The Harmonium in my Memory

A

Directed by Young-jae Lee

Young-jae Lee's "The Harmonium in my Memory" is a sweetly nostalgic but deceptively astute story of first love that does absolutely everything right from start to finish.

Newly graduated Kang Soo ha leaves Seoul to take up a post as an elementary and middle school teacher in a remote Korean village. Upon his arrival he finds the school in disaray thanks in large part to his lackluster fellow teachers, but it's not all bad news for Soo ha since the other teacher joining the school is the beautiful Min-hie, who Soo ha immediately develops an interest in. An invisible love triangle of sorts is formed when Soo ha becomes the object of his student Hongyeon's infatuation.

"The Harmonium in my Memory" is a far, far better picture than it seems to have any right to be, imbued with an intelligence and nuance that is rare if not almost completely absent from such films. Although it's drawn comparison's mostly to Zhang Yimou's "The Road Home" due to obvious parrallels in the storylines of both films, I found that Young-jae Lee's film reminded me most of Lasse Hallstrom's "My Life as a Dog" due to its similarly deft understanding of the minds of both adults and children. Young-jae Lee's film is further notable in its willingnes to wade into some rather dicey subject matter and actually explore a possible romance between Soo Ha and Hongyeon without making it seem vulgar or exploitative. The effortless way Young-jae Lee pulls it all off is probably not fully appreciated by everyone who has sees "The Harmonium in my Memory," but it's a credit to Lee that he takes probably the most difficult way out in "The Harmonium in my Memory" and still makes it work. Both Hongyeon and Soo Ha mature in believable yet very different ways throughout the film, Hongyeon assuming a greater measure of femine maturity and Soo Ha coming to terms with the limitations and disappointments of life, even for someone like him, and the growth of both characters makes the film's ultimate denouement seem completely logical.

Young-jae Lee's relative absence from the big screen since the release of "The Harmonium in my Memory" is a shame considering how good this offering is and I sincreley hope to see more from the director in the future.