2022 has been the year of Korean actors making their directorial debuts. But where Lee Jung-jae and Jung Woo-sung decided to debut with their own action features, actress Lee Joo-young, best known for her excellent work in small indie films like “Maggie” or “Baseball Girl” makes her debut with a similarly small but charming short film “Leave at Door, Bell X”.
“Leave at Door, Bell X” is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
Ji-ho spends more than she should to buy a used bike, with the aim of working as a food delivery rider. One night, she picks up a delivery and misdelivers it to the wrong address, and every step she takes through the night to rectify her mistake just ends up in more delays, less money earned and lower ratings for her.
In today's world, where food delivery apps are aplenty and people are very quick to rate and review their deliveries, Lee Joo-young wants us to pause and take a minute, or to be precise about her short's runtime, take twenty minutes to think about the troubles that the food delivery riders or drivers often have to go through to make sure that our food arrives to us in order, in time and serving hot. Issues do occur, most of which are out of the riders' hands and how a tiny complaint from the customer's part can set in motion a chain of events that could prove detrimental for the delivery person.
Lee opts to work with actors she has previously worked with on past projects to populate her short. Yeom Hye-ran, who player her mother in “Baseball Girl”, makes a brief appearance as the restaurant owner Ji-ho picks up food from, while Ryu Kyung-soo, her costar in “Itaewon Class” plays Ji-ho's delivery customer. But the star clearly is Ji Woo, who made her debut as an actress alongside Lee in her own debut “Chae's Movie Theatre”. The journey of an eager, then tired, then frustrated and ultimately nonchalant Ji-ho is a joy to follow and the actress's slight frame only adds to the sympathy the audience builds for her as she cycles through Seoul to set her error straight.
Made with a clear story in mind, the short is edited perfectly, keeping the narrative concise and on point. Brightly shot, Lee Joo-young's directorial debut is an endearing work that shows that the actress is more than capable calling the shots from behind the camera and adds another feather to the cap of Lee Joo-young, the artist.
