Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned

Four children go up into the mountains; they want to get into a restricted area and watch a scheduled blast. The next day only Soo Rin is found; the other three are missing. The search goes on, the town is in uproar, and nobody believes her. A few days later a man appears and tells her he is Sung Min, her missing friend. The boy of thirteen has become a grown man. Soo Rin believes him. Nobody else does. Um Tae-hwa writes and directs. Gang Dong-won plays the adult Sung Min and Shin Eun-soo plays Soo Rin. The fantastic premise is not explained; the subject is not how it happened but that nobody believes it. The second strand is suspicion. The town decides the man has abducted a child, and Soo Rin's insistence puts her in danger too. Soo Rin is at the centre and the young actor carries the whole emotional weight. The design is fable like; the light and colour are not realistic and the film uses that as a child's view. Its limit is length; it runs close to two hours and the search scenes repeat in the middle. Who it is for: viewers who like Korean fantasy drama and narratives of growing up. Who it is not for: the emotional register is high, the premise is not explained, and the ending answers no questions.