프로그램 노트

Program Note

Neil, a boy of mixed Korean and Italian descent, is mocked during a gathering of Asian students. Unable to understand the Korean word for “mixed blood” (hon-hyeol) used by the bullies, he visits the library to look it up. There, he encounters two other “Neils.” Believing these two—one seemingly a “pure-blooded” Korean and the other a “pure-blooded” Italian—are versions of himself from parallel universes, Neil attempts to integrate their existences into one. Can they truly become a single Neil?

 To Koreans, who have long conceptualized ethnicity as a monolithic entity, the term “mixed blood” has often been a taboo. Neil's imagination, driven by a desire to be monoracial amidst hateful gazes, is profoundly tragic. The director comforts Neil's situation through the sci-fi lens of parallel universes—the belief that even if one feels displaced here and now, there is someone somewhere in the cosmos who understands and accepts them. Where does the responsibility lie for making someone imagine a time and space other than the present? The line from the “pure” Korean Neil, “If you’re me, I’m going to kill yourself,” leaves a long-lasting, haunting confusion in the heart. (LEE Dong-yun)​ 

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Presented in partnership with Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 

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