Miss Baek

Lee Ji-won's 2018 South Korean film brings together a woman with a criminal record and a child being abused. Sang-ah served time for something she did as a young woman, has been unable to hold on anywhere since and trusts no one. Ji-eun, the little girl she sees on the street, is beaten by her father and stepmother, kept hungry and locked in the flat. Sang-ah wants to intervene but neither the police nor social services take her seriously because of her record. The film shows directly how useless the institutional structure is against child abuse and builds no easy rescue story. Han Ji-min gives a performance far from her usual roles, and the young Kim Si-a carries the film's weight. Who it's for: viewers who can take hard Korean drama. Who it's not for: anyone who would rather not approach violence against a child; the film shows it at length.