Amnesia has been a popular subject in movies and dramas for many years, it can be used to make the viewer question what is real and what isn’t. This is Jang Yoon–hyeon’s second film 11 years after “Gabi” which was released in 2012. This time he returns with a family drama about memory loss.
Joon-seok (Kim Ji‑seok), a bestselling novelist, and his wife Deok-hee (Im Soo-jeong) who is an art teacher are living happily together even though she suffers from selective amnesia. She gets better as time goes by but still forgets most things especially the years before the accident. He takes care of her with infinite patience, which reignites her love for him. However, something feels off and some people around them start acting weird. When an accident occurs, things become clearer than ever before and reveal shocking truths.
Before everything else this film seems to want to create disorientation then explodes into intense drama happening so fast that it’s almost hard to anticipate. The method applied here comes from both script writing as well as Shim Min-kyung’s editing work particularly when placing flashbacks within story telling structure, this way while Deok-hee’s memory gradually comes back we see how they met each other, how their relationship started out, what drives them apart eventually leading up to marriage filled with problems too painful even for remembering. At the same time present arc advances in such way that actually brings more questions about events now unfolding before us especially why Joon seok behaves strangely after certain point.
Thus narrative follows several routes until it practically turns into detective story where Deok hee discovers clues step by step getting closer towards truth. The twist ending is truly unexpected reflecting on Jang’s direction where he makes viewers think something totally different only later breaking all these misconceptions apart again.
However appealing latter may appear, there are certain deficiencies in whole approach. First off all, it becomes clear that sometimes Jang himself gets lost within disorientated environment he seeks to create so film ends up being more confusing than necessary particularly in the middle part. In same sense flashbacks become confusing instead of adding mystery since they depict same few individuals. After twist is exposed, director does not avoid emotional traps so story turns out too melodramatic with one family suffering from too many tragedies also Deok-hee’s character suggests this but not fully.
On other hand movie’s technical side stands at quite high level. There are no flaws regarding polished cinematography as well apartment’s fitting into general mood of a picture.
Choo Ja-hyun is extremely impressive as Deok-hee both in terms of her performance and her physical appearance, with a very noticeable presence throughout the movie. In quite a challenging part that sees her flirt, love, get lost, become angry and shocked; she does a good job at making us believe it all, except for some slightly over-dramatic moments where the sense of proportion is lost. As Joon-seok Lee Mu-saeng plays well as the struggling partner but I think he does better when acting against other people than with Choo Ja-hyun.
While You Were Sleeping could have been a great drama/thriller had it not been for some problems in direction and scriptwriting which held back its potential. Still worth watching though especially because of the twist and Choo Ja-hyun’s presence.
For More Movies Visit Putlocker.