DVD, Digital Release: Aloners

By
Laurence
– August 8, 2023Find Others: DVD, Movie, New Release, NewsGet More: , ,

Digital, DVD Release Date: Aug. 15, 2023
Price: DVD $26.78
Studio: Film Movement

In the Korean drama Aloners, written and directed by Hong Sung-eun, Jina (Gong Seung-yeon) is the top employee at a call center, but despite talking to customers all day, she has shut out the world beyond her headset; she lives alone, eats alone, sleeps alone, and her cell phone is her constant companion.

When one day she’s tasked with training a friendly and naive new hire (Jung Da-eun), her icy armor is threatened. At the same time, she must navigate an incessantly ingratiating new neighbor, and increasingly urgent phone calls from her father, leaving Jina teetering on the edge of an existential crisis, forcing her to confront why she has isolated herself all these years.

Riffing on the Korean ‘honjok’ – a phenomenon of young people who live alone and skirt social interaction – to examine the personal traumas of loss and alienation, this poetic directorial debut by Hong Sung-eun was described by Ms. Magazine as a “stirring portrait of the cages we build for ourselves and questions how and when we may want to be free of them.”

Here’s a rundown of Aloners’ festival appearances, awards and nominations: 

  • CinemAsia Film Festival (2022) |Won, Jury Award, Best Film
  • Asian Film Awards (2021) |Nom., Best Newcomer (Gong Seung-Yeon)
  • Golden Horse Film Festival (2021) |NETPAC Award, Best Asian Film
  • San Sebastian Int’l Film Festival |Nominated, New Directors Award
  • Torino Film Festival (2021) | Winner, Best Actress; Nom., Best Film
  • Zurich Film Festival (2021) |Nom. Golden Eye, Best Int’l Feature Film

Buy or Rent Aloners

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About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.