Bespectacled photographer with fatal illness indulges in hapless hopeless non romance with meter maid.
"Why are you smiling at me?" she asks. Yeah, why is he? And flippin laughing all the time. Having this terminal cancer (or whatever it is) is dead funny.
But he doesn't look very ill, seem ill, act ill. The ugly pain of dying from this mystery malady is mostly airbrushed out.
Is his Shy Smiley Man persona a way of keeping people out? Putting an ever so brave and humble front on? Or a genuine expression of joy at the preciousness of life? Or an absurd abreaction to how funny-odd life is? (when death is all there is at the end of it) Or a surreptitious wink of denial, contrived to con the people around him to lighten up, and smile – cus I'm dying man! (but I'm being a brave little boy by not making a great big song and dance about it) I'd quite like him to stop doing that stupid little laugh. Its not funny. Its ingratiating. This diffident shy charm act is fake mate.
But he still carries on insinuating the phony feel-good happy vibe with clueless girl. Smiley smile, noddy head: "Look I'm nice. I'm gonna die but i can't stop being nice about it. How happy dying makes me feel. I'm making you (meter maid) want to fall in love with me. But I'm not going to tell you. I'll keep me – and the actual Truth – quietly to myself thank you very much. I won't let love in and i won't let love out. I won't share what is really going on with me. By staying passively withheld, and impassively withdrawn, i'll hang onto some kind of sad self-effacing virtue. Which of course will make all of you watching me go "Awww" and want to give me a nice little hug".
Personally, to get more empathetic response from me I'd have needed him to drop the phony nice guy act, stop the twee smile and the ingratiating laugh, stop the wanting me to feel sorry for him (as watcher of film) – and get real. Be in authentic engagement with the people around him (in the film) Tell the girl the truth instead of doing this tepid half baked withheld involvement thing with her.
If i think about it – its the actors performance as much as his character i couldn't buy into. Too smoothly pathetic. Pathos superficially acted out but not internalised or deeply enriched from within. The bland smiley facade was all Suk-kyu Han's.
Overall, Christmas in August is disingenuously sly. The suffering is synthetic, not sympathetic. The sweetly winsome little soundtrack strokes you to be sad every 5 minutes; pouring sugary sad sentiment into the gaps were engaged characterisation should be, enlightening script – and genuinely involving, involved emotion.
A manipulative little sham this film.
"Why are you smiling at me?" she asks. Yeah, why is he? And flippin laughing all the time. Having this terminal cancer (or whatever it is) is dead funny.
But he doesn't look very ill, seem ill, act ill. The ugly pain of dying from this mystery malady is mostly airbrushed out.
Is his Shy Smiley Man persona a way of keeping people out? Putting an ever so brave and humble front on? Or a genuine expression of joy at the preciousness of life? Or an absurd abreaction to how funny-odd life is? (when death is all there is at the end of it) Or a surreptitious wink of denial, contrived to con the people around him to lighten up, and smile – cus I'm dying man! (but I'm being a brave little boy by not making a great big song and dance about it) I'd quite like him to stop doing that stupid little laugh. Its not funny. Its ingratiating. This diffident shy charm act is fake mate.
But he still carries on insinuating the phony feel-good happy vibe with clueless girl. Smiley smile, noddy head: "Look I'm nice. I'm gonna die but i can't stop being nice about it. How happy dying makes me feel. I'm making you (meter maid) want to fall in love with me. But I'm not going to tell you. I'll keep me – and the actual Truth – quietly to myself thank you very much. I won't let love in and i won't let love out. I won't share what is really going on with me. By staying passively withheld, and impassively withdrawn, i'll hang onto some kind of sad self-effacing virtue. Which of course will make all of you watching me go "Awww" and want to give me a nice little hug".
Personally, to get more empathetic response from me I'd have needed him to drop the phony nice guy act, stop the twee smile and the ingratiating laugh, stop the wanting me to feel sorry for him (as watcher of film) – and get real. Be in authentic engagement with the people around him (in the film) Tell the girl the truth instead of doing this tepid half baked withheld involvement thing with her.
If i think about it – its the actors performance as much as his character i couldn't buy into. Too smoothly pathetic. Pathos superficially acted out but not internalised or deeply enriched from within. The bland smiley facade was all Suk-kyu Han's.
Overall, Christmas in August is disingenuously sly. The suffering is synthetic, not sympathetic. The sweetly winsome little soundtrack strokes you to be sad every 5 minutes; pouring sugary sad sentiment into the gaps were engaged characterisation should be, enlightening script – and genuinely involving, involved emotion.
A manipulative little sham this film.