Sunny (2008 film)

2008 film directed by Lee Joon-ik

Sunny

Theatrical release poster

Hangul|

님은 먼곳에

RR| Nimeun meongose
MR| Nimŭn mŏn'gose
Directed by| Lee Joon-ik
Written by| Choi Seok-hwan
Produced by| Jung Seung-hye
Cho Chul-hyun
Starring|

* Soo Ae
* Jung Jin-young
* Jung Kyung-ho
* Joo Jin-mo
* Uhm Tae-woong

Cinematography| Na Seung-yong
Edited by| Kim Sang-bum
Kim Jae-bum
Music by| Lee Byung-hoon
Bang Jun-seok
Distributed by| Showbox/Mediaplex

Release date

* June 23, 2008 (2008-06-23)

Running time

| 126 minutes
Country| South Korea
Language| Korean
Box office| US$11.1 million[1]

Sunny (Korean: 님은 먼곳에; RR: Nimeun meongose; lit. My Dear is Far Away) is a 2008 South Korean musical drama film directed by Lee Joon-ik. Soo Ae plays the titular Soon-yi, whose husband enlists to fight in the Vietnam War, and she decides to join a singing group that will travel to Vietnam to perform for the soldiers there.[2][3]

## Plot

[edit]

Soon-yi is a young woman stuck in an arranged marriage to a man who still loves his college girlfriend. Her husband, Sang-gil, is a soldier in the South Korean army, and though she visits him regularly, he does not return her affections. After Sang-gil is sent to fight in the Vietnam War, Soon-yi resolves to follow him. She joins a band which is heading there, where she sings for the soldiers as "Sunny", with the hope of being reunited with her husband.

## Cast

[edit]

* Soo Ae as Soon-yi / Sunny
* Jung Jin-young as Kim Jeong-man, band leader
* Jung Kyung-ho as Yong-deuk, bassist
* Joo Jin-mo as Seong-chan, guitarist
* Shin Hyeon-tak as Cheol-sik, drummer
* Uhm Tae-woong as Sang-gil, Sunny's husband
* Park Yoon-ho as Private Kim
* Lee Joo-sil as Mother-in-law
* Jo Mi-ryung as Jeni
* Shin Jung-geun as Battalion commander
* Fredrik Skalin as Soldier

## Production

[edit]

Sunny was produced on a budget of ₩7.1 billion (US$7 million). Director Lee Joon-ik made the protagonist female in response to criticism that his films were largely male-oriented. Lee cast Soo Ae in the lead role, saying, "No other actress in [South] Korea has the distinctively pure image that [she] has". Soo Ae did two months of training to refine her singing and dancing skills, and admitted to being concerned over whether or not she could pull off the character.[4]

## Release

[edit]

Sunny was released in South Korea on July 23, 2008. On its opening weekend it was ranked second at the box office with 480,144 admissions,[5] and exceeded the one million mark on July 19.[6] As of August 31, Sunny had received a total of 1,804,223 admissions nationwide, and as of September 14 had grossed a total of US$11,093,277.[1]

## Awards and nominations

[edit]

Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref.

|
|
|
|
|

2008  | 4th Premiere Rising Star Awards Summit (PIFF)  | Best Actress | Soo Ae | Won | [7]
Best New Actor | Jung Kyung-ho | Won
17th Buil Film Awards | Best Film | Sunny | Nominated | [8]
Best Actress | Soo Ae | Won
Best Lighting | Park Se-mun | Nominated
Best Music | Lee Byung-hoon, Bang Jun-seok | Won
Technical Award | Hong Jang-pyo (Special Effects) | Nominated
Buil Readers' Jury Award | Sunny | Nominated
28th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards | Best Actress | Soo Ae | Won |
28th Arts Council Korea | Artist of the Year, Film category | Won |
31st Golden Cinematography Awards  | Popularity Award | Won |
Jung Jin-young | Won |
29th Blue Dragon Film Awards | Best Actress | Soo Ae | Nominated | [9]
Best Supporting Actor | Jung Kyung-ho | Nominated
Best Art Direction | Kang Seung-yong | Nominated
Best Music | Lee Byung-hoon, Bang Jun-seok | Won
2009  | 45th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best Director | Lee Joon-ik | Nominated |
Best Actress | Soo Ae | Nominated |
46th Grand Bell Awards | Best Actress | Won | [9]
Best Supporting Actor | Jung Kyung-ho | Nominated
Best Costume Design | Shim Hyun-sub | Nominated
17th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards | Best Actress | Soo Ae | Won |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "South Korea Box Office September 12–14, 2008". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
2. ^ Lee, Hyo-won (17 July 2008). "Watch Sooni Become Sunny". The Korea Times. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
3. ^ "K-FILM REVIEWS: 님은 먼 곳에 (Sunny)". Twitch Film. 9 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2014-01-21. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
4. ^ Yang, Sung-jin (2 July 2008). "Sunny offers a woman's Vietnam War". The Korea Herald via Hancinema. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
5. ^ "Korean Box Office" (Week-end 2008.07.25 ~ 2008.07.27). Hancinema. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
6. ^ "My Love is Far Away Attracts 1 Mil. Movie-Goers in A Week[permanent dead link]". KBS World. 29 July 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
7. ^ Yi, Ch'ang-ho (10 October 2008). "HA Jung-woo and SU Ae are tomorrow's stars". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
8. ^ Yi, Ch'ang-ho (24 October 2008). "The Chaser extends awards lead". Korean Film Council. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
9. ^ a b "Sunny - Awards". Cinemasie. Retrieved 2013-03-26.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website (in Korean)
* Sunny at the Korean Movie Database (in Korean)
* Sunny at IMDb
* Sunny at HanCinema

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Lee Joon-ik

* Kid Cop (1993)
* Once Upon a Time in a Battlefield (2003)
* The King and the Clown (2005)
* Radio Star (2006)
* The Happy Life (2007)
* Sunny (2008)
* Blades of Blood (2010)
* Battlefield Heroes (2011)
* Hope (2013)
* The Throne (2015)
* Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet (2016)
* Anarchist from Colony (2017)
* Sunset in My Hometown (2018)
* The Book of Fish (2021)

*[lit.]: literal translation
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template