My Love, Don’t Cross That River follows an elderly married couple as they go through their day-to-day routine, which doesn’t sound particularly engrossing, yet it has become the highest grossing independent film to come out of Korea since its release in 2014. The film follows the couple over fifteen months, showing the most tender and precious moments of old age and a love that managed to stay young. Besides engrossing the audience with its simple-yet-sweet story, the couple is consistently clad in bright, silk outfits against a rural Korean landscape, making the film is a feast for the eyes to boot. It isn’t all innocuous, however, and with sweetness and beauty comes pain, and My Love, Don’t Cross That River is no exception to that rule.
In the midst of the overwhelming amount of Hollywood summer masterpieces (Suicide Squad, anyone?), My Love, Don’t Cross That River’s simplicity is refreshing. Love isn’t a hard theme to come across in films, but a vérité account of a long-lasting romance between two elderly people is far from the average portrayal. The elderly are rarely seen on screen, especially as main characters, and especially in documentaries that aren’t necessarily biographical profiles of well-known people. The simplicity of the narrative and almost-but-not-quite everyman potential of the film makes it charming, accessible, and an absolute joy to the heart and eyes.
My Love, Don’t Cross That River
2014
dir. Mo-young Jin
86 min.
