Jeon Jong-seo (who plays Hae-Mi) has some really beautiful moments in this film, including her pantomime routine, her mimicking the "great hunger" dance from the bushmen of the Kalahari, and the way she uses her hands to mimic a bird in flight at dusk, backlit by sunset. The "great hunger," this hunger to understand the meaning of life, is such a poetic concept, and I just loved it. It fits in so well with these two disaffected young people, who both have such difficult relationships with their parents and face a harsh world.
She tearfully says that a sunset in Africa made her want to disappear like the sunset, and her mother has disowned her until she pays off her credit card debt. Her friend Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) has an angry father who is on his way to jail, and a mother who abandoned him long ago. When she sees her son again out of her own need, she can't stop herself from looking at her phone, which is a heartbreaking moment. He's an aspiring author who likes Faulkner, but is not sure what to write about. Is there any wonder he's so isolated and quiet? "To me, the world is an enigma," he says.
I absolutely love that little moment in her apartment, when we see an ephemeral reflection of light off the nearby tower glint and then fade, with is such a beautiful analogy to the beautiful little moments in an otherwise harsh world.
There is certainly more than meets the eye here (from both a plot and allegorical perspective), as the two poorer young people are alongside this smooth rich guy (Steven Yeun) who drives a Porsche, knows the right things to say, and is always self-assured. Yeun is fantastic by the way, and his role is one of cinema's great villains. You can read larger things into these characters as life for young people these days, with the class divide and in existential moments, having a great hunger, the desire for an answer to the enigma of life.
However the film certainly works on a literal level, and has wonderful ambiguity in it as well. It's a little lethargic in its first hour, but marvelous as it picks up. The buildup of tension by director Lee Chang-dong is masterful; the film gets eerie and scary without ever resorting to cheap shock moments. Great soundtrack and cinematography too. Highly recommended, but be patient with it.
