Microhabitat (2017) Poster

(2017)

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7/10
I feel like I'm rich now
Ladiloque10 April 2022
... even though it's not my house.

The more I watch productions from regions whose culture hasn't been deeply influenced - until recently - by western culture, the more I'm undecided on my capacity to judge them. Had this movie been produced in Germany or the Uk I would have given it a 4-5 for its restrained gaze, farcical tone and not particularly original themes. But I'll give it a cosmopolitan benefit of the doubt.

The film shows how willing people are to settle for less than ideal socio-economic bargains, just for inexperience or social pressures, actually ruining their lifes. And how outsiders are dissed, blamed and ultimately discriminated (though the movie doesn't show that much) for their choices.

Unfortunately the film feels a little too surreal to my eyes: things seem forcibly represented as cute and fine and often even comical where I'd expect struggling, drama and wounds. And while I guess that may well be my bias towards realism, the result is that overall the production fell a little flat.

The conclusion too left me cold: a more direct collision against hypocrisy and conformism would have made everything more meaningful. Instead we are left believing that outsiders aren't going to get crushed by the rest of society and will do just fine.

A cute little fell-good movie whose social critique doesn't really hit... unless OFC the purpose wasn't hitting in the first place but a more gentle reproach.
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9/10
Well observed and beautiful
roland-16923 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I think this film can be compared with 'Roma'. Its not so much the telling of a story - but there is a story - as a well crafted observation of life. Through the eyes of the main protagonist, Mi-So, we see how a group of friends from University, have both moved on it their lives but yet are imprisoned in and by their new existences. Mi-So makes the decision to give up her tiny apartment and sofa surf at the homes of each her friends and so giving her and us a chance to see into her friends' lives. Each friend is trapped in some way by their life's circumstance - marriages, separations, in-laws, dull jobs, moving back home to live with parents etc. They have all moved on but none have found freedom or real fulfillment. In the end even Mi-So's boyfriend gives up on his dream of being a comic book creator and takes a job off in the Middle East. Mi-So herself either chooses not to move on or cannot and remains somehow true to terms of her own existence. This film is moving, compassionate and joy to watch. If you loved Roma I think you will love this. If you loved Tokyo Story you will love this. A classic.
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9/10
Beautiful Movie.
NajmiSelamat12 August 2021
This movie really make me thinking about life. The plot is simple but for some reason it can touch my heart. I also like the acting a lot. The meaning behind the story is subtle enough and I like it a lot.
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10/10
charmingly moving
DianeLoren4 November 2018
Warning: Spoilers
A story so relevant to our generation and the times we live in. It reflects the struggles of our society with prices rising up in all major cities, and young people struggling to live their dreams. It makes you ask this question, what are you willing to give up? In Miso's case she gives up her home to have the things she love most, whiskey and cigarettes, but as we see throughout the film, everyone has to give up something in their lives. Absolutely brilliant, funny, performances are compelling. A wonderful film by director Jeon Go-woon.
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9/10
Everything is perfect and nothing bothers me.
kimsuzi0814 December 2020
Everything is perfect and nothing bothers me. If all those who produce movies have this much sense, directing, and neatness, the world will be filled with really good films.

I literally can't believe such a wonderful and beautiful movie can be made with $320k in production costs. It is super LIT!

The most remarkable thing is lighting. The lighting behind the camera, which illuminates characters in a narrow space such as a dark alley or room, evokes naturalness but also makes them more adorable. However, there was no lighting in the scene of couple at dawn, and this delivers the temperature of air, which is so much colder and heavier. I really like these lighting decisions.

The structure, script, and acting were also good. Leakless structure, editing without superfluous parts! I felt like that I read a tidy article with a fabulous topic and solution.

It was a very enviable and respectful time for people who make fun things fun. The world is full of fun and cool stuffs, and it makes me struggling!

Hyeon-jeong, Dae-yong, and Rok-yi's episodes were very fun and giggling, but Jung-mi's consternated me. The movie was so adept at getting the issue off the table, but I think we should highlight it.

"I have money for a glass of whiskey and cigarettes, but no money to pay the rent."

