Seven Years of Darkness

Choi Hyonsu is awaiting execution for the murder of his wife, an 11 year old girl, and her father. He would also be charged for opening the Seryong Dam floodgates which wiped out half a town and drowned 4 policemen. Ever since, his son Sowon has pinballed from place to place. Anytime he would get comfortable, magazine articles would mysteriously appear on classmates desks, on landlord's doorstops, and dropped off at places of work. Revealed as the dead-eyed son of a mass murderer, Sowon would find himself forced to move again. It seems his only ally left in the world is Mr. Ahn.

Until Mr. Ahn disappears leaving a manuscript that recount the days leading up to the Seryong Lake Disaster. There's clearly more to the story than what Sowon has already pieced together.

What little mystery promised by the setup is easily teased together and so it becomes more an examination of moving forward when everything is already lost. How one reacts to personal tragedy - from retreating inwards to lashing out. It's that Korean obsession with outsized emotions and the work of struggling through the days. An existential thriller that spirals out into an overblown, climactic summer movie nail-biter.