Introduction
May is the month to celebrate Mother’s Day in many countries in the world, or the case of South Korea, it’s Parents’ Day (어버이날, eobeoinal). Although this movie was released last year, not in May, it was just officially subbed by Viu this month in conjunction with the celebrations to recognize mothers, motherhood, and maternal bonds in general, as well as their positive contributions to their families and society.
Beautiful Audrey reflects on the true meaning of family in modern society, where ‘my’ identity and individual success are valued more than family, through the situation surrounding their mother’s Alzheimer’s disease and the process of overcoming it.
As beautiful as it sounds, the story is not without a flaw, a major one in my opinion. That’s the reason I gave the title of my article, “I wished there were only mother and son”. What happens to the daughter? Below is my review.
Movie Info
Movie title: Beautiful Audrey (Native title: 세상 참 예쁜 오드리 )
Alternative title: Sesang Cham Yeppeun Odeuli
Genres: Life, Drama, Family
Release dates: Jul 9, 2024 (Festival) || Oct 24, 2024 (Cinema)
Duration: 1 hr. 41 min.
Director: Lee Young Kook ( 이영국 )
Screenwriter: Lee Young Kook ( 이영국 )
Where to watch: Viu
Trailer (English sub):
Synopsis
Oh Mi Yeon and her son Kang Ki Hoon run a small noodle restaurant in their hometown. They live a simple and happy life, but Oh Mi Yeon gets diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and faces hardship.
Meanwhile, Oh Mi Yeon also has a daughter, Kang Ji Eun. For her dream to succeed as an idol singer, Kang Ji Eun is estranged from her family. Due to Oh Mi Yeon’s illness, Kang Ki Hoon and Kang Ji Eun fall into even deeper conflict (source: AsianWiki).
Characters
Kim Jung Nan ( 김정난 ) as Oh Mi Yeon
This pretty mother is widowed at quite a young age, and has run a small noodle restaurant with her son Kang Ki Hoon.
She adored the late actress Audrey Hepburn, from whom the title of the movie comes.
She has a special relationship with her son, whom her daughter thinks is a favoritism. However, she will sacrifice herself to protect her daughter.
One day, Oh Mi Yeon is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. As a result, a significant change occurs in their little family.
Park Ji Hoon ( 박지훈 ) as Kang Ki Hoon
Kang Ki Hoon happily lives with his mother and helps her run her small noodle restaurant.
Despite struggling to take care of his sick mother, Kang Ki Hoon is very devoted to her and even sacrifices his own future to go to college to be her caregiver.
He has been in a long-standing conflict with his sister, which is deepening with their mother’s health condition.
Kim Bo Young ( 김보영 ) as Kang Ji Eun
As Oh Mi Yeon’s only daughter, Kang Ji Eun has built a wall between herself and her family for the sake of her dream to be an idol singer. She turns back on her mother and is estranged from her family.
When their mother is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, her brother struggles to be between their mother and his sister.
Will she return for her mother?
Review
Story and Plot
Just from reading the synopsis, the plot of Beautiful Audrey is easy to guess. There is a sweet and idyllic mother-son relationship, a spicy sibling rivalry and conflict, a sour mother-daughter tension, and a bitter medical diagnosis. Those are the perfect recipe for creating a dramatic family-genre movie.
The Screenwriter, who also happens to be the Director, tried to add more drama into it by the struggle of the sister, Kang Ji Eun, to be an idol singer. Working hard to achieve a dream is a life mission by itself. However, when the idol-singing career journey is added to an already serious topic like Alzheimer’s disease, it becomes a misfit and takes away the simple beauty of a life genre story.
You see, a slice-of-life story depicts life in its unadulterated form, not mixed or diluted with any different or extra elements. In this case, Beautiful Audrey should just portray the changes of the mother as the Alzheimer’s disease progresses, and the obstacles for the caregiver to adjust and take care of the mother.
Although a slice-of-life story focuses on capturing the everyday routines, relationships, and emotions of characters, it’s far from being boring. A key ingredient for a slice-of-life movie is uniqueness. The best slice-of-life movies often depict parts of society that are misunderstood or unknown to many. It’s this unknown that draws audiences to this genre.
Let me give you a spoilery example from Beautiful Audrey, on how Oh Mi Yeon with Alzheimer’s disease is misunderstood by society:
One night, Oh Mi Yeon wanders out looking for her daughter Kang Ji Eun. Since she assumes the daughter is still a child, she mistakes a little girl for her daughter. The parents are very angry, accuse Oh Mi Yeon of being a kidnapper, and want to sue her.
Continuing the above example. Here is another example of the unknown of an Alzheimer’s patient with her mood and personality changes, depicted in the images. Open the spoiler for explanation:
After she ‘kidnapped’ a little girl, Kang Ki Hoon feels lost on how to keep his mother safe, so he locks her in her room. Oh Mi Yeon cries, screams, bangs the door, and it’s clear she’s horrified being locked in. On the other side, her cry breaks Kang Ki Hoon’s heart, but he clearly doesn’t know what else to do.
So, do I think that the daughter Kang Ji Eun should just be omitted completely from the movie, as I suggested in my article title? Yes and no. Let me explain more about Kang Ji Eun’s characterization in the next section.
