From Korea to Japan: The Journey from “Late Autumn” to “The Rendezvous”
In 1966, a film was released in South Korea: director Lee Man-hee’s “Late Autumn” (original title: Manchu). It tells the story of a woman imprisoned as a political offender and a man on the run for murder who meet by chance and spend a brief time together. Acclaimed as a masterpiece of Korean film history, it would later be remade several times.
Six years later, in 1972, Koichi Saito’s “The Rendezvous” was released in Japan. Its story—a female prisoner on parole and a young fugitive meet on a train and spend just three days together—was clearly based on “Late Autumn.” Saito did more than simply remake the film, however. He reconstructed it within Japan’s landscape and culture, transforming it into a distinctive visual poem.
At the time, Korean films were very rarely remade in Japan. Relations between Japan and South Korea were complex in the 1960s and 1970s, and cultural exchange was limited. Saito’s attention to “Late Autumn” in those circumstances demonstrates the acuity of his artistic sensibility. In its universal themes—the love between two people excluded from society and a meeting of souls within limited time—he found an empathy that transcended national borders.
For “The Rendezvous,” Saito set the story in the Hokuriku region along the Sea of Japan. While the Korean “Late Autumn” unfolded primarily in an urban setting, Saito chose Japan’s bleak winter scenery as his backdrop. The change was more than a transfer of location; it revealed a fundamentally different interpretation of the work.
Saito visualized the protagonists’ loneliness and alienation through the desolate landscape of the Sea of Japan: a winter sea, snow-covered coastline, and declining fishing villages. These scenes overlap with the two characters’ inner landscapes and leave a deep impression on the viewer. In Saito’s hands, the urban claustrophobia of the Korean “Late Autumn” became a broader, more poetic solitude.
Saito’s originality was equally evident in his casting. Keiko Kishi played Mitsuko, the female prisoner on parole, while Kenichi Hagiwara played Yu, the fugitive. Kishi’s mature beauty and Hagiwara’s untamed appeal created a distinctive tension different from the original. Kishi in particular was an internationally active actor who had also worked in French cinema, and her sophisticated performance added depth to the film.
Hiroshi Miyagawa’s lyrical score gave the story a poetic color. Where the Korean “Late Autumn” used melodramatic music, Saito’s version chose music that was more restrained and introspective. It shifted the work’s overall tone from sentimental melodrama toward art cinema with philosophical depth.
A Lineage of Remakes: The Evolution of “Late Autumn”
The story of “Late Autumn” was repeatedly remade in South Korea, acquiring a new interpretation each time. Tracing this lineage reveals the special place occupied by Saito’s “The Rendezvous.”
In 1975, Kim Ki-young directed the first Korean remake. Known as a master of Korean cinema and for his singular visual aesthetic, Kim made a “Late Autumn” that was darker than the original and placed greater emphasis on existential elements. The protagonists’ despair reflected the sense of confinement in South Korean society during the 1970s.
A second remake followed in 1982, directed by Kim Soo-yong. This version emphasized melodrama more strongly and foregrounded its character as popular entertainment. It can be seen as reflecting the commercialization of the Korean film industry in the 1980s.
Then, in 2010, the contemporary version “Late Autumn” was produced. Directed by Kim Tae-yong, it became an international project as a South Korean–Chinese co-production. Tang Wei and Hyun Bin, leading stars from China and South Korea, were cast in the principal roles.
The most notable feature of the 2010 “Late Autumn” is its international character. The setting moved from Korea to Seattle in the United States, with the woman portrayed as Chinese and the man as Korean. Through this change, the story expanded from a romance between two criminals into an encounter between people from different cultural backgrounds.
Kim Tae-yong is known to have held Saito’s “The Rendezvous” in high regard. He was deeply impressed by its poetic imagery and restrained direction. The influence of Saito’s version can be seen throughout “Late Autumn”: its frequent long takes, photography using natural light, and compositions that emphasize empty space clearly inherit Saito’s aesthetic.
The use of music in “Late Autumn” also bears the influence of Saito’s film. By avoiding excessively emotive music and using ambient sound and silence effectively, it delicately expresses the characters’ inner lives. This can be understood as a contemporary development of the aesthetics of ma—the expressive interval—that Saito established in “The Rendezvous.”
Intriguingly, the heart of the story remains unchanged across every version: the universal theme of two people excluded from society finding true love within a limited time. Yet each director has found new meaning in the story through the era and cultural setting of their own film.
Saito’s “The Rendezvous” holds a special place in this long lineage. It is valued as more than a remake: it is a successful example of creative dialogue between cultures. By reinterpreting a Korean story in a Japanese context, Saito broadened its potential as a universal human drama. His achievement carried into the later “Late Autumn,” where it developed on an even more international scale.
The Universality of Love and Cultural Specificity in Film
The lineage running from “Late Autumn” through “The Rendezvous” and back to “Late Autumn” offers unusually rich material for considering universality and specificity in cinema. As the same story is told repeatedly in different cultural spheres, what is universal and what belongs to a particular culture become clearer.
