6 hours Moon Seong-hyeok

Always wondering about human relationships, filmmakers try to give an explanation for the increasingly weird behaviour of people. Or at least, when there is no answer to this everlasting question, they try to reflect it on screen. This medium length film tells a story set against the background of a six-hour dating service.

Through the eyes of a young taxi driver who disconcertedly observes this new way of socializing, we immerse ourselves in the coldness of an impersonal world. Shot with extreme sensitivity, using soft frames in which the city lights dance and float over the image, we stroll through the streets of this unknown Asian town. The early scenes seem to recall those of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver: the eyes of the guy in the rear-view mirror, the music, the disturbing atmosphere, the dark.

Sun-woo drives his taxi to have the chance to meet others, trying to get the attention of people living in an increasingly dehumanized world. He attempts to attract their interest by talking about art books; “Are you by any chance interested in paintings?” he asks, desperate to put an end to his loneliness. He even pictures the soulless eyes of his date as the empty gazes of Modigliani’s portraits.

Here, social relationships seem to suffer a return to the past - a past where women have turned into modern geishas. Thus, in his loneliness, Sun-Woo finally realizes that the only way of making contact today is through this kind of pretence: by behaving like actors in this fake movie we are starring in. That’s the reason why he tries to convince himself that his arranged date is an accidental meeting - because that’s the only way to survive.

Andrea Franco