Form 02-B · First look briefing
Past Lives
A basketball dribbled away outside a Seoul apartment ends one childhood goodbye; twenty-four years later, parted sweethearts reunite for three New York days, where she is already married.
> Some goodbyes take twenty-four years to finish.
> The word for fate, in a language her husband can't dream in.
> Two trees in one pot, and a third still reaching across the ocean.
Synopsis
In late-1990s Seoul, twelve-year-old Na Young and her classmate Hae Sung share an easy, unhurried intimacy — flowers drawn on a forearm in ballpoint, a head asleep in a backseat lap — until her family emigrates to Canada and she leaves with the goodbye unfinished. Twenty-four years pass across three acts. As a New York playwright now named Nora, she finds Hae Sung searching for her online, and they rebuild the closeness over Skype, half-asleep in mismatched time zones, until the impossible distance forces a second parting. Years later, married to the novelist Arthur she met at a Montauk residency, Nora learns Hae Sung is flying in — just for a visit, he insists. Over a few rain-cleared days of carousels, ferries, and careful non-touching, the two men meet, an unlikely three-way warmth forms, and a question hangs in the silence: what do these three people owe a life that almost happened? Restrained, melancholic, and grown-up, it asks what we keep when we choose the ordinary, real life over the one we left behind.
Themes
Immigration and the selves we leave behind
The film keeps two names for one woman — Na Young and Nora — and the gap between them is the wound. Her father coins "Nora" while boxing up a film career; decades later she tells Hae Sung the girl he remembers doesn't exist anymore, though she once did, left behind with him.
In-Yun: fate across past lives
Nora's drunk, half-joking explanation of In-Yun at the Montauk picnic table is both a seduction and the film's thesis — eight thousand layers of brushing past one another. The script lets Arthur weaponize it the night he confesses he's the "evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny."
First love, time, and distance
The relationship lives almost entirely on screens, in dropped calls, and in the cruel arithmetic of time zones — her morning is his night. The dropped "I miss you" over a frozen Seoul cable-car skyline is the exact moment longing curdles into impossibility.
Language and the inner world a partner can't reach
Arthur, learning Korean so he can follow the language his wife dreams in, names the film's quietest fear: there is a room inside her he can't enter. Hae Sung utters the offhand Korean phrase "what can I do?" that Arthur can only mangle — fluency as intimacy.
The quiet weight of the chosen ordinary life
Hae Sung calls himself too ordinary; Nora calls marriage planting two trees in one pot. The film refuses to punish her for choosing the real life over the romantic one — it simply lets her, at last, cry the way she couldn't as a child, with no one left to watch.
Scope at a Glance
approx. 20-28 (Seoul, Toronto, Montauk, Shanghai, and multiple distinct New York neighborhoods across 41 locations)
The real pressure points are logistical, not pyrotechnic — child performers and bilingual Korean/English casting, period late-90s Seoul recreation, controlled heavy-rain New York exteriors, a large military-extras field day, and a globe-spanning location footprint (Seoul/Shanghai/Montauk/NYC) whose intimacy depends on magic-hour and night exterior windows.
Atmosphere
This is a film built almost entirely out of held distance. Two people stand on the same subway pole and keep their hands apart on purpose; a tourist family offers to photograph them together and they politely decline, twice insisting on a couple they will never be. The air is patient to the point of ache. Scenes are allowed to take their time, the way the two-minute wait for an Uber is written to be excruciating and real rather than cut around. Nothing in the frame is loud. The drama lives in the gap between what people feel and the small, ordinary thing they actually do, like Hae Sung flattening his expression over hangover soup so his mother won't see he's happy, or Nora drawing a paper Korean keyboard on her bed at two in the morning to write an email in a language she's losing. The look is split across cities and a quarter-century, and the contrast does the emotional work. Late-90s Seoul is daylight and tenderness, a basketball dribbling away down a school street, a child's wet face wiped with a sleeve. New York alternates between two registers, the gleaming dusk skyline a young Nora falls in love with from a cab window, and the wettest, saddest version of the city that greets Hae Sung with days of relentless rain, soaking him through a revolving door while strangers shove past. Shanghai is a transient in-between, a crappy dorm with a magnificent view, a steaming night fish market full of late-night lovers. The visual key throughout is the long, composed shot that lets a feeling sit, then a subliminal single-frame flash of a twelve-year-old face cutting across an adult one before anyone can name it. Tonally it never tips into a love triangle in the melodramatic sense. Arthur is written as generous, not an obstacle, even as he lies in the pitch dark confessing he feels like the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny. The restraint is moral, not just stylistic. Every romantic location is staged as a romance the leads cannot have: the Dumbo pier glowing impossibly bright with stragglers making out, the ferry deck where the moment is intolerably romantic and Nora simply can't make eye contact because she's the one who's married. When the city finally turns soft, in the magical near-dawn re-staging of a childhood goodbye twenty-four years overdue, it's earned by all the quiet before it. What a viewer carries out is a cluster of plain objects standing in for enormous feeling: a basketball walking away down a Pyoungchon street, four Korean passports laid on a notebook, a frozen Seoul skyline over a dropped "I miss you," a single water lily in the Madison Square Park reflecting pool, a breakfast bagel handed over in a ferry line, and an empty Uber turning the corner while a woman walks home crying harder with every step.
Tonal Descriptors
Reference Points
bodies kept just barely apart in the same frame, doorways and poles separating people who want to touch; steal the discipline of withholding contact.
a single figure lit at a window in a city that doesn't notice, exactly Hae Sung alone in his hotel room and Arthur left alone after the door shuts.
color through wet glass and umbrellas, for the days of downpour that drown Hae Sung's arrival.
let the camera sit still while the actors do almost nothing; the restraint is the style.
the actual sculptures in the museum-garden scene, two giant faces gazing at each other, a literal visual rhyme for the children; study them as production design that comments on the story.
the actual needle-drop in Dad's office; take its plain, unhurried sorrow as the emotional pitch for the whole film.
Music & Sound
The score should be sparse, acoustic, and almost shy, present mostly in the long silences between cities rather than underlining the drama. This is a film that already carries its own music inside the frame, from Leonard Cohen blasting out of Dad's speakers as the family boxes up its old life, to the garbled subway PA over Nora and Hae Sung standing too far apart, to the birds chirping as the city wakes in the final scene. The composer's job is to fill the space between those diegetic sounds with something that feels like memory, a piano or a few held strings that never resolve, the way the relationship never does. Two sequences need music to do the heaviest lifting. The first is the dual-timezone Skype montage, where the only real connection between Seoul and New York is a laptop screen and a delay, and where a score has to bridge the cross-cut and then drop out completely when the cable-car call freezes over a half-spoken "I miss you." The second is the In-Yun monologue that bridges Nora's drunken explanation at the Montauk picnic table to silent images of Hae Sung in Shanghai, the one place the film lets a single voice and a single musical idea carry across the ocean. Everywhere else, let sound design hold the weight: the squeak of soaked shoes in a hotel lobby, soju glasses set down one by one, the clang of metal mess trays in the military fields, rain on a hotel window for days. When music stays out entirely, language itself becomes the score. The film is bilingual by design, and the texture of Korean spoken fluently against English spoken haltingly is its own instrument, from Arthur's mangled "what can ya do?" to the same phrase landing perfectly in Hae Sung's mouth at the reunion. Silence should always feel chosen, never empty.
