열세살, 수아 (The Wonder Years) gives us a glimpse into the life of a thirteen year old girl struggling to cope with the world around her. With her father dead, her mother hooked up with a junkyard owner and a tenuous friendship with a woman who sells “toast” on the side of the street; Soo-ah is finding it difficult to make it through life. Her only solace comes from watching videos of her “real mother”, a famous pop star, but that stops when the video player breaks down.
This 2007 film tries to show us the trials and tribulations of adolescence. There is none of the melodrama or mawkish tragedy that affects many Korean dramas, instead we are treated to a very realistic portrayal of teenage life. 이세영 (Lee Sae-young) is very believable as the troubled Soo-ah and 추상미 (Choo Sang-mi) excels as her over-burdened mother. Soo-ah’s friendships with two different girls
The first-time director, 김희정 (Kim Hee-jung), doesn’t use fancy or flashy shots to bring the viewer in, instead she lets the story slowly envelop us as we become attached to each member of the dysfunctional family. Reality is ever so slightly washed out and even Soo-ah’s fantasies are on a very modest scale. The plot is simple, but in the end the story is very satisfying and I found myself with tears in my eyes as the credits rolled.
On a slightly different note, the dvd manufacturers should be congratulated on misrepresenting the film. The box and inside cover might lead us to believe that we will be watching some exciting teeny-bopping extravaganza with over made-up adolescents dressed in the latest fashions, thank god we get something different.
