After being dumped by his girlfriend, an inebriated Hyuk-Jin (played by the exceedingly sympathetic, Song Sam-dong) is convinced by his friends to travel from Seoul to the distant region of Jeongseon, where they plan to meet him the following day. However, when he arrives at this remote and icy destination he discovers his friends are still back in Seoul, sleeping off their hangovers, making assurances of catching up to him "maybe the day after tomorrow". As Hyuk-Jin attempts to settle in for the wait, a series of escalating mishaps and misunderstandings befall our sad hero, and the always promised "day after tomorrow" never comes. Through his trials, he encounters a quirky array of characters with whom he drinks away the hours, at first to forget, but soon out of social obligation.
Daytime Drinking brilliantly balances the melancholia of a broken heart and the bleakness of the frozen landscape with a light and extremely humorous tone. Debut filmmaker, Non Young-Seok, (who wrote, directed, edited, and produced Daytime Drinking) crafted a fresh, energetic, and exceptional film on a shoe-string budget. This is the best film I have seen at SXSW so far, and expect it to be my favorite narrative feature of the festival. I highly recommend working it into your viewing schedule.
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