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A Life Told in Reverse
Lee Chang-dong’s “Peppermint Candy” begins in the spring of 1999 with Kim Yong-ho, a 40-year-old man who has lost his job and family, returning to a riverside spot where he once picnicked with his first love, Yoon Sun-im. Standing on railroad tracks, he cries out, “I want to go back again.” The film then does exactly that, moving backward through seven periods of his life: three days earlier, 1994, 1987, 1984, 1980 and, finally, 1979.
Sol Kyung-gu stars as Yong-ho, with Moon So-ri as Sun-im and Kim Yeo-jin as Yang Hong-ja, the woman Yong-ho marries. Lee Dae-yeon plays two roles, while Gong Hyung-jin, Choi Deok-moon and Park Gil-soo are among the supporting cast.
The 130-minute drama was Lee’s second feature. It opened the Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 14, 1999, before entering South Korean theaters on Jan. 1, 2000. It was restricted to adult audiences in Korea.
From Lost Love to Lost Innocence
Each chapter strips away another layer of Yong-ho’s bitterness. Three days before his death, he visits the comatose Sun-im carrying peppermint candy and weeps beside her. He later sells a camera she left behind for 40,000 won.
In 1994, Yong-ho is a furniture store owner trapped in a collapsing marriage. After encountering someone he tortured during his years as a police detective, he mutters, “Life is beautiful.” In 1987, he is a detective with a pregnant wife, yet breaks down while calling Sun-im’s name. The 1984 chapter shows him as a rookie officer being transformed by his colleagues’ brutality and his own growing capacity for violence. He rejects Sun-im and chooses Hong-ja, who has long loved him.
The film then reaches May 1980, when Yong-ho is a new soldier sent on an emergency deployment near Gwangju Station. He sees Sun-im leaving after an unsuccessful attempt to visit him and later becomes caught in a rapidly escalating situation around the station. The final chapter returns to 1979, when the two are 20-year-olds attending a picnic with members of a night school connected to Seoul’s Guro industrial district. Yong-ho tastes the peppermint candy Sun-im gives him and calls it the best in the world.
A Personal Tragedy Against a National Backdrop
By reversing Yong-ho’s life, “Peppermint Candy” traces how love, violence and social upheaval shape the man seen at the beginning. Key moments in South Korea’s recent history form the backdrop: industrial workers and night schools in 1979, military service near Gwangju in May 1980, police work in the 1980s, small-business ownership in 1994 and personal ruin in 1999. The innocent picnic that comes last chronologically is placed at the end of the film, turning the story’s conclusion into a return to what Yong-ho has lost.
The railroad sequence featuring Yong-ho’s plea to return was filmed near Samtan Station, with locations in the central South Korean cities of Jecheon and Chungju.
International Festival Recognition
“Peppermint Candy” was invited to the Directors’ Fortnight at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Sol received a special mention at the Oslo Film Festival, while Lee won the Special Jury Prize for a feature at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film also received honors from the International Federation of Film Societies and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema. At the Bratislava International Film Festival, Lee won best director and Sol won best actor.
The film also swept awards in South Korea, earning honors for best picture, directing, screenplay, acting, cinematography, lighting and editing from several major critics’ groups and film ceremonies. Its five wins at the Grand Bell Awards included best picture, director, screenplay, supporting actress for Kim and new actor for Sol. Lee won screenplay and Sol won best actor at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. Sol collected 10 awards for his performance across the film’s awards run.
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