with family there. She finds out they are no longer there, but cannot go back to China because she has no family there anymore. She has no one and is a stranger in a foreign land. In order to stay, a "convenience" marriage is a arranged and Kang-jae is the one she marries. Of course, this is a business arrangement and she will have to work off the money that a sponsor has put up. She cannot work as a girl in his club, though, because she is very sickly so she goes to work in a small village doing laundry. She never meets her husband and falls sicker with the disease.

The film takes its time to set up Kang-jae's character and then follows his travels to make arrangements after Failan's death. It is on this journey that he learns about her short life in Korea.

The film does an interesting job of showing us how he learns about Failan. Through her letters and the stories of others, he learns about a young woman who has made life for herself in a foreign country and appreciates everything she has. Despite his greedy reasons for marrying her, she still says he is the sweetest of all - because he married her. We see this irritable, hard nosed character learn the value of appreciating things in life that many take for granted and begin to develop feelings for this woman he never met during her life. This changes him and to see how these discoveries change him in such a short time is what makes the movie so interesting.

The film is very well done in most respects. Due to the strange nature of the story and the slow pace of the film (particularly, the long amount of time devoted to developing Kang-jae in the beginning), some viewers may be turned off. But, I believe the pay-off is worth the patience. Despite the slow pace, the development is necessary to the impact of the film. All the acting is very good, particularly Cecilia, who does very well as the young woman in a strange land with basically no one. When she spends her first night at her job and begins crying, it hurts.

Overall, this film is definitely a recommended viewing, as it really does show a unique story that has some real character and emotion to it. If you are looking for a traditional tear-jerker romance movie, this is definitely not it. Have some patience with it and you'll find a great story of a young woman who appreciates even the smallest things and a hard-nosed gangster who learns from that.

Although the movie has a very tragic and almost perversely cruel ending, I don't pity Kangjae too much. At least, Kangjae was redeemed through Failan's (Cecilia Chung) literarily unconditional love. Yet, would such a miracle happen to all of us? I heard some say that Failan's love is unrealistic and nonsensical, but isn't love a miracle (or a stupidity) by definition?

The music in this movie is great. Near the last scene, when Failan sings a song for her husband Kangjae, a beautiful music starts flowing, overlapping Failan's song. Combined with the aching last scene, this strange overlapping of two different tunes creates a very powerful emotion, an enormously sad and painful but sweet feeling.