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[HanCinema's Film Review] "Come, Together"

Beom-goo (played by Im Hyeong-gook) is a father who faces poor prospects for work. Mi-yeong (played by Lee Hye-eun) is a mother whose own job, while relatively successful, has an unfortunately large degree of vicious backbiting. Han-na (played by Chae Bin) is their daughter, who's currently trying to get into a good college and stressing out very severely over the prospect that she may once again live another year as a ronin. Of course, given the model her parents set, what's so great about joining the modern economy anyway?

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That's the principle veneer of depression which encapsulates "Come, Together". The three central characters have distinct, interesting stories with surprisingly little direct overlap, although they do contain important similarities. The main central irony of the film is that the family members don't really communicate with each other, in part because society has convinced them that ultra-competitiveness is the way to go. Any failure in that arena warrants reproach even from loved ones

A lot of this is not even necessarily a matter of peer pressure. Beom-goo and Han-na are generally categorized as not actually being the victims of any direct hostility as they are general apathy. They wander around the streets at night with friends to no apparent purpose except to try and shed off the general grumpy despair that comes with uncertainty about the future. Han-na fares better in this regard, if only because her friend, at least, is worthy of emulation.

Meanwhile, with daytime comes the pressures of normal work. Mi-yeong's comparable success in the professional sphere is of little comfort, though, because she doesn't have anyone who can comparably be called a friend. Mi-yeong and her co-workers are not only at odds with each other, but also management, the larger corporation, and at times even their clients. The generally dubious legal nature of their work does not help matters, and so it's hard to feel sorry for any of them.

These are the obstacles the three leads struggle against, eventually striving toward a happy ending by trying to be, well, a little sympathetic. Mi-yeong and Han-na are both handed opportunities to be straight-up evil in the pursuit of material gain, and we the viewer are left wondering which direction they will swing, because it's genuinely hard to tell. The existence of genuinely awful characters who can more easily be typecast as bad people is a surprisingly powerful temptation for them to take the low road as well.

But whether it's a matter of power abuse or powerlessness, ultimately, "Come, Together" has a pretty simple message about just trying to take serious stock of what's important in life and realizing that life experiences which seem good may not actually be good if they make you feel like garbage all the time. There's a strong toxicity in that kind of magical thinking, which is why it's all too relieving when we finally do get one nice scene where Beom-goo, Mi-yeong, and Han-na all start acting like a family for once.

Review by William Schwartz

"Come, Together" is directed by Sin Dong-il and features Im Hyeong-gook, Lee Hye-eun and Chae Bin.

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