The third feature film by Ishibashi Yuho, who won the Japan Cuts award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival with When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty (2022). The film delicately conveys the memory of first love and the sense of loss, moving back and forth between past and present. Misaki, who has worked in Tokyo for ten years, spends quality time with her family and friends again in her hometown. At an event where classmates gather, she learns that the boy she liked in middle school has died. Unable to forget the memory of their first conversation in the library on a typhoon day, Misaki visits the library again on another typhoon day. Traveling Alone is a film that shows another way to fill the emptiness in one’s heart. While the music they listened to together on an MD player shows the emotional fullness of that time and place, the film only depicts the situation without directly playing the music. There is beauty that can be imagined because it’s empty, and there is love that is poignant because it wasn’t fulfilled. (NAM Dong-chul)

Una and her secret lover excitedly whisper about their future together. All of those promises disappear in flames, leaving heartbroken Una to cope with the unexpected loss by herself. Una cannot bear the unfairness of having to be sidelined when she is entitled to grieve as much as, if not more than, anyone else. When the Light Breaks could have easily turned into an over-the-top melodrama, but Rúnar Rúnarsson has carefully crafted a sensitive and poignant coming of age story. In the wake of the devastating tragedy, there are no screams or wailings. Deliberate choices to distance the camera emphasize Una’s loneliness and displacement. The sparse dialogue yields to Jóhann Jóhannsson’s haunting chords yet no minute nuance is missed. Despite its relative short runtime at 82 minutes, there is so much tenderness and empathy. (Karen PARK)

There are four characters: Jeong-ho, Su-jin, In-ju, and Yu-jeong. They are all involved in the arts. Jeong-ho and Su-jin are lovers, but Su-jin is seeing another man without Jeong-ho’s knowledge. In-ju has a crush on Jeong-ho and wants to confess it to him. Yu-jeong also has her own story. The film calmly develops each of their stories until the middle. After the midpoint, it seeks a significant structural change. In this film, time no longer flows in order. Merely Known as Something Else is the second feature by director Jo Heeyoung, who debuted with The Continuing Land (2022). The film features characters crossing paths in the same space without knowing each other, time from today and yesterday intervening in each other’s dimensions, which makes the distinction between fact and truth ambiguous. The solid cinematography is excellent, and the virtue of the film lies in its attempt at a complex, multi-dimensional structure, which enhances the emotional resonance rather than the narrative. (JUNG Hanseok)

It is said that there are more people learning Irish on the language learning app Duolingo than native Irish speakers. Some of these endangered Irish speakers reside in British-governed Northern Ireland. Kneecap depicts the story of how a school teacher and two troublemakers from Belfast accidentally come together to form a rap band, rise to become icons of resistance, and gain stardom. The members of the group Kneecap star in the film as themselves, with journalist-turned-director Rich Peppiatt at the helm. The film shatters the preconception that biopics are serious and dull, sticks up the middle finger at the arrogance of British imperialism, and creates a chaotic spectacle overflowing with provocative and hip energy. Just as the achievements of BTS and Bong Joon-ho have amplified global interest in Korean culture, Kneecap is a vivid testament to the impact of cultural influence. (Karen PARK)

Raoul Peck, known for I Am Not Your Negro (2016), traces the life of photo-grapher Ernest Cole in Ernest Cole: Lost and Found. After publishing a photo book documenting the realities of South African people under apartheid in his twenties, Cole was forgotten by the public and died in poverty and isolation in New York in 1990 while in exile. Peck delves into Cole’s life, as if he wants to dive into Cole’s heart. He calls Cole back to life through about 60,000 negative films that were unexpectedly discovered. The first-person narration is written by Raoul Peck himself (Peck narrates the French version) based on the testimonies of the people he knows, reportage, and notes. Hundreds of harrowing yet moving photographs intertwine with the photographer’s life. What did Ernest Cole witness in America, having fled apartheid? The photographer’s desperate monologue, “I want to go back to my country, but I cannot,” is repeated multiple times. Did Raoul Peck, who fled Haiti at a young age to escape dictatorship, see a reflection of himself in this unfortunate photographer? Ernest Cole: Lost and Found restores Cole’s place as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century and deservedly so. (SEO Seunghee)

The Black Dog is about Mo, a husband and father, who worries a lot about losing his wife to cancer and raising their 10-year-old daughter alone. His daughter finds him crying out in his sleep. (PARK Sungho)

