Dea Kulumbegashvili is a star of Georgian cinema and a director who makes desperately needed women’s films in the current era. Her debut film, Beginning (2020), features a woman who suffers physical harm, and the director demonstrates in April that this issue is not confined to the psychological trauma of one woman. Both films expose the existential threat that violent sexual relations pose to women. Nina, who is on the verge of losing her job due to a medical accident in the cruel month of April, has a secret. She cannot turn away from women suffering from unwanted pregnancies, and she takes on their burden herself. These women have no rights over their own bodies. The 4:3 aspect ratio reflects the reality of characters trapped by social, religious, and cultural constraints, while the unwavering, static camera supports the intense resolve of both the characters and the director. April, a cruel story of silence crossing through “the Three Goddesses governing childbirth, pretty flowers, and country roads,” is a deeply piercing record of bodies that have been trampled upon. (LEE Yong Cheol)

The latest work from comedy writer duo the Boukherma brothers, is a poignant drama. After writing their own screenplays, the duo has adapted a coming-of-age film from the novel by Nicolas Mathieu, who won the Goncourt Prize. Despite this change in source material, they still focus on marginalized characters, setting the story in an economically depressed town in northeastern France. The film unfolds as a summer tale set in 1992 and revisited every two years, revolving around 15-year-old Anthony, his first love Steph, and the lives of their family and friends, all of which leave a deep emotional impact. We wonder what will happen to the boy who dreams of going to Texas and the girl who hopes to settle in Paris. The constraints imposed by class and environment are no different in advanced societies. Like the chapters of the original novel, titled after songs, the film features an impressive soundtrack. While the kids are obsessed with Red Hot Chili Peppers, the sunlit beach doesn’t quite suit them. What they really needed is Gloria Gaynor’s ‘I Will Survive.’ (LEE Yong Cheol)

Once top of his class as a child, M now wastes his days on gaming broadcasts and lives off his mother. When his cousin Mui inherits a large fortune after dutifully caring for their ailing grandfather, M decides to do the same. Despite his usual indifference to family gatherings, M volunteers to care for his maternal grandmother, who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Will his plan succeed? This is the debut feature film by director Pat Boonnitipat, known for directing Bad Genius: The Series (2020). Inspired by a true story, the film has achieved the highest box office revenue of any film released in Thailand this year. The box office success has swept beyond Thailand and across Southeast Asia, and Usha Seamkhum became a “national grandmother,” stealing the hearts of audiences and making it hard to believe it was her first film role. How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies is an emotional drama that prompts reflection on family relationships. If you manage to get a ticket, don’t forget to bring a handkerchief. (BOO Kyunghwan)

Director Ryu Hyung-seok, who served as a conscripted firefighter during his mandatory military service, made a documentary about firefighters. Responding to calls from those on the edge of life and death, these modern-day heroes at the Yangsan Firestation and Ulsan Fire Headquarters are the focus of The First Responders. Without voiceover narration or interview shots, the film captures not only the team’s work and daily lives, but also their inner darkness, desires, and the difficult fate inherent in their profession. Here, the camera is not simply a tool for recording but is one of them, acting as their eyes. “Just strip away all emotion and focus on what you need to do,” one firefighter says, and the documentary mirrors this approach, moving steadily forward without being swept up by emotional waves. Yet the film inevitably reaches heart-warming moments. This documentary offers an exceptionally humanistic insight into the profession. (KANG Sowon)

It’s not a bloody revenge story. Revolver is rather a film that strives to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. Police officer Ha Su-yeong (Jeon Do-yeon) served a two-year sentence for being involved in corruption. She agreed to take all the blame in exchange for a large compensation but ends up with nothing. Su-yeong follows the trails of those involved in the case to get her promised payment, with a revolver in her hand. Revolver may seem similar to Director Oh Seung-uk’s previous works like The Shameless (2015), but it takes a completely different path. This film, which at first glance appears to wear the skin of a hardboiled crime noir, focuses solely on the movements of a character moving straight ahead, instead of relying on complex conspiracies, sensational action, or dramatic shocks. It can be described as a journey of a person who has lost everything and becomes shabby, yet ultimately maintains their dignity. An ambitious work that reflects Director Oh Seung-uk’s artistic deliberation and determination. (SONG Kyung-won)

Didi and Amy, working in a massage parlor in Queens, New York, live with other Chinese immigrant women. In this unfamiliar place, they each cope with the responsibilities to their families and their loneliness, struggling to pursue happiness, love, and a sense of normalcy. On New Year’s Day, an overwhelming grief befalls them, and when Amy loses her way in life, it is the Chinese immigrant women who help finding her footing. While the film visualizes the deep-rooted racism, violence, and sexual objectification faced by Asian women in Western society, its more significant focus is on the relationships between these immigrant women—the unexpected solidarity and connections they form through their shared experiences of loss. Set in New York, this film sensitively captures the complex experiences of women in diaspora. (HONG Soin)