Soundtrack References
for the wry, plucked-string restraint that holds a diaspora family's grief at arm's length without going cold.
for the aching, circling piano figures that score a love held just out of reach by circumstance and propriety.
for the repeated, almost-painful musical phrase that makes longing feel like a loop two people can't step out of.
for the way fragile, half-buried electronics turn ordinary memory into something that aches a week later.
Color Palette
the warm, slightly faded daylight of the late-90s Seoul childhood, the museum garden in fall foliage and the school street where Hae Sung walks away dribbling his basketball.
the boozy late-night gold of the all-night Seoul soju bar, a dozen empty bottles deep, where Hae Sung downs every glass and declares they'll drink 'til they die.
the gleaming blue-hour skyline a young Nora falls in love with from the cab, and the same city looming over the leads as the ferry heads back.
the relentless, days-long downpour that soaks Hae Sung through the revolving door and keeps him alone in his hotel lobby, New York at its wettest and saddest.
the soft near-night blue of 5 a.m., the magical lighting of the re-staged childhood goodbye and the Uber turning the corner as the birds start.
Similar Moods
the same erotics of restraint, two people held back by propriety and timing, every glance heavier than any touch.
the bittersweet reunion of two people years and an ocean apart, walking and talking around the life they didn't choose.
the quiet, composed ache of memory and distance, a feeling that lands softly and then refuses to leave.
the tender, jet-lagged loneliness of strangers and near-lovers adrift in a foreign city, connection that stays unconsummated by design.
Poster Concepts
The Booth of Three
“Who are these three people to each other?”
A wide, slightly distant frame of a dim speakeasy booth: a short-haired woman in the center, a clean-shaven man on her left, a man in a plain dark t-shirt on her right. Cocktails on the table. The whole booth sits low in the frame, ringed by negative space and out-of-focus bar warmth, as if we are the unseen couple speculating about who these three are to each other. The woman alone breaks the spell, looking straight out at the viewer.
Two Faces, One Look Away
“Always facing the same direction. Never the same way home.”
The frame is halved vertically. On the left, a Korean man's profile in clean daylight, looking right, openly, calmly. On the right, the woman's profile looking the same direction he does, not back at him, gazing off the edge of the poster. Their profiles nearly touch at the seam but a thin sliver of bright sky separates them. The gap down the center is the real subject.
The One Who Is Left
“Some people you carry the whole way home.”
Tight on a man alone in the back seat of a car at dawn, seen through the window glass, the waking city smeared in reflection across his face. He faintly smiles, looking out, made both massive and small by the lit streets sliding past. The seat beside him is conspicuously empty.
Eight Thousand Layers
“Eight thousand layers, for one moment beside you.”
A vast field of fine parallel threads crossing the frame, most running straight past one another, but two single threads of warmer color drift toward each other, cross once at the exact center, and continue on apart. A small luminous knot marks the one crossing. The metaphor of In-Yun, the providence that brushes two lives together across past lives, rendered as textile.
She's Turned Against Us
“Even the welcome has its back to you.”
A towering green statue of a robed woman holding a torch, photographed from directly behind so her face is forever hidden, her back filling most of the frame against a flat pale harbor sky. At her base, dwarfed, two small figures stand at a ferry railing looking up at the back of her crown. The icon of welcome quietly refusing to look at them.
Two Trees, One Pot
“A marriage is two trees crowded into one pot.”
A single clay pot, centered on a plain surface, with two slender saplings growing from it, their trunks leaning slightly apart, roots crowding each other underground (cutaway hinted at the soil line). A third young tree sits in its own separate pot just at the edge of the frame, healthy but alone. Marriage as two lives in one vessel, the first love rooted somewhere else.
The Reflecting Pool, 24 Years Late
“Twenty-four years to say a proper hello.”
A shallow rectangular reflecting pool at dawn, a single water lily floating on it. On the far side, two figures stand a careful arm's length apart, staring at each other like they've seen a ghost, their reflections doubled and trembling on the water's surface, so the frame holds four of them, two in the world and two upside-down in the pool, the past and present versions hovering together.
A Wet Rat Arrives
“The city he crossed the world for, raining and raining and raining.”
A man dragging a suitcase under a downpour, framed small against a towering grey midtown street, tourists with bright "I ❤ NY" umbrellas streaming past him in the opposite direction. He is the only still, soaked figure in a moving crowd, hair flattened, looking up at a city that greeted him with its wettest, saddest self.
Hands Not Touching
“A few inches of steel, kept on purpose.”
Extreme tight frame: a single vertical subway pole, two hands gripping it at slightly different heights, a deliberate few inches of bare metal between them, neither hand moving to close the gap. Out of focus behind, two faint half-smiling faces. The whole story compressed into the distance no one will cross.
Na Young / Nora
“She left a name behind to become one.”
A vast empty field. Centered, one name in Korean-leaning lettering, faint and grey, with a second name in clean Latin type set directly over it, sharp and dark, not quite aligned, so the old name shows through behind the new one like a watermark. A single hairline rule, the slash of a border crossing, sits between them.
I'm Fine. And You?
“A new language, practiced until it fits.”
A pale field filled top to bottom with one short English phrase repeated in faint handwriting, line after line, like a child practicing it on a plane, the repetitions getting steadier and more confident as they descend. One line near the bottom switches mid-word into a few Korean characters and trails off, the language that stays behind.
Two Clocks, One Sky
“Her morning. His midnight. The same call.”
The frame is a single unbroken sky split by a soft vertical seam: morning on one side, the first blue waking light over a hinted skyline; late night on the other, deep indigo over a different distant skyline glittering. A small figure stands at the base of each half, tiny, facing the seam. The first moments of her day, the last of his, held in one image across an ocean.
Almost Dawn on East 10th
“Five a.m., and the city begins to wake.”
A quiet East Village street at five in the morning, wet pavement still shining, one yellow rideshare car just turning the far corner, taillights smearing. The sidewalk is empty except for the faint suggestion of a figure walking away from us toward an apartment door, shoulders beginning to shake. Birds about to start. The street where two people finally said goodbye, and one starts to cry.
Twenty-Four Years in One Frame
“Childhood, a screen, a booth: the long way back to goodbye.”
A single tall composition stacked like sediment from bottom to top: at the foot, a late-90s Seoul street with two children, one walking off dribbling a basketball, the other watching; mid-frame, two glowing laptop screens facing each other across a dark gap, a video-call grain; near the top, three adults at a speakeasy booth. Faint connective threads (the In-Yun motif) run vertically through all three strata, tying child to screen to booth.
Cast
NORA
Korean-Canadian-American woman, 30s in the present day; short-hair, dressed casually in muted colors. Seen at 12 (as NA YOUNG), 24, and 30s. A playwright, ambitious, restrained, slow to cry as an adult. Childhood name Na Young; renamed Nora (short for Leonore).
A girl who leaves Korea to chase a bigger life learns to let go of the past self and first love she left behind, choosing the ordinary, real life she has built with Arthur while finally allowing herself to grieve.
