Sad Movie

Sad Movie depicts the lives of several people -- a mother/son relationship, a check-out lady and her unemployed boyfriend, two sisters and their relationships -- one with a fireman who is having difficulty proposing, and the other (who can't speak) who dresses in a Raggedy Ann outfit (but is described as Snow White?) at an amusement park, who falls in love with an artist. The story lines occassionally intertwine, but overall they are separate tales of everyday lives. And of course, true to the title, there are no happy endings.
Ju-Yung (played by Yeom Jung-Ah), is a working mother whose job has taken presedence over her role as mother. After a car accident which puts her in the hospital does she find out about her abdominal cancer. Her relationship with her son was never strong up until this point -- he is not a good student, lies often and makes drawings of sad people, especially an angry mom. But this change of events forces them to become close. The son stumbles across her diaries which describe an uneven courtship with her and his father, which resulted in an unwanted pregnancy. But she made the decision to raise the child and make him better than the parents. Their story ends with reconciliation, Ju-Yung becoming the mother she never was, and then succumbing to her disease.
Su-Jung (played by Im Su-Jung) is the sister in a relationship with a fireman, Jin-Woo (Jung Woo-Sung), whose commitment to his job prevents them from taking the next step -- proposing marriage. He rescued her sister Su-Eun (Shin Min-Ah) in a fire, who is a mute and has a facial scar from the blaze that makes her a recluse. She has a job working as a character in an amusement park, and in that guise she can express her true self, especially when it comes to winning the affections of an artist Sang-Gyu (Lee Ki-Woo). Their relationship is the simplist and the most heartfelt of the lot, as they do eventually get together, only to separate when Sang-Gyu leaves to go study abroad. Su-Jung and Jin-Woo have the most tragic - after finally overcoming their personal barriers, declare love for each other and Jin-Woo has a ring to propose marriage, but is called away to deal with a blaze and dies.
Finally, there is Ha-Seok (Cha Tae-Hyun), who is unemployed and accepts demeaning jobs like being a punching bag for a local boxer. He is deeply in love with a check-out woman, Suk-Hyun (Son Tae-Yung), who hates her dead end job and feels that their relationship will never change. She wants to break up. Ha-Seok wants to improve his position, and he takes a job which is a message service specializing in break ups. When he tells her of his new work, she is sad because there is another reason for breaking up: she has fallen in love with someone else. Ha-Seok is left in tears, and ends his job, but not after delivering a message to Ju-Yung, the mother in the hospital, from her son, stating that he does not want to break up.
This is a good melodrama that bounces from story to story effectively. The star studded cast delivers a good performance, and the direction is matter of fact. The only thing that I found wrong was the music -- there were moments where it should just be silence, but an intrusive piano would butt in and drone on and on with the movie's theme song. It is a dramatic punch that is ineffective and actually detracts from the film. With the exception of the fireman's death, which I found rather silly, the stories were all believable and well told. Really, what fireman would take off his protective equipment in the middle of an inferno to acknowledge his girlfriend? I know it is meant to show that he finally demonstrates her importance in his life, but it is very unrealistic and silly. No fireman would do that. Do your job and stay alive. Other than that, a nice movie. Recommended.