Alex Heeney reviews Japanese-French filmmaker Koya Kamura’s impressive debut film, Winter in Sokcho, screening in the TIFF Platform Competition.
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Japanese-French filmmaker Koya Kamura’s impressively realized feature debut, Winter in Sokcho, is a story about a place, a young woman’s search for identity and place in the world, and a brief encounter between a visiting French artist and a Korean hotel worker. Soo-ha works at a lodging house in Sokcho, in her hometown; it may be a dead-end job where she’s killing time before she really starts her life or perhaps this could lead to something long-term. She is non-committal with her high school boyfriend, who dreams of being a model in Seoul and is superficial, whereas Soo-ha is serious. And she worries about her aging, lonely mother, who one day soon may not be so independent.
Soo-ha’s life gets upended when a French graphic artist comes to stay in the hotel. Her boss encourages Soo-ha to help the artist with everything he needs, from finding paper and ink to taking him to the demilitarized zone and the border to showing him around town. Their tentative friendship of forced proximity gives Soo-ha a taste of what her mother may have experienced with her French engineer father, who left Sokcho before Soo-ha was born.
A beautifully made film
An ode to the blues, greys, and whites of Sokcho – the production design and costumes match the landscape – a beautiful place that the inhabitants rarely remember to enjoy, so focused are they on the daily grind or escaping. Kamura is sensitive to the boundaries people build and break, tracking Soo-ha’s desire for a growing intimacy with the artist through how she invades his personal space – in the hotel, in the frame, and by one ill-advised touch of the hand. This is a satisfying, emotionally resonant film about family, identity, and finding your own path, featuring a breakout performance from Bella Kim.
Listen to the podcast on the TIFF 2024 film Winter in Sokcho
Listen to the podcast on Bi-cultural daughters and their absent fathers at TIFF 2024 for a more detailed discussion of the film Winter in Sokcho.
