Synopsis

There is a Korean folktale about a mouse that ate a fingernail. According to the legend, a mouse that eats a person’s discarded fingernail transforms into that person’s likeness. Drawing inspiration from this legend, I produced a short film in the modern psychological thriller genre. I took the story a step further than simply distinguishing between what is real and what is fake. I reinterpreted the fear of “real versus fake” by combining it with the emotions of loss and longing for family. There is a mother who has been confined to a hospital room for a long time due to illness, and a son who is coping with this situation alone. One day, his mother—who should have been in the hospital—returns home looking healthy. It’s been a long time since he’s had his mother’s home-cooked meals. Just as he begins to feel relieved, he notices something strange about her fingernails. It turns out his mother was actually a mouse that had eaten fingernails. After his mother’s true identity is revealed, the son also discovers his own long fingernails, raising questions about his own identity. Why do the son’s fingernails look like this? Is he, too, a mouse that has eaten fingernails? I wanted to create confusion for the audience through an open ending that doesn’t clearly explain the son’s true identity. This is because I wanted to use that confusion to project into the work both the longing for a loved one and the identity crisis felt by those left behind. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Project members

• DIRECTOR & ARTISTJUNYEONG KIM