A Girl At My Door

Director: July Jung

2014 / 119min / DCP

Produced by Lee Chang-dong, Jung’s debut feature kicked up a swirl of controversy for its frank depiction of budding same-sex attraction and scathing indictment of the bigotry of provincial South Korean society. Assuming the post of precinct chief in a remote fishing village, police officer Lee Young-nam (Bae Doo-na) soon develops an especial interest in much put-upon local scapegoat Do-hee (Kim Sae-ron), taking the teen under her protection—and subsequently drawing the enmity of the community. Showing an affinity with Lee’s Poetry in its confrontation of rural prejudices, Jung’s deft, artful treatment of her material announces her as a filmmaker with a voice very much her own.