The Way Home
This movie is dedicated to all the grandmothers of the world
-writer - director Jeong-Hyang LEE
More accustomed to the luxuries of the modern world, a spoiled seven-year old boy must stay with his old-fashioned grandmother in a small rural village while his mother looks for work. At first Sang-woo rudely rejects his grandmother's way of life. But gradually, through her constant show of kindness and love, he learns to accept and understand the simple pleasures of nature and her lifestyle. Sang-woo leaves the village a different boy. Because of his grandmother, he sees the world around him with a new found respect and appreciation.
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THE WAY HOME tells the touching story of two people as they overcome their differences in an effort to find a bond of understanding. The silent and patient grandmother, a creature of nature and solitude, finally reaches her grandson from the material world, by quietly and constantly offering him unconditional love.
When Sang-woo's mother must go off in search of work, he is left to stay with his deaf and mute grandmother. He brings with him not only his game-boy and beloved action-figure postcards from home, but a chip on his shoulder. He is horrified to be in a place without electricity, without indoor plumbing and absolutely "without anything to do!" Sang-woo resists his grandmother's early attempts at pleasing him. He outright rejects her traditional meals, preferring Spam and cola over her kimchi. He plays with his postcards and toys from home as he rudely ignores his grandmother and tries to forget his boring environment.
When the batteries in his game fail, he whines and begs his grandmother to buy him new ones. She solemnly gives the sign for "sorry" and even though Sang-woo understands that she does not have the money, he continues to beg her for the batteries. Frustrated, he steals her ornamental hairpin while she is napping and heads out to their small village to purchase the batteries himself.
This, however, proves fruitless as no one in the rural village has the right-sized batteries. Disappointed and distracted, he heads home but quickly gets lost. Only when a kindly old man gives him a lift on his bicycle, does he safely reach the path to his grandmother's house. And there, on the path, his worried and patient grandmother waits. Noticing her hair held up by a brass spoon, Sang-woo hides the stolen hairpin behind his back and quietly follows her home.
Their difficulties to communicate continue. One afternoon, after a long, tedious attempt at communicating in sign language, the grandmother misinterprets Sang-woo's urge for chicken. She trades her vegetables at the nearby market for a chicken which she then lovingly prepares for Sang-woo. Her ungrateful grandson has a fit -- he didn't want home-cooked chicken, he wanted Kentucky Fried Chicken. Only in the middle of the night - hungry, sad and alone - does he eat his grandmother's chicken.
The first hint of Sang-woo's kindness and change of heart appears when he cares for his sick grandmother the next morning. He gently covers her with warm clothes and awkwardly tries to prepare a meal for her.
Several days later, Sang-woo accompanies his grandmother to the local market. With the small amount of money she makes from selling her vegetables, his grandmother buys Sang-woo a new pair of sneakers and takes him to a Chinese restaurant, two things she can ill afford. But she is pleased to do it and watches him eat as she sips on green tea. A last treat of some chocolate candies tops off the day.
When she puts him on the bus home, Sang-woo doesn't realize that his grandmother does not have enough money for two bus tickeks as he is distracted by meeting up with his two friends: Hae-yeon, a young girl on whom he immediately developed a crush, and a neighborhood boy and rival, Cheol-e.
Sang-woo is surprised when he does not see his grandmother get off the next bus. He waits and waits at the bus stop. Finally, she appears. Exhausted, moving slowly down the dusty, dirt road, she is toting the heavy package that earlier, as Sang-woo sat on the bus next to his friends, he had refused to take. Fighting back his tears, he now takes the package and carries it home. He slips the last chocolate snack, the one he was saving for later, into her bag.
The next day it is Grandma who slips something into Sang-woo's wagon full of toys. She has wrapped his portable game player in plain paper. Thinking it useless, he stuffs it into his pocket and it is not until later, after he has fallen and injured himself, that he unwraps the package. In it he finds not only his game player, but money enough to purchase new batteries. As he stumbles home, his tears are more in recognition of this woman's loving heart than for the scrapes on his knees. And, again, bent and fragile, she appears on the path, awaiting the return of her grandson.
