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Secret Sunshine (2007)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 7.7/10
Reviews Counted: 27
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 2

Plumbing the depths of tragedy without succuming to melodrama, Chang-dong Lee's Secret Sunshine is a grueling, albeit moving, piece of beautifully acted cinema.

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1

Plumbing the depths of tragedy without succuming to melodrama, Chang-dong Lee's Secret Sunshine is a grueling, albeit moving, piece of beautifully acted cinema.

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Movie Info

In this somber Korean drama, a young mother and widow, Shin-ae, moves with her young son, Jun, from Seoul to a small town called Miryang following her husband's death. Having given up on her career as a concert pianist when she married her husband, she starts up a piano school, but soon it begins to feel like the polite people who inhabit her new home aren't as friendly as they seem on the surface. Judgmental whispers and disapproving gossip begin to reach Shin-ae's ears, and pressure to join

Unrated, 2 hr. 22 min.

Drama, Romance, Art House & International, Comedy

Directed By: Chang-dong Lee

Written By: Chang-dong Lee, Chong-jun Yi

In Theaters: Dec 22, 2010 Limited

On DVD: Aug 23, 2011

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Secret Sunshine Trailer & Photos

Cast

Critic Reviews for Secret Sunshine

All Critics (27) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (26) | Rotten (2) | DVD (3)

There is a natural tendency to appreciate movies that are neat and concise. "Secret Sunshine" makes a striking argument for the antithesis.

February 3, 2011 Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

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Colin Covert

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Top Critic

The cinematic equivalent of prose that is clear, elegant and lyrical.

December 22, 2010 Full Review Source: New York Times

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A.O. Scott

New York Times

Top Critic

Buried in the year-end rush but one of the year's best films.

December 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Village Voice

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Michael Atkinson

Village Voice

Top Critic

This fourth film from Lee Chang-dong, one of the leading lights in the new South Korean cinema, begins as a young widow moves to the small town of Milyang, where her late husband was born and where she plans to work as a piano teacher.

September 6, 2007 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

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Globe and Mail

Top Critic

Emotionally complex tale of a woman's confrontation with the worst of fates.

May 25, 2007 Comment

Kirk Honeycutt

Hollywood Reporter

Top Critic

An ambitious, almost novelistic pic by writer-helmer Lee Chang-dong that ultimately fails to dramatize its lead character's conflicts in cinematic terms.

May 24, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety

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Derek Elley

Variety

Top Critic

A powerful anti-sermon on the mount, Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine illuminates the transcendent grace inherent to one woman's crippling dependence on born-again identities.

August 23, 2011 Full Review Source: Slant Magazine

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Glenn Heath Jr.

Slant Magazine

In a performance as raw and naked as I can recall seeing, Jeon navigates the ebbs and flows of Shin-ae's grief.

February 4, 2011 Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press

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Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Superbly observed study of a woman's tortured spiritual odyssey, filled with honest drama, unexpected humor and brilliant revelations.

December 29, 2010 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

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David Noh

Film Journal International

a wrenching, darkly comic and immersive work

December 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com

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Christopher Null

Filmcritic.com

It doesn't touch the heart as much as it thinks it does.

December 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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Dennis Schwartz

Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Profoundly moving, intelligent and unflinching. It boasts a brave, emotionally devastating performance by Jeon Do-yeon.

December 22, 2010 Full Review Source: NYC Movie Guru

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Avi Offer

NYC Movie Guru

Secret Sunshine is a frequently beautiful film with a cold, dark heart.

December 21, 2010 Full Review Source: AV Club

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Noel Murray

AV Club

Brilliantly written, acted and directed, this is a work that evokes the Russian novel despite being a Korean film. Treats larger questions of life and death in the serious manner that they deserve.

December 21, 2010 Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews

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Louis Proyect

rec.arts.movies.reviews

[S]low portrait of damaged woman struggling against community expectations reveals universality [in] extraordinary Do-yeon who dramatically shifts gears again [and again].

December 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com

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Nora Lee Mandel

Film-Forward.com

An exemplary examination of coping that expands to entail questions of morality, absolution and faith.

December 5, 2010 Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

It is unlikely you are going to see a more palpable portrayal of grief this year than Jeon Do-yeon's magnificent perfomance as Shin-ae in this Korean drama of the heart.

December 7, 2007 Full Review Source: Eye for Film

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Amber Wilkinson

Eye for Film

A secular hymn to the small triumphs and cavernous tragedies of the everyday, and to our awesome ability to cope.

December 6, 2007 Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly

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Scott Foundas

L.A. Weekly

Perfect for those wishing to enjoy a nice traumatizing time at the movies.

November 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Threat

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Eric Campos

Film Threat

This exploration of grief in contemporary South Korea plods along adequately and intelligently.

October 20, 2007 Full Review Source: Time Out

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Dave Calhoun

Time Out

Can a movie traumatize you in a good way?

October 17, 2007 Full Review Source: culturevulture.net

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George Wu

culturevulture.net

Even as the film piles awkwardness and suffering upon its character, it never feels exploitative or emotionally manipulative, maintaining a restrained tone entirely devoid of melodrama.

October 9, 2007 Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You

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Leo Goldsmith

Not Coming to a Theater Near You

There's more truth and wisdom in Secret Sunshine than I've seen at the movies in a long time.

October 4, 2007 Full Review Source: About.com

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Jurgen Fauth

About.com

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Secret Sunshine

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A brave exploration of grief and the process of forgiveness. We all know those people who seem to attract tragedy. We read about them in the paper or hear about them through a family friend. In yet another great film by director Lee Chang Dong, we are given insight into the lives of one of these perpetual victims. It

January 24, 2012

Reid Volk

Super Reviewer

Grieves with sorrow and shines with faith, Secret Sunshine ponders on spiritual maturity and recovery of a woman tormented by loss. Starring 2007 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Jeon Do-Yeon. Argumentative. Complex. Magnificent.

September 9, 2011