Microhabitat

Miso, who cleans houses by the day in Seoul, has two things she will not give up: a glass of whisky and her daily cigarettes. When the rent and the price of cigarettes rise at the same time, she gives up having a home. She packs her things and starts staying with former bandmates in turn. Jeon Go-woon wrote and directed her first film. Esom plays Miso. The idea is inverted: the character is not falling into poverty, she is refusing to change her priorities, and the people around her cannot understand it. Each house she stays in is a separate section and each shows a different dead end of the Korean middle class: debt, an unhappy marriage, family pressure, exhaustion. The tone is humorous and the conclusion bitter; the film does not declare Miso a hero, it shows what her decision costs. It became one of the notable examples of Korean independent cinema. Who it is for: viewers who like quiet Korean independent film and social observation. Who it is not for: anyone wanting resolution; the film arrives nowhere and means to.