Late Blossom
Late Blossom is a 2011 South Korean film written and directed by Choo Chang-min about the love story of two elderly couples.
After opening quietly to little fanfare, the indie slowly gained positive word-of-mouth and critical praise, and eventually became a box office success with over 1,645,505 ticket sales, as well as a cultural darling among industry peers.
The film is based on the manhwa I Love You by Kang Full. It was serialized online in 2007 and later published in three volumes. In 2008, it was turned into a play and drew audiences of more than 120,000 by 2010.
Plot
The movie revolves around four senior citizens living in a hillside village. Kim Man-seok is a cranky milkman with a short fuse and a foul mouth. He wakes the village early each morning with his noisy, battered motorcycle. He meets Song Ee-peun, who scavenges for scrap paper while roaming around the town at daybreak. As they meet again and again, they slowly develop feelings for each other.Ms. Song parks her handcart at a junkyard and sees Jang Kun-bong, the caretaker of the parking lot next to the scrap yard. One day, Kun-bong wakes up late and forgets to lock his door and asks Ms. Song to fasten it for him. Meanwhile, Jang's Alzheimer's-afflicted wife Soon-yi wanders around the town, ending up on the back of Man-seok's motorbike.
Cast
- Lee Soon-jae - Kim Man-seok
- Yoon So-jung - Song Ee-peun
- Song Jae-ho - Jang Kun-bong
- Kim Soo-mi - Jo Soon-yi
- Shin Soo-yeon - Hwang Min-ji
- Oh Dal-su - Dal-su
- Song Ji-hyo - Kim Yeon-ah
- Kim Hyung-jun - Jung Min-chae
- Lee Sang-hoon - Duk-bae
- Lee Moon-sik - Scratch
- Gil Hae-yeon - Kun-bong's daughter-in-law 1
- Jo Jae-yoon - Kun-bong's brother-in-law
- Kwon Bum-taek - Man-seok's wife's doctor
- Lee Chae-eun - young Ee-peun
- Kang Hyun-joong - young Sang-tae
- Lee Jun-hyeok - photographer
- Ra Mi-ran - nurse
- Lee Bong-ryun as Dong Office employee
- Jeon Bae-soo - public officer of small neighborhood office
- Lee Moon-su - Duk-bae's father
- Kim Hyang-gi - street light kid
Box office
Initially difficult to finance due to ageism, the film was shot with a budget, and then marketed with another . The sleeper hit eventually recouped four times its cost in just a few weeks, attracting 1,645,505 admissions and grossing more than domestically.Spin-off
A same-titled 16-episode television series spin-off starring Kim Hyung-jun aired on SBS Plus from April to June 2012. Of the movie cast members, only Lee Soon-jae reprised his role.Awards
- 2011 Blue Dragon Film Awards: Best Supporting Actress - Kim Soo-mi
- 2011 China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival: Best Actor, International Film category - Lee Soon-jae