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Movie Review: 'Moving On' (2020)

Chalice

This film is included in the list of nominees for the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards

Korean Title: 남매의 여름밤
English Title: Moving On
Running Time: 1 hour, 44 minutes
Release Date: August 8, 2020
Genre: Indie, Family, Slice of Life
Language(s): Korean

Cast: Choi Jung Woon, Yang Heung Joo (A Distant Place), Park Hyun Young (Hello, My Cat), Park Seung Joon (Crash Landing On You)
Directed by: Yoon Dan Bi
Written by: Yoon Dan Bi

After their parents’ divorce, Ok Joo (Choi Jung Woon), her brother, Dong Joon (Park Seung Joon) and father move back into their grandfather’s house. This slice-of-life movie depicts the world as it appears in the eyes of Ok Joo as a teenager dealing with the immense changes brought upon by adolescence, divorce, loss and death.

Moving On is an independent film written and directed by Yoon Dan Bi and was an official entry to the 24th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in 2019. The film was screened and released as part of the BIFF Korean Cinema Today category, under the “Vision” sub-category in October 2019 - it went on to win several awards at the Festival including:

Note: For context, there are two sub-categories in the Korean Cinema Today category, Vision and Panorama. The Vision category is reserved for independent Korean filmmakers while Panorama is for Korean films with big-budgets that use cutting-edge technology.

  • Citizen Critics’ Award - This award is given to the best film in the Korean Cinema Today - Vision category as chosen by the citizen critics at Busan Cinematheque.

  • NETPAC Award - This award is given to the best film in either the New Currents or Korean Cinema Today categories.

  • DGK Award - This award is given to the two top outstanding films in the Korean Cinema Today - Vision category.

  • KTH Award - This award is given to two outstanding independent films by KTH in order to promote the films.

The film was also screened as part of the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2020 under the “Bright Future” category.

The film was released nationwide on August 8, 2020 and is nominated in six (6) categories for the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards taking place on May 13, 2021, including:

Story

In the beginning of the summer, siblings Ok Joo (Choi Jung Woon) and Dong Joo (Park Seung Joon) are forced to move out of their apartment following their parents’ divorce.

They move into their sickly grandfather’s house since their family doesn’t have much. To make ends meet, their Dad (Yang Heung Joo) works odd delivery jobs here and there while selling counterfeit sneakers to whoever he can successfully sell it to on the side. As a result, they spend most of their summer at home, taking care of their grandfather whose health is quickly deteriorating.

Eventually, their Aunt (Park Hyun Young) move into grandpa’s house as well as a result of her own marriage going sour.

Dad, Aunt, Ok Joo and Dong Joo spend the summer being forced to make big and difficult decisions as they adjust to the lifestyle they need to adhere to given Grandpa’s condition and their poor economic condition.

The Verdict

Overall Rating: 8/10

The Korean title of this film directly translates to “Siblings’ Summer Night” since it features an older sister and her brother and how they spend their summer. Although we have Ok Joo and Dong Joo sharing the backdrop of this film, it is mostly executed in such a way that shows us how Ok Joo sees the world and how she interacts with the people around her following her parents’ divorce.

As you can tell from the relatively short story summary above, the plot for this is not complicated at all. Having said that, one’s appreciation for this film will come from how it’s executed rather than the story itself.

The way the film is shot actually makes you feel exactly the way one would while grieving or mourning the loss of something. Given this film is set in the summer, most of the scenes (with the exception of nighttime) are shot with beautiful sunlight. But with the way the actors deliver their lines and the camera work, no matter how bright it is outside, the whole film perfectly portrays how bleak and mundane things feel when you’re struggling with something internally.

Moving On so realistic and almost identical to real life that it actually feels like nothing is really happening. I feel like that’s how we typically go with our lives too, the small disappointments we face every passing day don’t feel like much, but those little things do compound which may cause one to break down at a later point in time - and Yoon Dan Bi did a spectacular job with emulating that roller coaster of emotions.