Walking BackwardsWalking Backwards

A Japanese man, Ryota, visits Si-heon, a delivery man, at a construction-site restaurant near Incheon airport. It turns out that Ryota and Siheon share the same mother who left young Si-heon for Japan. As Si-heon traces his mother’s vestiges, his old friend Ye-jin facilitates communication between Si-heon and Ryota. At first the audience is made privy to the lives of Si-heon, who confidently thinks he has forgotten everything about his runaway mother; Ryota, who discovers the scent of his late mother’s trails; Ye-jin, who facilitates their connection in stuttering Japanese; and the Chinese immigrants, whom the trio encounters on their journey. Within these entangled relationships, the individual boundaries between the characters begin to disintegrate. The director imbues his film with personal experience as homage to his home city, Incheon, a metropolis rooted deeply in diaspora. (LEE Hyuk-sang)