Maybe I am dumb but I was reading a couple of reviews for this film and they say that the Korean character was just a tenant and that the mother of the child was on a business trip????
I got the impression that the Korean man was the father and the lady in the photo was the mother that died at some point.
How did you know this??
When the world gives you lemons...eat em rawshare
I do not remember very well because I saw this film almost a year ago, but if I'm not wrong, the boy speaks with her mother on the phone and they mention something about the corean tenant. Or she leaves him a message telling him about it. The very fact that this man is new to the boys life, is what triggers his interest in him, becomming a sort of substitute for his father and a distraction from his everyday routine of school and noodles
shareeverything's precisely as patrick said.
but hey, here's a thought: why don't you have a second go for yourself? this film does actually get ever better on multiple viewing (see thread on DVD) and i'm sure you will like coming back to it even after years.
so add it to your collection, why not?
Multiple viewings????
I really can't believe anyone has seen this film more than once. I found it oddly interesting in it's way but it's like visual prozac. To watch it twice has echos of overdose.
If you read the dates in his book correctly, it seems like everything happens over a very short amount of times - 4 days. It's an infatuation for the temporary tenant while the mother is gone. Xiao Lu either fixates on him because 1) missing father figure, 2) gay attraction, and/or 3) pure loneliness (no friends at all? does he know anyone, even at school?)
Oh, best moments - terrorizing the morning exercise group (or lack thereof, hehe)