Bleak Night

A high-school student takes his own life. His father goes to the school to understand why his son died, finds his friends, and tries to talk. Nobody wants to say anything. The film tells that inquiry by mixing three time planes together: the father's present, the closeness of the three friends, and how that closeness broke. Yoon Sung-hyun's film was his graduation project at the Korean Academy of Film Arts. The narrative shows bullying not as something arriving from outside but as something emerging inside a friendship; who is the victim and who the aggressor keeps changing places. The breaking point is not a single event either but small things laid on top of one another. Lee Je-hoon, Seo Jun-young and Park Jeong-min play the three friends. The film won Lee Je-hoon several best new actor awards and Yoon best new director awards. Who it's for: Viewers who like Korean independent cinema, adolescent drama, and fragmented narrative structures. Who it's not for: The shifts in time are hard to follow in the first half. The subject is heavy and the film offers no consolation.