If the Sun Rises in the West

If the Sun Rises in the West (Korean: 해가 서쪽에서 뜬다면; RR: Haega seojjog-eseo tteundamyeon) is a 1998 South Korean film, and was the commercial directorial debut of Lee Eun.[1]

If the Sun Rises in the West
Theatrical poster
Hangul해가 서쪽에서 뜬다면
Hanja해가 西쪽에서 뜬다면
Revised RomanizationHae ga seojjog-eseo tteundamyeon
McCune–ReischauerHae ka sŏjjog-esŏ ttŭndamyŏn
Directed byLee Eun
Produced byHwang Jae-woo
Written byKim Hyun-seok
StarringIm Chang-jung
Ko So-young
Music byJo Yeong-wook
Kim Gyu-yang
CinematographyByun Hee-sung
Edited byKo Im-pyo
Production
company
Myeong Film Co.
Distributed byIl-Sin Investment
Release date
  • 19 December 1998 (1998-12-19)
Running time
100 minutes
CountrySouth Korea
LanguageKorean

Plot

Beom-soo is a traffic control officer who aspires to become a baseball umpire. By chance he meets Hyun-joo, a theatre major who crashes her car into a tree while he is on duty. Instead of fining her, Beom-soo gives her driving lessons and they soon become friends, exchanging letters with each other when Hyun-joo returns to university. When they next meet in person Beom-soo declares his love for her, only for Hyun-joo to reject him as she plans to go overseas to study.

Three years later, Beom-soo is making his debut as a professional baseball umpire, and his feelings of love are reignited when he realises that up-and-coming actress Yoo Ha-rin is none other than Hyun-joo. The two are eventually reunited via the baseball field and resume their relationship, though Hyun-joo's affections are also pursued by Ji-min, the president of an advertising company for which she has appeared in a series of commercials. Hyun-joo eventually rejects Ji-min and shows up at the opening game of the Korean Series to throw the first ball, where she kisses Beom-soo in the middle of the field.

Cast

Release

If the Sun Rises in the West opened in South Korea on 19 December 1998, and received a total of 145,752 admission in Seoul.[2]

Critical response

Andrew Saroch of Far East Films compared the film favourably to Richard Curtis' Notting Hill, and said, "[If the Sun Rises in the West] accomplishes its modest directives and creates two characters we quickly warm to throughout their moments together. Lee Eun utilises tried-and-tested genre techniques, but it is hard to be too resistant to these when the story moves along so effortlessly." He also praised lead actress Ko So-young, saying that she "illuminates this popularist fable and lends her character some much needed humanity."[3]

References
  1. "The Night Before Strike (Paupjeonya) (1990) Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine". Korean Film Archive. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.
  2. Paquet, Darcy. "Films Released in 1998". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.
  3. Saroch, Andrew. "If The Sun Rose In The West Archived 2009-11-13 at the Wayback Machine". Far East Films. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.
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