Yong-Kyun Bae

Quote:
Bae Yonggyun is one of the most mysterious figures in the history of Korean cinema. He made two films on his own outside the film industry and then retreated to live largely in seclusion. This highly meditative film, deeply rooted in history and memory, is one of the highlights of New Korean Cinema. It follows a man who returns to his hometown after living overseas for many years. He roams like a sleepwalker through the bleak town, getting into conversations with people who could be dead or alive. An extraordinary ‘ghost story’ unprecedented in Korean cinema. (Un-seong Yoo, Sight and Sound December 2022 issue)Read More »

Synopsis:
Three people live in a remote Buddhist monastery near Mount Chonan: Hyegok, the old master; Yong Nan, a young man who has left his extended family in the city to seek enlightenment – Hyegok calls him Kibong!; and, an orphan lad Haejin, whom Hyegok has brought to the monastery to raise as a monk. The story is mostly Yong Nan’s, told in flashbacks: how he came to the monastery, his brief return to the city, his vacillation between the turbulence of the world and his hope to overcome passions and escape the idea of self. We also see Hyegok as a teacher, a protector, and a father figure, and we watch Haejin make his way as a curious and nearly self-sufficient child.Read More »