The family of Wang Bal-san, a businessman based in Busan, has never seen a peaceful day. While Wang Bal-san has earned the respect befitting a prominent man of character, he has never been understood by his sons. The film follows the eventful life of this family, focusing on the eldest son, an alcoholic who is suspicious about the circumstances surrounding his mother’s suicide, and who has antagonistic feelings toward his father. Concerning misconceived patriarchy, three mothers, a slowly revealing secret of pedigree, and the true nature of the father, this ‘patriarchy drama’is full of stories between the old and the new, and is a peaceful drama depicting a shift in generations, and who will be successors to the ‘throne’. It all ends happily, after severe hardship. The screenplay by Han Un-sa, one of the best-known writers of the day, is nothing short of brilliant. Kim’s direction particularly outstanding, balancing cinematography, art, and performance. The performances of actors Sin Seong-il, Jeong Min, and Twist Kim, speaking with Busan accents, are also remarkable, all of them recording dialogue in their own voices for the first time. The film represents the process of a man’s restoration as a patriarch after rebuilding his broken family, an act that reproduces the success of industrialization. The film might better be called a ‘paternal melodrama’(like the Western‘ maternal melodrama’) than a‘ family’melodrama. (KANG Sowon)