Written and directed by Heo Sung-wan, All the Days feels like a series of snapshots of the ordinary days in the lives of three 20-something young people trying to figure out what the next steps in their lives are.
All the Days which had its world premiere in the Country program of the 2024 Ulju Mountain Film Festival, in South Korea, is a film that would be perfectly described by the phrase “still waters run deep”, because on the surface the story being told about three young people seems very calm and ordinary, but the closer you lean in to take a closer look and listen to the sounds around, you realise that these waters have hidden depths.
There’s Ye-eun (Jeon Ryeo-eun), her best friend So-young (Lee Yeon-sil), and Sung-bin, Sung-bin (Sung-bin) who are each at personal and professional crossroads in their lives where the decision to prioritise what’s socially expected of them, clashes with what they want for themselves order to feel fulfilled.
The film begins with Ye-eun and So-young quietly walking around the abandoned and dilapidated country home of Ye-eun’s maternal grandmother’s house quietly speaking about the times spent there as a child and pondering the idea of homes becoming imprinted over time with the memories of the people who once filled them with laughter and conversation. Having left her job in the corporate field to pursue her dream of writing films, Ye-un wonders what she should to feel more secure at a time when success might not be guaranteed, at least not as quickly as she’d like.
Similarly, So-young who has followed her passion of animation spends her time walking around a village now gone quiet with age, thinking about how events in her childhood such as the IMF crisis which crippled to South Korean economy in the late 90s, left a deeper impact on her than she realised.
And for Sung-bin, whom the spend time with in the city, ponders about how his own actions as a creator can impact the people close to him and the environment he lives in. See? Still waters run deep.
Just like for these three characters that Seun-seo created, for many people all over the world, the thought that this life we’re living is too short to spend it being unfulfilled when the opportunity to reach for what others tells us not to or meet the expectations of others no matter how unfair they may be to us personally.
In my interview with him, Sung-wan, he spoke about coming to the realization that All the Days, while being about the ordinary days of ordinary people, there’s something profound that happens in each day that stays with us. He shared how the film brought to mind his own summers spent in his grandmother’s house, the same house Ye-eun walks through, the characters being unintentional reflections of his own past and memories, and what “sustainable love” means to him as a filmmaker and individual.
Note: This interview was conducted with the assistance of a Korean-English interpreter and has been edited for clarity and length.
All the Days begins very quietly with Ye-eun and So-young in the yard of Ye-eun’s grandmother’s house. Here they have a very mundane conversation about the state of the yard covered in grass, the condition of the house slowly falling apart, and the bathroom which would be called an “Outhouse” where I’m in Barbados.
I’d like us to start discussing the film with this scene because it’s an interesting way to introduce the audience to the characters.
What I wanted to express the most were the things that happen in daily life, what happens in a day, so that when you add all these things together, they add up to mean something.
The film consists of three separate days, and the film opens the first day and in it I wanted to show that this day starts off the same as it would for anyone else and for the characters be an ordinary day.
It is an ordinary day, but the situation isn’t necessarily, ordinary, but kind of still is because it’s a position a lot of young people are finding themselves in these days where they’ve left their jobs to find a life that’s more fulfilling for them. Ye-eun quits her job because she’s not being fulfilled by it, so she decides to pursue her passion writing screenplays for films.
So, while the film may start out rather mundanely, I think they’re having pretty deep conversations. I’d like to ask you about that. About making a film that on the surface seems to be about very mundane and ordinary situations, but the conversations the characters have reveal a lot about where they are in their lives, and the questions they have.
Thank you for seeing that, because that was my intention. I wanted to show that even in the small moments of our daily lives…even amidst the mundane and the ordinary there are moments that stand out that are not normal. Like sparkling moments in our daily lives.
One example of that is when Ye-eun talks about spending time at her grandmother’s house when she was younger and the sound of cars driving by outside sounding like waves. When she’s talking about this, narrating this story, the audio is overlaid with the imagery of So-young walking around the village.
I wanted to have a sense of rhythm where you go from small daily life activities to these sudden peaks, these moments that stand out, then despite having these moments you go back once again to the ordinary moments being experienced, then peak moments once again. That what I wanted to show.
I wanted to ask you about that sequence with the narration by Ye-eun because the sound design in this film is very interesting. She speaks about the sound of the cars passing by sounding like waves, and that line of dialogue comes right after a scene of So-young walking in a greenhouse filled with tall grass, and when wind blows over and through the leaves it also sounds a lot like ocean and waves on a shoreline.
Talk about how the sound design in the film plays into the peaks and valleys of the overall story being told. The sound design and the score really do support the rhythm of the film.
