Korean Director Yoon Danbi Tells A Moving Family Story In ‘Moving On’

Though the film Moving On focuses on its adolescent protagonist, Ok-ju, it has a lot to say about the nature of family, how a family can change shape, and how a family shapes those it nurtures.

Moving On starts when Ok-ju, her brother and father are literally moving on, moving out of their apartment and into the home of their grandfather. Ok-ju’s parents are separated and her father’s inability to make enough money has left them without a home. The move is described as both temporary and practical. The children can care for their fragile grandfather while their father works. Then an aunt, whose own marriage is in trouble, moves in and the fluid nature of the family is altered yet again.

Writer/director Yoon Danbi began making Moving On as a graduation project from Dankook University’s Graduate School of Cinematic Content, but its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in Oct. 2019, earned her four prizes: the Directors’ Guild of Korea Award, the NETPAC Award, the KTH Award and the Citizen Critics’ Award. The film also received the Bright Future award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and is currently being shown at the virtual New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF).

“I learned from this project that a very personal story can be more universal than a universal story,” said Yoon.

Her film captures the quiet details of the family’s days, the ways they interact with and exist alongside each other. Long camera takes and the plot’s seductively slow pace achieve a sense of familial intimacy, while the story was inspired by Yoon’s real-life interactions with her parents and grandparents. 

“In this movie, my sentiments are projected onto each character, and the situations and stories that my family went through are blended in,” said Yoon. “I have never lived with my grandfather, nor had my parents divorced, or fought with my younger brother. However, I felt like I didn’t mourn enough when my grandmother died when I was young, and I had the naiveté of puberty and built a wall to protect myself similar to the main character Ok-ju. Also, I completely understand and empathize with the adult siblings, the situations they were each facing, and the decisions they made.”

Starting with a personal story was a bold but necessary choice.

“When working on previous short films, I never made an honest approach to the story,” she said. “I was careful and afraid to reveal my viewpoints or personality through my work. So I always made a movie around the story. Eventually, I realized that this wasn’t the best way and wanted to make the movie as honest as possible; even if my first feature revealed who I am and my points of view, and even if this movie ends up becoming autobiographical.”

Ok-ju’s adolescent preoccupations are universal. She wants to know who she is apart from her family, yet she still needs them. She realizes love is not a fairy tale, given her father and aunt’s troubled marriages, but she longs for love of her own. Despite the challenges Ok-ju’s family faces, there are no villains in Moving On. Even Ok-ju’s anger toward her absent mother is a way of dealing with her loss.

“My hope was, despite not having an antagonist, that the audience would understand the characters because I didn’t want to create a character of malice just for the sake of the story,” said Yoon. “It’s such a pedestrian story that many people around me voiced their concerns in the beginning. But I made the film following a faint light and tried to project the memories and experiences of the audience in the film through capturing the fine lines of emotion and adjusting the spacing. Since it was my first movie, I thought that I should make a movie that I really wanted to make even if it scared me.”

Although the entire family often seems to be the film’s main character, each individual is succinctly drawn. Choi Jung-woon makes her feature film debut playing the complex and engaging Ok-ju. 

“I was initially fascinated by Choi Jung-woon, who plays Ok-ju, in a still image of a short film that eventually led me to casting her,” said Yoon. “It was a picture of her putting her hair behind her ears and looking straight in front of her, and that image alone made me curious about that movie’s story and character. When we met, more so than the beauty of an actor, the beauty and atmosphere of her age made a strong impression on me. It was my first feature film as well as for Choi, so I made the movie with a feeling of growing up together.”  

The character’s younger brother, Dong-ju, is played energetically by actor Park Seung-joon, who previously appeared in the TV drama Crash Landing On You and the film The Battle: Roar To Victory. Yoon chose him because he was honest about expressing his discomfort during the audition.

“While most actors were nervous and polite, Park seemed upset when he entered the audition room,” said Yoon. “When I asked him why, he grumbled, ‘I didn’t sleep well in the car.’ I told him I’d change his audition order to be last so that he could go take a nap, but when he came back he expressed that he couldn’t sleep properly because the sofa was uncomfortable. When I casted him for the role of Dong-ju, I believed that he would act more naturally than what was written on the page and he really did enrich the film that way.”

The young actors’ natural performances suggest the director’s ease at working with child actors.

“They always give me spontaneous things to work with that are different from what I expected,” said Yoon. “And they seem to shine just by looking at the camera.”

Although directing young actors is is many ways similar to directing adults, Yoon does make some adjustments.

“When directing child actors, I try not to explain the emotions of the character in detail because then I think it causes them to restrict their imagination and expression. I tell them the rough idea or I’ll say a specific action like, ‘I don’t want you to let your sister take your bag.’”

Movies have long been an escape for Yoon and that’s part of what prompted her to study film.

“I grew up in a small town in the suburbs and always felt trapped growing up there. During that time movies gave me a way to experience different lives and the world. I thought that I could live many lives through movies.”

Inspired by the works of directors Ozu Yasujiro, Edward Yang, and Emir Kusturica, she’s convinced that movies have a unique aesthetic that is distinctly different from television and other forms of media.

“For example, Neorealism, Taiwan’s New Wave, and Ozu Yasujiro’s home drama styles are not simply defined as genres, but rather have aesthetic structures based on the way the film is filmed or the director’s approach,” said Yoon. “I want to protect the aesthetics of the movie and I want to make a movie thinking about the aesthetic structure of the movie, rather than simply editing it in match cuts like you do when organizing and editing short videos. There are already too many movies in the world and I don’t want to make similar movies that already exist. And I want to make a movie that I can always believe is good.”

Viewers can see the film at NYAFF through Sept. 12 via the Smart Cinema app.