Summary
The art of the struggle of being alone is explored with a floating intimacy in Hong Sung-Eun’s debut feature.
When writing about a film like ALONERS (혼자 사는 사람들) in the middle of a global pandemic, the film inevitably takes on a different meaning. Hong Sung-Eun’s feature debut examines the feelings of self-isolation while pondering what it really means to be ‘alone’ in a modern context.
When we meet Jin-A (Gong Seung-Yeon), she’s a cool-headed employee at a credit card call centre. Yet her star worker status doesn’t translate into personal relationships with her colleagues. She lives alone, and one day discovers that the single neighbour who did attempt to chat with her has been found dead. Shocked by his demise, she begins obsessively watching the hidden camera footage from her recently widowed father’s house.
The phenomena described in Hong’s film is so common there’s a name for it: honjok. The term, which refers to people who engage in typical social activities — eating, drinking, leisure trips — alone. Caused by everything from social ennui to an increase in single person households, companies have now developed strategies to market specifically to this group.
Hong taps into this trend in the form of an intimate character study, rather than as any commentary on honjoks across the board. Jin-A’s facade is aloof and stand-offish to everyone around her, a deliberate choice that keeps her an island unto herself. New employee Sujin (Jung Da-Eun) is the polar opposite, vainly attempting to be friends with Jin-A despite the latter’s rejection of social mores.
The audience could easily be just as isolated as Jin-A were it not for the excellent performance from Gong Seung-Yeon, seamlessly transitioning from TV dramas to feature lead. The death of her neighbour might force her to reconsider her life, but Gong’s performance is so subtle that she undergoes more of a slow evolution throughout the film rather than a revolution.
Which seems to be exactly where Gong wants to position ALONERS. It’s a collection of moments that add up to a major shift but could just as easily have gone in the other direction. Jin-A ultimately works to break a cycle that was taught to her, and eventually concludes with some irony that “I just need some time to myself.”
ALONERS is reviewed as part of our coverage of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) 2021.
2021 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: Hong Sung-Eun | WRITER: Hong Sung-Eun | CAST: Gong Seung-Yeon, Jung Da-Eun, Seo Hyun-Woo, Park Jung-Hak | DISTRIBUTOR: Deokub, TIFF 2021 | RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 9 September – 18 September 2021 (TIFF 2021)