That was actually something that I paid a lot of attention to because I wanted to make sure the dialogue is heard very clearly. So, my main focus for the sound design (by Baek Seung-seo) was to create an environment where everything that is said can be heard, and for that particular scene you referred to, I made sure that there’s always this underlying sound of cars passing by. The viewer doesn’t really think about it, but subconsciously they have this sound in the background of their mind, and then when they get to the part with Ye-eun’s narration of cars sounding like waves, at that moment the audience should have a lightbulb moment of “Oh! It does sound like waves.”, then they’ll think differently about the sound from then on.
I wanted that to act as a way for the audience to think “All of the sounds I’ve heard until now, they were also waves.”, because I also wanted it to be a refreshing moment for them.
I have to give you a thumbs up for that because audio mixing is becoming a challenge in films now for audiences because sometimes you can’t really hear the dialogue. When I watch a film where I can actually hear what the characters are saying clearly, I’m always very happy, so I have to give you thumbs up just for that alone for making it a priority that your characters are distinctly heard.
It’s a major problem now especially with a lot of Western made films.
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Another reference to the sound of the waves and So-young is walking through the green house is the story that she tells Ye-eun about the IMF crisis which happened in the late 1990s beginning in 1997. I thought it was very interesting that you again used the memories of waves as a prompt, but for So-young, it reminded her of that time during the crisis of family not being able to go to the beach because of their financial situation.
To me that scene indicates the ways children are aware of what’s happening in the world around them even if they don’t fully understand the circumstances. Even at the young age she would’ve been then, the IMF crisis left a significant impact on So-young, Ye-eun, and other children in Korea at the time.
This has to do with my own personal experience. When I was young, in my teenage years, that’s when the IMF crisis struck, and this was a very, very difficult time when families were being torn apart and everyone’s life drastically changed.
That time had a huge influence on my early years. During that period, I spent time at my grandmother’s house, my mother’s mother, and the house that you see in the film is her house. I went there and I would do the same thing of listening to cars sounding like waves passing by, and I think that the world of children and the world of adults are completely separate, but, because of the ambiance…there’s something in the air that only children are able to pick up on.
I didn’t intend to do it, but maybe it was something subconsciously I wanted to say about that time.
Yes. Children are much more aware of the world than adults give them credit for. Children are extremely smart, and I think your film kind of speaks to that in a very subtle way. That was just one conversation between Ye-eun, and So-young, but as you said what happened in the past had a significant impact on you and while you may not have thought about it in years, you remembered enough about it to put the way you felt in the film.
Yes. Thank you.
Another thing about children and adults, and it’s funny to say because we were all children before we grew up, is the expectations that parents place on children. For Ye-eun, she has a phone conversation with her mum, and her mum talks about Ye-un’s father being “sinful”, in reference him not being a good husband and father and not being Christian. But she wants Ye-eun to visit him at the hospital because Ye-eun performing that duty would make her “beautiful” in her mother’s eyes. I saw that as the mum placing an unfair burden of guilt on Ye-eun.
As I’ve had similar conversations with my own parents, I really related to Ye-eun in that moment because I’ve also said, “Can’t I just not go?” because I don’t want to and not be judged for it?
In Korea, the relationships between parents and children are not easy and in a way kind of bizarre.
From the child’s point of view, when you’re young you’re totally dependent on your parents, you’re on the receiving end for everything. But then, once you grow up and you start seeing flaws in your parents…or the negative aspects to them, there’s this moment where you go “Oh! They’re just regular people. They’re humans, too.” There is a limit I think, to how many negative aspects or faults a child can deal with though, and then once they reach that maximum limit, something becomes the last straw and they can’t take it anymore, they face a dilemma.
They can’t break off ties with their parents completely, but they can’t continue this relationship either, so they’re stuck in between these two choices. My father wasn’t a terrible father at all, but still, I had several types of clashes with him. These are things I think everyone can identify with at some point, and these are the types of small moments of daily life I wanted to show.
The main sentiment that underlines the entire movie is a sense of people not being sure what to do or what they’re capable of doing.
In hearing you say that about how children can become disillusioned with their parents the older they get; as we grow, we start to notice more flaws, as you said, is that where the idea for Ye-eun’s story about the house being old and collecting the remnants of the people who lived in it came from? Because when you were younger, you saw your grandmother’s house as a place of refuge, where you went for the summers and had happy moments. But as you aged, and the house aged you began to see more flaws in its structure.
Is it possible that the house and the story are a metaphor for that? That Ye-eun seeing the flaws in the hose are representative of her seeing the flaws in her parents?
Yes. There are some connections because when I was young my grandmother was just my grandmother, but then like you said, as I grew older, I began to see shortcomings in her and in my parents, but at the same time I also realized my grandmother was getting older so I experienced this sense of loss thinking that I’m going to lose this person that I deeply care about. That they’re all going to be gone soon at some point as I saw my grandmother age before my eyes. As a result, I was thinking that once they’re gone, how can I remember and hold onto them.
So, my experiences with that are kind of melted into the story of the film as well.