The third feature film by director Dani Rosenberg, who was invited to the International Competition section of the 2023 Locarno Film Festival with his second feature The Vanishing Soldier. Dar, a 16-year-old Israeli girl, returns to the kibbutz where she lived in order to find her lost dog during the Hamas attack in October 2023. There, amidst the ongoing terror of war, Dar encounters various individuals one by one, including those who try to maintain their faith in humanity and others who vow revenge, witnessing the horrific reality left by the war. To capture reality as it was, the film was shot on location in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip border about a month after the Hamas attack, involving non-professional actors and local crew members. Through the journey and perspective of Dar, a fictional character inserted into an unprocessed reality, director Rosenberg deeply reflects on one of the most pressing issues of our time. (JO Ji-hoon)

Du Jie, who had been in the spotlight as a cinematographer for blockbuster commercial films in China such as No Man’s Land (2013), SAVAGE (2018), and Moon Man (2022), emigrated to Japan three years ago where he completed his directorial debut, The Height of Coconut Trees. The film follows two couples. A man working as a cook in a restaurant and a woman working in a pet shop are in a long-term relationship and often eat lunch together in the park during their lunch break. One day, the man finds a ring swallowed by a fish and gives the ring to the woman as a gift. The other couple consists of a woman who has already committed suicide and a man who has acquired the old inn where she killed herself. Tension arises when the woman who received the ring visits the old inn, which is the space of the other couple. Seeing the woman visiting the inn alone, the inn owner suspects she might commit suicide and starts following her. The film tells an original story as it moves between past and present, man and woman, reality and ghost. (NAM Dong-chul)

Born for the Spotlight, the third drama series directed by renowned Taiwanese actor, writer and director Yen Yi-wen, after her previous two-part drama series The Making of an Ordinary Woman Parts 1 and 2. The series follows the lives of women working in various roles within the show business industry. Featuring Taiwanese actors who are familiar to Korean audiences, it showcases a diverse cast of vibrant characters: an actor frustrated by typecasting, an actor attempting a comeback after an unwanted hiatus, a director preparing for her first feature film, a passionate supporting actor, a rookie dreaming of her big break while juggling part-time jobs, and a small-time talent manager whose overzealousness drives others away. Born for the Spotlight depicts their lives as they fiercely pursue their dreams and passions, intertwined with ambitions and desires, shining a spotlight on the affectionate bonds of solidarity that the women forge. (PARK Sun Young)

On the night of a major earthquake, train driver Li attends his elementary school class reunion to see friends he hasn’t seen in years. There, he reconnects with Song Qian, who remembers the story A Water Monster that Li wrote as a child. The two spend the night together, and Li begins to suffer from unexplained headaches. The reunion triggers the resurfacing of painful memories that Li had long suppressed - his father’s disappearance 12 years ago, leaving behind only a camera, and the death of a friend. The film seamlessly blends the present and not-the-present, as well as reality and non-reality, to explore lives engulfed by the trauma of loss. With a layered narrative structure and expressive cinematography that’s evocative of the search for healing, this film marks the emergence of a noteworthy new director. (PARK Sun Young)

Souleymane is an asylum seeker from Guinea, Africa, who delivers food by bike in Paris. He’s two days away from an important interview to gain legal residency, but his day-to-day life as a refugee and delivery worker is precarious, like walking a tightrope. He’s always running out of time and money. Since he has to work as a delivery driver using someone else’s permit, he has to rush to check the app’s identity verification alarms, hurry to catch the last bus to the homeless shelter and run to gather money to pay the refugee broker. On the day of his interview to determine his eligibility for refugee status, Souleymane tells a “fake” story that he has memorized, as advised by his broker. The highlight of the film, which creates an overwhelming sense of immersion and tension, is this interview scene. After listening to Souleymane’s story, which includes political imprisonment and torture, the interviewer demands that he tell his “real” story. This film won the Jury Prize and Best Actor Award in the Un Certain Regard section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. (LEE Juhyun)

Pierre, a railroad worker, is raising his two sons alone. His eldest, Fus, who loves soccer, has become secretive as he starts hanging out with far-right friends, while his younger son, Louis, is about to study at the Sorbonne in Paris. The once close-knit family begins to unravel due to Fus’ wayward behaviors. Pierre tries to reason with his son, who is becoming increasingly violent under the influence of totalitarian ideologies, but to no avail. Eventually, a terrible tragedy befalls the family. The director does not equip Fus with sophisticated language filled with political ideologies and beliefs but rather gives him the body as a tool to express these ideas through intense physicality—sports, dance, and fights. When Fus dances in a trance-like state and others start to appear around him, colliding and dancing wildly, it becomes clear that their movements are not just dance. The performances by Vincent Lindon as Pierre and Benjamin Voisin as Fus leave long-lasting impressions. (LEE Juhyun)