Juvenile Offender - BEOM JOE SO NYEON

Pitch

Ji-gu, who is 16, lives on his own with his ailing grandfather, whom he takes care of, while hanging around with the idle teenagers from his neighbourhood. After a final break-in, he is sent in the end to a juvenile detention centre. One day he is told that his mother, who abando- ned him after giving birth at 17 years old, was waiting for him in the visitors’ room...
Never before shown in France and presented at the Toronto Film Festival in 2013, the film was submitted by South Korea for the Oscar of the Best Foreign Language Film in 2014.
This subtle, moving film explores without manichaeism the relations- hip between a young juvenile delinquent and his mother. The form is therefore quite simple but the characters are especially moving and the description of the social constraints terrible, without being caricatured or over-exploited in the script. This is a finely-drawn social drama, superbly performed by young Seo Young-ju who won the Best Actress Award at the Tokyo festival.