The Greater Union cinema was only half full, but the fact that David Stratton was there provided some consolation. But even if you do not hold his opinion in high regard, there is no doubt that South Korean films deserve the critical recognition they are receiving on the festival circuit. It is perhaps fitting that Sa-Kwa won the International Critics Jury Prize at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

Sa-Kwa is the debut feature film of Kang Yi-Kwan. The film delves into territory that the American indie cinema seems to excel in’character-driven melodramas that explore the complex divide between men and women as they deal with marriage and familial matters. However, while these seem like universal themes, Sa-Kwa has a very specific and localised feel. This is the huge appeal of South Korean films for me’that their film-makers are able to reinvent their generic counterparts in the West so as to revitalise the cinema with new perspectives.

Sa-Kwa centres on a young woman, Hyung-jung (Moon So-ri), who is carefree yet devoted in love and is shattered when her fianc‚àöÔøΩ breaks up with her. She then decides to marry on the rebound to an awkward co-worker, Sang-hoon (Kim Tae-woo), urged by her overbearing yet amusing family to move on.

The passing of time flows naturally in the film at the hands of Kang, as Hyung-jung comes to terms with the choice of making her marriage work.ÔøΩÔøΩ When her ex-fianc‚àöÔøΩ makes an unexpected reappearance, she realises that she is no longer the same woman. Kang is a director who puts a handheld camera close to his accomplished actors, so that we become involved in the emotional core of the film. South Korea may seem like a conservative society’in which practically is the price to pay for stability’yet their films show that they can transgress conventional and banal film-making.