2037 Review: Dreams Buried Behind Prison Walls

2037 Review: Dreams Buried Behind Prison Walls . Follows the lives of a group of female prisoners in a Korean prison.

In the past one to two decades, there have been several Korean films and dramas that use the format of friendship of a group of prisoners in prison. Call it "Harmony" (2010), "Miracle in Cell No. 7” (2013), and “Prison Playbook” (2017).

The film “2037” (2022) also tells the story of life in a prison cell, which is different from the previous films, “2037” brings the character of a 19-year-old girl who must be trapped as a defendant and convict of a murder case of a rape suspect who involves herself as a victim. .

“2037” or “Two Zero Three Seven” tells the story of an ordinary girl named Yoon Young (Hong Ye-ji), she is the son of a deaf and mute single mother named Kyung-sook (Kim Ji-young) who sustains life as a woman. home industry workers.

To achieve his dream of taking the civil service entrance exam, Yoon Young studies while working part-time to help his mother. However, things changed after he got a big accident, he became a victim of sexual violence perpetrated by the owner of the business where his mother worked.

To protect himself and his mother from the threat of the perpetrator, Yoon Young makes a self-defense effort to make the perpetrator lose his life viciously.

That narrative is then built in this film, Yoon Young must receive punishment for his actions in self-defense, the court convicted him as a criminal instead of being a victim of heinous acts of sexual violence. The incident suddenly robbed him of his long-planned dreams and goals.

In addition to depicting Yoon Young's suffering and pain, this film also carries the antithesis narrative of the trust issue that many people are currently experiencing. Yoon Young is described as a 19-year-old girl who has high confidence that even though she can't try to justify her actions, she never regrets her wrong decisions.

The audience might be a little annoyed that Yoon Young didn't want to voice her defense in court, but she gave an acceptable reason with respect. There comes a time when people have to understand that throughout their lives Yoon Young and her mother have always received compassion from others, either because of Kyung-sook's disability or because they have always lived on a mediocre economy.

He can leave his own strength to account for the actions he has done, and Yoon Young's sensitivity to feelings is what becomes a connection to judge the norms that are considered good or bad in the eyes of humans.

This film plays very beautifully in capturing the emotions of the two mother-daughter characters, Kyung-sook and Yoon Young. Kim Ji-young can play the role of a deaf and mute person very well. And Hong Ye-ji was able to respond to the brilliance of her co-star's acting very well.

It's no wonder that in the end, Hong Ye-ji's acting debut, who was previously known as a contestant on "Produce 48" received a lot of praise from many circles.

Besides featuring Kim Ji-young and Hong Ye-ji, this film also marks Jeon So-min's return to acting, as she plays Jang Mi, a convict who is in the same cell with Yoon Yong.

Not only that, there are many other supporting actresses who act as friends of Yoon Young in prison, including Kim Mi-hwa, Hwang Seok-jeong, Shin Eun-jung and Yoon Mi-kyung.

Unfortunately, this film focuses too much on the story of Yoon Yong as the main character full of suffering and bad luck, so that the supporting roles that actually have a great chance of presenting minor conflicts to become more interesting only fill a small part of the film's stage.

The film, which was directed by Mo Hong-jin, was released on June 8, 2022, “2037” managed to trend and become the subject of conversation on various social media, such as TikTok and Twitter.