I would like to preface this review with a trigger warning and an explanation for why the warning is necessary. In South Korea suicide is the fourth leading cause of death in the country, and when it comes to teenagers, taking one’s life is the number one reason for death. NEXT SOHEE tackles the topic of suicide head-on with a very personal exploration of mental and emotional abuse, the trauma which occurs after suicide, and the frustrating process of victim-blaming when someone chooses to kill themselves. The movie does not shy away from showing self-harm and also makes it very clear we are watching a young girl’s slow mental collapse.

Two days before I watched this film, a friend of mine tried to end his life and recorded the attempt on Facebook live. Part of me knew what I was witnessing once I realized where he was sitting and what he was holding, but I could not stop the video because I was in denial that he would actually hurt himself. I share this very personal piece of information because having those images so freshly placed in my mind made my viewing of NEXT SOHEE very emotional and even painful at some points. I do not want to deter anyone from watching this film because I do believe it presents an important topic and shows an accurate depiction of suicide, but for viewers with these wounds still fresh in your minds and hearts, I would like you to prepare yourself for the emotions and images you will experience.

July Jung’s movie actually presents the story in two halves with two very powerful actresses leading the story in their respected portions of the film. The first part focuses on Sohee (Kim Si-Eun) and how she has her love of life stolen from her, while the second half follows detective Oh Yoo-Jin (Bae Doona) as she stubbornly investigates all of the events which led to two suicides. Sohee lives in Jeonju, South Korea, and has a pretty typical life of a teenage girl. She loves dance, her bestie is a wannabe influencer, and Sohee wants work experience so she can stand out above everyone else. She is confident and incredibly bold, demonstrating no fear and a brazen loyalty to her friend. But the false sense of security, she earns from being a teenager, does not transfer to the fast-paced requirements of the call center. In her drab and impersonal cubicle, she tries to convince angry customers to continue using the company’s terrible internet service. The customers verbally abuse her, and all of her coworkers offer no help as they can only speak with the use of well-rehearsed scripts. Anyone unable to appease both the angry consumers and the impossible demands only receives more cruel words from the higher-ups.

The company preys on young people knowing they can abuse them more and pay them less. Soon the once fearless Sohee feels defeated. The deafening sounds of chatter and the clacking away of keyboards make the office sound more like the chittering sounds of an insect swarm feeding on crops. The company dehumanizes its staff and when the manager dies after having many of his complaints ignored, instead of acknowledging that the job pushed him to suicide, new management swoops in and tries to erase any traces of the deceased. All employees must sign a contract saying they will not talk about Lee, and no one can attend his funeral.

This may seem like an Orwellian exaggeration of capitalism, but I lived and taught in South Korea and experienced a similar reaction from the administration of my school when a student died. As a high school teacher, I was told to not to talk about the passing of the boy and to not let students talk about it as well. The principal believed it brought a bad name to the school and would distract students from their work if they thought about death, which is the same reasoning used in NEXT SOHEE.

Sohee’s teacher and parents pressure her to stay at the soul-crushing job. They choose to ignore her complaints and instead only view her as a quitter. Those closest to Sohee exploit her need to succeed and shame her into destroying her mental health because leaving the company would bring disgrace to those who support her. So, over the first half of the film, we see the controlling power of authority and how the crushing need for money and good grades strips a person of their identity. The audience will be forced to watch as the once confident Sohee becomes just a shell of her former self, and despite the countless red flags, no one does anything to stop two easily preventable deaths.

The perspective then abruptly changes as Detective Oh takes over as narrator of the film. Told by everyone her assigned case is a simple suicide and nothing more, a personal connection to the victim pushes Oh to fight against the authoritarian rule and the harsh victim-blaming. This portion of the film faces the emotions of suicide head-on and forces those accountable to really look at their actions. Mental illness becomes the main culprit, but Jung handles this heavy topic really well as she shows how quickly those truly responsible will blame the psyche of the victim instead of pointing the finger at themselves.

NEXT SOHEE provides a powerful script and under Jung’s compelling direction, this very timely exploration of the abusive treatment of employees forces the audience to experience all the emotions associated with teenage suicide. So often human life becomes broken down into statistics as companies and schools create metrics for people to measure up to, and even at the beginning of this article, I broke down suicide into numbers. However, NEXT SOHEE never turns away from the human side of school, work, and death, as both of the female leads make the audience recognize where society continues to fail its people.

NEXT SOHEE had its North American premiere at the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival.