dd’s Umbrella

The incisive latest from Hwang (I’ll Go On) consists of two thematically linked narratives about queer South Koreans reckoning with loss and persecution in mid-2010s Seoul. The first part centers on d, a 30-something airport worker whose life is upended when their lover, dd, is killed in a car accident. Overcome by grief, d stops eating and isolates. After losing their job, d becomes a courier at an electronics market, where a tentative friendship with an older shop owner gradually brings them out of their shell. In the second part, 41-year-old writer Kim Soyoung reminisces on her life while waiting to watch the televised March 2017 ruling on President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment following the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster. Drawing comfort from writings by Roland Barthes, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and Stefan Zweig, Soyoung reflects on her 20-year bond with partner Seo Sookyung, and recounts the violence, misogyny, and harassment they’ve endured as queer women. With reflections on the South Korean government’s chilling response to earlier student demonstrations and the aftermath of the ferry tragedy, Hwang shines an illuminating light on the repression that persists amid social progress. It’s a tender and revealing portrait of characters on the margins. (Apr.)