A GIRL AT MY DOOR is a slice of filmed misery lit that comes to us courtesy of South Korea. It's a typically controversial little film from that country, featuring some stand-out performances from the lead characters and a whole lot of bad stuff going on. As is usual for this country's film-making, there's a professional slickness to the production, a real feeling of quality to it, that makes it watchable despite the grimness of the subject matter.The film reminded me a little of BREATHLESS except this time around it's a little girl who's getting regularly beaten by her father. Incidentally, the girl is played by the cute kid from THE MAN FROM NOWHERE, looking remarkably grown up. The film chronicles her relationship with flawed cop Doona Bae, who must be playing the most damaged and miserable character of her lengthy career. What follows is dark but humanised, with some nice and touching moments in the mix. The ending has some very controversial and unappetising moments that appear to have alienated some reviewers on this site, but it does end in a strong way. A GIRL AT MY DOOR isn't an easy watch, but then nobody said it was going to be.

Very sad film depicting the brutalization of a helpless child. She desperately latches on to a new authority figure in town a policewoman (Played by the great Doona Bae) to escape her personal hell.Sae Ron Kim gives an outstanding performance as the troubled girl. So sad because we know this kind of thing goes on all over the world. This is just a Korean version, but could have taken place anywhere. Doona Bae won the best actress award in the "Asian Film Awards" for her performance, so if you're a fan of hers, it is a solid performance.There were some minor sub plots, that really did not need to be in the movie, but that is only a minor criticism. I would recommend the film, but not for the faint of heart.

I just caught this film at the Dublin Film Festival. I always make a point of seeing any Korean film coming up - I love the way Korean film makers simply defy any notion of genre, they seem to delight in twisting expectations.This film didn't disappoint. At first, it follows the old plot line of a disgraced police officer, forced out to a dead end town to repair his (or in this case her) reputation. In this case, Young-Nam, a promising officer has been sent to an economically dying coastal town to keep her head down after an apparent scandal as she was outed as having a relationship with another woman. The film heads towards melodrama territory as she reluctantly starts to take care of an abused local girl, the daughter of a man seen by the other officers as too important to the town to take too hard a line with - they are content to hand out endless warnings without actually doing anything to stop him. Young-Nam is clearly unwilling to get too close to the girl, but finds it impossible not to offer her a safe refuge. From here, the film twists unexpectedly into some dark and weird territory as rather predictably, her good deed comes back to haunt her. The film does go into places where most films won't thread, in particular that difficult issue of the innocence or otherwise of abused children. But it is handled very sensitively, without shying away from hard questions.The film is not perfect - the performances are a little uneven (it looks like many of the minor characters are played by amateurs). Doona Bae is of course the big name in the cast, and she is, as always, a charismatic and powerful presence. She is one of those rare actors who can hold the screen even when showing little outward emotion. In truth, although she is entirely central to the film, the character is not as fleshed out as much as I think she should be - more the scripts fault than the actors I think. She is clearly a deeply unhappy woman, but its not obvious why she rejects the possibility of a happier life with her former lover. There are also some issues with pacing of the film, it seems a little uncertain at times, perhaps not surprising as the director is a first timer (but I have to say, she shows great promise). The film rolls on to a surprisingly (for a Korean film) conventional ending, but there are enough twists and ambiguity to make it quite a satisfying finish.

The performances of the leads were very good. Bae Doo-na was the draw-card for me, and this the most complex character I have seen her play. The lesbian and immigrant worker sub-plots are interesting. The film didn't shy away from the shock and sensation of Doo-hee's self-harm, but empathised with her as well, an admirable combination. The denouement, staying with the chief, away from her father, was what Doo-hee deserved. Too often damaged characters in film are either not given any agency (they are innocent victims), or are not offered any redemption (they are crazy), but this film is not like that.However, it does spend time in that clichéd territory. The film is boring after the chief gets locked up for child molestation. It was a predictable plot twist, but really not related to the main emotional action of the film. For the most part the film skillfully balanced exploitation of it's sexual themes with real emotional content, but this sensational hijack of the second half meant that when the ending finally came it felt underdeveloped, even though it was the ending the film needed.Instead of this waste of time, more could have been put into the underdeveloped sub-plots. What there was of these was well done, but there just wasn't enough. The lesbian plot could stand as it is if the film was just shorter, but the illegal immigrant plot was tacked on. The rest of the film needed to fit around it more. I can't imagine how it could have done this, but it would have made for a much more interesting film.Overall however, this film is well worth seeing.