Lunch with Disillusioned

Interview with Kyuho Sim, director of Disillusioned

The main character has left the city to live in the countryside, which turns out to be a land of strangeness and even of danger. How did you decide on this topic and protagonist to make a film about?
When I wrote the first draft in January of 2017, I was feeling anxious and afraid of living in this world. At that time I decided, if only for a little while, to escape the city and live in the countryside like the main character in my film. Unfortunately, my stress levels weren’t decreasing and I was getting sick. I had no desire whatsoever to shoot a film. The only way I knew to sort through my emotions was through writing a script. Following that experience, I entered graduate school and got the chance to make the script come to life. Since the film was a much bigger production than anything I had created before it took two years since first putting pen to paper to film it.

How did you go about capturing this feeling of mysteriousness throughout the film?
I think that mystery comes from leaving a little room for the audience to think about a film. Instead of filling in 100% of all the gaps, I wanted to leave some room for the audience to create the film themselves as they watched. From all the character lines and actions to the sound and color-grading, I exercised moderation in order to not overdo anything. The look of the film was based on the scenery I saw while living in the countryside plus a little bit of imaginative tinkering.

What turned out to be the hardest part for you while making Disillusioned and why?
The film begins with the sun rising and ends with the sun setting. These two parts are important but there wasn’t much time in the day to shoot them. We had to keep getting up before dawn every day to shoot the same scene over and over. Likewise, to film the scene where the sun is setting, we had to rehearse repeatedly to get it right in real time. The problem is that at 4AM the sun isn’t out yet and you can’t see anything. In that situation I had to go into the water everyday while shooting which restricts your movement and makes filming go much slower. Being pressed for time was mentally taxing and shooting in water was physically challenging. Even after the shoot I was talking in my sleep and would wake up startled trying to find my storyboard. There was even a time when I was sleeping on the subway and upon suddenly waking up started looking for my storyboard. I was really embarrassed. I could have used CG or special effects to capture these two moments without all the hassle, but I chose not to because I think that the energy that reality gives is much stronger.

Your short is never didactic nor too explanatory. Is this because you want viewers to be able to interpret your film in their own way?
It isn’t meant to be didactic or preachy. It’s meant to be a short film that honestly expresses the insecure thoughts and attitudes I was shouldering alone at that time in my life. I mentioned earlier about how the film isn’t meant to explain everything and that I thought it would be nice to let the audience interpret the film in their own way with minimal information. Notwithstanding, there is a definite set of guidelines laid out to frame the audience’s thinking. For example, when asking who the mysterious man is, I intentionally made it so there are three distinct answers viewers might come to. No matter which of the three you choose, although some things may be altered in the viewers mind, the overall meaning and themes of the film won’t change. The reason for not showing what is in the bag follows the same logic.

What do you think the future holds for short films?
I think the future of short films is bright. In contrast with the usual two-hour long feature film, it seems that the short film medium is rising in appeal and being consumed more and more. Because of the corona virus it has become harder to go to the theaters, but streaming content on a phone or computer is easier than ever and short films seem to have the ideal running time for everyday life.

If we were to go back into lockdown, what cultural delights would you recommend to alleviate our boredom?
We are experiencing a hard time all around the world. Watching movies with others is the essence and joy of cinema. However, spending time alone with music, a book, a movie or a broadcast can also bring deep enjoyment. Lastly I think it would be good if we communicated online as freely and as often as if we were actually spending time with one another. I believe we will all get through this together.

Disillusioned is part of International Competition I2.