The Dream Songs

Cho Hyun-chul's first feature covers the afternoon before a school trip. Se-mi wakes from a strange dream and goes to Ha-eun, thinking she has to say today what she has held back for a long time. The film follows that single day almost in real time. What lies between the two girls is never named; approaches and withdrawals overlap and the conversation slides elsewhere each time. The narrative takes its starting point from the ferry disaster of 2014 but never shows the event. For a viewer who knows what the next day was, every ordinary scene carries a different weight; the director leaves that knowledge to the audience rather than stating it. Who it's for: those who like Korean independent cinema and indirect storytelling. Who it's not for: viewers who do not know the context; the film does not explain within itself why it is so heavily loaded.