Awards and festivals

Film description

A small, quiet town lost between the mountains and the seashore. For Young-nam, a police woman transferred from Seoul, getting used to it won't be easy. The villagers – and her coworkers – are not used to being controlled by a young woman. They have their own matters, which the city girl should keep out off. Youn-nam's attention is attracted by a neglected neighbor girl.

This disquieting psychodrama with an intelligent construction was enthusiastically received by the critics after its Cannes premiere. The initial plot, scenery, and the tense atmosphere of Jung's film bring to mind Jane Champion's series "Top of the Lake." In both productions, the main characters are independent, stubborn women who manage to survive in unfriendly structures. Yet "A Girl At My Door" is deeply rooted in the problems of the Korean society, and presents its very bitter diagnosis.

For her independent debut, the young director managed to hire two stars of Korean cinema – the police woman is played by Bae Doo-na, known from "Linda, Linda, Linda" or "Cloud Atlas," and Kim Sae-ron, whop plays the role of her protegee, is a popular child actress form film and television. They both did their jobs extraordinarily well – the complicated, psychological relation between the characters is the axis of the film. Both have their painful mysteries and difficult characters. They're not easily likeable. Yet their otherness connects them, building a sort of a alliance against the world around them.

Jagoda Murczyńska