South Korean independent film “A Tour Guide”, which was released as “A Person to Trust” in South Korea, follows the struggles of one North Korean female defector in the middle of the South Korean society. No matter how much she tries, she comes to face one obstacle or another as the world constantly change around her, and the sense of isolation around her feels more palpable to us as we become more aware of her accumulating loneliness.

At first, things look a little hopeful for Han-yeong (Lee Seol), who has just succeeded in obtaining a tour guide license for working at a small tour agency in Seoul, 2015. Because she stayed in China for a while not long after escaping from North Korea, she could speak both Korean and Chinese, so she looks ideal for handling those numerous Chinese tourists visiting South Korea.

However, the situation turns out to be less rosy than Han-yeong. Due to the local outbreak of a dangerous virus strain in South Korean at that time, not many Chinese tourists are willing to come to South Korea, and then there comes a serious diplomatic conflict between the Korean and Chinese government, which leads to the more decrease in the number of Chinese tourists. As learning a bit from some other employees of her tour agency, Han-yeong tries to be a better tour guide as much as possible, but she is still around the bottom of the rank compared to many employees in the tour agency, and that makes her more frustrated than before.

In addition, Han-yeong has a serious private matter to deal with. She has a brother who came to South Korea earlier than she did, but her brother has been gone missing for some reason, and Han-yeong does not know where to find him. At least, she has a fellow North Korean female defector who has been a close friend of hers for a while, and she also has a sympathetic supervisor who does not ask too much while trying to help her as much as possible, but she still finds herself feeling more isolated with more loneliness.

Some time later, a Chinese friend of hers, who provided a staying place for Han-yeong and her brother during that time, comes to South Korea, and the mood becomes lightened up a bit, but it soon turns out that her friend does not come to South Korean just for meeting Han-yeong. Just like Han-yeong, she wants to work here for earning enough money for realizing a better life for herself, and Han-yeong is surely concerned as much as we are – especially when she comes to see how her friend is going to work in South Korea without getting any labor visa. At least because she is officially a South Korean citizen with an occupational license, Han-yeong could get a decent job, but her friend does not have any advantage from the beginning, and we already sense troubles even before her friend eventually leaves for working somewhere without telling much to Han-yeong.

Around the point where the story moves to 2018, things remain hard and difficult for Han-yeong as before. For trying to earn more money to stabilize her economic situation, she comes to break some laws, and, not so surprisingly, this leads to losing her job. As a result, she subsequently finds herself doing a part-time job which pays her less than her previous job, and that makes her resort to more illegal activities. Besides supporting herself day by day, she also needs to save enough money for taking her mother out of North Korea, and, alas, that still looks impossible to her no matter how much she tries.

Furthermore, Han-yeong becomes lonelier as she does not have anyone to lean on. Her aforementioned fellow North Korean defector later decides to leave the country for immigrating to some other country along with her husband, and there is a bittersweet moment as they enjoy what may be the last private moment between them. In case of her supervisor, he still cares about her a lot as before, but then there eventually comes a point where he courteously notifies to her that he is not soon going to be around her anymore.

As a result, we are not so surprised when Han-yeong is tempted to do something she could not possibly imagine when she came into South Korea. Sure, going back to North Korea sounds quite irrational to many of you, but there have been actually the reports about North Korean defectors attempting to go back to North Korea after miserably failing in their adjustment in the South Korean society, which has often regarded them as second-rated citizens like it did to those numerous Korean Chinese people working in South Korea.

Despite its dry and restrained tone, the movie continues to engage us thanks to not only director/writer Kwak Eun-Mi’s thoughtful direction but also another solid performance by Lee Seol, who was also impressive as the lead actress of another recent South Korean independent film “On the Sand House” (2021). Behind her seemingly phlegmatic attitude, we come to feel more of Han-yeon’s frustration and desperation along the story, and Lee presents her character with enough integrity and dignity without resorting to any cheap pity or sympathy.

Overall, I appreciate how Kwak, who previously made a feature film debut in “Today, Together” (2019), handles the story and its heroine with enough care and respect. It has been more than 10 years since I watched Park Jung-bum’s harrowing North Korean defector drama “The Journals of Musan” (2010), but “A Tour Guide” reminds me that things have not changed that much for those North Korean defectors out there in South Korea even at present, and the movie certainly makes me reflect on its relevant social issue after I watched it yesterday. In short, this is another notable South Korean independent film of this year, and I sincerely recommend you to check it out if you can.