NA YOUNG
12-year-old Nora in late-1990s Seoul; pigtails, a top student, cries easily, competitive with Hae Sung. Nora's childhood self before immigration.
A bright, weepy schoolgirl falls for her classmate Hae Sung just before her family emigrates, and is left waiting to say a proper goodbye that only comes decades later.
HAE SUNG
Korean man, 30s in the present day; clean-shaven, business-casual, calm and self-assured, more attractive in his patience as he ages. Seen at 12 (in shorts with a basketball), 24 (in military service / Shanghai), and 30s. An engineer who still lives with his parents in Seoul; described as ordinary and idealistic.
The steadfast first love who never quite lets go travels across the world to see Nora one last time, and comes to understand and release her, accepting that in this life he is the one who is left.
ARTHUR
White Jewish-American man, 30s; tall, skinny, dark curly hair, a little stubble. A novelist (author of 'Boner'). Introduced disheveled and hungover at the Montauk residency; later a more mature, sure-of-himself, generous husband.
Nora's husband meets her at an artist residency and grows into a man secure enough to host his wife's childhood sweetheart, voicing his fear of the Korean inner world he can't reach yet ultimately holding her as she grieves.
MOM
Na Young's mother, 35 in the flashbacks; a graphic designer and illustrator who illustrated her own children's books. Smokes; pragmatic about immigration.
Drives the family's emigration and gently arranges her daughter's childhood goodbye date, later reconnecting with adult Nora over the phone.
DAD
Na Young's father, 38; a screenwriter and film director. Smokes, listens to Leonard Cohen, owns French movie posters. Coins the name 'Nora.'
The artist father who chooses to leave his film career behind for immigration, naming his daughter Nora on the way out.
SI YOUNG
Na Young's little sister, 8 in the flashbacks; takes the English name Michelle (called MICHELLE after the family emigrates).
Nora's younger sister, who shares the immigration and grows up American alongside her.
HAE SUNG'S MOM
Hae Sung's mother; 40 and traditional in the flashbacks, late-40s and a housewife in Hae Sung's adult Seoul scenes. Cooks traditional Korean breakfast and hangover soup.
A traditional Seoul mother who questions the Moons' decision to emigrate and dotes on her grown son.
NORA'S MOM
Na Young's mother as referred to at the museum date (same character as MOM), photographing the children and explaining the family's emigration to Hae Sung's mother.
Frames the family's departure with the film's thesis that leaving something behind means gaining something too.
HAE SUNG'S DAD
Hae Sung's father, ordinary, 50; a salaryman who reads the newspaper over breakfast.
The quiet, ordinary father whose unremarkable life is the backdrop of Hae Sung's home.
FRIEND ONE
Two distinct roles share this label: (1) one of Na Young's childhood classmates in Seoul, and (2) one of Hae Sung's lifelong grad-student drinking buddies, a Korean man seen across the soju-bar scenes at 24 and in his 30s.
A constant in both timelines: a childhood classmate at the goodbye, and one of Hae Sung's enduring friends who tease him about Nora.
FRIEND TWO
Two distinct roles share this label: (1) one of Na Young's childhood classmates who calls out 'Take care!', and (2) one of Hae Sung's lifelong drinking buddies who needles him most pointedly about going to see his first love.
Childhood classmate and, in adulthood, the friend who voices what everyone suspects about Hae Sung's New York trip.
FRIEND THREE
Two distinct roles share this label: (1) one of Na Young's childhood classmates, and (2) the heartbroken drinking buddy who weeps over a breakup, later the one who shows Hae Sung the rainy NYC forecast.
Childhood classmate and, in adulthood, the friend whose own breakup grief foreshadows Hae Sung's quieter heartache.
JANICE
Nora's grad-school friend; hipster, black, queer, late 20s.
A New York friend who witnesses Nora's giddy reconnection with Hae Sung from the sidelines.
RACHEL
Nora's grad-school friend; intentionally badly-dressed, white Jewish, late 30s.
A grad-school classmate of Nora's during her writing years.
ROBERT
A white man in Nora's grad-school class, in his 20s, who wants to sleep with Nora.
A classmate who praises Nora's writing in the feedback session.
GUY
Unseen young man on a date at the speakeasy bar, off-screen voice in the opening, part of the white couple people-watching the trio.
An anonymous observer whose speculation frames the film's central question of who these three people are to each other.
GIRL
Two roles share this label: (1) the unseen young woman on a date at the speakeasy in the opening, part of the white people-watching couple; and (2) a cute Korean female language-exchange student (20) in Shanghai who is drawn to Hae Sung.
An anonymous observer in New York; in Shanghai, the woman whose mutual spark with Hae Sung implies the relationship that later complicates his life.
CBP OFFICER
A US Customs and Border Protection officer at Toronto Pearson Airport who suspiciously questions Nora and Arthur.
A bureaucratic gatekeeper whose question 'Are you two related?' reframes Nora and Arthur as adults.
HELENA
A white woman in her 40s; Nora's theatre director in rehearsal for her play.
Nora's collaborator who realizes the play with her in the rehearsal room.
STAGE MANAGER
Nora's stage manager, 30s, present at the rehearsal table.
A member of Nora's theatre team during rehearsals.
ACTRESS
A young Korean-American actress, 20s; lovely and talented but not yet very good, performing a monologue from Nora's play.
Voices Nora's autobiographical monologue about crossing the Pacific Ocean.
Locations
east village bar / speakeasy
A hip East Village speakeasy with cute decor and good drinks; booth seating. The framing location of the film's opening and climax.
Set Requirements
- •Booth for the trio
- •Bar area for the young white people-watching couple
- •Cocktail service
Key Visual Moments
- S1A muted three-shot of Nora, Hae Sung, and Arthur in a booth, framed as the people-watching subject of an unseen couple, until Nora looks up and stares directly into the camera.
- S98Drunk and painfully honest, Hae Sung tells Nora 'I didn't know that liking your husband would hurt this much,' opening a magical space between them; the film now plays the opening scene from inside their booth.
na young's neighborhood / pyoungchon
A late-1990s Seoul residential neighborhood in Pyoungchon, including the walk home from school and the street in front of Na Young's childhood apartment building.
Set Requirements
- •Childhood apartment building exterior
- •School-route streets
- •Late-90s period dressing
- •Night-glow lighting for the magical re-staged goodbye
Key Visual Moments
- S2Twelve-year-old Hae Sung wipes crying Na Young's wet face with his sleeve, then walks away dribbling his basketball as she stops crying and watches him go.
- S11Hae Sung, expressionless and cold, says a flat 'Bye' to Na Young outside her apartment building, then turns and walks away dribbling his basketball as she watches him go.
- S101Twelve-year-old Na Young and Hae Sung stand before her childhood apartment building exactly as at their first goodbye, but now bathed in the soft glow of very late night, as if they've waited here 24 years to truly say goodbye.
seoul family apartment
The Moon family's Seoul apartment during the late-90s, including Dad's office (books, video tapes, French movie posters, speakers) and Mom's shared office (Matisse/Basquiat prints, children's books). Being packed up for emigration.