Grandma shows Sang-woo a letter from his mother, who is coming to take him back home to Seoul. Worried that he will lose touch with his illiterate grandmother, Sang-woo makes a desperate attempt to teach her to write a few phrases.
When the day comes for their parting, Sang-woo hands her a small package and hurries to take a seat on the bus next to his mother. As the bus slowly pulls away, Sang-woo makes the sign for "sorry" with tears streaking down his face. When his grandmother can no longer see the bus, she unwraps what Sang-woo so hurriedly handed her. There, pre-written and addressed to Sang-woo, are his beloved postcards. He drew pictures expressing possible situations -- "grandma sick" and "I miss you" - so that his grandmother could easily communicate with him.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Director Jeong-Hyang LEE had a clear vision of what she wanted for her second directorial outing. In a world of blockbusters and big budgeted films, LEE simply wanted to film a love story between a seven-year-old boy and his 77 year old grandmother.
"My goal was to make a good film. I wanted to make a film that is funny, fresh and touching. Those three words just about describe the whole film," states LEE.
LEE also wanted to depict the grandmother as a symbol of purity, like nature itself, she gives everything unconditionally. "Nature is also a key word in this film," notes LEE. "I wanted to portray the grandmother as nature, which gives us life and raises us."
The little boy Sang-woo, however, is someone needing protection and love, even if at first, he does not recognize the need.
"Sang-woo represents all of us, including myself," reflects the young director. "We all want to be protected and loved by someone. My grandmother on my mother's side took really good care of me and helped me grow. I still have a long way to go, though�"
FINDING THE RIGHT LOCATION
To fully realize her vision, finding the right locations and the right cast was of great importance and turned out to be quite a challenge.
"I insisted on keeping the shooting locations as original as possible and I wanted to hire local villagers as well," reflects LEE. " We shot the scenes pretty much in the original sequences so that the film would be as natural as possible."
Due to the characteristics of the film, the production team needed to find a country cottage in a village in the middle of nowhere. The team traveled all over Korea looking for the right combination of elements, but came up empty.
Finally, as if LEE had had a premonition, the crew set off for Youngdong, Choongbuk Province. There they found their perfect village. However, shooting at this remote location presented its own series of challenges.
There was no road to the location. Everyday, the crew had to carry the heavy camera equipment on their shoulders up and down the winding country trail. Additionally, characteristic of remote, mountain locations, the production was at the mercy of the area's very temperamental weather patterns. Above all, however, there was an incredible multitude of bugs. The shear number and variety of insects that flourish in the fresh, moist, unpolluted surroundings, amazed the crew. Those who were put off initially by the small creatures - including the director - soon became used to their constant presence.
CASTING
After the location was set, the crew searched throughout Youngdong in the hopes of finding their star grandmother. Like finding the location, the search was long and frustrating. One day LEE happened to see an old woman walking towards her in the distance. The moment she saw Eul-Boon KIM, she cried out, "That's her!"
But KIM needed to be persuaded to agree to play the part of Grandma. Not only had she never acted, but she had never seen a motion picture. It was a strange new process, but LEE was finally able to convince KIM to take the role.
Granny KIM surprised the crew everyday with her astute eye, amazing memory and unique acting ability. She knew instinctively what to do and she would remember every gesture and prop that was used in each scene. It was as if the script supervisor had an assistant, someone to help her keep track of every detail.
The young actor who was cast as Sang-woo, Seung-Ho YOO, had only slightly more experience than KIM. He had previously been seen on the television mini-series "Thorn Fish" and LEE thought that YOO would bring the right mischievous quality to the role. She also felt that he had completed a magical duo. "Nothing could be more amazing," she states. "A couple consisting of the youngest and the oldest stars in the history of Korean film is born!"
