A subtly sweet drama starring Kim “Hero” Jaejoong (JYJ, formerly TVXQ) and Han Hyo Joo.
Jaejoon isn’t your typical postman. He delivers people’s letters to their loved ones who have died. On a normal day he encounters Jo Hana who has just posted a letter to her dead boyfriend through the special postbox that stands in the middle of an open field.
Hana is fascinated with Jaejoon and claims his reputation is well-known on the internet but refuses to believe he is actually from heaven even though he says he’s dead/an angel. “But you have feet,” Hana cries. As the viewer one might work out immediately that Jaejoon is deceased from the beginning of the film the minute he states his occupation but for Hana it takes a while for her to fully believe he is not all he seems.
Jaejoon offers Hana a chance to experience what he does on the job, taking the letters posted by people who mourn their loved ones and “deliver” them. In reality, Hana learns Jaejoon doesn’t actually fly to Heaven to post the letters. He gives the people closure by responding to them via written correspondence, pretending to be the dead recipients. In order to make the replies believable Hana realises she has to use her wit and creative ideas. However throughout the film on she realises the postman’s job is harder than expected as the letters she reads tend to bring out her emotions and contemplate her own life.
It’s incredibly difficult to write a very meaty review without giving away heavy spoilers related to the plot so I can only summarise what I felt about the film’s outer surface. Kim Jaejoong’s acting might come off as flat to begin with but I got the impression this was a significant part of the enigmatic aura surrounding Jaejoon as a character. We can definitely work out he’s not human yet he can be seen by a few living people however we don’t know how he died or why he’s working as postman to begin with until the second part of the film where the jigsaw puzzle starts coming together to form his background story.
Jo Hana is like many feisty leading female characters seen in Kdramas. Han Hyo Joo brings out a variety of emotions for her role (laughter, anger and sadness). Beneath the hot-headed facade lies a vulnerable, sensitive side. Hana and Jaejoon have an opposites attract relationship going on and predictably romance develops during the film but it’s not full-on cheesy, over the top adoration.
Watching Hana find ways to help those in mourning was imaginative and brought out the comedy aspects of the film. It did also make me personally contemplate whether or not I would do the same as her and Jaejoon when it came to helping people. Would you be able to read through numerous letters these individuals had written to their loved ones?
Heaven’s Postman requires patience if you want to get to Jaejoon’s story and the finalised ending. You expect the story’s ending to head towards a very disappointing climax but there is a twist and it genuinely works.
