Night Flight

Leesong Hee-il's 2014 Korean film is about three old friends coming apart once they reach high school. Yong-ju, Gi-woong and Gi-taek were close in middle school; now Gi-woong is inside the group bullying Gi-taek. As Yong-ju tries to repair that, he recognises his own feelings: what he feels for Gi-woong is not friendship. The film takes on the pressure of the Korean school system, peer violence and a queer teenager's obligation to hide himself all at once, and makes none of them the background for the others. The telling is cold and distanced, and offers no resolution. Leesong Hee-il is one of the few directors sustaining queer cinema outside the Korean mainstream, and this is among his harshest works. It screened in Berlin. Who it's for: viewers who want queer cinema and Asian drama about violence inside schools. Who it's not for: anyone wanting a hopeful ending and a film without scenes of bullying.