This week's Hyde Park Pick: Next Sohee
Wendy recommends Next Sohee as the film you shouldn't miss this week.
Wendy Cook
Next Sohee premiered at Cannes Critics Week back in 2022 and is the second film from Korean director July Jung. Starring Bae Doona, known for her work with directors Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho, Hirokazu Kore-eda, as well as her lead role in July Jung’s debut A Girl at My Door.
The film follows Sohee (Kim Si-Eun), a high school student at a vocational school in Jeonju, South Korea. Sohee is initially excited to land an internship at a major internet provider’s call centre, but the role turns out to be a daily nightmare where the young workforce is pushed to reach impossible targets.
Next Sohee is an incredibly powerful piece of filmmaking on two levels. On the first, technically this is a sharp piece of filmmaking. Whilst its 135 minute runtime might feel long on the outside, once within the world of the film, Jung’s direction and script combined with sincere and compelling performances by both Kim Si-Eun and Bae Doona, make the whole experience totally gripping. It’s impossible not to care for the characters deeply. A simple goal so many films in theory aim for and too often can fall short on.
On a separate, more opposing level, the film is a document of desperately bad practices where the state, the education system and big business are in collaboration failing a younger generation. Based loosely on a true story, the devastating impact of this deeply rooted and widespread corruption is hard to be unmoved by. Whilst based in South Korea, Next Sohee demands the viewer consider the standard practices closer to home and in particular the consequences of corporate greed on the workers who drive forward our economy.
Next Sohee is showing at HPPH from Saturday 13 July and you can book tickets here.
