“At twenty, there’s more to be curious about than just sex.” At the dawn of the 21st century, this striking declaration on a poster announced the arrival of twenty-year-olds unlike any seen before in Korean cinema. Five classmates who graduated from a commercial high school in Incheon do not go on to university; instead, they step into society for the first time, each searching for their own path. The film closely observes the prejudices of an education-obsessed society, the conditions of poverty, and the stagnation of daily life, while also paying tender attention to the energy of their relationships and the turbulence of their inner worlds. Above all, it brilliantly revives the distinct historicity and atmosphere of ‘Incheon’ within a moment of youth, achieving a vision that gazes unflinchingly at reality while refusing to abandon dreams. The fluidity of time and space—where harbor and airport coexist—and landscapes imbued with both a decaying past and an unknown future resonate exquisitely with the characters’ inner states. This is director Jeong Jae-eun’s feature debut.
