Lovable

Park Chul-soon : 2011
Da-seul-i

Nine-year-old Da-seul lives in a seaside town with her grandmother who works at a factory and her uncle who is a waiter at a nightclub. Whilst they think she is merely a mentally challenged child, Da-seul has actually inherited a special talent for art along with her autism. She draws pictures everywhere in the village during the day, and watches a snowman cartoon over and over again on video at night. When the long-awaited snow falls in the village, Da-seul makes a snowman and looks after it affectionately and starts to cover the town with black paint. Focusing on the young girl, this drama sensitively depicts the life of a child with Savant syndrome, a diagnosis within the autism spectrum, and the particular difficulties she faces every day. Da-seul makes a lot of trouble, but her grandmother and uncle don't get angry with her. Even with her many problems, she is lovable and she is loved. The film highlights how savants often demonstrate profound capacities and abilities far in excess of what would be considered normal, and how these skills improve if they are given a setting where the individual can focus.