Hymn of Death (2018)

Quick Take: Hymn of Death (2018), starring Lee Jong-suk and  Shin Hye-sun.  9.0/10.   3 seventy-minute episodes.

Review:   Hymn of Death is a short, three-episode series that dramatizes a story familiar in Korea, the tragic love affair of poet, playwright, and patriot Kim U-jin and Korea’s first professional soprano Yun Sim-deok.   They meet in 1921, both graduate students in Tokyo.  At the time, Korea was 10 years into its period of Japanese “annexation.”   U-jin is preparing a troupe to perform plays in Joseon (as Korea called itself at the time), hoping to nurture a sense of patriotism though art — a dangerous proposition under Japanese rule.

Sim-deok joins his troupe as a singer.  The attraction between the two is quick and intense, but U-jin is married.  Without any declaration, they return home and don’t meet again for five years.

The central theme is the conflict between traditional Korean customs and the modern aspirations of the couple.  Their families expect them to abandon personal ambitions and fulfill their duty to family.  U-jim’s father demands that he stop writing entirely to focus on running the family company, while Sim-deok’s parents plead with her to marry into a wealthy family who will support them financially and send her siblings to study abroad.  The pressure is relentless.

Briefly together again, U-jin and Sim-deok decide that they can neither endure the lives they face if they return to their families, nor can they live with the guilt of abandoning their responsibilities.  The end they chose seems inevitable.

This period in Korean history was completely unknown to me, so I was intrigued on that level.   Quotes for Hymn of Death were drawn from U-jin’s actual journal and poems. 

As U-jin, Lee Jon-suk displayed more acting ability than was evident in Romance is a Bonus Book, though again his affect is almost always calm.  Repressed emotion was the order of the day for young people in 1920’s Korea; they weren’t allowed to rebel.  In one shocking scene U-jin stands up to his father, who is completely taken aback.

Hymn of Death is a sad, sweet movie.  Japanese control of Korea lasted until 1945.  Twenty more years lay ahead, years of war and unspeakable suffering for Korea.   It’s hard to believe U-jin and Sim-doek missed out on much happiness by dying, on their own terms, at the age of 29.

Rewatchable - 3, Compelling - 4, Plot/ Story/Writing - 8,  Acting/Casting - 10, Production - 10, Bonus - 5.     Bonus points for emotional impact.

Notes:

Lee Jong-suk

made his debut as a model at the age of 15. He trained as an idol for three months but quit to do acting instead. He has been acting since 2010. See him also in Secret Garden (2010), Pinocchio (2014), W: Two Worlds (2016), While You Were Sleeping (2017), Romance is a Bonus Book (2019), and Big Mouth (2022).

Shin Hye-sun

made her debut in the television series School 2013 (2012). See her also in Oh My Ghost (2015), Thirty but Seventeen (2018), Angel’s Last Mission: Love (2019), Stranger (2020), and Mr. Queen (2020).