This fourth documentary in the Living Memories season looks as if it could be rather lovely:
Living Memories season: With or Without You
With or Without You follows the lives of Magg-i and Chun-hee, both widows of the same man. After their husband has passed, the two elderly women continue to share the same house and a tender relationship blessed by moments of wit and humour. The debut documentary of Park Hyuck-jee, shot intermittently over several years, depicts the daily struggle of two women brought together by the practice of surrogacy pregnancy, and highlights the strength of the bond established between the two. The realistic traits of the documentary and its observational style reveal an intimate story of care in a remote village of rural Korea, where women transform the absence of men into an opportunity to reinvent their lives. With or Without You is a delicate portrait of two women sharing the burden of a cumbersome past that is a testimony of resistance and determination.
Roberto Oggiano