Special Program in Focus: Those Beautiful Years, Ahn Sung-ki, 1980
A Fine, Windy Day
바람불어 좋은날
Director LEE Jang-ho
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City/UrbanizationComing of Age
Deok-bae (Ahn Sung-ki), a Chinese restaurant delivery boy, along with Chun-sik (Lee Yeong-ho) and Gil-nam (Kim Seong-chan), are young men who moved from the countryside to Seoul, living day-to-day. Filmed in the late 1970s, A Fine, Windy Day frequently places its characters in distant long shots against the backdrop of Gangnam undergoing rapid urban development. The stammering Deok-bae catches a glimpse of high society through the upper-class Myeong-hui (Yoo Ji-in), only to be humiliated by her friends soon after. He tells his co-worker at the restaurant: "You gotta pretend not to see even when you see, pretend not to hear even when you hear, and pretend to be mute even when you wanna speak." In this early film that marked his full-fledged transition to adult roles, Ahn Sung-ki uses his characteristically naive face to contrast with the shallow capitalists of Seoul. The film’s underlying message is carried through his unhurried steps, never rushing even with a food delivery box in hand, and the innocent turns of his head as he looks around at the world.
Born in 1945 in Seoul. He dropped out of the Department of Architecture and Fine Arts at Hongik University and worked in the directing department under director Shin Sang-ok at Shin Films. Lee made his feature directorial debut with Heavenly Homecoming to Stars (1974), which became the highest-grossing Korean film at the time and earned him the Grand Bell Award for Best New Director. He went on to direct A Fine, Windy Day (1980), Children of Darkness (1981), The Declaration of Fools (1983), and The Man with Three Coffins (1987), among others. He later won the Caligari Film Award at the Berlin International Film Festival for The Man with Three Coffins.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
