Peppermint Candy

Directed by Lee Chang-Dong
Film Movement Classics
1999
129 Minutes
South Korea
Korean
Drama, Classics, Asian
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A powerful work of Korean New Wave cinema and Lee Chang Dong’s second directorial feature, PEPPERMINT CANDY spans 20 years in the life of one man, Yongho, from his callow teens through his fraught, self-hating middle age. Presented in seven chapters in reverse-chronological order, the film begins with Yongho’s untimely suicide and ends with a first date full of the promise and verve of youth. The moments in between these events as seen through lens of Yongho’s life observe South Korea’s fraught political history during of late 20th century, and in turn elegize a generation of marginalized people with “a quiet, heartbreaking power...,” (A.O. Scott, The New York Times). A new 4K restoration.

Director & Cast

  • Director: Lee Chang-Dong
  • Starring: Sol Kyung-gu
  • Starring: Moon So-ri
  • Starring: Kim Yeo-jin

Where to Watch

Trailer

Photos

Reviews

  • "The end has a quiet, heartbreaking power..."
    A.O. Scott, The New York Times
  • "Striking, poignant, sad, and uncompromising as ever, Peppermint Candy is a film that stays with you…"
    Andrew Heskins, EasternKicks.com
  • "A raw work that’s like diving into a festering wound. In a good way."
    Josh Slater-Williams, Little White Lies
  • "This is Korea's millennial elegy, filtering its search for times past through a confection no less bittersweet than Proust's madeleine."
    Anton Bitel, Projected Figures
  • "The film offers a heartbreaking drama told in reverse chronology and spanning twenty years in both the life of the main character and the political history of Korea."
    Beth Accomando, KPBS.org
  • "Peppermint Candy laid the groundwork for the polished, more covertly political dramas about marginalized Koreans — be it by age, ability or affluence — that cemented Lee’s auteur label a few years later: Oasis, Secret Sunshine and Poetry."
    Elizabeth Kerr, The Hollywood Reporter
  • "Peppermint Candy is a compelling and powerful work and necessary to any introduction to the Korean New Wave. "
    Rahul Hamid, Senses of Cinema
Winner
Don Quijote Award
Karlovy Vary Int'l. Film Festival
Winner
Special Prize of the Jury
Karlovy Vary Int'l. Film Festival
Winner
Netpac Award - Special Mention
Karlovy Vary Int'l. Film Festival
Winner
Best Film
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Winner
Best Director
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Winner
Best Screenplay
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Winner
Best New Actor
Korean Assoc. of Film Critics Awards
Nominated
C.I.C.A.E. Award
Cannes Film Festival
Official Selection
New Directors/New Films
Official Selection
BFI London Film Festival
Official Selection
Chicago Int'l. Film Festival