In Between Days

So Yong Kim’s directorial debut, In Between Days, is a stark portrayal of the painful experience that is young love and, in the words of the pseudo-titular Who song, “Teenage Wasteland.” Unlike other coming of age films however, this film presents the unique perspective of youth who are not native and don’t fill stereotypes. What is also unique to this film is that much like Salinger’s Catcher In the Rye, it might be better described as an experience than a story; it does not begin or end, the audience is simply intruding on the life of two friends via Kim’s camera. All of this coalesces to perfectly capture every teenagers search for a sense self, framing a story rather creating one.

The protagonists, Aimie and Tran, are South Korean immigrants to a non-descript, bleak North American city, struggling to find their identity. The most painful part of this struggle is the couple’s repeated failure to realize and express their feelings for each other. Again and again the two come agonizingly close to relating their true emotion but instead watch each opportunity pass with blank expressions and off-hand remarks. Instead of ripening these chances sour and wedge a deeper and deeper divide between Aimie and Trane; “[e]ach infinitesimal gesture has dramatic ripple effects, requiring an equal and opposite reaction for transgressions perceived…and this acting out is sympathetically conveyed for what it is: a balm on the wound” (Mitsuda). For example, when Aimie sees Tran talking with girls at a party she responds by going out for a smoke—she never smokes—with Steve, another Korean immigrant. Later she tells Tran she kissed Steve solely to test his reaction. With each of these new perceived transgression their feelings wax and wane more and more erratically out of harmony. Finally, as the last scene fades to black and the credits roll the audience is simultaneously jerked back to their own reality and also left abruptly hanging as to whether their relationship will continue or simply wither and die.

What most coming of age tales, bildungsromans for those literary buffs, don’t address is the aspect of growing up in a foreign country. Kim’s piece presents the difficult process of becoming an adult from the hybrid perspective of a Korean living in a Western (American) society. New York Times’ writer A.O. Scott seems to get it when he declares, “Aimie does not seem to fit comfortably into either her own skin or the world she inhabits.” This confusion is faced by many young Korean immigrants each day. Some choose to Americanize and cast off much of their ethnic ‘baggage;’ others run the opposite direction, clinging tightly to their heritage by joining cliques and clubs focused on creating a safe-haven for karaoke bars and soju against the sea of American culture that threatens to claim new immigrants. Still, there is a third group that is capable of the seemingly miraculous feat of remaining neutral between these two titanic forces. It is not entirely clear which of these three Aimie and Tran belong to: they party with Korean kids, but many of them are rather Americanized. What is clear is a sense of teenage isolation that’s intensified by the protagonists’ disconnect from much of the society around them.

Kim’s camera work is worth noting for enhancing the melodramatic loneliness even more. Long, static shots of wide space filled only with a lone apartment complex and telephone wires are voiced over by Aimie as she imagines dictating letters to her father, who left the family. These images radiate and illustrate the teenage wasteland. Kim also makes use of extreme close-ups to create a sense of acute intimacy with Aimie in her most personal moments. Shot with a handheld camera, these scenes feel similar to a video diary, and the audience seems to be an intruder upon a very personal moment. In general, Noel Murray lauds Kim for choice of shooting locations, remarking that “[i]t couldn't have been easy to find a climate that so resembles adolescence” (Murray).

All in all, using her minimalist style Kim has succeeded in rendering a brilliant representation of what it is to be a teenager, and the world has recognized her ability to create a work so relatable with numerous awards. Some films are best viewed in a certain mood, but it is truly unique one that can produce one of its own, regardless of the audience’s disposition.

Mitsuda, Kristi. "Neither Here..." Reverse Shot. 9 Apr. 2008 .

Murray, Noel. "In Between Days." The AV Club. 6 July 2007. 9 Apr. 2008 .

Scott, A.O. "In Between Days." The New York Times 27 June 2007. 9 Apr. 2008 .