30 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 27th Busan International Film Festival (Part 2)

By Asian Film Festival on October 2, 2022 • ( Leave a comment )

We continue with our list of films that you shouldn’t miss at the Busan International Film Festival which will take place from October 5 – 14, 2022.

**Highway Family** by Lee Sangmoon – Korea | 2022 – 129 minutes
Section: Panorama | World Premiere

Ki-woo (Jung Ilwoo) is homeless. He drifts around highway rest stops with his pregnant wife, a young son, and a young daughter. Young-sun (Ra Miran) feels sorry for them. Highway Family builds a bridge between Kiwoo’s family who are financially troubled yet happy and Young-sun′s family who suffer from the wounds they can never get away from. The film is impressively warm and considerate as it casts its eyes on these families. Director Lee Sangmoon adopts various devices in order not to simply use a homeless family as a dramatic set up. The film listens to the stories of each family member, not to mention those of Ki-woo and Young-sun, with enough patience. The performance of such actors as Ra Miran, Jung Ilwoo, Kim Seulki, and Bek Hyunjin is brilliant, and the story development is well-paced, which gives the film a good balance. (SONG Kyung-won)

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**Hong Kong Family** by Tsang Hing Weng Eric – Hong Kong, China | 2022 – 113 minutes
**Section**: A Window on Asian Cinema | World Premiere

On the evening of the family’s traditional winter solstice dinner, Chun and Ling, their daughter Ki and son Yeung, and Ling’s brother Ming gather at Ling’s mother’s house. Tired of Chun’s incompetence, losing his job when they’re looking to repair and move into the house they bought with everything they had, Ling demands a divorce. While attempting to mediate between the two, Yeung gets greatly disappointed and angry with Chun. And Ming, whose business failed, has a fight with his aging mother. That becomes the last family dinner. Eight years later, Ming’s daughter Joy returns to Hong Kong, and the family plans for their traditional dinner on the winter solstice again. Can the years of pain and remorse bring the family together again? On this evening of Joy’s first winter solstice dinner, the film shows through the night scenery that a family can be whole even if it is not perfect. (CHOI Eun)

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**Jiseok** by Kim Young-jo – Korea | 2022 – 117 minutes
**Section**: Special Screening | World Premiere

On May 18, 2017, the Busan International Film Festival’s Program Director Kim Jiseok died suddenly and unexpectedly from a heart attack while on a business trip to the Cannes Film Festival. In the face of his unexpected demise, his old friends and colleagues in the film industry recall what tormented him in his last days. The documentary Jiseok was planned to commemorate programmer Kim Jiseok, who as a founding member of BIFF in 1996 conceived and completed the identity of the Busan International Film Festival—the “hub of Asian films.” This film is full of intriguing and touching anecdotes told by masters of Asian films, such as Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Jafar Panahi. It was directed by Kim Youngjo, who made My Family Portrait (2007) and Still and All (2015), planned by the Busan International Film Festival, and produced by Soul Film. (KANG Sowon)

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**Juhee from 5 to 7** by Jang Kunjae – Korea | 2022 – 75 minutes
**Section**: Panorama | World Premiere

Juhee (Kim Jooryung), a professor of theater, is diagnosed with a possible malignant tumor at the hospital. She goes back to school and tries to settle her affairs but many people come to her lab out of the blue. In the meantime, the film intersects the story of Hojin, Juhee’s husband and theater director. However, while the two stories intersect, there is an increasingly unusual atmosphere in the movie, and with only the time axis left ‘from 5 to 7,’ the film opens up a fascinating chapter, making all the boundaries hazily. Director Jang Kunjae completes Juhee′s inner story by scattering the boundaries between the story in the film and the content of the play, and the reality and dreams Juhee has. Kim Jooryung, who played Minyeo in the popular drama series, Squid Game, gives a powerful performance that stands out. (HONG Eunmi)

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**Look At Me Touch Me Kiss Me** by Ho Yuhang, Djenar Maesa Ayu, Kim Tai-sik – Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea | 2022 – 114 minutes – **Section**: A Window on Asian Cinema | World Premiere

Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Seoul. Three couples in three cities in three countries: The paths of a telemarketer for a loan company and a cart rink owner are destined to cross. A pub owner and a woman with their own background stories. A virgin forklift operator who has never kissed before and a kiss-for-sale manager. Although the geographical backgrounds are all different, the contemporary circumstances of those living in the same era are oddly similar. An omnibus film made by dynamic directors from three countries, this feature feels like a well-cooked full-course meal. It is a pleasure to discover the mechanisms that connect each episode while the warm and humorous perspectives of the surroundings intersect. The film’s working title, Dream Together, nicely sums up the stories of the film as well as the meaningful co-production among Asian countries. (BOO Kyunghwan)

