Jeongwaja: A quiet, gut-punch of a movie

Is it worth your time?

If you want a flashy thriller, skip this. Honestly, skip it. But if you have an hour to just sit in the quiet, sad reality of a guy who really messed up, then maybe give it a go.

It is not a fun watch. It is a heavy, dusty, grey kind of watch. You will probably hate it if you need a clear beginning, middle, and end, because this movie is mostly just a long, heavy pause.

The weight of the doorway

The whole movie builds up to this one moment where the main guy just stands outside his father’s house. His father is blind. He does not even know the son is right there, just a few feet away, breathing in the dirt of the path.

That scene lasts forever. It’s brutally long. You can see the internal struggle in his shoulders. He is holding his breath, and so are you. It feels like he is trying to decide if he deserves to exist in that space.

I found myself wondering if he actually should go in. Does the father even want him there? The movie doesn't answer that. It just leaves you with the silence of the porch.

The small stuff

There is this one shot of the father’s hand feeling along the wall. It’s simple, but it tells you everything about how he lives. It is a world of textures, not colors.

• The sound design is almost non-existent.
• The lighting feels like a Tuesday afternoon that never ends.
• The actors don't really talk much. They just kind of exist in the space.

Sometimes, I think the movie tries a little too hard to be somber. There is a moment where he looks at a rusted bucket by the gate, and the camera lingers on it for way too long. We get it, the past is rusty. We don't need a five-second close-up on a piece of metal to prove it.

Compared to the rest

It has that same melancholic vibe you might find in something like The Stoker, where the atmosphere does all the heavy lifting. It isn't trying to be an epic. It is just trying to be a mirror.

Watching this made me think about how we carry our ghosts around. Some of us leave them at the door. Others carry them inside. The hero here is definitely the type to just leave them in the yard and walk away. 🚶‍♂️

It is not perfect. The pacing is a bit of a mess in the middle. But for that final shot? Yeah. It stuck with me.