Reviews
Next Sohee
Reviewed by Vaughan Ames
'Next Sohee' followed the life of Sohee, a teenage South Korean who is found an 'internship' by her school in a call centre dealing with telecom clients who ring up to cancel their contracts. A bouncy girl who loves dancing, she first of all is really pleased with the job until she gradually finds it stultifying. Eventually even her manager cannot stand the pressure and commits suicide. Sohee realises the whole place is set up to get cheap labour from students, she turns to drink, but can no longer stand it and soon she too commits suicide.
The second half of the film then follows Detective Oh who investigates, thinking it is a simple suicide until she begins to understand that the call centre, the school and even the government are all involved in forcing the kids to work for a pittance under terrible working conditions (this was, of course, a fictional account; no possible link with the real world..!?).
I found the first half a bit thin – I did not feel the film went deep enough into Sohee's thoughts to make us realise why it drove her to suicide. The second half, however, was a really biting indictment of South Korean society and well put together; the detective had huge sympathy for Sohee and the film cleverly showed her get frustrated as each part of society shirked responsibility, blaming each other instead.
The second half of the film then follows Detective Oh who investigates, thinking it is a simple suicide until she begins to understand that the call centre, the school and even the government are all involved in forcing the kids to work for a pittance under terrible working conditions (this was, of course, a fictional account; no possible link with the real world..!?).
I found the first half a bit thin – I did not feel the film went deep enough into Sohee's thoughts to make us realise why it drove her to suicide. The second half, however, was a really biting indictment of South Korean society and well put together; the detective had huge sympathy for Sohee and the film cleverly showed her get frustrated as each part of society shirked responsibility, blaming each other instead.