“Why did you do it?” is the question that Jungsik(Lee Sun-kyun) asks his sister-in-law Eunmo(Seo Woo) on two occasions in Paju, and maybe that’s what the movie wants to ask him too. After a failed first love and being wanted for student activism, Jungsik finds himself in the foggy city of Paju. There, he marries Eunsoo(Shim Yi-young), and they start a new life together with Eunsoo’s younger sister Eunmo, but he remains vague, elusive, and distant. His gestures are those of resignation and exhaustion, as if he’s just holding on to what’s in front of him, what he can do, while being weighed down by a deep sense of loss and unshakeable guilt. When this opaque man, who rarely reveals his inner self, speaks the words from his heart to Eunmo, it becomes a mystery of life that cannot be solved or fathomed. The expressionless face of Jungsik, played by Lee Sun-kyun, causes great ripples and eventually leads us into the abyss. (JEONG Jihye)

May has lost everything. Now, she lives a self-sustaining life in a shabby house floating on the sea. Long ago, she lived on land with her family as a Dayak native, but due to mining development, she lost her land and was rescued by an elderly man who brought her here. In the process, she lost her parents and lost contact with her relatives. She has been surviving on the sea for over a decade but doesn’t dare set foot on land. Even touching the ground causes her to faint. Although the land has become a dangerous and ominous place for her, she still longs for it and the life it supports. She has no idea how long her old, crumbling house will continue to float. Indonesian newcomer director Loeloe Hendra’s Tale of the Land is a cinematic exploration of the struggles of a person trapped by trauma and her journey toward inner growth. (PARK Sungho)

Ernest Hemingway’s influential short story The Killers (1927), has been adapted to film by Robert Siodmak and Andrei Tarkovsky, while Edward Hopper’s painting Nighthawks (1942) is also said to have been inspired by the story. The Killers, an omnibus film comprised of four-shorts, takes motifs from these two classics and borrows some of their imagery as mise-en-scène. The 4 directors unfold the noir world of death and waiting with different senses and sensibilities. Kim Jong-kwan’s Metamorphosis, which depicts the awakening and manifestation of power following bloodsucking; Roh Deok’s Contractors, a pyramid of contract killings and subcontracted labor; Chang Hang-jun’s Everyone is Waiting for the Man, which tracks down a ghostly figure called a mysterious killer; and Lee Myung-Se’s Silent Cinema, an allegory of his longtime dream of cinema and the world. Notably, Actor Shim Eun-kyung appears in all four films, each time in a completely different role, adding to the delight. It’s an unconventional collection of emotional, psychological, and action-oriented films. (JEONG Jihye)

Narrated in the form of a reflective diary, the documentary has two main parts. One is about resisting the power that demands forgetting by remembering a free past; the other is about documenting the past and present struggle for women’s freedom. To do this, the director captures a free and happy past via personal footage and super 8mm film footage collected from the streets, and reconstructs the past and present of women fighting to reclaim a world that has been taken away from them, focusing on the 2022 anti-hijab protests. In doing so, it shows that the hijab is not just a meter-long piece of fabric, but a symbol of power that seeks to control people’s daily lives and desires. This is a “homemade history” of Iranian women, documenting their reality, their past and present history, and the battle between memory and oblivion. (JO Ji-hoon)

Hong Sangsoo’s 31st film, A Traveler’s Needs, true to its title, navigates through the non-verbal moments found in the steps of a traveler. Iris (Isabelle Huppert), who came from France, wanders around Seoul, teaching French. When she’s not teaching, she spends time in parks or hills, meeting various people. She enjoys walking barefoot on the ground, lying on rocks, and most of all, she loves makgeolli (Korean rice wine). Like Hong Sangsoo’s previous works, this film leaves certain moments open for interpretation, capturing resonant instances with calmness, much like the rhythm and cadence of poetry through repetition and variation. As you match your pace with Iris’ steps, curious about what a traveler truly needs, you’ll gradually find yourself realizing why the foreign perspectives and unfamiliar air that a traveler brings are essential to our lives. (SONG Kyung-won)

A distant view of a densely packed residential neighborhood. Suddenly, a scream is heard from somewhere. After this intriguing opening scene, we see a middle school boy and his younger sister, an elementary school girl, getting ready for school in a messy house with no adults around. In another house in the village, a high school boy is living alone in a desolate home. Fragment follows the children of both the perpetrator and the victim, left alone in the world after a murder claimed their parents. The film breathlessly alternates between their lives, highlighting the contradictory and brutal existence they’ve been burdened with. Both sides evoke pity and sorrow, and as we switch between them, we are swept up in a torrent of emotions. Embracing unbearable misfortune, these seemingly incompatible vulnerable souls endure their lonely nights, and then, a kind of miracle happens. (JUNG Hanseok)