September 17, 2013

18th Busan International Film Festival – Closing Film


The Busan International Film Festival announced that the film “The dinner“ directed by Dong-hyun Kim will close the festival on October 12th.

The dinner
Director: Dong-huyn Kim
Cast: Jung Eui-gap, Park Se-jin, Jeon Kwang-jin, Lee Eun-joo
Cinematography: Jin-keun Lee
Editor: Do-hyun Lee
Production: South Korea | 2013
Duration: 125 minutos
World Premiere

This starts as a story of an ordinary family. A daughter raises her son as a single mother after a divorce; the younger son barely earns his living from a chauffeur service. Subsequently, their struggling parents are not in a position to ask for money from the kids. Tragedy hits when the first son loses his job and the younger son with a chauffeur job runs into an accident.

At the peak of his directorial skills, Kim Dong-hyun, the director of A Shark and Hello, Stranger presents his third feature film, The Dinner. The film recreates a series of misfortunes that could happen to just about any ordinary family. Upon hearing that it is his wife’s birthday during a casual meal, the father brings home a hamburger for his wife. The wife has never had a hamburger before. In fact, the birthday was completely forgotten by the sons. After a tragic accident, the younger son is in state of anxiety. The family tragedy worsens to the extreme after the death of the ill daughter. The daughter’s ex-husband returns, asking for legal guardianship and the family is on the brink of losing the grandchild. The story unfolds in a detached manner, but it is difficult not to get attached to the family’s suffering. The client of the chauffeur service or the daughter’s ex-husband may seemed to be singled out as the villains of the film, but it is the little mistakes and unforeseen happenings that lead to a vicious cycle of physical and mental breakdowns. The regrettable decisions block an escape from a tragic state. They are a caring family at heart; however, destiny is not in their favor and not even a normal family dinner seems easy. Kim dong-hyun’s The Dinner can be called a new classic family melodrama. (BIFF Catalogue)

About the director:
Kim Dong-hyun began his career as Bae Yong-kyoon’s assistant director on The People in White. His 2004 short film A Starving Day won the grand prize at the Seoul Independent Film Festival and his second feature, Hello Stranger, won the NETPAC award at Busan in 2007. His credits also include A Shark (2005).

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