A FAMILY (Korea, 2004)
Directed by: Lee Jeong-Cheol
Starring: Su Ae, Ju Hyeon, Park Heui-Sun, Park Ji-Bin

Families are the people who have to take you back. You can lose your friends, your colleagues, your job, do unspeakable things, go to prison, and be rejected by everyone who ever knew you. But when you show up on their doorstep, your family has to let you in. That’s what happens to Lee Jeong-Eun, who comes off a three-year prison sentence and winds up knocking at her dad’s door. Her mom died while she was in the slammer, her little brother thinks she’s been off at college studying, and her ex-cop dad is none too pleased to see her: he knows that she hasn’t come home to mend fences, but to borrow money. 

The freezing cold winter is mauling the city with icy winds, but that’s warm weather compared to the below-freezing cold shoulder Lee gets from her dad. Things get worse when her old business partners/criminal associates hold her responsible for a huge wad of cash that she stole and buried before she went to the big house. When she denies that she took it they start putting the squeeze on her aging dad. What makes a family? It’s not the happy times, the good feelings, the vacations or the snapshots. It’s the fact that no matter how bad things get, no matter how dangerous you become, no matter what kind of hurting you open up, they can’t get rid of you. They’re stuck with you, and you’re stuck with them.

Between Kim Ki-Duk and Park Chan-Wook, Korean films are acquiring a reputation for being outrageous, extreme, and violent. A FAMILY, the word-of-mouth sleeper hit of 2004, reminds audiences that Korean movies originally became famous just for being good.