After My Death

Written, directed and edited by Kim Ui-seok, this Korean film carries a Korean title far more revealing than its English one: The Girl of Many Sins. When the high school student Kyung-min disappears without explanation, police conclude suicide is likely and question Young-hee, the last person to see her. A witch hunt follows, provoked by Kyung-min's mother and fed by classmates quick to condemn. Young-hee fights to prove her innocence, only to be abandoned by her school and her family too. What makes the film unusual is its refusal to name a single cause: bullying, family pressure, the school system, none is offered as the sole explanation for two young women's revulsion at life, and the film suggests it comes from somewhere far more complicated. The director's first feature, it was developed at the Korean Academy of Film Arts, making it a low budget independent work backed by a school. It won the New Currents award for new directors at the Busan Film Festival, where Jeon Yeo-been was also named Actress of the Year. It was the role that made her name, and within a few years she was leading one of Korea's most watched television series. Who it's for: Admirers of Korean independent cinema that treats adolescent psychology and collective guilt without softening. Who it's not for: Absolutely not for viewers unprepared for themes of suicide and peer cruelty.