Summer Sonatine 
Yes, Christmas in August is a minor achievement. But this doesn't mean it's a minor movie either. Of course Heo Jin Ho isn't looking for visual experiments like Wong Kar Wai, he isn't trying to give his movie the dimension of a novel like Yang Dechang, this isn't either the mix between simplicity and experimentation of Suwa's M/Other. The goal of the movie is more to describe a simple relationship without falling into bad melodrama or bad sitcom. Simplicity is the key word of the directing: the photograph is only used to immortalize a moment of the life of a character, a joy, a disappointment and isn't a pretext for reflecting about the notion of distance like in Yi Yi; the use of reflects in the water or through the glass is brilliant. The editing and the directing manage to capture a certain lightness. Thanks to the actors who refuse being pathetic just like the ones they play, the movies manages never to be ridiculous. We could say the same of the music which is sweet without sounding like a bad slow for commercials. A small goal reached with the honors is sometimes better than megalomaniac projects who are ultimately falling apart. In this case, it carries even a certain greatness. For this reason, Christmas in August is a gift.
