Summary
Tracing the reunion of a high schooler and her estranged mother over one night, Hannah Bang’s taut short seeps under the skin with its ambiguous approach to narrative and moral responsibility.
Reunions are often framed in cinema as nostalgic, cathartic affairs. Visually, Hannah Bang’s short SOAK certainly evokes this mood as it follows a one-night reunion between teenager Yeon-soo (Lee Do-eun) and her runaway mother (Kim Chae-won). Its warm tones and blurry lens effect bathing the film in a dreamlike haze. But beneath such a visually stunning aesthetic there are hints of a deep darkness – a suspicious bruise, a quick line on how much her mother has been through, and an uncomfortable tension within Yeon-soo.
Director-writer Bang and cinematographer Hey-jin Jun are quick to establish a tone of emotional distance between the mother and daughter. The mother’s face is often cut from the frame, bending over to clean her daughter’s uniform or bathhouse tiles – reflecting the ignorance, or perhaps self-centred, perspective of Yeon-soo in not hearing out her mother’s side. Even in moment’s where her mother is able to talk about her new life to Yeon-soo, audiences are positioned far from the two. In the film’s opening conversation in a bathhouse they occupy only a small corner of the screen, the viewer is obstructed by the edge of a bath and filtered through the orange-tinged steam of the spa.
As the night wears into the morning, it becomes clear that Yeon-soo’s mother still very much cares for her daughter and, through quick inferences, had good reasons for leaving – ones that to adult audiences will feel more than justified. But Yeon-soo is still a teenager, and her hurt at being abandoned, combined with calls and texts which make clear her father is controlling, mean her reaction is much more complicated.
Such circumstances form the basis for SOAK’s narratively ambiguous ending, though given its insinuations throughout its hard not to assume the worst. Much of the heavy lifting of the ending is placed on rookie actress Lee’s performance, and her subdued approach is similarly oblique. This raises more questions than answers, with SOAK never taking a stance on the topics it evokes, namely the effect of abuse and familial separation on children.
Despite all its hints, such a heavy and sudden ending is still nonetheless shocking without even needing to show anything on-screen. Leaving me in a state I can only describe as ‘queasy’ (though I can see others being frustrated), Bang’s reported “love of mixing the beautiful and macabre in her storytelling” is certainly represented here. With the warmth of SOAK’s surface-level visuals slowly evaporating to reveal a much more insidious story, viewers are left to contend with their own reactions and emotions. You’ll find no hand holding here.
2021 | USA | DIRECTOR: Hannah Bang | WRITERS: Hannah Bang | CAST: Lee Do-Eun, Kim Chae-won, Kim Sung-yeon Kim, Minjun Kwak | DISTRIBUTOR: SXSW 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 16 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 16-20 March 2021 (USA)
