KFN2: No Regret
No Regret (후회하지 않아)
As part of the Korean Film Nights 2019 season, Love Without Boundaries.
Director: Lee Song Hee-il
Cast: Kim Nam-gil, Lee Yeong-hoon, Kim Jung-hwa, Cho Hyun-chul
114mins, 2006
At 18, Su-min is forced to leave the orphanage where he lives. Unable to afford university, he travels to Seoul where he works as a factory worker and as a ‘taeri’- a designated driver for wealthy patrons after a night of drinking. Both of his worlds collide when he runs into former driving patron Jae-min, the factory owner’s son. Jae-min’s interest in Su-min is more than platonic and when he intervenes to save Su-min’s job at the expense of another worker, Su-min’s pride is hurt and he resigns. Forced to take on a job in a gay host bar to survive, he thinks he is free of Jae-min. But Jae-min will not give up so easily...
Based on Lee Song’s early short film Good Romance (2001), No Regretis regarded as the first South Korean feature to be directed by an openly gay filmmaker. Although it was Lee Song’s feature film directorial debut, he had previously explored homosexuality in Korean society with his first short film Sugar Hill (screened as part of the shorts night on 25th July).
