Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58032 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-05-06
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Korean
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
Quietly unfolding like a sweet and simple fable, The Way Home is a touching, award-winning film about the common bonds that emerge between distant generations. Directed with delicate compassion by Jyong-Hyang Lee, it's the first South Korean film to receive distribution by a major American studio (under the art-house imprimatur of Paramount Classics), and begins when seven-year-old Sang-Woo (Yoo Seung-Ho) is left with his mute, stooped-over grandmother (Kim Eul-Boon) in her ramshackle hut in a rural region far from the comforts of Seoul. While his single mother struggles to find a job, the selfish boy initially resents his elderly relative, who responds to his obstinate behavior with unconditional love. Slowly, the boy comes to respect and love his caring grandma in return, and while The Way Home is too slight for its 88 minutes and leaves important character details unexplained, its soothing rhythms, youthful humor, and playful score lend universal appeal to the story. (Amazingly, the 78-year-old Kim had never seen a film before appearing in this one.) --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Oh, man! Do NOT miss this wonderful film
While trying to find a self-supporting job, a stressed-out single mom leaves her 7yo son with his grandmother, a crippled, horribly bent-over, backwards living, ancient crone who lives in a dilapidated hut in the middle of a mountainous rural area. Not only that: she's mute. The boy arrives with battery-operated video toys, spoiled, demanding, and scornful of his grandmother, her home, his surroundings. She, in turn, is stoic, uncomplaining, forgiving, bestowing unconditional love on the truly unlikeable kid.
Slowly, as the movie unfolds, the boy learns love and respect.
An amazing film, made more so by the fact that the old woman essentially plays herself. Not only had she never acted in a film before; she'd never even SEEN one.

Another stellar import from Korea!
Sure, "The Way Home" is an overly sentimental tear-jerker, yet I absolutely loved it! The story, while predictable, really touches you deep in the heart, and it's easy to see how this went on to become one of the biggest box-office hits in Korean movie history. It's a universal story that everyone can relate to, though being a Korean certainly helps. It's also one of the funniest movies I've seen this year -- I'm still cracking up thinking about some of the scenes.

quiet, beautiful film
A loud, careless seven-year old city boy is left with his ancient country grandmother for several weeks while his mother looks for work in Seoul. This story is the slow developing of a relationship between the two, as the woman takes any abuse the boy gives with quiet patience and the boy gradually comes to respect and even love her.

The shots are quite beautiful, with visuals often communicating as much as the words, and the setting in the countryside of South Korea is lovely.

I thoroughly enjoyed the film as well as learning a bit about the country. DVD extras are non-existent. The film can be heard in Korean with optional English subtitles.