‘Aloners’ Review: A Contemporary Korean Woman Navigates Loss in Self-Imposed Isolation

variety.com:

Hong Sung-eun’s sensitive drama “Aloners” is a reflective interrogation into modern loneliness, as well as the silent brutalities of today’s urban life defined by competition, technology and nonstop productivity.

The film follows a depressed young woman named Jina (Gong Seung-yeon), who works at a call center. She is currently the top employee in the office and is praised for having handled the greatest number of calls despite having lost her mother recently.

Productivity is the most-valued trait in her workplace, and Jina knows this well. She treats all her clients equally, whether they happen to be deranged, abusive or pleasant.

Her voice is always polite and calm regardless of how her often-entitled clients behave, but her eyes appear soulless. She looks like someone with a serious but completely asymptomatic disease.