The Recipe (film)

The Recipe

Film poster
Directed by Anna Lee
Produced by Kim Jin-young
Written by Anna Lee
Jang Jin
Starring Ryu Seung-ryong
Lee Yo-won
Lee Dong-wook
Music by Han Jae-gwon
Cinematography Na Hui-seok
Edited by Kim Sang-bum
Kim Jae-beom
Distributed by CJ Entertainment
Release dates
  • October 21, 2010
Running time
 107 minutes
Country South Korea
Language Korean
Box office $293,898[1]

The Recipe (Hangul: 된장; RR: Doenjang; literally "Soybean paste") is a 2010 South Korean film about a television producer who finds out many surprising truths while tracking down the story about a mysterious bean paste stew. Behind the captivating taste lies a woman’s unfortunate life and love story.

Plot

Jang Hye-jin (Lee Yo-won) is an ordinary woman whose doenjang jjigae (soybean paste soup) is to die for. Yet Jang is not famous for her recipe and lives a quiet life.

When a notorious murderer on death row requests Jang’s soup as his last meal, television producer Choi Yoo-jin (Ryu Seung-ryong) starts looking for Jang and the recipe. But Choi is not the only one looking for Jang.

Kim Hyun-soo (Lee Dong-wook), Jang’s old flame, decides to return to his hometown to look for his first love. At the same time, three people die after eating Jang’s soup. What is the secret behind the soup and how many more people will have to die for it?[2]

Production

Twelve years after her last film Rub Love, director Anna Lee wonderfully mixes two different genres - the thriller and the love story. The English title "The Recipe" contains a lot of meaning: a record of a person’s life, a memory of taste, an experience of loss and a chronicle of hurts. In this sense, the film is a recipe for everything. With his original touch, Lee illustrates the obsession with unforgettable memories of love and a fatalistic point of view. The soybean soup recipe contains pain, longing and salvation. In a sense, the recipe is the very history of Korea’s memory and tradition.[3]

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Box office by Country: The Recipe". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
  2. ↑ "2010.10.22 NOW PLAYING". Korea JoongAng Daily. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
  3. ↑ Lee, Sang-yong. "The Recipe". BIFF.kr. Retrieved 2012-05-16.

External links