Overview of A Moment to Remember
Profile
- Movie: A Moment to Remember
- Genre: Romance / Melodrama / Tearjerker
- Director: John H. Lee
- Writers: Kim Young-Ha, John H. Lee
- Producer: Cha Seung-Jae, No Jong-Yoon, Kim Sang-Min, Lee Young-Pil
- Release Date: November 5, 2004
- Runtime: 117 minutes
- Production Company: Sidus Pictures, CJ Entertainment
- Distributor: CJ Entertainment
- Language: Korean
- Country: South Korea
Cast
Main
- Son Ye-jin as Kim Su-jin
- Jung Woo-sung as Choi Chul-soo
- Baek Jong-hak as Seo Yeong-min
Supporting
- Lee Seon-jin as Jung An-na
- Park Sang-gyu as Mr. Kim
- Kim Hee-ryeong as Mother
- Seon Ji-hyun as Jeong-eun
- Kim Bu-seon as Madam Oh
- Kim Joong-ki as Section Chief Cha
- Hyun Young as Yu-na
- Park Mi-suk as Ji-hyun
- Shin Cheol-jin as Manager Park
- Jin Yong-ok as construction worker 1
- Shin Hyun-tak as construction worker 3
- Kwon Byeong-kil as PhD. Lee
- Oh Kwang-rok as bum at the station
- Jung Min-sung as a passerby on cellphone
- Choi Gyo-sik as public officer
- David Lee McInnis as model
Synopsis
Kim Su-jin is a 27-year-old fashion designer. She is all set to bolt from her family and move away with her lover. Su-jin is waiting at the railway station for him to arrive. Time passes and he does not show up. Downhearted, Su-jin leaves from there and goes to a convenience store. She buys a cold drink, but with her head in the clouds, she forgets to pick it up after payment. After blankly striding a few meters, she becomes aware of her sloppiness and goes back to the shop.
As she enters, she runs down into a guy, Choi Chul-soo, holding a cold drink can. She presumed that he nicked her coke, after finding that the can was missing from where she had kept it. Su-jin grabbed hold of the can in his hands, emptied it and gave it back. Choi Chul-soo looked at her with faint bafflement.
Later on, only when she boarded the bus, Su-jin caught a whiff that she also forgot her purse at the store. When she turns up at the counter, the shopkeeper returns her purse with a bottle of coke. She then flashes back to her encounter with the man and feels embarrassed about her behaviour.
The scene then shifts to Su-jin’s house. Despite her hasty departure, Su-jin’s father, Mr. Kim, harboured no grudge against her and comforted her, back at home. Su-jin was unfulfilled with her ongoing work and decides to quit. When she is back at the office collecting her belongings, she meets her colleagues, who stir up her unpleasant past.
Su-jin takes her time and slowly gets back in the saddle. One day, while accompanying her father to his construction site, she happens to meet Chul-soo. He works there as a carpenter. She watched him through the window but could not recall him. Su-jin gets a job in a construction company. Her company needs a carpenter and Su-jin approaches her father with the demand. Coincidentally, Chul-soo was sent to cover the role, but Su-jin was unaware of this.
On his joining day, both of them confront each other and that is when Su-jin thinks about their happenstance. Chul-soo pretends not to know her, but an unsettled Su-jin decides to straighten out things by returning a can of coke. While making the purchase, Chul-soo comes around, snatches the can from her, and gulps it down just like she did back then. Su-jin was flown back. The two meet again when Chul-soo saves her from purse snatchers. He offers her a ride and the two spark an attraction. Chul-soo was initially reluctant to get married, but Su-jin’s courting changed his mind.
One day, Chul-soo takes Su-jin to his house and shows her around but stops her from opening a drawer. He tells her that he wants to become an architect and discloses his plan for attending the exam. Chul-soo has carved Su-jin’s face out of a piece of wood but does not reveal it to her. Down the road, Su-jin opens up about her past relationship with him.
Su-jin’s father convinces her to introduce the family to her boyfriend, noting the positive changes in her behaviour. However, Chul-soo gives a thumbs down to her request and adds that he can only meet them after being settled in life. Nevertheless, Su-jin’s parents blew in when the couple was out for dinner. Su-jin’s father was bothered considering the fact that Chul-soo was his employee and Chul-soo also had no idea about his lover’s family.
