Like Michael Tolkin’s end-times melodrama The Rapture, this is a disquietingly ambiguous take on piety.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 24, 2023

The film can be different things to different people and be equally effective in any of its interpretations.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 5, 2019

Lee Chang-dong directs a highly insightful, heart-breaking drama about a woman who finds herself completely unable to control her fate, and subsequently, her life, with devastating consequences.

| Apr 7, 2019

The amount of tragedy delivered by this story would feel abusive if a lesser talent was at its center.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 6, 2013

It quickly dawns as to why Jeon won so many awards for this performance...

| Sep 8, 2013

In a performance as raw and naked as I can recall seeing, Jeon navigates the ebbs and flows of Shin-ae's grief.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 4, 2011

Superbly observed study of a woman's tortured spiritual odyssey, filled with honest drama, unexpected humor and brilliant revelations.

| Dec 29, 2010

a wrenching, darkly comic and immersive work

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 23, 2010

It doesn't touch the heart as much as it thinks it does.

| Original Score: B | Dec 23, 2010

Profoundly moving, intelligent and unflinching. It boasts a brave, emotionally devastating performance by Jeon Do-yeon.

| Original Score: 8.921/10 | Dec 22, 2010

The cinematic equivalent of prose that is clear, elegant and lyrical.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 22, 2010

Buried in the year-end rush but one of the year's best films.

| Dec 21, 2010

Secret Sunshine is a frequently beautiful film with a cold, dark heart.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Dec 21, 2010

Brilliantly written, acted and directed, this is a work that evokes the Russian novel despite being a Korean film. Treats larger questions of life and death in the serious manner that they deserve.

| Dec 21, 2010

[S]low portrait of damaged woman struggling against community expectations reveals universality [in] extraordinary Do-yeon who dramatically shifts gears again [and again].

| Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 21, 2010

An exemplary examination of coping that expands to entail questions of morality, absolution and faith.

| Original Score: A- | Dec 5, 2010

It is unlikely you are going to see a more palpable portrayal of grief this year than Jeon Do-yeon's magnificent perfomance as Shin-ae in this Korean drama of the heart.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 7, 2007

A secular hymn to the small triumphs and cavernous tragedies of the everyday, and to our awesome ability to cope.

| Dec 6, 2007

Perfect for those wishing to enjoy a nice traumatizing time at the movies.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 13, 2007

This exploration of grief in contemporary South Korea plods along adequately and intelligently.

| Oct 20, 2007