Part of the Korean Film Festival DC 2017.
This haunting film from veteran experimental filmmaker Park Ki-yong (Camel(s), Motel Cactus) tells two linked stories, each consisting of a single, extended shot. The first follows an English tutor wandering around a park on a sweltering day after one of her students unexpectedly cancels their session. The second follows a young man in the same park who may have committed a horrible crime. Park’s methods may appear simple at first, but the characters’ concerns—anxiety over money and a failing business, the desire to emigrate, and the pressure to get ahead—add up to a complex picture of contemporary Korea as its own version of hell. (Dir.: Park Ki-yong, Korea, 2016, 93 min., DCP, Korean with English subtitles)