A surprise hit at the Korean box office, is the latest film by Hwang Dong-hyeok who helmed the superlative in 2013. tells the story of 74-year-old Mal-soon (Na Moon-hee), a rather bitter elderly lady who endlessly shares the difficulties she has faced in life with anyone within earshot. On overhearing a conversation in which her family discusses putting her in an old people’s home, she fears she has become nothing but a burden to those around her. So, when she passes a photo studio called ‘Forever Young’ she decides the time has come to have her memorial picture taken, in what she’s convinced are her final days. Sitting for the portrait to be taken, Mal-soon is told by the photographer that he’ll make her look 50 years younger – a compliment she happily accepts – but to her shock, horror and subsequent excitement on leaving the studio she finds that she has indeed become her 24-year-old younger self (played by Shim Eun-kyung). However, as Mal-soon is soon to rediscover, being young isn’t all that easy.

By Paul Quinn