Burgeoning friendships are rarely as poignant as in En Route To.
It’s a story about teen pregnancy and the abuse of power, about the way that women sacrifice to maintain the dignity of undeserving men, about the harsh reality of being a single mother in Korean society. It’s also a warm, funny and lovely portrait of a friendship growing between two teenage schoolgirls who find themselves roomed together in their school dormitory and forge a bond in spite of the various machinations above. Yoo Jaein’s film is her first feature, her graduation film from the Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) and receives its world premiere in Busan this week. It’s an accomplished debut that indicates a delicate eye for emotional heft.
When the film begins, schoolgirl Yun-ji’s (Sim Subin) relationship with her homeroom teacher Mr. Han is already over. He’s not replying to her messages and is absent from school – perhaps Yun-ji’s reluctance to get an abortion has something to do with it. In a desperate attempt to reconnect with him, Yun-ji buys some pills on the internet to induce a miscarriage and, unable to pay for them herself, she steals the money from her friend and roommate, Kyung-sun (Lee Jiwon). A wisecracking and entrepreneurial class clown, she has enough money hidden away and comes home one evening to find it – and Yun-ji – gone.
The narrative itself becomes a bit winding, first following the duo as they attempt to secure Yun-ji a way to secure an abortion after her first attempt, which spent their combined capital, failed. The cost in a clinic is prohibitive, the drugs online are unreliable, and the option of going to a veterinary clinic becomes the only viable one, despite being a horrible prospect. Kyung-sun comes up with plans – not least the purloining of money some money from Mr. Han’s wife, Min-young (Jang Sun) on the basis that the Mr. Han owes them both their money back.
Kyung-sun is fairly endearing from the get-go, from her quick-witted remarks in the classroom to her side-hustle making up vape flavours to sell to her classmates out of her rucksack. Perhaps her most likeable quality is the zero tolerance she has for Mr. Han, presented with a no-nonsense defiance by Lee Jiwon. When Yun-ji begins to waver over whether or not to terminate her pregnancy – wanting, effectively, to give Mr. Han the child he has always longed for – Kyung-sun is quick to question what a man who got one of his pupils pregnant has done to deserve such respect.
This becomes a refrain in the En Route To, with both Yun-ji and Min-young having to come to terms with the position they’ve been left in and what their responsibility is to protect this man who has bailed on them both. The decision of whether or not to have the baby, like the decision of whether or not to let the truth come out, become important political questions for both women. For Kyung-sun the answers are glaringly obvious. The more challenging question for Kyung-sun is how to come to terms with being the child of a single mother who had her very young – baggage she can’t help but bring to her opinions about what her friend should do.
Baek Jaeryung’s cinematography is unassuming, punching in for key emotional or narrative moments, but often with the camera sitting at a remove with the characters in long- to mid-shots that emphasize their relationship to one another. The two roommates in particular begin the film as tolerant of one another, appearing in the background of one another’s shot, the focal length provided their physical distance on the screen. Over the course of the narrative they grow closer, from Kyung-sun tenderly offering a hand to hold in their room, to heads rested on each other’s shoulders in the film’s affecting finale. Yoo Jaein marshals their shifting dynamic through its up and down impressively and in doing so has created a charming film about the resilient power provided by female friendship.
Director, screenplay: Yoo Jaein
Cast: Sim Subin, Lee Jiwon, Jang Sun, Lee Ye-in, Jang Jae-hee
Producer: Kim Jihyoung
Cinematography: Baek Jaeryung
Music: Lee Eunjoo
Sound: Kim Soohyun
Production design: Ahn Dukjin
Production companies: Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA) (Korea)
Venue: Busan Film Festival (Competition)
In Korean
106 minutes