If I regard the former as a metaphor for the most indispensable and fundemental cost of pursuing individual happiness, yes I can agree. I don't want to force the people to give it up. However, I think it is a pretty dangerous idea to ask someone else for a favor because I'm willing to give someone a bed when he or she asks me. I would have hooked if Mi-so slept in the parks and spent the rent at an indispensable basic cost. But she decided to share the burden with others, so she didn't lose anything. Of course, Jung-mi is rich to waste in throwing good food away, so in that episode it's almost Jung-mi's fault to reject Mi-so. But I doubt that Mi-so did well.

"Let's owe a favor to others just until I save the deposit of the house rent."

Can't she stop pursuing her own happiness until she save the deposit?
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9/10
Quietly Rebellious and Openly Heartbreaking
thisisforspam5797 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
A beautiful and heartbreaking exploration of what I can only recognise as post-university life: Miso, struggling to pay the rising monthly cost of rent, medicine, food, cigarettes and whisky, tries to crash with old friends while she finds somewhere cheaper.

Once bandmates, these friends have gone their own ways. Some want nothing to do with her, others a little too much, but what unites these re-encounters is Miso's open, unashamed charm and the devastating effect this has on her friends. Friends who, while only a little way up the road of compromises that seem to make up adult life, can't bear to be faced with someone who is not yet compromised.

Miso will pay for this. But my conclusion was not to judge her refusal to change, or either to condemn the so-called "friends" unable to take her seriously, but to lament the overwhelming misery of it all. The city is too expensive. It demands not compromise but servitude from those like Miso who lack support. She would have to give up all her joy to meet its standards. And this was the choice of her friends, and worse, a choice taken as necessity. (Meaning they fail to respect her choice to do otherwise).

The film is well paced, subtle and timed. The cinematography was soft, deep and understated: teetering between aesthetic/attractive and pragmatic/unconscious successfully. Similarly, the editing has style but also purpose, never distracting from the world of the film.

It's difficult to say just how impressed I am by Microcosm. Just that I can only begin to wonder why such a great film flew so low, and that I start getting annoyed when I do.
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5/10
A bit disappointing.
deloudelouvain30 April 2022
As a fan of Korean movies I was looking forward to watching Sogongnyeo (or Microhabitat for the English title). It got a high rating on here and Korean cinema produced a lot of excellent movies so it was promising. But in the end it was disappointing to me. The story is a bit boring, certainly towards the second half, a bit repeating itself, nothing really enjoyable to follow. It has a couple good scenes and the acting wasn't bad but that's about it. I just think it's not really the kind of stories I enjoy watching, but others might do.
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10/10
Amazing film with one of the greatest cinematography I have ever seen
zeldery2 August 2021
Clean, simple but obsessive.

That's all I would say about the gem that somehow I missed for 4 years. The film started with a soft, simple story about the girl who decided to stay at her friends' house to save up for other's important things: whiskey and cigarettes. But from that seem-to-be simple and somehow stupid idea, the film touched the deepest meaning of life, the consequences of every decisions we made in life, about the true difference that distinguish one from the others. You will find your eyes locked in the screen from the beginning to the very end.

The acting is extremely elegant, the dialogues are touching and funny, but the best things I can say about this movie is its cinematography. No crazy 90-minute one-take, no dolly zoom or breath-taking over view from some imaginary helicopter, the cinematography of the film is perfect that I won't even look for it. A well deserved praise for the director who I believe master the art of film.

I won't hesitate to recommend this film to anyone who truly want to understand the Eastern cultures, understand the people working under the pressure of society, and the life we really want to live, that somehow we have to find and fight for every single days of our life.
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10/10
Fav film
mamonealice5 November 2022
Wonderful film. Deep and strong in it's delicacy. I empathize a lot with it. Beautiful photography and story. Deep sadness and introspection. Slow flow and strong emotions at the same time.

I don't know what to say with other words so I paste the same thought there for the required characters

Wonderful film. Deep and strong in it's delicacy. I empathize a lot with it. Beautiful photography and story. Deep sadness and introspection. Slow flow and strong emotions at the same time.

Wonderful film. Deep and strong in it's delicacy. I empathize a lot with it. Beautiful photography and story. Deep sadness and introspection. Slow flow and strong emotions at the same time.
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