In his films, NOH Dong-seok draws a dreary picture of young people living in the 2000s in a language of realism. Without the thirst for social reform that epitomized the 1980s and the “culturalism” of the 1990s, the reality of Korea in the 2000s is manifested through the images of young people stuck in a life without an exit. His debut film, <My Generation>(2004), which was shot in black and white, is a story of a young man who aspires to become a movie director but...More

In his films, NOH Dong-seok draws a dreary picture of young people living in the 2000s in a language of realism. Without the thirst for social reform that epitomized the 1980s and the “culturalism” of the 1990s, the reality of Korea in the 2000s is manifested through the images of young people stuck in a life without an exit. His debut film, <My Generation>(2004), which was shot in black and white, is a story of a young man who aspires to become a movie director but gradually and hopelessly falls victim to a reality of dead-end part-time jobs and debts of his family members. NOH’s second feature film, <Boys of Tomorrow>(2006), also shows young people pitifully trying to hang on to the string of hope that can vanish into the thin air. Although this movie had trained actors, unlike the first one, it carried the same stance of magnifying the harshness of the reality.Less