(Movie Review) 'Humming' captures quiet sorrow of loss with delicacy

▲ This image provided by Cmnix and Okapi Films shows a scene from "Humming." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This image provided by Cmnix and Okapi Films shows a scene from "Humming." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This image provided by Cmnix and Okapi Films shows a scene from "Humming." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

▲ This image provided by Cmnix and Okapi Films shows a scene from "Humming." (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(Movie Review) Humming

(Movie Review) 'Humming' captures quiet sorrow of loss with delicacy

By Shim Sun-ah

SEOUL, Jan. 30 (Yonhap) -- Sound engineer Seong-hyeon (Kim Cheol-yoon) works alone in a weathered recording studio tucked away on a secluded uphill road in a Seoul redevelopment zone destined for demolition.

His quiet routine is interrupted when a former collaborator offers him a challenging post-synchronization project for a film shot a year earlier. The catch? The film's lead actress, Mi-jeong (Park Seo-yoon), has since passed away. With no records of her ad-libbed dialogue and the on-set audio muddied beyond recognition, her final words remain a mystery.

To bridge this gap, unknown actress Min-young (Kim Ye-ji) is brought in as a voice double. However, when the director (Son Joon-young) fails to show up for the session, Seong-hyeon and Min-young are left alone in the stillness of the studio. Within the confines of the recording booth, the pair begins a meticulous search for Mi-jeong's voice.

Prompted by Min-young's belief that they must understand the woman behind the role to find the right words, Seong-hyeon embarks on a journey through memory to retrace Mi-jeong's final traces.

On the surface, "Humming" builds its narrative around two questions -- "What were Mi-jeong's last words?" and "Why did she choose to kill herself?" -- yet it never provides clear answers. If one assumes this layer is central to the story, the film deliberately resists resolution: Mi-jeong's final line remains elusive, and it's hard to believe that someone so full of life could have been truly engulfed by despair. The director's fleeting appearances -- seen only at the beginning and end of the project -- further blur the line between reality and a dreamlike state.

But if these details are seen merely as a narrative device, the film takes on a different meaning. Ultimately, "Humming" becomes a meditation on memory and loss -- a journey that crosses between past and present, between what happens inside and outside the film -- expressing the longing for someone once loved and the ache of their absence. In that light, the question of what Mi-jeong's final line was, or why she died, ceases to matter.

The film captures this quiet sorrow with remarkable delicacy, using "humming" -- the act of remembering and softly echoing a melody once hummed by the deceased -- as a poignant metaphor for mourning.

The performances are outstanding, particularly that of Park Seo-yoon, who won the Actor of the Year Award at the 29th Busan International Film Festival in 2024 for her portrayal of Mi-jeong. Though her character is a high school student, Park brings a quiet vibrancy to a film infused with restraint. Kim Cheol-yoon, playing Seong-hyeon, anchors the story with a calm, introspective presence that contrasts beautifully with Mi-jeong's energy.

Director Lee Seung-jae's feature debut opens at local theaters on Wednesday.

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