A Girl at My Door (2014)
AKA: Dohee-ya
Directed by: July Jung
Starring: Bae Doona (Station chief Young-nam), Kim Sae-ron (Do-hee), Song Sae-byeok (Yong-ha), Kim Min-jae (senior cop at the station)
Country: South Korea; Effed Up Asian Movies
Language: Korean; Effed Up Korean Movies
Runtime: 01:59:13
Genres: Cops, Lesbian, Domestic Abuse, Old-Young Relationships, Teen-Childhood, Human Trafficking (Illegal migrants)
Plot – Spoilers:
In a small Korean fishing town where most of the younger folk have packed and left for the cities, a young station chief Young-nam arrives. Her new posting from Seoul is a disciplinary move designed to take the heat off her sexuality. But Young-nam has something else in her closet. She’s an alcoholic who brings with her, crates of water bottles hiding booze.
Most of the time, Young-nam is a pacifist who prefers to lie low and not assert her position as station chief unless provoked extensively. One of the people in town out to bait her is Yong-ha, a young drunk who runs fishing operations and whom the older townsfolk depend on for almost everything. His position as the big frog gives him a certain blind confidence that he could easily pick up the new city chick with his crude mating dance. Though Young-nam tries to politely ignore him, she soon can’t, once she discovers that he regularly thrashes his step-daughter whom Young-nam feels instantly protective of.
A Girl at My Door is a very daring movie because it goes places where other films on similar topics rarely do. There are only grey people here, none are black or white. Not even the victim.
Here we have a typical village drunk who beats on his helpless child.
A recently relocated police chief notices the poor kid wandering the streets getting picked on and takes on a protective big sister role.
However, the female officer gets accused of over stepping her authority and is of course reprimanded, returning the suffering kid back to the abusive father again.
There isn’t much justice served in this film. We get to witness the full force of patriarchy and misogyny in South Korean society and are reminded how these aspects of life often leave empathetic women in positions of authority with their hands tied.
I’m not usually a fan of South Korean cinema, but this film stands out for the emotions of sorrow and abandonment it provokes throughout. I’d say this and the movie Hope are in a similar category although I found the production of Hope to be a bit tacky like most Korean films.
While the female officer is a lesbian, I did not personally get the impression that she was attempting to have a sexual relationship with the young girl in any way. I believe attempting to draw that conclusion is a mistake and is most likely something someone making such claims would like to be true as opposed to being the actual truth.
A lot of that going around these days.
9/10
a lesbian thing is just a tiny part of it. the movie is much, much deeper than that… 5/5
pretty good movie except some people are ignoring CULTURE DIFFERENCES, 1. heavily xenophobic hence why the immigrant workers were getting fucked over and it clearly depicts when he said that they were slacking in work he didn’t attack the korean workers he went after the immigrants. 2. the grandma looking out for the son and her being old school beating a child is normal (most likely thats how she was raised and that the mans rule says/goes while blaming the bastard child) 3. the bathing lot of asian cultures have bath houses/springs where women shower/bathe with other women, can go on but i liked this movie it was sad, music was good, scenes were super clean, kinda already knew something was off in the beginning but not spoiling everything, the ending song is 10/10 the rain adds ALOT of ambiance to the track
Dude, I just love this movie, everything was great: how it was shot, the scenes, original plot and characters.
This was such a surprise movie to me. I read many weird reviews to this movie but all of them could be explained by blatant homophobhia. The sexual orientation of the main protagonist has nothing to do with the quality of the movie. If anything it’s great talking point and shows us the close minded views the south korea holds to this day on homosexuality and gender questions. The mind of a abused child is explained and portrayed in extremly believable way. I was very worried something bad is going to happen to Do-hee at the end but the “happy ending” we got made me extremly satisfied and tear up a bit. It is very intimate and the emotions Doona Bae and Sae-ron Kim are able to express through their acting really holds this movie together.
Great movie 8/10!
Please please tell me how to find the end credits song. It’s so beautiful. What is it called? i can’t find it 🙁
Lesbian shit!
Absolute disgusting lez-fest – very fan-servicey. Didn’t care about the lame ‘issues’ it brings up so I only watched it half way. Yeah that’s right! I couldn’t watch two women holding hands but I have no issues watching them getting chopped up! Not that I’m into it but it’s kinda cool cinematics. But this was some gross cringe.
Love smashing in a 12 year olds back door
This movie is so damn heavy. I totally disagree with the bath. I believe the cop did the right thing up until that one point. If she had been a little more objective, alcohol notwithstanding, she would have never had to go through the accusations and confinement.
I love this
This film tentatively explores the damaged and debauched country noir of humanity, it’s polarising, uncomfortable, and coercively melancholic. Jeong Ju-ri focuses poignantly upon emotional instability, beautifully written and directed.
great movie….fucked up but great movie all together
first time i didnt like something that gets praised in the comments here :/ way too long and slow, this whole story could have been told in 80 mins
This movie was fantastic and showed how retarded Joe and the “justice” system can be. Superb acting on all counts here. Watch this you won’t be disappointed unless you just want gore then you will be.
I was really hoping at the end, that Yong-Ha, the father, was going to scream out, “She came on to me!”
I really liked tish movie! However, I don’t agree with the “all characters are grey” description.
The father of the girl was terrible in every way. The only reason to sympathise with him is when he’s falsely arrested of rape. The main character seems like a good person, I don’t find any reason to dislike her.
I read the comment above me stating that it was creepy off her to bathe with the girl, but she did not intend to. The girl jumped in with her, and she did not touch her in any way. There’s no indication that she’s a pedophile. She likes women, yes, but not children. I’m a straight woman and would not be aroused if a 12 year old boy jumped in the bath with me, I like men.
BEST FUCKING MOVIE EVER FUCK YEAAAA
Not bad but I still think Hope was alot better and definitely way more emotional that movie made me tear up a few times
Part of me wants to feel bad for the cop. But I’m 99% sure you don’t just bring a kid in your home because you feel bad. Like it’s known you’re attracted to women and you bring a girl in your home. Quick question, I am a 40 year old man. What would yall say if I took the clothes off a 12 year old girl and gave her a bath? I mean come tf on lady you had to know what you look like.
That was a ride
I once had soju thinking it was water. Took a big gulp. Damn.
One of the best here. Hits hard. Thanks. Highly recommended.