End of Winter

Sung-geun, a teacher at Cheolwon Technical High School, is retiring. His two sons and a daughter-in-law arrive to take park in the celebrations with their parents. During a meal, Sung-geun announces that he is to file for divorce. The news freezes the expressions on the faces of his wife and children. It is just as icy in the provincial town of Cheolwon, where busses are not running due to a snowstorm. The family is quite literally stuck where they are. Although Kim Dae-hwan’s directorial debut only takes place over few days, the film tells the family’s entire story. The years that have gone by are very visible in the parents’ apartment. The cramped rooms make apparent that there has been no intimacy within its walls for a long time now. The camera continually takes a step back, turning each shot into a precise still life of feelings that no longer exist or perhaps never did. Isn’t the father’s outburst also a utopian gesture? He’s already found a new place to live and cooks the potatoes that he grew in his very own garden. This too is a way of being a provider, as a family begins to rediscover itself.