"Secret Sunshine" is the Chinese translation for "Milyang," the name of the town where Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon) and her seven-year-old son are moving to start a new life. Shin-ae's husband has recently died in a car accident, and Milyang was the home town he always yearned to return to. Secret sunshine is also a metaphor for everything that is unseen: love, faith, loss. Director Lee Chang-dong has a novelist's eye for detail and hidden meaning; he guides us through the dramatic twists in the young widow's life with exquisite care.
Even though there is something immediately accessible and inviting about Lee's rhythms, a traditional plot summary for Secret Sunshine is nearly impossible: either the events are too mundane -- a pharmacist gives unwelcome advice, Shin-ae's son makes a speech at school, the amorous mechanic (Song Kang-ho) invites her for coffee -- or alternately, much too shocking to give away. Shin-ae's story is full of precious quotidian moments and incredible transformations, and I don't want to spoil the pleasures of discovering both.
Secret Sunshine belongs to actress Jeon Do-yeon, who gives a wonderfully evocative performance that deserves to be seen and celebrated as widely as possible. Shin-ae is as layered and richly developed a character as you could wish for in the movies, capable of deep insight and emotional extremes -- from the depths of grief to dizzying heights of religious ecstasy -- all without losing the audience for a minute. There's more truth and wisdom in Secret Sunshine than I've seen at the movies in a long time, and I can only hope that the film will find distribution in the U.S. soon.
