Directed by: Kim Ui-seok (김의석)
Starring: Jeon Yeo-bin (전여빈), Seo Young-hwa (서영화), Ko Won-hee (고원희)
The Film: My friend has disappeared, and everyone suspects me. The sudden disappearance of classmate and friend, Kyung-Min, has led to Young-Hee (Jeon Yeo Bin), whom she was last seen with, being accused as the culprit. Kyung-Min’s mother who must find out the reason behind her daughter’s disappearance, the detective who must reveal the truth behind the incident, Han-Sol who must hide her friend’s true motives, the homeroom teacher who wishes to quickly resolve the situation; all of these people surrounding Young-hee suspect her. The vilified young girl must now prove her own innocence…
Yeong-hee (Jeon Yeo-bin), who attends an all girl’s high school, becomes suspected to have been involved in or at least have some key information surrounding the death of her classmate Gyung-min. Due to rumors about them being somewhat close as well as her having been overheard talking about Gyung-min’s death the day before, police detectives along with the dead girl’s mother and her classroom teacher get involved to uncover the truth.
The aftermath of the student’s death casts a dark cloud over the school and community in general as the detectives work to piece together the truth by interviewing the various students from her class one by one. When it’s Yeong-hee’s turn for questioning, she vehemently denies any knowledge of the incident and mentions that the girls hadn’t even been that close as of recent. But when the detectives inform her that the two girls can be seen together on CCTV footage from the day before the incident which clearly shows Gyung-min giving Yeong-hee a kiss, along with Yeong-hee’s close friend arriving to confirm she heard Yeong-hee talk of Gyung-min’s death in advance, Yeong-hee begins to break down and become very defensive. Even so, the case proves difficult to solve leaving mysteries abound.
The investigation is lead by a team of detectives who work closely with the teachers, their homeroom teacher in particular who is played by Seo Hyun-woo, and the deceased student’s mother who is adamant that Yeong-hee knows more about her daughter’s death than she’s letting on. The detectives take a very reasonable and intelligent approach to solving the case and are only able to push the investigation so far while having to restrain themselves from making certain conclusions that lack sufficient proof. Meanwhile, the community grieves and attempts to recover, save for Yeong-hee who appears to be getting worse…
Now I don’t want to give any other plot elements away as I want your experience with this film to be as pure as possible, so I’m going to spend the rest of this review with my overall thoughts on why I think After My Death is one of the best Korean films of the year.
After My Death is a powerful and dark film, where the performances, script, and music all work together harmoniously while it explores the darker sides of human behavior and psychology in true tour de force fashion. The score is both beautiful and haunting as characters experience heightened states of emotion surrounding topics like death, grief, despair, confusion, loss, jealousy, isolation and love. All these emotions are sort of balled up and presented in the film alongside the various difficulties of self-discovery upon entering adulthood, as experienced by Yeong-hee and her classmates to varying degrees.
The acting in this movie is so good that at times it feels as though it were a documentary film. There is one sequence in particular that takes place inside of a funeral home that gives viewers an up close look at the funeral customs in Korea. And while some of the particulars may not apply to every modern day funeral, some of the events on display here are especially powerful to the observer. One of these include an elderly shaman woman contacting the spirit of the deceased student to then act as a conduit for communicating the student’s final goodbye to the mourning mother and grandmother. The entire sequence masterfully crescendos to a boiling point of no return for one of the film’s key characters, and from which point on the film takes an even more dramatic and dark turn as it transitions into its cold and bleak final acts.
There will be those that find the film unnecessarily extreme in its portrayal of these dark emotions throughout the story, but without giving away any of the key plot elements here, I do want to say that I have heard news reports of similar events taking place at schools in Korea as students do indeed seem to be cracking under the various pressures surrounding their final high school years. One of these pressures for instance is the sole focus on studying for a standardized test in order for them to achieve the best possible results on a college entrance exam whose outcome is said to shape the rest of their lives. I for one immensely appreciate the dark and disturbing tone on display in this film as I’ve witnessed first hand the failures (as well as the successes for good measure) of “the system” when it comes to education in Korea.
Some flowers bloom bright while others wither and die. Parents, teachers, friends, and the community are the main sources of sunlight and water children have access to while on the fast track into adulthood. While the adults in the film appear to be doing their best as they go into damage control, they are simply too late in their efforts. After My Death reminds us of just how devastating the effects can be when we as a society lose focus of what is really important when it comes to educating and preparing our youth to better manage a future that is almost certain to more emotionally complex and challenging than anything they could have imagined. SCORE: 9/10
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