TelltaleTelltale

 A Cine-essay reflecting on the diaspora life of an old man called M. Born in Japan, M returned to Korea with his family after the liberation. His first name was Japanese, but upon liberation, he changed it to a Korean name. After that, he changed his name two more times. He has lived as a potter, a shipyard worker, and a restaurant owner. The physical migration from Japan to Korea leads to psychological migration from one life to another. The film calls him M throughout the film without telling four names he had. M is his fifth name. It breaks the boundaries of his previous life, and those names encompass the public memories and personal history. The Japanese narration reciting his life and the segmented images of his daily life combined both intimately and unfamiliarly. The journey to find the origin of M leads to his unexpected achievement that reconstructs M’s life. (KIM Kyung-tae)