<A Peppermint Candy>

Director : Lee Chang-dong
Starring : Seol Kyoung-gu, Mun So-ree, Kim Yeo-jin
Location Sites : Jecheon, Chungcheongbuk Province

Film Information

<A Peppermint Candy> (Bakhasatang) is the 1999 movie by director Lee Changdong, formerly a novelist, which attempts to capture 20 years during the rapid growth and modernization of post-war Korean society through a life of one individual.



Synopsis

- Picnic (spring, 1999)
A middle-aged man named Yeongho has lost everything -- his dreams, his ambitions and love from his young days. He visits a site where 20 years prior, he had gone on a picnic with his first love. But 20 years of time has taken everything away from him.

- Camera (Spring, 1999. Three days before the accident)
Forty-year-old Yeongho finds himself divorced, swindled by his co-worker, and losing everything. He is about to shoot himself. At that moment, someone abruptly visits him and takes him to his first love, Sunim, who is in the hospital.

- Life is beautiful (Summer, 1994)
35-year-old Yeongho is an owner of a furniture shop. His wife, Hongja, enjoys a secret affair with a driving instructor while he commits adultery with his employee, Ms. Lee. One day, he accidentally comes across a man who was tortured by him when he worked as a police detective.

- Confession (April, 1987)
Sophisticated Yeongho is worn out from the boredom of ordinary life. While his wife Hongja is patient, he bursts into tears, calling for Sumin, while holding a caf? girl in a shabby attic in Gunsan.

- Prayer (Fall, 1984)
A novice detective, Yeongho is slowly changing due to the violence of his seniors as well as by his own growing brutality. He rejects Sumin, throwing his innocence away and turns to Hongha who has loved him one-sidedly.

- Visiting the military unit (May, 1980)
Yeongho is a novice soldier in a unit on the front-line. He happens to look at Sumin who is returning after paying a visit. He is about to shout her name but the noise of the soldiers' whistles and of a rumbling truck buries his voice. He boards the truck after she leaves.

- Picnic (Fall, 1979)
20-year-old Yeongho and Sunim fall in love for the first time in their lives. She hands him a peppermint candy, which is the most delicious thing he has ever tasted in the world. Youth and life are so beautiful. It was 20 years ago, one autumn day, in 1979.

Location of Shooting

The most impressive scene of the movie <A Peppermint Candy> (Bakhasatang) is where Yeongho screams in front of an approaching train. Here, the film begins a long journey into the past. This is Jinso-maeul in Jecheon, a very remote town. The still waters of Jinso-cheon and an old railroad welcome visitors. The picnic site and train tracks, which are at once the starting and ending point of Yeongho's memory, are still there as in the movie. The railroad has been improved to install a safety guard. The railroad train Chungbuk-seon runs through the tunnel in the movie, passing Jinso-maeul and Jinso-cheon. There stands a gigantic signboard and a road sign announcing the place as the shooting location of <A Peppermint Candy> (Bakhasatang), but few visit there because it is located in quite a remote town.

Directions

Jinso-maeul is a small town in Aeryeon-ri, Baekun-myeon, Jecheon, Chungcheongbuk Province. Though only three families lived there before the movie, a wave of development is sweeping the country now. At present, a rural-house-complex is being built on the site overlooking Jinso-cheon. An entrance way is also supposed to be built. Chungbuk-seon runs every 20 minutes. It comes out from the tunnel as in the movie and heads for Jecheon. Jinso-cheon flows alongside the railroad from the narrow entrance of the town and makes the scenery even more beautiful.

Nearby Attractions

Jungang Expressway Seojaecheon I.C. - No. 38 National Highway to Bakdaljae - Baekun-myeon Office - the road to Aeryeon-ri - road sign of Jinso-maeul on the way to Aery eon-ri