The Anatomy of Solitude Auteur cinema for thoughtful viewers is a difficult genre. This is not an entertaining film, it is unlikely even to be able to relax and relax. The debut picture of Hong Son-eun is rather a simple cast from modern life, submitted accurately, categorically. The director notices everything that may elude us, but has long been a hostage of everyday life, and therefore does not catch the eye. Do we often pay attention to what is happening, or by plugging our ears with headphones, we rush completely into ourselves? Are we ready to broaden our horizons, capture every moment of life, and act, or will the routine, day-to-day repetition of the usual ritual consume us? In the words of one of the heroines: “This is the problem of the modern young generation – do not care about each other at all.”
In fact, the film is much deeper than it may seem at first glance. He explores the very reason why people become solitary, why they voluntarily withdraw into themselves, and where the catalyst for their isolation and detachment is. In the course of the story, the director left a lot of tips. But they are veiled and not always noticeable with a simple “surface” viewing. Be very careful in this regard. Why, for example, even after her mother's death, did she keep her name on her phone and not replace it, even when her father started using it? Why, with manic affection, he watches videos from his parents’ apartment. And this neighbor who's already dead, but still, sometimes, still sees himself. Here and emotional burnout at work, and problems with relationships with parents. Movies like this require special treatment, and therefore are not designed for each viewer.
Chin-a has a good job helping people with payment cards. She is kind and responsible, but within her personal space she prefers solitude. The girl has no girlfriends, contacts with colleagues are purely businesslike, and even with the superiors do not get along very well. There is a father who left the family 17 years ago but recently returned. And a month ago, my mother died. It is hard to say how close they were, only Chin-a daily watches video of the once secretly installed camera in his mother’s house, indulges in melancholy and falls into depression, destroying his already lonely existence. Contact with his father does not go, and he hardly deserves it, having taken everything according to his will, besides exposing himself as a victim of life.
So would continue to roll on the inclined life of the girl, if not for the forced intern at work and the mysterious death of a neighbor in the apartment. It seemed only yesterday that she had spoken to him a few words, as she had done occasionally. Meaningless conversations, random replicas that have long entered our lives and became automatic. I don’t think we can remember them having already crossed the threshold of our house, as well as the neighbor with whom we recently spoke. Are we interested in his life? Do we want to know him better? Hardly. A world where everyone is drowning in their own problems and worries does not tend to expand their headache. This is how it is often perceived. When it is much calmer and more habitual to live in your shell. About this and the film Hong Son-eun “Lonely”.
Kon Seung-yeon managed to convey the difficult inner state of her heroine, her contradictions, emotional depression. Something similar in this regard, the actress has repeatedly had to play: in the same dramas “Unsociable boss” and “Circle (2017), the film “Emotions for replacement” (2021). And before "The Lonely Ones." Seung-yeon was an exclusively serial actress. So this film became a kind of debut for her. Chin-a’s prolonged silence, the eternally absent and depressed look somewhere past the camera, the constant routine in a half-sleep state – all this only enhances the effect of loneliness – the main dominant in this picture. The game Kon Seung-yeon did not go unnoticed by film critics and was honored by several awards at various film festivals: awards for Best Actress at the Turin Film Festival, the Jeongju Film Festival, the Korean Film Critics Association Award.
The film did not gain popularity with a wide audience, did not collect a significant box office. But if he was able to draw attention to himself, if he made me think, I think he has already fulfilled his mission. Rather, it's a festival arthouse movie. “Lonely” really went through a dozen prestigious international film festivals around the world and managed to find its audience. After all, there are entertainment films, and those that are called high art. By the way, the director and scriptwriter Hong Son-eun according to the leading film magazine in South Korea “Cine21” was recognized as the best new director of 2021.
6 out of 10