A Girl at my Door

A Girl at My Door is one hell of an effective combination of beautiful visuals and heavy subject matter.

The film takes place in a small town. Yung-Nam has recently moved here and works as a member of the police. Like every modern depiction of a cop, Yung-Nam is an alcoholic who struggles with morality. Almost immediately she notices a young girl named Do-Hee who other children pick on and whose family openly abuse. Yung-Nam intervenes more than once though the abuse continues. Eventually, Do-Hee shows up at her house and Yung-Nam agrees to let the girl stay. But Do-Hee is a troubled child and Yung-Nam fails to set boundaries. Do-Hee becomes heavily attached to Yung-Nam. But eventually, Do-Hee’s family cause trouble and Yung-Nam’s identity as a lesbian gives them a foothold to make accusations.

I was incredibly worried when I started A Girl at My Door. I knew little about it other than it had lesbian content. When the major two female characters were revealed to be an adult and a middle school child, I was concerned. Luckily, this is not the source of lesbian content. Yung-Nam and Do-Hee’s relationship definitely crosses boundaries of what is appropriate, up to taking a bath together. But there’s clearly no desire on Yung-Nam’s part. The revelation of Yung-Nam’s lesbian identity comes from a completely adult ex of hers showing up.

This means that A Girl at My Door is one of those WLW films where the focus isn’t really the lead’s queerness. The focus here is Yung-Nam overall as a chraacter and her struggles in a corrupt small town and with an abused child. However, this does not mean that her lesbian identity has no bearing on the story. When accusations about Yung-Nam’s conduct with Do-Hee are brought up, her alleged homosexuality is used as a reason why the accusations hold water. It’s a complex situation where Yung-Nam’s conduct regardless of her sexuality started off this issue but homosexual discrimination made the problem a lot worse.

A Girl at My Door features the beautiful, meticulous cinematography I’ve come to associate with Korean cinema. Is it wrong to generalize an entire nation’s cinematic output even if it’s a positive attribute? Probably. Regardless, this film has brilliant direction. Cinematography and scene setting are immaculate. The film does a great job of showing this small town as visually pleasing and ideal while the characters that inhabit it are truly messed up.

In general, this movie is pretty messed up. Its somewhat languid pace and beautiful visuals disguise some really troubling story aspects. This is not a negative. I love that juxtaposition. The only time this confused me is the ending. The visuals would suggest the film’s ending is happy. But it’s hard to see it that way from a character point of view. Yung-Nam ends the film in a worse emotional, moral and stable position than when she began the film. So the film’s depiction of her maintaining a relationship with the incredibly troubled Do-Hee is hard to see as a positive. I don’t think either character is going to benefit from this relationship continuing.

My main concern in the film is the depiction of Do-Hee in the third act. The third act depicts her falsely accusing two people of sexually abusing her. The way she goes about this, especially in the second instance is heavily premeditated and pretty nefarious. She not only tells a damming, rehearsed lie but ensures that there are witnesses and evidence to back up her claims. Through all of it, she is certain and composed in a way that doesn’t feel like should belong to a child. It makes her feel like a character in a much less subtle thriller film. A Girl at My Door feels like it could be an origin story for a villainous and manipulative adult Do-Hee. At times, it feels over the top but I can’t pretend like it isn’t interesting.

A Girl at My Door is a heavy movie. It has a lot of dark subject matter which it levels with pleasing visuals. This is not exactly a feel-good film. It is however, powerful and impressive film making and shows a lot of talent from everyone involved.

Overall rating: 8.5/10

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