To end my review on the story/plot, there is a plot twist. I will put the spoiler of the plot twist after the Conclusion. The spoiler will not reduce your enjoyment of watching the movie. In fact, it gives depth and understanding to the special relationship between Oh Mi Yeon and her son Kang Ki Hoon, and the conflict between Kang Ki Hoon and Kang Ji Eun. However, watchers may want to have fun finding the plot twist themselves.
Characterization and Acting
There is no complaint about the characterization of both Oh Mi Yeon and Kang Ki Hoon, and the acting of the veteran actress Kim Jung Nan and the experienced actor Park Ji Hoon. In addition to being a mother, Kim Jung Nan played an Alzheimer’s patient, showing the memory, judgment, and behavioral changes very well. Park Ji Hoon, too, not only portrays the devoted son, but also how Kang Ki Hoon adapts and learns to be an excellent caregiver. Caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s and related dementias are at greater risk for anxiety, depression, and a poorer quality of life than other caregivers. The chemistry between Kim Jung Nan and Park Ji Hoon playing mother and son is so natural, even when Oh Mi Yeon exhibits childlike behaviors due to brain changes and doesn’t recognize her son (in the scene below, she calls him “Mister” or “ahjussi” (= “uncle”/middle-aged Korean man).
Watching Kim Jung Nan and Park Ji Hoon’s interaction through the whole movie is so heartwarming. Like I said, I wish there were only the mother and son in the movie…
In addition to Park Ji Hoon’s acting, this is his first debut on the big screen, and he didn’t take it lightly. He revealed that his grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Therefore, he was deeply immersed in the role through empathy from his real experiences (Source: KpopMap). Because of his hard work, for this movie, the actor won Best New Actor at the Seoul Global Movie Awards 2024.
Now I want to explain my reasoning why Kang Ji Eun’s character should or should not be omitted from the movie. As I said before, her struggle for her idol singing career is an overarching plot that needs to be left out of Beautiful Audrey‘s storyline. There is pressure from her manager, the bitchy attitude of her group members, and a love interest that is completely unnecessary. Then everything fades away when she pays attention to her mother’s condition, it’s like the Screenwriter forgot about them.
Instead, the Screenwriter should just make Kang Ji Eun succeed in her career and have an arrogant attitude that she’s better than her brother. With this alteration, her character grows to humbly acknowledge her brother’s sacrifice, seek apologies, and repair her broken relationship with her family. The family’s healing story would be more meaningful to the audience than the extreme measures that the Screenwriter used for Kang Ji Eun’s story.
Not to be hateful, but in my opinion is unwise to cast a rookie actress like Kim Bo Young against her co-stars: the veteran actress Kim Jung Nan and the experienced actor Park Ji Hoon. Were she had acted in more dramas or movies, she would have built herself a fandom that can defend her no matter how bad her character or her acting is.
The Visuals
The Filming Locations
Two things about the visuals I want to discuss are, first, the filming locations. Because Oh Mi Yeon and Kang Ki Hoon live in a small town, and Kang Ji Eun lives in a big city, the filming locations are divided into two areas: Chuncheon-si and Hwacheon -gun in Gangwon-do and Paju-si in Gyeonggi-do. Gangwon is a mountainous, forested province in northeast South Korea. The place consists largely of mountains and rivers with small farming communities. The area is renowned for its natural scenery.
The outdoor filming locations are beautiful parks in Paju Unjeong Health Park, Hajido Ecological Park, Uiam Park, Uiam Public Safety Center, and Hwacheon Daeiri Village.
The Small Town/Community Setting
I also love the small community setting where Oh Mi Yeon and Kang Ki Hoon live. The Merchant Association Sports Day event, where adults play games for socialization and fun, is especially heartwarming. It seemed the actors had fun filming it. The scene where they play Red Light, Green Light, or “The Mugunghwa Flower has bloomed” ( 무궁화꽃이 피았습니다 = Mugunghwa Kkoci Pieotseumnida ) in Korean, gives me nostalgia for the game I used to play in elementary school!
Conclusion
My take is that the movie is a nice watch to celebrate Mother’s Day. It sends a message about the true meaning of family in modern society. However, the Screenwriter tried to make the movie overly dramatic with the daughter’s idol situation, while the mother’s Alzheimer’s disease itself is a serious condition and demands full attention from the audience. My advice: if you watch it with fast-forwarding/skipping the daughter’s scenes of her idol days, you won’t miss anything.
Spoilers
Is it happy ending or not?
It’s a happy ending. Kang Ji Eun reunites with their mother, and it’s a good terms with Kang Ki Hoon.
What is the plot twist?
Kang Ki Hoon is not Oh Mi Yeon’s real son. When he was little, his father died (and his mother died after giving birth). Oh Mi Yeon and her husband adopted him. Therefore, as his gratitude, Kang Ki Hoon is very devoted to Oh Mi Yeon. His adopted sister Kang Ji Eun felt angry and jealous of having to share her mother’s love, thus created their conflict.
Now to find somewhere other than VIU for those of us who don’t have access. Great article!!!
Thanks for the fix! I will DM you through MDL on where else to find it.