Relationships, particularly in this day-and-age with mobile phones and social media, can cause the mind to go to all sorts of places. Kim In-hye‘s short shows how thoughts of the past raise questions about the present and impact on the future.
Shadowy screened at Busan International Short Film Festival
In-young (Lee Young-ah) is engaged to Sang-jun (Byun Sang-moon), though his mobile phone activity and constant delaying of raising their engagement with his mother makes her suspicious of his fidelity. Working as a horticulturalist for endangered species of plants, her ex, Soo-hyung (Shin Jeong-woong) arrives at her place of work, asking about her engagement, and reminding her about the nature of their break-up. As such, In-young’s behaviour becomes obsessive, sitting alone in the dark, checking Sang-jun’s phone and showing-up at his work. Her fears are answered, but driven by whom?
Kim maintains this atmosphere with the use of dark lighting, in a piece with an all-round bleak outlook, in a way Hirokazu Koreeda mastered with “Maboroshi” (1995). There is barely a smile, apart from those designed to taunt us as an outsider looking in. It is, therefore, a very slow and angst-ridden watch to make your way through, though is the perfect short in that it captures the essence of a single emotion.
In-young’s work colleague’s loud voicing of her own affair with her lover over the phone personifies the image she has of Sang-yun’s lover, continuously teasing and embarrassing her. There is a contrast between the smiling adulterers and the brooding ones left behind, where their bright smiles cast a shadow on the losers.
The framing of relationships within In-young’s world of work, trying to preserve the dying, is perhaps a little too obvious, with the ending suggesting it is perhaps better to let things take their natural course than force them to your wants.
There is some accomplished filmmaking on display from a novice, with the atmosphere and mood developed well ins “Shadowy” The idea of the past casting shadows over our present and future may not be the most original of storylines. However, it is once again a reminder that the world we now live in creates a lot of uncertainty – something with which the mind cannot cope.
