Director: Lee Chang-Dong
Year Released: 2018
Rating: 1.5
While running errands, Jong-su (Ah-in Yoo) has an encounter with an old classmate, Hae-mi (Jong-seo Jeon) - they hang out together, have sex, and then she tells him she's going to Africa for holiday and she needs him to take care of her "cat"; when she returns, she has a wealthy new lover, Ben (Steven Yeun), who tells Jong-su about his (sexually-driven?) obsession with burning down greenhouses. The first part of the movie hums along nicely, with a potentially intriguing love triangle setting up ... but then Hae-mi literally vanishes from the movie taking every single scintilla of magic with her, leaving not-exactly-loquacious Jong-su to play junior detective and stumble around trying to put the pieces together (Yeun just has to look smug). The reason for the drop-off - and absence of substance - is by basing it on a short story by (the over-rated) Haruki Murakami and then padding the running time. For anyone that's ever played Murakami Bingo (look up the drawing by Grant Snider), you can check these off the board: Dried-Up Well, Urban Ennui, Talking to Cats, Vanishing Cats, Mysterious Woman, etcetera.
