I have always said to myself that not every film needs an extraordinary story. Korean independent cinema has repeatedly shown how much can be found in everyday lives, familiar places and experiences that might, at first, seem too small for the big screen. And, in all honesty, these films do not always have an easy journey to audiences.

More than 100 independent and art films seek theatrical release in South Korea each year, while their share of the overall cinema audience has remained at around 1.2 per cent. Yet when one of them is given a proper chance, it can travel remarkably far, and Yoon Dan-bi knows that better than most. Her debut feature, Moving On (2019), began its journey at the Busan International Film Festival, where it won four awards, before earning further international recognition, including the Bright Future Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Her second feature, The World Before, is another reminder of why this part of Korean cinema matters so much. There are no extraordinary people at the centre of the film nor a complicated plot; Yoon simply takes us to a small island village and spends 115 minutes observing people going about their lives. It is a small story about one summer in Jin’s life, during which she begins to see everything around her differently.

Jin (Sim Su-bin) has never left the island where she was born. There is no road connecting it to the mainland, and life there is dictated as much by the sea as it is by the people who live there. Everybody seems to know everybody else; routines have been established over years, perhaps generations, and Jin’s world appears already mapped out for her. Then her childhood friend Dujae (Kim Eo-jin) comes back to the island for his grandmother’s funeral and stays in her now-empty house.

Their relationship develops slowly, almost without either of them noticing what is happening at first. Jin starts looking for reasons to visit Dujae, sometimes when there is hardly a reason at all, and those visits gradually become part of her day. There is an awkwardness between them that is very true to being young and beginning to like someone, when you want to spend time with that person but are not quite ready to admit, perhaps even to yourself, why you keep seeking them out.

Yoon captures that first, almost giddy feeling of falling for someone with warmth; Jin simply starts experiencing familiar things differently because Dujae is now part of them. She notices him more, looks forward to seeing him and finds meaning in conversations that might previously have passed without a second thought. The film brought back that feeling of first love: the tears, the excitement and the time when you find yourself smiling about something that, to anybody else, would probably mean very little. And importantly, Dujae’s arrival changes not only Jin’s romantic life but also the way she sees the island.

What I also liked here is that Yoon never treats island life as something that needs to be romanticised. It is beautiful, of course, but it is also simply home to these people, a place where somebody has to work, cook, clean, attend a funeral, talk to a neighbour or deal with whatever the day brings. The older residents, the houses and the small routines of the community are just as important in creating that sense of place.

Sim Su-bin delivers a wonderful performance; her strongest work comes towards the end, when Jin can no longer keep those emotions under control. Sim allows the tears to come without making the scene bigger than it needs to be, and there is something painfully young about the way she tries to speak through them. Kim Eo-jin is just as important as Dujae, but he never takes attention away from Jin or what she is going through.

Yoon showed a similar interest in family, young people and the spaces they inhabit in Moving On. That film followed a teenage girl, her younger brother and their family through a summer spent at their grandfather’s house, finding its story in relationships and domestic life. The World Before is not a repetition of that film, but you can recognise Yoon’s interest in people at a point when something in their lives is beginning to change, even if they do not yet understand exactly what that change will mean. Lee Seong-eun’s cinematography keeps the island natural and down-to-earth; in addition, the sea, houses and roads are beautifully shot, while still feeling part of everyday life.

This is also why Korean independent cinema deserves more attention; films like this are easily overshadowed by bigger releases, even though they often show us a side of Korean life and filmmaking that international audiences rarely get to see. Moving On proved how far a small independent film can travel once it reaches the right audience, and I hope The World Before is given the same chance.

The World Before is simply a very good film, made with care and a real understanding of its characters. It is warm, sometimes funny and emotional; Yoon finds so much in an ordinary summer that, by the end, Jin and this little island are difficult to forget.

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Written by Maggie Gogler

Featured image courtesy of TIFF 26

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