[N Plus] In the Distance Between Different Lives, How Far Can Understandi...

“Becoming Kim” still cut. Photo by Chuncheon Film Festival.

For the opening film of its 2026 edition, the Chuncheon Film Festival selected a relatively quiet documentary. Rather than choosing a large-scale production driven by star power or spectacle, the festival placed a deeply personal story at the center of its program. Director Kim Susanna’s “Becoming Kim” clearly reflects that decision, revealing both the direction the festival hopes to pursue and the kind of audience it seeks to engage.

The documentary follows Susanna, a German-born filmmaker living in Korea with her husband Jung-rae. What begins as a story rooted in love gradually encounters the weight of reality, allowing unexpected tensions and emotional distances to surface naturally over time. The film does not exaggerate conflict or force dramatic moments. Instead, it observes ordinary routines and familiar spaces, allowing changes within relationships to emerge quietly through everyday life. As a result, the audience does not feel as though they are watching someone else’s extraordinary story, but rather fragments of life that could unfold anywhere.

“Becoming Kim” poster. Photo by Chuncheon Film Festival.

Wonju, Gangwon Province, becomes an important emotional backdrop within the film. For Susanna, who began a new life in an unfamiliar country, the city functions both as a place of adaptation and as a space for self-reflection. The surrounding landscape and the calm atmosphere of the neighborhood gradually merge with the emotional rhythms of the characters, shaping the overall mood of the documentary. The way each person experiences the same space differently quietly reveals the central tension within their relationships.

Life inside the structure of a family proves more complicated than it first appears. The communication gap between Susanna and her mother-in-law Soon-ja stems not simply from language, but from differences in lifestyle, emotion, and expectation. Jung-rae attempts to build a new life after returning to his hometown, yet that decision gradually becomes another source of pressure. Their daughter Hanna grows up amid the choices and tensions surrounding her, while the family continuously struggles to regain balance. Even when affection exists, understanding does not arrive easily.

One of the documentary’s defining features is that the director does not hide herself behind the camera. Susanna steps directly into the frame, expressing her emotions openly through both words and actions. That approach creates intimacy with the audience, but also moments of discomfort. Some scenes feel almost too honest, making viewers instinctively want to look away. Yet that honesty ultimately becomes the film’s core strength. Personal experiences slowly begin to resemble emotions shared by many others.

Director Kim Susanna. Photo by Chuncheon Film Festival.

The film does not attempt to explain cultural differences through direct commentary. Instead, it reveals them naturally through repeated moments in daily life: conversations that suddenly stop, expectations that fail to align, and attempts at understanding that eventually fall apart. As these scenes accumulate, viewers begin to sense for themselves why relationships become difficult. The documentary approaches conflict less through explanation than through lived experience, which makes its emotional reality feel even more immediate.

Economic instability also becomes deeply connected to the family’s emotional dynamics. The chicken restaurant chosen by Jung-rae is not merely a business, but a turning point that shapes the direction of the family itself. Questions of survival gradually alter the way family members look at one another, revealing how financial pressure and emotional strain become intertwined.

The issue of care runs throughout the film as well. Questions surrounding who raises a child, how responsibility is shared, and how individual choices affect the rest of the family continue to surface naturally. Hanna’s presence repeatedly forces the family to look back at one another, even amid conflict and exhaustion.

Director Kim Susanna does not attempt to present herself as complete or composed. Rather than hiding confusion or vulnerability, she allows those emotions to remain visible. That decision gives the documentary a sense of authenticity, drawing viewers closer to its emotional reality. The film gains its unique strength precisely because it refuses perfection.

The Chuncheon Film Festival’s decision to select “Becoming Kim” as its opening film reflects the festival’s broader direction. Instead of spectacle, the work focuses on the realities of people living in the present moment. Its significance lies not in offering easy entertainment, but in quietly encouraging audiences to reflect on contemporary life and relationships.

Stories about multicultural families and migrants continue to increase within Korean society, yet works that closely observe the realities of everyday life remain relatively rare. Moving beyond policy discussions or institutional perspectives, “Becoming Kim” approaches these issues through individual emotions and lived experience, filling a space often left unexplored.

The documentary also quietly questions the meaning of love itself. It reveals how easily the belief that love can solve everything begins to shake under the pressures of reality. At the same time, the film does not deny love. Instead, it suggests that maintaining relationships ultimately requires far greater patience, understanding, and effort than people often expect.

Under the slogan “Spring of Cinema,” this year’s Chuncheon Film Festival focuses on introducing new perspectives and sensibilities. In that sense, beginning the festival with “Becoming Kim” feels symbolic. Through a quiet yet lingering story, the film prepares to meet audiences with a deeply human portrait of living together across emotional and cultural distance.

Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press

* This article was manually prepared as a translated piece and later proofread and reviewed with the assistance of AI.