Hot in Day, Cold at Night

Q&As with Park Song-yeol on April 25 and 27

An unemployed young couple spirals into ever-escalating economic precarity in Park Song-yeol’s gripping, frequently amusing, and expertly written moral tale, fueled by the desperation of contemporary lower-middle-class living. Hot in Day, Cold at Night follows Young-tae and Jeong-hee, appealingly played by the director and his co-writer Won Hyang-ra, as they try to make ends meet, pursuing dead-end jobs, picking up random gigs, and making the occasional bad or even dangerous choice. Park’s direct, unforced aesthetic, always focused on the minutest gestures and expressions of his characters, reflects the film’s mundane tenor, creating a work that is at once charming, empathetic, and satirical, and builds to a surprising moment of redemption.