Set Requirements
- •Dad's office: movie posters, boxes of books, 90s laptop, massive speakers, cigarette haze
- •Mom's office: art prints, illustrated children's books, Apple Macintosh with pen-mouse
- •Couch and threshold staging
Key Visual Moments
- S3Dad boxes up his French movie posters and books amid cigarette smoke while Leonard Cohen blasts, as the family debates the children's new English names.
- S4Mom takes out four new Korean passports to write down their numbers as Na Young confesses she likes Hae Sung and will probably marry him.
- S6Na Young sits up and nods enthusiastically when Mom asks if she wants to go on a date with Hae Sung.
na young and hae sung's classroom
Na Young and Hae Sung's late-90s Seoul elementary classroom, where they share an easy intimacy and where Na Young announces her departure.
Set Requirements
- •Period Korean classroom desks
- •Space for the classmate huddle
Key Visual Moments
- S5Hae Sung leans against Na Young's desk and lets her draw flowers on his arm with a ballpoint pen, an easy intimacy that feels like it has always been this way.
- S10Hae Sung sits apart, pretending to ignore the huddle of classmates interrogating Na Young about leaving forever, glancing over now and then.
gwacheon national museum of modern contemporary art
The sculpture garden of the Gwacheon art museum on a beautiful fall day, featuring Jonathan Borofsky's SINGING MAN (1994) and Ilho Lee's NEW GAZING AT BEING (1994).
Set Requirements
- •Access to or recreation of Borofsky's SINGING MAN aluminum sculpture
- •Ilho Lee's granite NEW GAZING AT BEING two-faces sculpture
- •Sculpture garden / fall foliage
Key Visual Moments
- S7Hae Sung and Na Young tilt their heads up and open their mouths to mimic Borofsky's towering aluminum SINGING MAN sculpture while the mothers talk about the impending immigration.
- S8Hae Sung studies Na Young's face beside Ilho Lee's granite sculpture of two giant geometric faces gazing at each other.
na young's mom's car
The interior of Na Young's mother's car at evening, backseat where the children ride home from the museum date.
Set Requirements
- •Period car with usable backseat for the sleeping-children image
Key Visual Moments
- S9In the backseat, Na Young sleeps with her head in Hae Sung's lap and their hands tangled together while Hae Sung watches her.
plane to toronto
The night flight carrying the Moon family from Seoul to Canada.
Set Requirements
- •Aircraft cabin set
- •Immigration prep notes and Korean-English dictionary dressing
Key Visual Moments
- S12Na Young and Si Young loop 'I'm fine. And you?' over and over, giggling, as their parents study immigration notes and a marked-up Korean-English dictionary.
toronto pearson airport
Toronto Pearson Airport, used twice: the family's childhood arrival in Canada and, years later, Nora and Arthur's adult return through customs.
Set Requirements
- •Immigration / CBP checkpoint
- •Baggage area with a massive suitcase
- •Period vs present-day dressing for the two eras
Key Visual Moments
- S13Na Young sits atop a massive suitcase petting sleeping Michelle's hair as the parents negotiate with immigration officers in halting English.
- S63A suspicious CBP officer asks if Nora and Arthur are related, and we see them clearly as adults in their 30s for the first time, just before an 'AN IMAGE' of the two in silence.
nora's toronto class
Nora's first Canadian classroom, mostly full of white kids, where her new life begins with a ringing bell.
Set Requirements
- •Canadian elementary classroom
- •School bell
Key Visual Moments
- S14Young Nora sits in a classroom of mostly white kids as the bell rings, marking the loud beginning of her new Canadian life.
military fields korea
Open Korean fields where hundreds of uniformed conscripts march and then eat meals on the ground during mandatory military service. Slugged INT. but plays as a field exterior.
Set Requirements
- •Large group of military uniforms and extras
- •Metal trays and field-mess dressing
Key Visual Moments
- S15A wide shot of hundreds of uniformed Korean men marching through the fields, then eating from clanging metal trays, among whom 24-year-old Hae Sung is just one anonymous face who looks up, remembering.
nyc taxi
A yellow cab carrying 24-year-old Nora from LaGuardia toward Manhattan at dusk, the gleaming city outside.
Set Requirements
- •Yellow cab interior
- •NYC skyline backdrop / process plate
Key Visual Moments
- S16Twenty-four-year-old Nora rides a yellow cab from LGA toward Manhattan, staring out at the gleaming outline of New York City, in love with the view.
grad school
Nora's New York grad school, including the workshop classroom and the library, where she studies playwriting and conducts her early Skype correspondence with Hae Sung.
Set Requirements
- •Workshop classroom with feedback-session table
- •Library with laptop workstations
Key Visual Moments
- S17Nora smiles and takes notes during a feedback session as classmate Robert quotes the line 'The long journey of rotting' from her play.
- S24Nora grins ear-to-ear at Hae Sung's punny 'carrot' reply meaning 'Of course' to her 'do you remember me?', while Janice glances up.
- S36Nora writes Hae Sung a long email instead of her school assignment as Janice and Rachel peek at her screen, over voice-over of him refusing to come to New York.
- S41Nora impatiently waits for Hae Sung to load on her library screen, asking 'Hello?'
nora's dorm room
Nora's crappy, utilitarian New York dorm room with a twin bed and a wooden desk; the hub of the Skype sequences over her grad-school years.
Set Requirements
- •Aggressively uncomfortable twin bed
- •Crappy wooden desk
- •Laptop for Skype
- •Hand-drawn paper Korean keyboard
Key Visual Moments
- S18Googling old Seoul friends with her mom on the phone, Nora discovers Hae Sung has posted on her dad's movie's Facebook page that he has been looking for her, and composes a message to him.
- S26Nora and Hae Sung's faces meet for the first time on the Skype screen and they dissolve into uncontrollable, kid-like giggling, recognizing each other instantly.
- S27After hours of talking, Hae Sung awkwardly admits 'I missed you,' and Nora replies 'Me too. It doesn't make any sense,' before they reluctantly hang up.
- S28Brushing her teeth on her bed, Nora draws a homemade Korean keyboard on paper to write a too-long email to Hae Sung in bad Korean.
- S32Hae Sung ribs Nora about her Nobel-Prize ambition, and she now says she's set her sights on the Pulitzer.
- S33Hae Sung stares and smiles at Nora through the screen, telling her she's the same as the 12-year-old in his memory, which makes her fidget and smile back.
- S34Getting ready for class, Nora tells Hae Sung about her upcoming Montauk artist residency and asks if he's seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
- S38Into a failing Skype connection, Nora asks 'Can you hear me?'
- S43Nora sleeps through Hae Sung's repeated Skype calls, over voice-over of him asking when she'll come to Seoul and her replying 'Why would I go to Seoul?'
- S46Across the Pacific by Skype, Nora asks for a break because she keeps looking up flights to Seoul instead of committing to her life, and Hae Sung tears up trying not to cry before hanging up sharply.
all-night soju bar
A Seoul all-night soju bar where Hae Sung drinks with his lifelong grad-student friends across multiple eras, tables crowded with empty soju bottles.
