Ad-Lib Night

The camera's gaze falls on a woman standing motionlessly in the middle of Seoul's big city bustle. She seems not to know herself who or what she's actually waiting for. Suddenly three young men from the country come up to her. They've mistaken her for the daughter of a dead man. She lets herself be talked into being paid to take on the role of the woman, who has disappeared and has not contacted the family for years.
Through the meeting with the other family, their strange bickering, their hair-raising fights over money, but also through the mourning and affection of the clan, the family history of the stranger slowly enters the picture. Using only hints, snatches of conversations, looks, and a camera that carefully registers the smallest changes in the main figure's face, this film tells of big city isolation and existential fears, of the alienation between generations. Not only do the younger people go their own lonely way, the older ones have also given up all responsibility. Lee Yoon-ki's sad and beautiful film Ad Lib Night becomes a portrait of a society whose members have lost feeling for each other and themselves. (Anke Leweke) (Berlinale)