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)

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)

Can one imagine 2012 without Tabu and Holy Motors? Tabu was a blessing for cinephiles and remains one of the greatest films since the 21st century In Lisbon, Aurora, near death, dreams of reuniting with her old lover Gian Luca again. However, Luca arrives too late and tells her friend of their forbidden love, which took place 50 years ago in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The Portuguese colonizers live in a small community in luxurious villas, enjoying hunting and ‘60s pop music. They seem oblivious of the independence struggle brewing in Mozambique. Miguel gomes films a seemingly eternal and dreamlike melodrama, as Aurora leaves her husband and the settler community to flee with Luca into the African jungle. As in Murnau’s movies, the lovers break taboos, and their love is cursed. The tragedy that they face is not only connected to the lovers, but also to the era itself, as revolutionaries would soon drive the Portuguese colonizers away from their land. Tabu borrows the form of a silent film to tell a love story, but director Miguel Gomes knows all too well that no nostalgia is possible in the face of the march of history. (SEO Seunghee)

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)

Village Rockstars 2, the latest work by Rima Das, revisits the life of Dhunu, seven years after the events of Village Rockstars (2017). Living in a small rural village in Assam, Dhunu lives with her ailing mother, who is growing weak from hard labor, and her immature older brother, who constantly pesters their mother for a motorcycle. Although she is now in her late teens, Dhunu still climbs trees, swims, and most importantly, dreams of continuing her childhood life as a guitarist in her rock band. However, life does not unfold as Dhunu wishes. As she faces the bitter and sour moments of life, she stands on the threshold of leaving her once-happy childhood behind. Village Rockstars 2 follows Dhunu with a camera that is both realistic and lyrical, lovingly supporting her choices and growth in a way that feels both fresh and grounded. (PARK Sun Young)

In the populous city of Mumbai, Prabha, a nurse, is tied to her marriage with a husband who stopped contacting her after moving to Germany, while her roommate Anu is in love with a Muslim man. These young lovers, whose love is not accepted by social norms, wander the streets of Mumbai at night, searching for a space of their own. The film, which delicately unfolds the story of these two women, opens with scenes of people who flock to Mumbai with dreams, collecting garbage, loading goods, and leaning against trains. As they glance at the camera, a voice-over narrates their experiences in Mumbai, the ‘city of dreams.’ Blending documentary style with magical realism, this unique film takes the audience into Prabha’s story, while also telling a universal tale shared by the many residents of Mumbai. (HONG Soin)

A new film by female animation director Yamada Naoko, who directed A Silent Voice (2016) and Liz and the Blue Bird (2018). The team that worked with Yamada Naoko, including screenwriter Yoshida Reiko and music composer Ushio Kensuke, has reunited. Totsuko, a high school girl attending a Catholic boarding school, has a unique ability to see people’s colors. She was captivated by Kimi at school, but one day is shocked to hear that Kimi has left school and sets out to find her. Totsuko meets Kimi working at a bookstore and inadvertently forms a band with a male student, Rui. After twists and turns, they decide to perform at the Valentine’s festival. As an animated youth film, it captivates thanks to Yamada Naoko’s signature drawing style and color palette, while the charm of the music is also considerable given that it’s a band story. While it lacks the grand fantasy typically associated with animation, it’s a unique animation that naturally depicts the psychology and behavior of teenage girls. (NAM Dong-chul)

Method Acting is a film that deliberately aims to be funny, and its deadpan approach makes it even more amusing and poignant. The star in this remarkable comic film is, ironically, Actor Lee Donghwi (played by himself), who hates comic acting. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself, opportunities seem elusive, and he finds himself increasingly despondent. Unexpectedly, he receives a surprising offer to play a king in a traditional costume drama. Determined to perfect his portrayal of this majestic royal character, Donghwi dives into method acting. However, things quickly become unconventional in this historical drama. Method Acting skillfully balances the chaotic filming environment with family narratives, portraying the characters’ struggles while handling inventive elements with seamless precision, resulting in an outstanding comedy. Above all, the actors’ performances, which reach a level of trance, are truly exceptional. (HONG Eunmi)

My Mister, the 16-episode drama series, is undoubtedly one of actor Lee Sun-kyun’s signature works. Among the many elements that made this drama shine, Lee Sun-kyun was perhaps the most crucial. In My Mister, there are numerous memorable scenes featuring his performance. Among them, many remember Park Dong-hun (Lee Sun-kyun) walking home late at night through the alleyways with Lee Ji-an (Lee Ji-eun), his brothers and friends, and his gentle yet weary steps. The warmth of Park Dong-hun, embodied by Lee Sun-kyun, is conveyed touchingly through words and actions in various episodes of My Mister. While the impressive dialogue and scenes are largely placed in the latter half of the series, surprisingly, it is the 5th episode that is entirely filled with Park Dong-hun’s emotional journey from start to finish. It’s like a standalone film centered on Park Dong-hun. You can watch that 5th episode on the big screen. (JUNG Hanseok)

The internationally renowned author Baek Heena’s picture book Magic Candies has been adapted into a short animation by Japan’s major film studio Toei Animation. This is a rare opportunity to experience Baek Heena’s exceptional imagination, whose original work was close to an animation itself. (NAM Dong-chul)

* Based on Korean Picture Books Magic Candies & I am a Dog by BAEK Heena (Korean author)

In Parasite, secrets and lies, deceit and pretense, and manipulation and fraud thrive within the opulent estate of Park Dong-ik (Lee Sun-kyun), the successful CEO of an IT company. Dong-ik, who appears to have it all—wealth, honor, a loving wife, and children—seems outwardly kind and benevolent, but in reality, he harbors an unmasked disdain and contempt for others. Lee Sun-kyun accurately captures and conveys Dong-ik’s hypocrisy and vulgarity. His portrayal includes a grandiose yet sly smile, an ambiguous gaze that suggests both understanding and obscurity, and a demeanor that, while pretending otherwise, exudes arrogance and condescension. It’s the actor’s clever gestures that both conceal and reveal Dong-ik’s arrogance and obsession, who has his own standards for judging others and absolutely refuses to tolerate anything that crosses that line. Particularly, Dong-ik’s contemptuous glances and gestures, especially towards poverty and the vulnerable, are the film’s pivotal moments, adding a striking touch to the climax of Parasite. (JEONG Jihye)

The extraordinary unearthing of more than three decades of extensive news report footage on Israel and Palestine by Swedish national public broadcaster SVT, runs at only two hundred minutes. Documentarist Göran Hugo Olsson is well known for his works based on archival materials such as The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011), Concerning Violence (2014), and That Summer (2017). His newest film presents both sides of the story through the eyes of a neutral nation, and it is evident that the filmmaker has taken tens of thousands of hours to painstakingly select the images that depict how the harrowing history of conflict runs its course. This is not just about what happened in the past, but about what is actually going on in this world we live in today. (Karen PARK)