Family Ties

Family Ties is a movie divided into three stories, all dealing with various family relationships. The first story is about a woman who lives alone, who one day received an unexpected visitor: her brother, whom she has not seen in a long time. He brings his new wife with him, a woman clearly older than him, and as we later find out, both aren't exactly acting their age in terms of being mature adults. They make themselves at home, to the sister's dismay, because her brother is not working, and takes advantage of both women for money. One day a girl is at the door, and the sister is shocked to discover that it is her sister-in-law's daughter from a previous marriage. The wife is surprised as well, because she left her behind when she got married. The brother was responsible for bringing her. He becomes such a source of tension that the sister finally musters the courage to confront him, and offended, he leaves, abandoning his wife and the child. They too leave soon afterwards.

The second story deals with a young woman who is starting her life away from home, taking a new job as a tour guide. She has a mother whom she hates, because she is having an affair with a married man. She also has a much younger brother (from another father?). The mother is terminally ill. The daughter acts horribly to her mom and the child, but begins to turn around and develops some sisterly affection to the brother. In a devestating sequence though, she goes to the adulterer's home, and as they are preparing for dinner, confronts the man about the affair, to the horror of his wife and two children. Her mom dies, and the daughter is left alone and grieving for her loss.

The third story is about two young lovers who meet on a train, and have a relationship. The woman has issues: she can not give him her full attention, in conversation, or anything else. For instance, he talks to her and she is more worried about him stepping on a flower than listening to him. He invites her over for dinner at his sister's place, and she fails to show up. The man is very angry about this, and complains to her. But nothing seems to improve. The seesaw relationship becomes too much for him, and he wants to break up. They do, get back together again when she apologizes for her behavior. They end up outside her place, and in a nice twist, we are brought back full circle to the first story -- she is the daughter, now grown up. A nice reconciliation, with a very funny postscript involving the good for nothing brother, who does show up again.

A good film with fine acting performances all around. The stories are well conceived, and are a interesting examination of contemporary relationships, their quirks, angst, and love. None of the characters are stable emotionally, but they aren't crazy nor bad people. Moon So Ri plays the burdened sister, with a stand out performance by Eom Tae-Wong as the brother. Gong Hyo Jin, Bong Tae-gyu also give solid performances. Recommended!