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Han-soo is a promising high school swimmer living in a small seaside town where the only light in the vil­lage is an uninhabited lighthouse. After his mother is left comatose by a suicide attempt, he loses all inter­est in life. He gets even more depressed when he dis­covers the secret of his unfortunate birth and, through his mother's will, learns of his father’s aban­donment of him and his mother. Eventually, Han-soo begins robbing convenience stores in order to pay his mother's hospital bills. Caught in a hopeless situa­tion, Han-soo goes to see his father. But this too becomes a difficult and disappointing experience. "Among the scenes depicting the relationship between Han-soo and his mother, there is one in par­ticular that may offend people. Some people seem to interpret Han-soo's relationship with his mother as some kind of Oedipal complex. Washing a mother’s breasts, lying side by side with her, and desiring to touch her private parts – these may be uncomfortable moments because of the preconceptions we might have, but they are actually more natural than unnat­ural. If people perceive Han-soo’s every action as coming from an Oedipal complex, then this film has been gravely misunderstood. There are aspects to the film that could perhaps be interpreted as such, but it was without any such intention on my part. I even contemplated removing scenes that could remotely hint at such an idea, but I realized doing so would take away too much from the real story, so I kept everything in." Cho Chang-ho

Screenplay: Cho Chang-ho

Cinematographer: Kim Yong-cheol

Art Design: Kim Hye-jin

Editor: Kim Hyung-joo

Composer: Kim Myung-jong

Cast: On Ju-wan, Kim Ho-jung, Ok Ji-young, Park Min-ji

Format, screen ratio: 35mm, 1:1.85, Color

Running time: 108 minutes, 24 frames/sec.

Language: Korean

Funded by:

  • Logo Minister of State for Culture and the Media
  • Logo des Programms NeuStart Kultur