Things take a turn when Su-jin faints unexpectedly. Chul-soo dashes with her to the hospital and having witnessed his love for Su-jin, her father accepts their relationship. They both get married and Chul-soo clears the exam. He was assigned to a building project with the help of Mr. Kim. Everything goes well until Su-jin starts experiencing slips from memory. She has an appointment with a neurologist. He asks her to brief her life as a part of the examination. Su-jin summons up her past relationship and how she was played by a married man named Seo Yeong-min.
Chul-soo is affronted by his long-gone mother, who relinquished him for her second marriage. She is bankrupt now and pleads for his help. Nonetheless, he repulses her request. Afterwards, Chul-soo takes Su-jin to his master and she gets to know about his mother. She gets back home and opens the drawer Chul-soo has denied her access. She enquires about this to Chul-soo but he yells at her. Su-jin understands his frustration and lightens the burden. Eventually, he clears his mother’s liabilities and as a result, is deprived of any savings.
Seo Yeong-min takes charge as Su-jin’s new boss. He tries to clear his part of their former relationship but Su-jin gives him a deaf ear. As tragic as it sounds, Su-jin is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She is susceptible to losing her memory, especially the occurrences of her recent past, which includes her life with Chul-soo and their love. The doctor also says that a place or an object could bring up a momentary recollection of the event but it would also be temporary. She opts to keep this a secret from Chul-soo and decides to quit her job to spend more time with him.
The following day, Yeong-min rings her up and queries if he is the reason for her resignation. Su-jin negates his concern and agrees to meet up with Yeong-min. However, her illness made her forget about her life with Chul-soo and now she only retains memories of the past two years, the time when Yeong-min was her boyfriend.
Thus, when she meets Yeong-min, she treated him so and only realised it when Yeong-min only talked about their past. Meanwhile, Chul-soo finds out about her illness through her doctor. He takes her to a baseball court to relive their old memories and Su-jin realises that Chul-soo knows the truth. He promises that he will be there by her side. Back home, they put up sticky notes to help Su-jin and even hang a card with their address around her neck.
A party is arranged to celebrate Chul soo’s mother’s birthday. Yeong-min brings Su-jin’s office stationery to her house. She again misunderstands him as her lover and welcomes him inside. At the same time, Chul-soo is back from work and enters into a fight with Yeong-min.
Their parents turn up in the scenario and came to know about the whole situation. While they were having a talk in the living room, Su-jin comes there and wets herself without realising. She is taken to the hospital. Su-jin’s condition gets worse as she even forgets Chul-soo’s name.
Towards the end of the movie, Su-jin leaves for a sanatarium, saying goodbye to Chul-soo, and drops a letter. He sets out to find her. He, knowing that she did not know his name, recreated the situation at the convenience store, where they first met, with all her friends and family. He gives her a wooden piece with her face chiselled on it. She then recognizes Chul-soo and they go on for a ride in the backdrop of a beautiful sunset.
Memories of Love and Life
The movie ‘A moment to remember’ showcases the purity of real love. It embraces the grace of pure romance, disrupted by the unkindness of life. Su-jin and Chul-soo choose to fight life with their endless love.
The theme of the movie ‘A moment to remember’ discusses the fragility of life and its memories. A man is dead once his memories start to die. Su-jin is caught in the hands of Alzheimer’s disease and surrenders herself after one point. The tireless effort of Chul-soo to keep his wife alive is seen towards the end of the movie. He does not want to give up on her despite the fact that she even fails to remember his name. Both the characters give life to each other and they strive hard to not let the other one down.
Love can change people. Chul-soo is a living example of this. He saw the beauty of life only after Su-jin’s arrival. He wants her in his life to give it full meaning.
Awards
- 15th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival 2006
Best Actress in a Foreign Film – Son Ye-jin (2006) - 42nd Grand Bell Awards 2006
Best Adapted Screenplay – Kim Young-ha (2006)
Interesting facts about ‘A Moment to Remember’
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The story of ‘A Moment to Remember’ was adapted by different film industries in India.
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The movie ‘A Moment to Remember’ is the highest-grossing domestic film in the romance genre in the history of Korean cinema.
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The chemistry of the duo, Son Ye-jin and Jung Woo-sung, was a major attraction of the movie.
FAQs
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What is the genre of the movie ‘ A Moment to Remember’?
Romance/ Melodrama -
How long is the runtime of the movie ‘ A Moment to Remember’?
117 minutes -
When was the movie ‘ A Moment to Remember’ released?
The movie was released on November 5, 2004. - What is the Instagram ID of Son Ye-jin?
yejinhand is the Instagram Id of Son Ye-jin.
