[HanCinema's Film Review] "An Old Potter" + Full Movie

Winner for Best Film at the Blue Dragon Awards in 1970, "An Old Potter" is an interesting mashup of genres that inevitably, ends up a genuine, and quite intense melodrama.

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The movie starts with a young man visiting a remote area, eventually stumbling upon an old potter, another elderly man named Waeng-son-i, and a whole gang of people that have taken refuge in a dugout, where a woman who is refusing to eat also resides. Son-i decides to tell the young man a story from the past, which brings us to the main storyline, where the protagonist, Song, a perfectionist potter who did not shy away from breaking all his work when he thought they were faulty, lives in a dugout. His life, however, changes when he happens to save the life of a young woman named Ok-soo, whom he finds half dead in the snow. The old man nurtures her back to health, and in the process, the two become husband and wife, fostering a son, Dang-son. The three of them live a happy life, along with Son-i, Ok-soo' best friend. However, when Seok-hyeon, a man from Ok-soo's past arrives in the area after searching for her for years, even tricking Song into hiring him as an assistant, the balance the family has is threatened in the most dangerous way.

Choi Ha-won directs a film that begins in the most entertaining fashion, passing from one genre to the other as elaborately as possible. As such, the drama about the lone perfectionist turns into a romantic story filled with some very intriguing moments of sensuality, before it becomes a family movie, and an erotic thriller, as soon as Seok-hyeon arrives. The way his friends grind old man Song for his beautiful young wife is among the most amusing moments here, but even more impressive is the way Ok-soo begins lusting for his former lover, desperately trying to channel her feelings towards her husband and failing miserably. This part is where the sensualism and the agony in the movie find their apogee, with Yoon Jung-hee in the role of the apple of discord giving a truly great performance.

As soon as this part of the story concludes, however, the movie becomes a hard-core melodrama, lagging significantly on the fate of Song and his son, with the only redeemable quality here being the excellent acting of Hwang Hae in the role of the latter. The misery and sadness start permeating the narrative, until the finale, which returns us back to the beginning, provides a catharsis, which seems to have been meant as an intense twist, but is actually quite obvious, not to mention cheesy. As a conclusion to the story, though, it works well, essentially giving to the audience one more element of attraction.

Technically, the movie is on a very high level. You Young-gil's cinematography captures the remote, mountainous area with artistry and realism, with the scenes in the river, the ones of sensualism, and the finale of the main story in the dugout being quite memorable. The music and its implementation in the story is also elaborate, with the use of the two main themes in particular, courtesy of Choi Chang-won, being ideal. Hyeon Dong-chun's editing induces the film with a relatively fast pace, which suits the narrative quite nicely, with the exception of the aforementioned part, which becomes tiring after a fashion.  

"An Old Potter" is a good movie, presenting a very interesting story in entertaining fashion, which would have been much better, if not for the intense melodramatic part.

Review by Panos Kotzathanasis

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"An Old Potter" is directed by Choi Ha-won, and features Hwang Hae, Yoon Jung-hee, Namkoong Won, Heo Jang-kang, Kim Jung-hoon-VIII, Kim Hee-ra. Release date in Korea: 1970/03/04.