hooray for korean cinema . last year i saw chungyang and nowhere to hide and now i catch up with hur jin ho directorial debut christmas in august . the variety of theme and level of achievement speak highly of a national cinema ripe for discovery . this film major theme be death and love . the graceful and thoughtful way jung win ( han suk kyu ) cop with his impend death and and the sublimation of his desire toward darim ( shim eun ha ) out of true love for her . i be deeply move by his careful management of behavior and emotion and shield darim from unnecessary pain without reject her . the success of this type of film be predicate on the skill of the actor . han and shim excel and be both quite expressive yet naturalistic . a number of secondary character and jung win relative and friend and and client and be quickly delineate to enrich the story without detract from it main focus . to live be to love and but all thing must pass . pain subsides . life go on .