Summary
A serious subject gets an examination in July Jung’s dissection of the legality of labour exploitation.
Films about the exploitation of workers in a gig economy have been on the rise over the last few years, from Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You (2019) to documentary The Gig Is Up (2021). Yet that’s only a reflection of the very real human cost that an unrestrained free market has had on the mental and physical health of workers.
NEXT SOHEE (다음 소희) is a film of two halves. In the first, we watch the wheels of capitalism grind the titular player down. When we meet the titular Sohee (Kim Si-eun), a high school student contracted to work at a call centre, she is a fiercely independent would-be dancer. Yet the conditions are punishing, with even her manager succumbing to the pressures of the job.
When a new manager targets Sohee for the poor performance of the branch, Sohee is pushed the point of breaking — and labelled unhinged when she does finally snap. When tragedy occurs, a detective is sent to investigate the situation, finding an environment where guilt, public shaming and exploitative contracts are all managed under the guise of legal mechanisms.
From this point onwards, NEXT SOHEE becomes something else entirely, shifting from drama to a film more akin to a police procedural. As Bae Donna’s cop uncovers more information on the broader system, she is pinged from office to office looking for answers. You might be forgiven for thinking you’ve wandered into Law & Order: Labour Practices Unit.
The film covers some (all too) familiar ground, although not familiar enough to result in lasting change it would seem. It mostly works thanks to the presence of the two leads, each of whom do an excellent job in holding up their respective halves. Kim, known primarily for her roles on Korean television, steps confidently into a leading feature role. Naturally, the internationally recognised Bae Donna (Cloud Atlas, Broker) brings a weight to the second half of the film, as she cooly glides through a corporate crime scene.
If anything, director July Jung doesn’t go far enough in condemning a system that allows people like the fictional Sohee to slip through the cracks. Due to the film’s construct, one would be forgiven for thinking that there’s a few bad apples in the bunch. Yet the sad truth is that major multi-billion dollar corporations continue to resist reform, and it’s only a matter of time before we see the real next Sohee.
2022 | South Korea | DIRECTOR: July Jung | WRITERS: July Jung | CAST: Bae Doona, Kim Si-eun, Kim Woo-kyum | DISTRIBUTOR: Solaire Partners, Fantasia Film Festival | RUNNING TIME: 135 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 14 July – 3 August 2022 (Fantasia)