The rest of the actors and extras were all cast on location. LEE wanted a realism that she felt was only possible by using actual people from the countryside. By employing real villagers, she had to contend with "actors" with real-life responsibilities and retaining them for long periods of time was difficult. As much as villagers from Megock, Semack and Jeetongma enjoyed taking part as extras, as the shooting continued and the seasons changed, many of them had to leave to work their farms during the harvest.
SHOOTING THE STORY
"I thought we'd be able to get the shooting done in two months," recalls LEE, but it actually ended up taking a full six months to shoot. I didn't want to shoot several scenes grouped together like other films. I had to shoot the scenes consecutively to capture the subtle changes in emotion of the characters. I wanted to make a film that resembled nature and that included the characters also. That's why we needed to take long, slow breaths."
When filming was finally completed, leaving the village was difficult. The crew had grown to love and feel like a part of the village. Consisting of only eight small households, the villagers had opened up their hearts and their lives. They freely gave the crew fruit and other food every time they saw them, treating them like their own children.
Crew and villagers alike were in tears when it was time to say goodbye.
"The day we left, I hugged Eul-Boon and started crying my eyes out," recalls LEE. "She cried too."
LEE also felt a tremendous sense of responsibility for the condition of her star. "I was worried about this the most toward the end. So many people had just barged into the Eul-Boon's life when she had been living alone for so long. How lonely will she feel after the whole crew has left?" wondered a concerned LEE. "My heart aches still when I think of her. I will try to visit her often�"
ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Director / Screenwriter
Jeong-Hyang LEE
After graduating from Sogang University with a major in French Literature, writer-director LEE attended the Korean Academy of Fim arts where her love of cinema grew as she worked as an assistant director on A Woman of Today, Declaration of Genius, and Like Music, Like Rain.
In 1998, LEE directed her first feature film, Art Museum by the Zoo, for which she won Best New Director at the Grand Bell Film Awards, the Blue Dragon Film Awards, the YoungPyung Film Awards and the Choonsa Film Awards.
LEE also directed the documentary, A Place for Eve in 1989.
Producers
Woo-Hyun WHANG and Jae-woo WHANG
The Way Home is the first outing for producers, Woo-Hyun WHANG and Jae-Woo WHANG.
Executive Producer
Seung-Bum KIM
KIM was executive producer on the 2001 feature film, Bad Guy. The Way Home is KIM's second project.
Director of Cinematography
Hong-Shik YOON
YOON served as director of cinematography on several projects prior to The Way Home. These feature films include Beasts of Prey, Prostitute 5 and Prostitute 6.
Editor
Sang-Beom KIM
KIM began work as an editor on LEE's first film, Art Museum by the Zoo in 1998. This was quickly followed by Yellow Hair, Tell Me Something, Interview, The Humanist, Joint Security Area, and Taxi of Terror.
Other films edited by KIM include A Day, Indian Summer, My Sassy Girl, Guns & Talks, No Blood No Tears and Sympathy for Mr. Vengence. Most recently, KIM's work can be seen in Surprise and YMCA Yagudan.
KIM worked with Jae-Boem KIM on No Comment in 2002 prior to co-editing The Way Home.
Editor
Jae-Boem KIM
KIM edited No Comment with Sang-Beom KIM in 2002. The Way Home is the second film the duo has co-edited.
Composer / Music Director
Dae-hong KIM
In 1998 KIM participated in composing the original scores of the Korean films
Christmas in August, An Affair and A Promise. KIM went on to work with LEE as Music
Director of Art Museum by the Zoo in that same year with frequent collaborator Yang-hee
KIM. In 1999, KIM participated in composing original score of Nowhere to Hide,
Memento Mori with Yang-hee KIM and in 2000 also shared credit composing Barking
Dogs Never Bite again with Yang-hee KIM.
Composer / Music Director
Yang-hee KIM
KIM worked with Dae-hong KIM and writer-director Jeong-Hyang LEE as
Music Director of Art Museum by the Zoo in 1998. In 1999, KIM participated with Dae-
hong KIM in composing original score of Nowhere to Hide, Memento Mori and in 2000
also shared credit with Dae-hong KIM in composing Barking Dogs Never Bite.
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