[Slate] Death Summons Life... Loss Evokes Memory

'You and Me' Story of High School Girls Whose Lives and Deaths Diverge
Director Jo Hyun-chul Focuses on a Multidimensional Understanding of the Essence of Love
Portrayed as Characters Who Must Grow and Live More
Includes Tribute and Affection for Sewol Ferry Victims

High school student Semi (Park Hye-su) likes her classmate Ha-eun (Kim Si-eun). She keeps trying to express her feelings. However, repeated one-sided communication leads to misunderstandings and wounds. She ends up comforting herself by singing Big Mama's "Resignation" at a karaoke room. "I was happy! The times with you / Maybe it was hard for you / It’s not that I didn’t know your feelings / I felt them too..."

The film You and I delicately portrays the misaligned situations. For example, Semi raises a parrot at home. She forces it to respond but hears no words. She is not self-centered in everything. She picks up a dead bird and buries it in a sunny spot, and busily runs around trying to find a missing dog. She is kinder and more innocent than anyone else. She is just clumsy at expressing love.

Director Jo Hyun-chul focuses on the process of understanding the essence of love. Love is a feeling of deeply cherishing and valuing someone or something. It is also a feeling of understanding and helping others. Semi forgets this the moment Ha-eun opens up her heart. Her desire to go on the school trip together is too overwhelming.

"Semi, I’m really sorry, but I think it’s better if you don’t go on the school trip this time." "What?" "Honestly, saying this a day before is unreasonable, and I’m confused, and my mind isn’t clear yet. I haven’t fully gotten my dad’s permission either." "So you keep thinking only about yourself." "No, why is this only about me? The situation isn’t good, so I just want you to understand that I’m having a hard time." "That’s why I said I don’t want to go alone because I’m having weird dreams, and I want to go with you and have fun together." "I fully understand what you’re feeling, but this isn’t it. (...) Why do you keep thinking only about yourself!"

This is not a matter of right or wrong. Director Jo also stated, "I wanted to avoid flatness that might be felt as perfection or goodness." "Semi has great love deep in her heart. Like any teenager, she just makes a few mistakes. Actually, understanding someone is not easy. Especially when comforting loss. A few words might soothe, but sometimes a special trigger is needed. Like Semi revealing her inner love while searching for the dog... I wanted to portray her as a character who needs to grow more, in other words, a character who still has to live more."

The calm and noble intention appears in everyday acting. Park Hye-su, Kim Si-eun, and others show small conflicts with pure faces and innocent language. It is not simply to emphasize realism. You and I contains mourning and affection for the victims of the April 16 Sewol ferry disaster. The word "Sewol" never appears, but clues such as the school trip and Ansan can be inferred throughout.

Director Jo depicts even the aura of death permeating daily life in an ordinary way. At the funeral hall, mourners smoke or talk, and the lady living below Semi burns paper memorial tablets in the hallway. Director Jo said, "Many people perceive death as something that will not come, as if they will never die. But it is something that will definitely happen. It is commonly found around us."

As the conflict between Semi and Ha-eun resolves into love, life and death, which have surfaced in daily life, are connected as one. The key connecting the two worlds is ultimately love. Director Jo said, "To remember and feel someone, you naturally have to care first. I think that driving force is love." This is not a thought relying on any particular religion. Rather, it is closer to a new epistemological shift through evolutionary biology. As the world-renowned science writer Dorian Sagan wrote in his book Lin Margulis, an evolutionary eulogy dedicated to his mother Lin Margulis (1935?2011)...

"Contrary to what we think, we are animals, bacteria, and other microorganisms too. Bacteria help produce vitamins and live inside and outside our bodies. Sometimes bacteria make us sick, but they also come together to create new forms of life. (...) Organisms are made up of bacteria and various forms of life. They are all connected. You are the same. We are connected not only to the things inside our bodies but also to the external things of which we are a part. So remember this: when you feel sad thinking of your grandmother who went to heaven, she has returned to water and earth, and her memory has become part of you just as you are part of her. Your grandmother has not left our side but will return in another form."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.