Synopsis

An old man in his 90s walks into the park inside an apartment complex. Younger elderly men are playing Go in the park, but they won't let the older man join them. The old man can only watch them. When he sits down on a nearby bench, he discovers a Walkman. After a moment's hesitation, he puts the earphones in his ears and presses the reverse play button. Suddenly, the old man starts to move in reverse, and his life and the world move backwards.

Director's Comment

The film tells the story of an old man born in Anyang in 1926 who lived through an era of rapid change. Through his story, the film shows the relationship between our physical body and the outside world. The main character shows the lives of the lower-middle class. He received a Japanese education, then he was sent off to war after Korea gained independence. In the period of rapid economic progress, he accepted everything and did as he was told, living as a tiny cog in the mechanism of society. The old man's personal memories, intertwined with his memories of war, poverty, and the pain and sorrow of the Japanese colonial era, are shown along with a geographical basis in the animation. The warm texture of the oil pastel requires each image to be drawn by hand in an analog process that moves away from the efficiency of digital techniques. Time plays an important role in both the production process of the film and the story dealing with the past. The final scene of the animation involves a group photo. Like the images that are layered behind the foggy scene when the photograph is taken, the memories begin to fade, becoming idealized, edited, and mixed together.

Staff