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**Next Sohee** by July Jung – Korea | 2022 – 139 minutes
**Section**: Panorama

Sohee (Kim Si-eun) gets a job as a field trainee at the customer service center of an Internet company just before her high school graduation. She is excited about getting a job at a large company, but the reality is different from what she expects. The customer service center is simply a hell of labor exploitation. The cruel reality there leads to a grim accident, and detective Yujin (Bae Doona) desperately pursues the truth. However, in the face of an absurd social system, she feels powerless. Director July Jung′s Next Sohee is a detailed investigation report that reflects the ecology of our society and an excellent portrait showing the longsuffering characters in detail. As the dense narrative slowly unfolds through the bodies of Sohee and Yujin, the gruesome feelings the title suggests are pushing in aggressively. (HONG Eunmi)

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**Paper Man** by Ki Motae – Korea | 2022 – 130 minutes
**Section**: Vision | World Premiere

Inmok’s appearance is somewhat curious. Around his neck, covered in dirt, he wears a mysterious medal. Perhaps the medal is the last piece of his glorious past remaining in him. When he finds himself forcibly evicted from his house and with nowhere to go, Inmok lays wastepaper under a bridge and begins to stay there. Inmok’s companions under the bridge include an old man, who collects wastepaper; Kidong, who is kind and naive; and Seoyeon, a girl who wanders the streets. Inmok becomes their friendly guardian, but also becomes a crafty exploiter, blurring the boundary between good and evil. Watching his behaviors, we become disconcerted by his actions that are alternately pitiful, brazen, laughable, funny, but never contemptible. Paper Man reflects the ugly and unpleasant realities of the world in the microcosm of the world under the bridge. In that sense, Paper Man is a slick fable about capitalism and its ruthless food chain. (JUNG Hanseok)

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**Peafowl** by Byun Sung-bin – Korea | 2022 – 115 minutes
**Section**: Vision | World Premiere

Shinmyung, a passionate waacking dancer, aspires to finance her genderreassignment surgery by winning a dance battle with a large jackpot, but ends up in second place. At the same time, she learns that her father, a master of traditional Nongak, has passed away. Shinmyung returns to her hometown after hearing that she will come into an inheritance if she performs a memorial service for her father on the forty-ninth day of her father′s death but unbeknownst to her, numerous obstacles in the form of misunderstandings and family dramas await her. It seems no coincidence that the main character′s name is Shinmyung, which means ‘excitement.’ Peafowl is extremely entertaining. A family drama of conflict and reconciliation, it tells the story of the creator′s growth beyond adversity and hardship, and is a bold and sleek example of queer cinema. The film tells its story without prejudice, and in a manner that is as rhythmic and balanced as a musical work. Hae-jun, a real waacking dancer, stars in the film. (JUNG Hanseok)

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**Plan 75** by Hayakawa Chie – Japan, France, Philippines, Qatar | 2022 – 113 minutes
**Section**: A Window on Asian Cinema

When Japan’s population of citizens over seventy-five grows to unprecedented numbers, the government implements “Plan 75,” which encourages people over age 75 to seek euthanasia. This policy is based on the perception that the elderly’s contribution to the economy is insufficient to cover the rising healthcare and social welfare expenditures for the elderly. On television people testify that they are happy to be able to choose euthanasia. The government announces that it will fund final trips and funerals for those who opt for euthanasia. While The Ballad of Narayama (1983) tells a story set in the past about an old woman who chooses death to ensure the community’s sustenance, Plan 75 is set in the near future when the government urges the elderly to die. The film became a social issue upon its release in Japan, and it also sends a heavy message to Korean society. (NAM Dong-chul)

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**Riceboy Sleeps** by Anthony Shim – Canada | 2022 – 117 minutes
**Section**: Flash Forward

So-Young is a Korean single mother raising her adolescent son, Dong-Hyun, in the suburbs of Canada during the 1990s. Determined to provide a better life for him than the one she left behind in her native country, she does her best to overcome the constant racial and cultural challenges that confront them. As Dong-Hyun gets older, he becomes increasingly curious about his Korean heritage and in particular, about his deceased father – a topic that So- Young refuses to discuss. Instead, she continues to work on building a new life, which now includes a relationship with a kind Korean-Canadian man who is eager to take on the role of Dong-Hyun’s surrogate father. This only exacerbates her already tense relationship with Dong-Hyun. Then, sudden devastating news prompts the mother and son to return to South Korea for the first time since their initial departure with hopes of reconnecting to their roots and reconciling their tragic past. (BusanIFF 2022)