Set Requirements
- •Practical soju bottles and glasses in volume
- •Group table seating
- •Aging the same friend group across timelines
Key Visual Moments
- S19Surrounded by a dozen empty soju bottles and his out-of-their-minds drunk friends, Hae Sung pulls weeping Friend Three to his chest just as his phone buzzes with a Facebook notification from 'Nora Moon.'
- S53Hae Sung silently downs every full and half-full glass of soju on the table one by one, then declares 'tonight we drink 'til we die' as his friends laugh and cheer.
- S69Now in his 30s and calmer, Hae Sung insists to his needling friends that his New York trip is just vacation, then Friend Three gleefully shows him a forecast of rain for the entire trip.
streets of seoul
The early-morning streets of Seoul through which a drunk Hae Sung stumbles home as dawn breaks.
Set Requirements
- •Pre-dawn Seoul street
- •Practical walking route
Key Visual Moments
- S20Totally drunk Hae Sung stumbles through the waking streets of Seoul alone as the dawn breaks.
hae sung's family apartment
Hae Sung's ordinary Seoul family apartment where he lives with his salaryman father and housewife mother, including the entry with the automatic password lock, his bedroom, and the kitchen. The recurring Seoul end of the Skype calls.
Set Requirements
- •Automatic password door lock
- •Hae Sung's bedroom with bed and laptop
- •Kitchen with traditional Korean breakfast setting
- •Glass of water on the nightstand
Key Visual Moments
- S21Hae Sung unlocks the automatic password door and stumbles in as quietly as his drunkenness allows, trying not to wake his parents.
- S22Waking hungover, Hae Sung re-reads Nora's message and opens her Facebook profile; a blink-and-you-miss-it flash of little Na Young smiling appears before he grins at her grown face.
- S23Over a traditional Korean breakfast and hangover soup, Hae Sung's mom notices his unusually good mood, and he flattens his expression to hide it.
- S31Hae Sung teases that Nora's Korean has gotten rusty as she lies in her pajamas waking up on his laptop screen.
- S35Alone and late at night, Hae Sung watches Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Nora's recommendation.
- S37Hae Sung explains he's going to China to learn Mandarin while Nora needles him to come learn English in New York instead.
- S40Into Skype, Hae Sung asks 'Can you hear me?'
upper west side streets
Upper West Side New York streets down which Nora runs, grinning, back to her dorm after Hae Sung's reply.
Set Requirements
- •NYC street for a running shot
Key Visual Moments
- S25Unable to contain her grin, Nora's brisk walk back to her dorm breaks into a full sprint down the New York streets.
seoul coffee shop
A crowded, hip Seoul coffee shop from which Hae Sung Skypes Nora during the long-distance period.
Set Requirements
- •Busy cafe interior
- •Earphones / phone for video calls
Key Visual Moments
- S29From a crowded hip coffee shop, earbudded Hae Sung Skypes a half-asleep Nora who has clearly just rolled out of bed at 7 a.m.
- S39Hae Sung patiently waits for his breaking-up screen to load in the coffee shop.
- S42Hae Sung waits a very long time for Nora to load, and the call fails.
seoul bus
A Seoul city bus on which Hae Sung rides to school while Skyping Nora, shielding his phone from fellow passengers.
Set Requirements
- •Bus interior with passengers
- •Phone for moving video call
Key Visual Moments
- S30Dressed up for dinner, Nora Skypes Hae Sung who is on the bus to school, subtly shielding his phone from the people beside him.
hae sung's university
The exterior of Hae Sung's Seoul university building, where he smokes with friends after class and receives Nora's 'Can we talk?' text.
Set Requirements
- •University building exterior
- •Smoking-spot dressing
Key Visual Moments
- S45Smoking with friends after class, Hae Sung gets Nora's text on his phone: 'Can we talk?'
seoul cable car
A Seoul cable car from which Hae Sung shows Nora a sweeping skyline view over a video call that then freezes and drops.
Set Requirements
- •Cable car cabin
- •Seoul skyline vista / process plate
Key Visual Moments
- S44Hae Sung flips his phone camera on a Seoul cable car to show Nora the entire skyline, and just as she says 'I miss you,' the image freezes and the call goes impossibly quiet.
hampton jitney
The Hampton Jitney bus, Montauk-bound, where Nora naps as New York views rush past.
Set Requirements
- •Coach bus interior
- •Passing-scenery plates
Key Visual Moments
- S47Nora naps curled in her seat, missing the beautiful New York views rushing past the bus windows as she leaves the city.
barn house
The rustic, charming Montauk artist residency barn house, filled with books and art, where Nora stays for a month and meets Arthur. Includes downstairs, the upstairs hallway and bedrooms, Nora's room, the kitchen, and the outdoor picnic table.
Set Requirements
- •Two-story rustic interior with books and wall art
- •Upstairs hallway with facing bedrooms (one nicer, one 'worst room')
- •Nora's room: bed, fan, large wooden desk, residents' names written on the wall
- •Kitchen with coffee
- •Outdoor picnic table for the In-Yun nights
- •Dirt approach path and cab drop
Key Visual Moments
- S48Nora arrives by cab at the Montauk artist residency barn house where she will stay for a month.
- S49Nora enters the rustic, book-filled barn house, finds no one there, and heads upstairs to find a room.
- S50Nora passes a bedroom full of suitcases and chooses the nicer of two unoccupied bedrooms across the hall from each other.
- S51Nora adds her name, Nora Moon, to the wall where previous artist residents wrote theirs, then begins unpacking in the spider-webbed but perfect room.
- S54From Nora's window we glimpse Arthur arriving by cab with a dirty duffle bag and walking the dirt path toward the barn house, his face never clearly seen, as Nora sleeps.
- S55Nora clocks that the bedroom across the hall is now full of Arthur's things, grabs a cup of fresh coffee, and walks outside.
- S56Arthur and Nora's eyes meet for the first time across the distance; she tells him he got the worst room, and they look at each other for a beat.
- S57Slightly drunk Nora explains the Korean concept of In-Yun to the residency artists amid empty wine and beer bottles, her voice carrying over silent scenes of Hae Sung in Shanghai.
- S62Realizing she's been explaining In-Yun only to Arthur after the other artists drifted off, Nora half-jokes they were somebody to each other in another life, and Arthur leans across the table and kisses her deeply.
seoul subway train
A clean, efficient Seoul subway train where Hae Sung drafts and then deletes a long email to Nora, beside a drunk salaryman and a making-out couple.
Set Requirements
- •Modern Korean subway car (clean, with PA announcements)
- •Background extras: sleeping salaryman, kissing couple
Key Visual Moments
- S52Hunched over his phone on a clean Seoul subway, Hae Sung writes a very long email to Nora, then deletes it as the doors open and he gets off.
plane to shanghai
The morning flight carrying Hae Sung to Shanghai for his language exchange program.
Set Requirements
- •Aircraft cabin set
Key Visual Moments
- S58Hae Sung flies to Shanghai in silence as Nora's In-Yun voice-over plays over him.
shanghai dorm room
Hae Sung's small, crappy Shanghai dorm room with a magnificent city view and a language-program info package on the bed.
