A Distant Place

A worthwhile film with good acting by the entire ensemble. The director has a spare, slow style and wonderful visual sense. Cinematography was memorable. The script, however, is somewhat thin and some of the relationships seem lacking in development. I was confused, for example, by the specific relationships between the lead male and his twin sister. There might also have been more material making the relationship between the same-sex partners vivid and convincing, felt a bit flat............. But the movie captures how local mean-spirited homophobes can quietly and viciously try to ruin the lives of gay people. And how fighting to lead a full and authentic out life is challenging.

This is a film that focuses more on being artistic rather than telling a story. There is little dialog, and the family connections of the group are not well explained. The characters spend a lot of their time just improvising dialog or staring into space, or at objects close by. There is little chemistry between the two male leads so their "relationship" does not come across as realistic. The scenery is beautiful but the story is poorly told! The movie never really achieves its full potential.

In remote rural Korea, Hyun-min works for a sheep / cattle farmer, and has become part of the "family". He also has his kindergarten-age niece Seol, who he prefer to stay around the farm with him. This carefully-curated life starts to unravel when his college boyfriend shows up for an extended visit, creating gossip among the locals. Then his twin sister shows up, wanting to reclaim Seol, who she left "temporarily" in his care 5 years ago.

The young girl is nicely bubbly and innocent. The boyfriends are mismatched, in that they don't look like they belonged in college together. There is some nice scenery that calls for a big screen (I saw this in digital on my computer). However, the story is slow-moving, and I find the ending unsatisfactory.