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**Seventeeners** by Prithvi Konanur – India | 2022 – 123 minutes
**Section**: Jiseok | World Premiere

Preparing to enroll in universities, Deepa and Hari are in love. When a video they record in an empty classroom after school gets uploaded to a porn site, the school convenes a committee meeting to punish them. Yet the committee’s decisions on what to do with Hari, a Brahmin, and Deepa, a Dalit (untouchable) differ markedly. With the involvement of the human rights activist and lawyer Jesse, the issue takes a dramatic turn. Seventeeners is the third feature by Prithvi Konanur, whose film Where is Pinki? garnered praises from the Busan International Film Festival and others. Just as he has done in his previous work, Konanur show the meticulous buildup of a small incident becoming contextualized in terms of society, class, and gender. The process is so realistic that it is nearly stifling. (PARK Sun Young)

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**Shivamma** by Jaishankar Aryar – India | 2022 – 104 minutes
**Section**: New Currents | World Premiere

Shivamma is an ardent sales rep for the energy drink Nuracle. The multilevel marketing method at Nuracle is her only belief and motivation for life. To Shivamma, living in a poor town on the outskirts of a city with her bed-ridden husband, a soon-to-be-married daughter, and brattish son, Nuracle’s worldview—“I will do it!”—is a source of confidence and hope. A poor, middle-aged woman without education only has few options for her family’s livelihood as the head of a poor household. For the lead role, director Jaishankar Aryar cast Sharanamma Chetti, familiar to us for playing supporting roles in Kannada films. And he persistently follows her struggle without making any moral judgment about her choices. Shivamma is a memorable debut film. (PARK Sun Young)

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**Stone Turtle** by Woo Ming Jin – Malaysia, Indonesia | 2022 – 92 minutes
**Section**: A Window on Asian Cinema

On a remote island in Malaysia, Zahara works with her nephew trafficking turtle eggs to make a living. One day, a stranger named Samad arrives on the island. He introduces himself as a researcher for leatherback turtles, and asks Zahara to be his guide. The atmosphere on the island and between these two strangers is oddly tense. What secrets are they hiding? From the film’s shocking opening through its continued blending and reconstructing realities and illusions, memories and fantasies, the truth is revealed layer by layer. Woo Ming Jin is one of the most respected members of the Malaysian New Wave, and his latest film has received critical acclaim around the world. While the metaphors and symbols of the folktale about the stone turtle evolve throughout the film, the intense composition and quality acting that contrasts with the peaceful scenery that fills the screen. Woo was awarded the prestigious FIPRESCI Award at Locarno for his latest feature, a prime example of the power of contemporary Southeast Asian cinema. (BOO Kyunghwan)

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**The Sales Girl** by Sengedorj Janchivdorj – Mongolia | 2021 – 124 minutes
**Section**: A Window on Asian Cinema

Reticent Saruul loves to draw, but at the wishes of her parents, she is studying nuclear engineering instead. One day, a friend slips on a banana peel and breaks her leg. She asks Saruul to fill in for her at her part-time job at a sex shop. Although it seems like the least likely job for Saruul, her friend, hoping that Saruul would be the most discreet about her secret job, convinces her. The work involves selling all kinds of oddly-shaped pleasure enhancers, making occasional deliveries, and delivering the day’s earnings and cat food to the shop owner Katya at the end of the day. Saruul starts working at the shop, and over time she grows fascinated by Katya, who seems to know all about things that she doesn’t know or hasn’t experienced. The two women’s special friendship changes each other’s lives. Charming direction and music in unexpected places stand out in particular. (PARK Sungho)

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**When the Waves are Gone** by Lav Diaz – Philippines, France, Portugal, Denmark | 2022
188 minutes – **Section**: Icons

Hermes, a capable police officer solves cold cases, feels a sense of professional ambivalence about his role in the war on drugs. Several times a day, he sees the bodies of so-called ‘drug offenders’ who have been killed on the streets, an experience that worsens his stress dermatitis. In addition, he assaults his wife and his fellow police officer with whom she had an affair while he was away from home. Another man, Primo, is released earlier from prison by his superiors who look after his back while serving time. Primo suffers from bipolar disorder and anger management disorder. He tries to clean up the past, but even when he enjoys the greatest freedom, he falls out of control. A restrained black-and-white palette and long takes reveal the relationship between the two men, melting secret and personal time and conversation as if they were captured in a time capsule. The film asks whether justice can be realized by violence in a modern society that contains all kinds of irony and contradiction. (PARK Sungho)

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