| Beautiful Days | |||||
| Native Name: |
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| Director: | Jéro Yun | ||||
| Producer: | Kim Hyun-woo | ||||
| Starring: | Lee Na-young Jang Dong-yoon | ||||
| Music: | Mathieu Regnault | ||||
| Cinematography: | Kim Jong-sun | ||||
| Editing: | Jéro Yun | ||||
| Studio: | Peppermint & Company | ||||
| Distributor: | Smile Entertainment Contents Panda | ||||
| Runtime: | 104 minutes[1] | ||||
| Country: | South Korea France | ||||
| Language: | Korean | ||||
| Gross: | [2] | ||||
Beautiful Days is a 2018 South Korean drama film starring Lee Na-young, Jang Dong-yoon and Oh Kwang-rok.[3] The film premiered as the opening film of the 23rd edition of the Busan International Film Festival on October 4, 2018.[4] [5] [6] It was released in theaters on November 21, 2018.[7]
The film follows the life of a North Korean defector who gives birth to a son at a young age and abandons her husband and child for a better life abroad. The hidden past is revealed after fourteen years when the grown-up son visits her.
Beautiful Days is director Jéro Yun's debut feature film and lead actress Lee Na-young's first film in 5 years.[8]
The film began production on October 31, 2017. Filming wrapped on November 26, 2017.[8]
In Variety, Peter Debruge says, "Lee Na-young impresses as a North Korean woman tracked down by her long-since-abandoned son".[9] Reviewing it for Screendaily, Wendy Ide noted the film as being structurally a little over-complicated, but still is an impressive drama which feels convincingly rooted in real lives and stories.[10]
Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter writes, "Beautiful Days certainly lives up to its title with its mesmerizing imagery and very polished production values. But it is weighed down by a clichéd narrative and simplistic moral binaries".[11]