Running Time: 89 Minutes
Starring: Kim Dae-gun, Heo Dong-won, Park So-hyun, Shin Hyeon-gyu, Son Cheol-min
Opening on the sounds of heavy breathing, an unseen person is asked to think about why they cannot leave a certain place, and what keeps them from leaving. That ominous dialogue transitions viewers into a monochrome colour palette, with the dreary look reflecting how devoid of life reality is within The Tenants. What writer/director Yoon Eun-kyoung has crafted with this near-future version of Seoul is a capitalist hellhole that may be dystopian, yet feels frighteningly real.
Living alone in the city, Shin-dong (Kim Dae-gun) crawls into a mundane routine to move through the soulless life that he is trapped in. When his landlord threatens eviction, the office worker seeks to prevent those plans by turning to Wolwolse, a program which allows tenants to rent out parts of their space to other people. He finds eccentric newlyweds who wish to move into the bathroom, finding its stuffiness preferable to the city's polluted air. While he agrees to the situation, Shin-dong soon finds his room is less of a safe space from the tenants, and the worsening situation leaves him questioning how beneficial this agreement truly is.
If director Yoon's work could be distilled into directorial influences, it would feel like like a cross between Yorgos Lanthimos and Bong Joon-ho, with shades of David Lynch sprinkled on-top. What is delivered mixes social relevance and absurdist dark comedy for a tale rooted in thoughtful truths, while an unsettling tone adds to the terrors. Intrigue is built with the spine-chilling imagery, particularly during the night-time sequences which add to the horrors. A memorable moment involves a figure seen in the shadows with an unnerving look, resembling Robert Blake's mystery man from Lost Highway in unforgettably claustrophobic fashion.
It is a credit to Yoon Eun-kyoung's deft handling that such a combination is delivered so effectively, as the combined comparisons inform the director's style and never feels like somebody aping their predecessors. The writer/director tremendously captures a bleak world where aspirations for a better life ultimately feel pointless, resembling an exacerbated version of our reality.
While Shin-dong works tirelessly for the promise of a better life on Sphere 2, an idyllic utopia with better opportunities, it comes at his own personal cost. He is trapped within an increasingly eerie situation that he was backed into, but he literally cannot afford to lose his sanity in this world where mental health treatment is a costly luxury. This may be a world where friends talk, yet they are truly not heard as cries for help fall on deaf ears.
Through this tireless work depicted on-screen, director Yoon interrogates the old adage fed to people about working hard being the path to success. That is unfortunately not enough in a world that willingly tramples over people in favour of others' machinations, where hopes are easily crushed underfoot within a greedy system that threatens to never let go while the workforce can be further exploited for corporate gain. The metaphor can feel heavy-handed in places, yet that never stops it from being effectively relevant and heartbreakingly bleak. It will be fascinating to see where director Yoon goes from here, as The Tenants is an eerie journey down the nightmarish rabbit hole of capitalism.
The Tenants made its Canadian Premiere at Fantasia Festival 2024
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