The universal element shared by all the films is love within limited time. Two people excluded from society meet by chance, spend only a short time together, and experience a love they will remember for the rest of their lives. This narrative structure moves people across cultures and eras.
Why does this theme have such universal appeal? Perhaps because it reflects the fundamental loneliness of people in modern society and their desire to find someone who truly understands them. The protagonists are pursued both legally and socially, yet perhaps precisely for that reason, they find genuine understanding in one another. This paradoxical situation powerfully stirs the audience’s emotions.
At the same time, each film has distinct cultural characteristics. Consider the Japanese elements of Saito’s “The Rendezvous.” The first is the restraint with which the protagonists express emotion. Compared with the relatively direct emotional expression of the Korean “Late Autumn,” much in Saito’s version is conveyed without words, through glances and gestures.
This restraint is deeply connected to the Japanese ideas of intuiting what is left unsaid and of ma, the expressive interval. The aesthetic holds that unspoken thoughts and feelings may be the deepest of all. Saito elevated this Japanese sensibility into visual expression. Long silences, subtle changes of expression, and gazes directed toward the landscape all speak more eloquently than words about the characters’ emotions.
The treatment of nature in “The Rendezvous” also reflects a Japanese aesthetic sensibility. The winter Sea of Japan, snowy landscapes, and a desolate coastline are more than backgrounds; they connect with traditional Japanese ideas such as sensitivity to transience and impermanence. The station-platform scene in which the protagonists part at the end is an especially accomplished expression of Japanese attitudes toward separation.
By contrast, the 2010 “Late Autumn” presents love in an age of globalization. The romance between a Chinese woman and a Korean man reflects the reality of cultural exchange in contemporary Asia. Setting the story in the United States also introduces modern themes of immigration and intercultural understanding.
Language is particularly significant in “Late Autumn.” The protagonists fall in love even though they cannot fully understand each other’s words. This suggests a new form of love in today’s global society: understanding beyond language and empathy beyond cultural difference. These could be called forms of universality for the twenty-first century.
Cultural differences can also be seen in how each film handles time. The Korean versions tend to emphasize passionate love within a limited period, while Saito’s version renders the passage of time itself poetically. His treatment of time during the train journey in particular embodies the Japanese aesthetics of ma.
These are more than differences in direction; they reflect different concepts of love in each culture. One culture idealizes passionate, dramatic love, while another finds beauty in quiet, introspective love. Both, however, address the universal theme of true love within limited time.
Koichi Saito’s International Legacy
Watching “Late Autumn,” made about forty years after “The Rendezvous,” reveals the scale of Saito’s influence not only on Japanese cinema but across Asian film. The visual aesthetics and storytelling he established have crossed borders and passed to a new generation of filmmakers.
Saito’s greatest achievement was showing Asian filmmakers the possibility of an original visual language that was neither Hollywood nor European in character. Asian cinema in the 1970s often fell into imitation of Western films. Saito instead created imagery that could resonate internationally while remaining grounded in Japanese aesthetics.
In interviews, “Late Autumn” director Kim Tae-yong has discussed the influence of Saito’s “The Rendezvous.” He was especially impressed by its method of depicting inner feelings through image, music, and silence rather than direct emotional expression. He uses this method effectively in “Late Autumn” as well.
Saito’s theme of place and people has also had a major influence on contemporary Asian cinema: the intrinsic power of a location and the correspondence between landscape and human psychology. These elements can be seen in films by contemporary Asian masters including Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Zhangke, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
Even more significant is the possibility of cultural adaptation that Saito demonstrated. By reinterpreting a Korean story in a Japanese context, “The Rendezvous” elevated it into a more universal work. This method of creative adaptation remains a model for contemporary remake culture. A remake as cultural dialogue rather than simple replication offers important guidance for filmmaking in an age of globalization.
Saito’s international legacy extends to technique. The long takes he established, his use of natural light, and his commitment to location shooting have become standard techniques in contemporary Asian cinema. Advances in digital technology have allowed these methods to be realized in increasingly refined forms.
The poetic realism of Saito’s work has also passed into contemporary film. It depicts reality faithfully while simultaneously transforming it into poetry. This duality is one reason Asian cinema is acclaimed worldwide. Many Asian films recognized at international festivals such as Cannes, Venice, and Berlin belong to this lineage of poetic realism.
Looking back at the lineage of “Late Autumn,” “The Rendezvous,” and “Late Autumn” reveals cinema’s power of cultural exchange. A single story grows richer as it receives different interpretations in different cultural spheres. It is one of the finest examples of both the universality and diversity of art.
Saito died in 2009, but his cinematic legacy remains alive. The possibility demonstrated by “The Rendezvous”—creatively reinterpreting a story from another culture in one’s own context and elevating it into a more universal work—continues to guide contemporary filmmakers.
As globalization advances, concern about cultural homogenization coexists with a growing recognition of the importance of creating universal value while preserving each culture’s individuality. “The Rendezvous” occupies an important place in film history as a pioneering demonstration of precisely that possibility. Stories of love across borders will continue to be retold in new forms, and each time, Koichi Saito will be remembered as a pioneer who built a bridge between cultures.
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