Set Requirements
- •Spartan dorm room
- •Shanghai skyline view
- •Bilingual Korean/Mandarin program packet
Key Visual Moments
- S59Hae Sung sleeps in his small, crappy dorm room with a magnificent view of Shanghai, an info package about his language program on the bed.
shanghai night market
A steaming Shanghai fish/night market full of late-night lovers and food stalls, where Hae Sung wanders with fellow language students.
Set Requirements
- •Crowded market with food stalls and steam
- •Group of student extras
- •Cigarettes as practical props
Key Visual Moments
- S60Hae Sung lights a cigarette and shares the pack with fellow language students in the steaming fish market full of late-night lovers, oblivious to a cute Korean girl glancing at him.
shanghai noodle shop
A late-night Shanghai noodle shop where the rowdy students get drunk and Hae Sung exchanges a charged look with the cute girl.
Set Requirements
- •Casual noodle shop
- •Bowls of noodle soup
- •Student-group seating
Key Visual Moments
- S61Over bowls of noodle soup, Hae Sung accidentally meets the cute girl's eyes; she smiles, he smiles back, and they clearly like each other.
east village street
Busy East Village New York streets near East 10th Street and 1st Avenue where Nora and Arthur live; used repeatedly across the present-day act, day and night, through the final almost-dawn goodbye.
Set Requirements
- •Pedestrian crossing with walk signal
- •Hip restaurant frontages and nightlife
- •Apartment building exterior for the final scenes
- •Uber pickup staging
- •Dawn lighting and bird ambience for the finale
Key Visual Moments
- S64Nora and Arthur make funny faces at each other across a New York street at a red light, then cross and walk away hand-in-hand as Nora tells us 'We're married.'
- S68Walking hand-in-hand, Nora tells Arthur that Hae Sung is coming to visit this week, on vacation.
- S94Walking in silence toward Nora and Arthur's place, Hae Sung confirms that Arthur knows he's coming and wants to meet him.
- S96Walking the busy East Village streets, Hae Sung mimes the Statue of Liberty to describe their day, and the trio laughs over Arthur admitting he's never actually been there.
- S100Waiting for the Uber in heavy silence, Hae Sung opens the car door but doesn't get in, turns, and blurts 'Hey!' which works like a magical spell transporting them to their long-lost past.
- S102Hae Sung asks 'What if this is a past life too, and we are already something else to each other in our next life?' before getting in the Uber; the car turns the corner and Nora, walking home, begins crying harder with each step, just as she did as a little girl, before melting into Arthur's arms.
rehearsal room
A New York rehearsal room where Nora workshops her play with her director and stage manager while a young actress performs a monologue.
Set Requirements
- •Rehearsal table and chairs
- •Open performance space
- •Director's notepad
Key Visual Moments
- S65A young Korean-American actress performs Nora's monologue about crossing the Pacific Ocean while Nora and her director trade rapid notes across the table.
bookstore
A Brooklyn bookstore hosting Arthur's book signing for his novel 'Boner.'
Set Requirements
- •Book-signing setup with stacks of Arthur's novel
- •Customer/fan extras
Key Visual Moments
- S66At his book signing for his novel 'Boner,' Arthur turns from his fans to give Nora a quick thank-you kiss as she hands him a bagel sandwich without looking up from her phone.
nora and arthur's apartment
Nora and Arthur's tiny East Village apartment, including living room, bathroom, and bedroom; their married home through the present-day act.
Set Requirements
- •Living room with couch, TV, and XBOX One
- •Bathroom for the moisturizing scene
- •Bedroom for the dark intimate conversations
- •Entry where shoes come off at the door
Key Visual Moments
- S67Post-sex and hungry, Arthur uses the one good Korean phrase he knows ('Ah... what can ya do?') as he and Nora land on chicken wings.
- S82Arthur plays Overwatch as the zen monk Zenyatta when Nora gets home and admits he was right that Hae Sung came to see her, just as his team's 'DEFEAT' flashes on the TV.
- S84As Nora moisturizes after showering, Arthur quietly probes whether she's attracted to Hae Sung, and looks hurt when she admits she was a crybaby Hae Sung used to just watch.
- S85Getting ready for bed, Arthur insists he has no right to be mad while Nora deadpans she'll throw away her life and run away to Seoul, then assures him 'I know you.'
- S87In the pitch-dark bed, Arthur confesses he feels like 'the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny' and admits he gets scared that Nora dreams in a Korean he can't understand.
- S95Hae Sung naturally takes off his shoes at the door, and Arthur, startled by how well his wife and her childhood sweetheart fit together, smiles warmly and greets him in halting Korean.
- S99Hae Sung says goodbye to Arthur and invites him to Korea; after the door shuts, we hold on Arthur left alone in the home he shares with Nora.
new york city exteriors
Establishing New York cityscapes used for atmosphere: Hae Sung's rainy arrival and the moment the rain finally stops.
Set Requirements
- •Heavy rain effects over the city
- •Clearing-skies / dusk-to-night cityscape plates
Key Visual Moments
- S70New York welcomes Hae Sung with pouring rain, its wettest and saddest self.
- S75Like a miracle, the rain finally stops over the New York cityscapes.
midtown hotel
A midtown New York tourist hotel where Hae Sung stays, including the lobby, his suffocatingly small room, and the entrance awning. A place of his loneliness in the rain.
Set Requirements
- •Lobby with reception, revolving door, and TV
- •Small hotel room with curtains and city-view window
- •Exterior awning
- •'I <3 NY' umbrellas and tourist extras
- •Rain effects
Key Visual Moments
- S71Soaked to the bone, his shoes squeaking, Hae Sung wrestles his suitcase through a revolving door into the hotel lobby as unaccommodating New Yorkers bump past him.
- S72Hae Sung opens the curtains of his room to find it raining and raining and raining.
- S73Under the awning, Hae Sung finally manages to light a cigarette while watching the relentless rain and tourists armed with 'I <3 NY' umbrellas.
- S74Having given up on sightseeing, a miserable Hae Sung lounges in the lobby watching local NY news, drinking and eating alone as the rain pours.
- S83Back in his suffocatingly small hotel room, Hae Sung takes off his shoes, sits on the bed, looks out at the cityscape, and suddenly looks incredibly lonely.
- S86Hae Sung gets out of the shower, into bed, and turns off the lights into pitch dark.
madison square park
Madison Square Park at sunrise, especially quiet and beautiful after rain, with the Reflecting Pool and a water lily; site of the twenty-year reunion.
Set Requirements
- •Reflecting Pool with water lily
- •Sparse early-morning park dressing
Key Visual Moments
- S76After an excruciatingly long wait by the Reflecting Pool, Nora appears and calls out 'Hae Sung!'; the two stare like they're seeing a ghost before hugging, with a blink-and-miss flash of child Na Young.
madison square park subway station
The subway station near Madison Square Park where Nora and Hae Sung descend and wait for a train.
Set Requirements
- •Station stairs and platform
Key Visual Moments
- S77Nora and Hae Sung walk down the station stairs and briefly wait before the train arrives and carries them off.
subway r train
An R train where Nora and Hae Sung stand holding the same pole, carefully not touching, amid a garbled PA announcement.
