If the Sun Rises in the West () is a 1998 South Korean film, and was the commercial directorial debut of Lee Eun."The Night Before Strike (Paupjeonya) (1990) ". Korean Film Archive. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.

Plot Beom-soo is a traffic control officer who aspires to become a baseball umpire. By chance he meets Hyun-joo, a theatre major who crashes her car into a tree while he is on duty. Instead of fining her, Beom-soo gives her driving lessons and they soon become friends, exchanging letters with each other when Hyun-joo returns to university. When they next meet in person Beom-soo declares his love for her, only for Hyun-joo to reject him as she plans to go overseas to study.

Three years later, Beom-soo is making his debut as a professional baseball umpire, and his feelings of love are reignited when he realises that up-and-coming actress Yoo Ha-rin is none other than Hyun-joo. The two are eventually reunited via the baseball field and resume their relationship, though Hyun-joo's affections are also pursued by Ji-min, the president of an advertising company for which she has appeared in a series of commercials. Hyun-joo eventually rejects Ji-min and shows up at the opening game of the Korean Series to throw the first ball, where she kisses Beom-soo in the middle of the field.

Cast Im Chang-jung ... Beom-soo Ko So-young ... Hyun-joo/Yoo Ha-rin Cha Seung-won ... Ji-min Nam Hyeon-ju Myung Gye-nam Kang Chung-sik Park Yong-soo Yu Hyeong-gwan Lee Du-il Choi Yong-min Lee Beom-soo

Release If the Sun Rises in the West opened in South Korea on 19 December 1998, and received a total of 145,752 admission in Seoul.Paquet, Darcy. "Films Released in 1998". Koreanfilm.org. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.

Critical response Andrew Saroch of Far East Films compared the film favourably to Richard Curtis' Notting Hill, and said, "[If the Sun Rises in the West] accomplishes its modest directives and creates two characters we quickly warm to throughout their moments together. Lee Eun utilises tried-and-tested genre techniques, but it is hard to be too resistant to these when the story moves along so effortlessly." He also praised lead actress Ko So-young, saying that she "illuminates this popularist fable and lends her character some much needed humanity."Saroch, Andrew. "If The Sun Rose In The West ". Far East Films. Retrieved on 19 January 2009.

See also List of baseball films

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