In your biography on the UMFF website, you said All the Days “was planned and created with the consideration of “sustainable love”. Is that what you mean with your intention to do the best you can to hold on to the memory of your grandmother and the people you love in a healthy way? In a conservative way in terms of preservation, by seeing them for who they are but still being able to appreciate them with their flaws and all?
That was my main goal while working on the film, and depending on how you see it there can be many interpretations of it, but the reason I set that as my goal was because in one way, making a film is an activity that could have a huge impact on myself or the people and environment around me, and if it has a negative effect it could destroy myself and others.
For instance, if I’m overzealous, too passionate or if I put in too much money into the project then there could be negative effects. Filmmkaing itself destroys a lot of the environment as well so I’m always conscious of that.
When I’m making a film, I’m always very aware of the fact that I need to remember not to do this. So, “sustainable love” for me means thinking about how I can sustain my filmmaking which is something I love, and how can I keep making movies without hurting others and those connected to my life outside of filmmaking, the people that I interact with daily and the world that I live in.
I’m always asking myself “Is this possible? Is this sustainable love?”
That’s great! So, is the character of Sung-bin, Ye-eun and So-young’s friend representative of you then? That’s the conversation he has with them where he says that he wants to do the things that he’s most interested in without hurting himself, others, and his surroundings. He wants to be sustainable in the way that he lives his life.
I think that’s a great ambition to have now in the world that we live in. Especially here in North America where filmmaking is becoming such an excessive process with regards to how much money is being spent, and as you mentioned it can have a very negative environmental and social impact too, I think, when filmmakers aren’t necessarily cognizant of the impact of the stories they’re telling could have socially.
In that regard, I kind of see Sung-bin as being an avatar for you because he’s speaking of having balance in all things…the way he lives his life for fun and for work.
Yes, Sung-bin is me [laughs].
I’m aware of the impact of the film industry especially in North America and the effects it has on the environment, and I’ve seen some research on it and when I was working on this film I constant thought about sustainable love and in a way, I thought the film had gotten a little too big than I expected. So, I’m always thinking of how I can tell the richest story within the smallest environment and will be something I continue to think about.
Something else that’s said in that conversation by Ye-eun which I think ties-in, is that if she tries to hold onto things that are too big, they’ll break, so she tries to do trivial things. Can you talk about that a bit and explain what she meant?
That line by Ye-eun is closely connected to how I feel about filmmaking because if you make a commercial film well it’s going to be a ‘rags to riches’ story. You’ll be famous overnight. Successful overnight. But on the other hand, you could also lose everything, so it’s a huge gamble to make such a film, and my goal in making films is to create these moments that I can value over time. I think of something I want to make a film about, then I make the film, and I get something out of that.
But what she’s saying is how I feel about making movies in that if I set my goals too high, and if I try to do something that’s too big that’s going to require a lot more, I’m going to lose these very small or trivial but very precious moments to me along the way because I’m preparing for that big goal, and I’d rather not do that. Therefore, I’ve chosen to continue filmmaking in the way that I do so that I can continue to move towards the goal that I have in mind.
I think that’s a very smart way to look at filmmaking especially in present times. I have to say “Kudos” to you for recognizing that so early on in your career because I think many filmmakers lose sight of that.
Thank you for saying that.
For my last question, before I mentioned the sound design, now, I want us to talk a bit about the score. There’s a scene in the film that made me think that if you ever wanted to make a horror film, you already have a sensibility of how to do it and could actually make some very creepy horror films.
It’s the sequence where Ye-eun, So-young, and Sung-bin are at the gravesite and they’re using a drone to get a high-up shot of the area, and the music that plays sounds very discordant and foreboding which didn’t seem to fit the film as it was very different to the rest of the score.
I wanted to ask you about it because while the music is different, I think it represented how they felt looking for Ye-eun’s grandmother’s grave as they didn’t know what condition they would find it in had a sense of foreboding about it.
The particular music you’re talking about is used in two scenes, and I purposely asked the music director to make sure the music in these scenes is very different in tone and manner from the rest of the film.
There’s the scene at the grave, and the other is when there’s a blackout and they’re trying to find a light switch. When you’re trying to find something, there’s a sense of being in the dark so to speak, and you feel scared because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You don’t know what you’re going to find, or that you’re going to find it but not like it.
For the characters, each of them is looking for something in their own life and so am I but it’s not easy, because when you’re wandering through the dark you could come across something that’s wrong.
That’s not the thing you’re looking for, and I felt that searching for something is a mysterious and scary thing to experience. That’s the feeling I wanted to convey.
Carolyn Hinds
Freelance Film Critic, Journalist, Podcaster & YouTuber
African American Film Critics Association Member, Tomatometer-Approved Critic
Host & Producer Carolyn Talks…, and So Here’s What Happened! Podcast
Bylines at Authory.com/CarolynHinds
Twitter & Instagram: @CarrieCnh12
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