Daisy

Daisy (2006) is a South Korean–Hong Kong romantic thriller directed by Andrew Lau, best known for the Infernal Affairs trilogy. It is set in Amsterdam and the Dutch countryside. Hye-young, a young Korean painter, minds her grandfather's antique shop and sketches tourists' portraits for 30 euros each. Every day at the same hour, a pot of daisies arrives from an anonymous admirer.

Two men orbit her. Park Yi is a professional hitman who fell for her at first sight and watches over her from the shadows. Jeong Woo is an Interpol detective who meets her by chance while tracking criminals. She comes to believe that Jeong Woo is her secret admirer, and he does not have the heart to correct her.

The film mixes slow-burning romance with cat-and-mouse crime elements. It moves between the three characters' perspectives and uses voice-over. There are two versions, an Asian cut and an international cut.

The film is about love that cannot be spoken: love that is hidden, misdirected or mistimed. The daisy is traditionally a flower of hidden love, and Park Yi uses it as his only language. Its tagline, that he delivers flowers but also death, shows how tenderness and violence sit side by side in one person.

The film suggests that love depends on timing and on who is seen. Hye-young loves the idea of a man she has never met, and each man loves a woman who sees someone else. Its tragic design works like opera, where coincidence is allowed so long as it deepens the sorrow. The epilogue of the three smiling together under an overhang offers consolation, as if love might find its right time in another life or another version of events.

One reading treats the film as pure melodrama, an opera-like tragedy where reality does not matter. Another reads the final turn as a hopeful "the future can be changed" message, which a critic found confusing. The epilogue with the three smiling under an overhang can be read as an afterlife, an alternate timeline or a wish. A more critical view sees Park Yi's watching as stalkerish, though many viewers forgive it because his motives are protective.

The film came out in 2006, at the height of the Korean Wave. It paired a Hong Kong action director with Korean stars and a European setting. Expectations were high because Lau directed the Infernal Affairs films. Dutch and Western reviewers often described the film as having wonderful visuals, a weak script and decent acting. One Dutch reviewer compared the director's cut to a "smartlap", a Dutch weepy tradition, noting that its accordion-tinged score suited the story.

It remains a fan favorite among viewers of Korean melodrama, and Jun Ji-hyun and Jung Woo-sung remain a draw.

Praised: the Amsterdam and countryside visuals, the music, the costumes, the cast and the multi-perspective structure. IMDb users rate it about 7.4/10, and some call it a sombre, character-driven love story.

Criticized: erratic pacing, weak or cliched script, heavy-handed voice-overs, a love that some found too weak to feel fatal, and a runtime of 110 minutes that one reviewer said was at least 20 minutes too long. One viewer remarked that Amsterdam's cycling culture is barely shown.

Verdict: a beautiful but flawed romance-thriller that is loved by those who accept its operatic melancholy.