Set Requirements
- •Subway car interior with poles
- •Garbled PA audio
Key Visual Moments
- S78Standing together holding the same subway pole, Nora and Hae Sung keep a careful distance, hands not touching, smiling awkwardly but sweetly amid a garbled PA announcement.
brooklyn bridge park
Brooklyn Bridge Park / the Dumbo pier with Jane's Carousel and a vivid view of Manhattan framed by the bridges; populated with lovers on dates. Used across afternoon, sunset, and late-night beats.
Set Requirements
- •Jane's Carousel (lit at night)
- •Waterfront with Manhattan-and-bridges view
- •Engagement-photo-shoot and lovers background dressing
- •Magic-hour and night lighting passes
Key Visual Moments
- S79Walking toward Jane's Carousel by the Dumbo pier, Hae Sung admits to Nora that his marriage to his girlfriend has stalled because he feels 'too ordinary,' as they feel suddenly old.
- S80Surrounded by lovers making out and taking selfies along the lit-up carousel pier, Nora and Hae Sung look like a couple while trying hardest to ignore everyone, reading each other's minds.
- S81Sitting before Jane's Carousel at sunset, Hae Sung confesses he looked for Nora because she kept entering his mind during his military service, and they agree they're 'not babies anymore.'
- S88Late at night, the Dumbo pier glows impossibly romantic with Manhattan lit up bright, a few straggling lovers staying out making out.
statue cruises ferry / liberty island
The Statue Cruises ferry line and the ferry itself, with views of the Statue of Liberty (front and back) and a jewel-like Manhattan. Heavily touristed.
Set Requirements
- •Long ticket/security queue with tourist extras
- •Ferry decks with railings (top level)
- •Statue of Liberty sightlines (front and rear)
- •Manhattan skyline backdrop
Key Visual Moments
- S89Waiting in the long tourist ferry line, Hae Sung produces a full breakfast bagel for ravenous Nora and asks what prize she wants to win now; she lands on 'A Tony,' making him crack up.
- S90On the top deck railing, the moment is intolerably romantic; Nora can't make eye contact while Hae Sung looks at her openly, since he's not the one who's married.
- S91Against a jewel-like Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, Nora photographs Hae Sung, and the two politely decline a tourist family's offer to take a photo of them together, bewildering the family.
- S92Seeing the Statue of Liberty from behind, Hae Sung observes 'She's turned against us.'
- S93Nora shows Hae Sung her wedding photos of herself in a modernized Hanbok beside Arthur in a black suit, and Hae Sung, deep in thought, shifts his gaze from her younger self to the real Nora beside him.
east village restaurant
An East Village restaurant, seen through its window, where Nora, Hae Sung, and Arthur eat pasta and laugh, inaudible over the crowd.
Set Requirements
- •Restaurant window for the exterior view
- •Bustling diner extras
- •Bowls of pasta
Key Visual Moments
- S97Through a restaurant window, the three eat amazing pasta and laugh, inaudible over the crowd, with Nora seated in the middle translating.
uber
The back seat of Hae Sung's Uber at dawn as it drives him away from Nora through a waking New York; deliberately mirrors the childhood car backseat.
Set Requirements
- •Rideshare car interior
- •Dawn city views through the window
Key Visual Moments
- S103Alone in the back seat as the Uber drives away, Hae Sung looks out the window at New York waking up and faintly smiles, feeling both massive and small.
Production Design · Props
basketball
HeroYoung Hae Sung dribbles it as he walks away in both childhood goodbyes; an emblem of his boyhood.
four Korean passports
HeroMom records the numbers before emigration; the family's South Korean passports recur at the Toronto arrival. Faces visible.
French movie posters
Dad takes them down while packing his director's office.
Leonard Cohen record / speakers
Dad blasts 'Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye'; sets the film's goodbye motif. Music clearance required.
ballpoint pen
Na Young draws flowers on Hae Sung's arm with it, an image of their childhood intimacy.
Apple Macintosh computer with pen-mouse
Period-correct in Mom's late-90s office; Si Young draws on it.
nice camera
Nora's mom photographs the children at the museum date.
cigarettes
HeroA recurring marker across characters and eras (the parents, Hae Sung in Shanghai and NYC, Arthur in the final scene). Multiple/practical needed.
Korean-English dictionary
Dad's dictionary covered in immigration-study notes on the plane to Toronto.
laptop
HeroNora's and Hae Sung's laptops are the conduit for the entire Skype relationship; screen-content / picture lock work required.
smartphone
HeroDrives reconnection (Facebook notification), video calls, photo-taking, the rain forecast, and Arthur's scrolling. Screen content needs design.
soju bottles and glasses
HeroDozens of empties dress the friends' table; Hae Sung downs every glass in scene 53. Practical drink-able dressing and multiples.
glass of water
Left by Hae Sung's mom on his nightstand for his hangover.
traditional Korean breakfast / hangover soup
Spicy bean-sprout hangover soup; food styling for the family breakfast.
hand-drawn paper Korean keyboard
HeroNora draws her own Korean keyboard on paper to type emails; a tender immigrant detail. Close-up prop.
language exchange info package
Bilingual Korean/Mandarin packet on Hae Sung's Shanghai dorm bed.
bagel / bagel sandwich
HeroNora brings Arthur a bagel sandwich; Hae Sung brings Nora a breakfast bagel. The echo links the two men's care for her.
Arthur's novel 'Boner'
HeroCover reads 'Boner by Arthur Zaturansky'; establishes him as a published novelist. Custom book prop with multiples for the signing.
XBOX One / Overwatch (Zenyatta)
HeroArthur plays the zen-monk healer Zenyatta; the on-screen 'DEFEAT' lands as he learns Hae Sung came to see Nora. Game-footage clearance / screen design.
wedding photos / modernized Hanbok
HeroNora shows Hae Sung phone photos of her wedding in a modernized colorful Hanbok beside Arthur in a black suit and bow tie. Hanbok must be built for the photo.
'I <3 NY' tourist umbrellas
Carried by hotel guests braving the rain; emphasizes Hae Sung as outsider tourist. Multiples for extras.
suitcase / massive suitcase
Child Nora perches on the family's massive suitcase in Toronto; adult Hae Sung wrestles his suitcase through the rainy hotel revolving door.
Uber (rideshare car)
HeroThe car Hae Sung almost doesn't get into, then rides away in; its dawn backseat deliberately mirrors Na Young's mom's childhood car. Picture car.
cocktails
Three distinct cocktails frame the trio in the speakeasy bookends.
Scenes
EAST VILLAGE BAR / SPEAKEASY - NEW YORK - LATE NIGHT
mysteryA muted three-shot of Nora, Hae Sung, and Arthur in a booth, framed as the people-watching subject of an unseen couple, until Nora looks up and stares directly into the camera.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR; GUY; GIRL
- Props
- cocktails; Arthur's phone
- Wardrobe
- Nora in muted casual colors with short hair; Hae Sung clean-shaven in business-casual; Arthur in a plain dark t-shirt
- Notes
- Framing device that the film returns to from the booth's perspective in the climactic speakeasy scene.
