The Coachman: No Simple Retread of The Bicycle Thief

The opening sequence of The Coachman reveals a young man speeding away on a stolen bicycle while the rightful owner runs after him shouting "Thief! Thief!" Sound familiar? Well, the deja vu is intentional for director Kang Dae-jin's Silver Bear winner of 1961 owes a lot to Vittorio De Sica's neorealist landmark . This Korean variation similarly explores a struggling working class family's existence, specifically a widowed deliveryman (Kim Seung-ho), his eldest son (who keeps failing the governmental exam), his deaf-mute daughter (who's trapped in an abusive marriage), his other daughter (who's dabbling in escort services) and his youngest boy (who we met in that thrilling first scene).

To dub the overall situation grim would be accurate but such a description would also shortchange much of the kindness with which the story is infused. You sense a real mix of respectful privacy and shared concern among the family members who are blessed with truly caring, self-sacrificing friends, including a truck driver (Hwang Hae) who comes to their aid multiple times, and a housemaid (Hwang Jung-seun) who takes extreme action to save a man in whom she sees inherent goodness. Nothing's idealized here, mind you — especially the rich who exhibit a narcissism that's never gone out of date. But The Coachman lifts the spirits with a happy ending that defies the odds and feels plausible.