- Camera
- Slow push-in from a bar-level wide, ending on her eyeline to lens
- Lighting
- Warm low practicals, pooled and dim
- Mood
- Quiet mystery
PYOUNGCHON - SEOUL - LATE-90S
tendernessTwelve-year-old Hae Sung wipes crying Na Young's wet face with his sleeve, then walks away dribbling his basketball as she stops crying and watches him go.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG
- Props
- basketball; school backpack
- Wardrobe
- Na Young in pigtails; Hae Sung in shorts
- Notes
- Establishes the childhood bond and the crying motif that pays off in the final scene. Title card '24 YEARS AGO' precedes this scene.
- Camera
- Two-shot at child height, easing to a wider hold as he walks away
- Lighting
- Soft natural afternoon
- Mood
- Tenderness
SEOUL FAMILY APARTMENT - DAD'S OFFICE
transitionDad boxes up his French movie posters and books amid cigarette smoke while Leonard Cohen blasts, as the family debates the children's new English names.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; SI YOUNG; MOM; DAD
- Props
- movie posters; boxes of books; 90s laptop; massive speakers; cigarettes
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Origin of the name 'Nora' (short for Leonore), suggested by Dad. The Leonard Cohen song establishes the goodbye motif.
- Camera
- Medium wide, slight low angle past the boxes
- Lighting
- Hazy window daylight cut by cigarette smoke
- Mood
- Bittersweet transition
SEOUL FAMILY APARTMENT - MOM'S OFFICE
intimacyMom takes out four new Korean passports to write down their numbers as Na Young confesses she likes Hae Sung and will probably marry him.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; SI YOUNG; MOM
- Props
- four Korean passports; notebook; Apple Macintosh computer; pen-mouse; Matisse and Basquiat prints
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Mom's office shared with her daughters, decorated with her own illustrated children's books. Sets up the date Mom arranges for Na Young and Hae Sung.
- Camera
- Over-the-shoulder onto the passports and notebook
- Lighting
- Even soft daylight from a side window
- Mood
- Intimacy
NA YOUNG AND HAE SUNG'S CLASSROOM - ANOTHER DAY
tendernessHae Sung leans against Na Young's desk and lets her draw flowers on his arm with a ballpoint pen, an easy intimacy that feels like it has always been this way.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG
- Props
- ballpoint pen
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- An inserted image during Mom's office conversation; the script labels a 'CUT BACK TO' afterward.
- Camera
- Close two-shot favoring the drawn-on arm
- Lighting
- Plain natural classroom light
- Mood
- Tenderness
MOM'S OFFICE - NA YOUNG'S FAMILY APARTMENT
anticipationNa Young sits up and nods enthusiastically when Mom asks if she wants to go on a date with Hae Sung.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; MOM
- Props
- four Korean passports; notebook
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Cut back to Mom's office after the classroom image; Mom decides to arrange the goodbye date.
- Camera
- Medium two-shot, favoring the daughter
- Lighting
- Soft side daylight
- Mood
- Anticipation
GWACHEON NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN CONTEMPORARY ART
bittersweetHae Sung and Na Young tilt their heads up and open their mouths to mimic Borofsky's towering aluminum SINGING MAN sculpture while the mothers talk about the impending immigration.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG; NORA'S MOM; HAE SUNG'S MOM
- Props
- nice camera; cigarette
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The mothers' exchange about leaving everything behind delivers the film's thesis: 'If you leave something behind, you gain something too.' Jonathan Borofsky's SINGING MAN (1994) is a hero set piece.
- Camera
- Low wide angle taking in the full sculpture and the children below it
- Lighting
- Bright clear autumn daylight
- Mood
- Bittersweet wonder
GWACHEON NATIONAL MUSEUM OF MODERN CONTEMPORARY ART - LATER
longingHae Sung studies Na Young's face beside Ilho Lee's granite sculpture of two giant geometric faces gazing at each other.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Ilho Lee's NEW GAZING AT BEING (1994) visually doubles the two children gazing at one another.
- Camera
- Wide that pairs the children with the twin stone faces, then favors his look
- Lighting
- Soft overcast-to-clear daylight
- Mood
- Longing
NA YOUNG'S MOM'S CAR
tendernessIn the backseat, Na Young sleeps with her head in Hae Sung's lap and their hands tangled together while Hae Sung watches her.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The backseat image is explicitly mirrored by the final Uber scene with adult Hae Sung.
- Camera
- Close, low backseat angle on the resting head and joined hands
- Lighting
- Passing streetlights, otherwise dark interior
- Mood
- Tenderness
NA YOUNG AND HAE SUNG'S CLASSROOM
withdrawalHae Sung sits apart, pretending to ignore the huddle of classmates interrogating Na Young about leaving forever, glancing over now and then.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG; FRIEND ONE; FRIEND TWO; FRIEND THREE
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Na Young's deadpan reason for leaving: 'Because Koreans don't win the Nobel Prize for Literature' becomes a running ambition gag. Friend One/Two/Three here are her childhood classmates, distinct from Hae Sung's adult soju-bar friends.
- Camera
- Wide that holds the huddle and the solitary boy in one frame
- Lighting
- Flat natural classroom light
- Mood
- Withdrawal
NA YOUNG'S NEIGHBORHOOD
goodbyeHae Sung, expressionless and cold, says a flat 'Bye' to Na Young outside her apartment building, then turns and walks away dribbling his basketball as she watches him go.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG; FRIEND TWO
- Props
- basketball
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The childhood goodbye that the film's climax magically reopens 24 years later at almost dawn.
- Camera
- Wide, the girl in foreground watching the boy recede
- Lighting
- Plain afternoon daylight
- Mood
- Goodbye
PLANE TO TORONTO - A FEW WEEKS LATER
transitionNa Young and Si Young loop 'I'm fine. And you?' over and over, giggling, as their parents study immigration notes and a marked-up Korean-English dictionary.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; SI YOUNG; MOM; DAD
- Props
- immigration prep notes; Korean-English dictionary
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- From this scene on, Na Young is called Nora; Si Young is called Michelle.
- Camera
- Intimate two-shot of the girls, parents just in frame
- Lighting
- Single warm reading light in a dark cabin
- Mood
- Hopeful transition
TORONTO PEARSON AIRPORT - CANADA
arrivalNa Young sits atop a massive suitcase petting sleeping Michelle's hair as the parents negotiate with immigration officers in halting English.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; SI YOUNG; MOM; DAD
- Props
- massive suitcase; stack of paperwork; four South Korean passports
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Mirrored later by Nora and Arthur's adult airport CBP scene at the same airport.
- Camera
- Wide establishing, then favoring the girl on the suitcase
- Lighting
- Flat overhead fluorescent
- Mood
- Uncertain arrival
NORA'S TORONTO CLASS
uncertaintyYoung Nora sits in a classroom of mostly white kids as the bell rings, marking the loud beginning of her new Canadian life.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG
- Props
- school bell
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Closes the childhood act. Title card '12 YEARS PASS' follows.
- Camera
- Slow push toward the lone girl among the class
- Lighting
- Cool morning daylight through windows
- Mood
- Uncertainty
FIELDS - KOREA - LUNCHTIME
memoryA wide shot of hundreds of uniformed Korean men marching through the fields, then eating from clanging metal trays, among whom 24-year-old Hae Sung is just one anonymous face who looks up, remembering.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- military uniforms; metal trays and cutlery
- Wardrobe
- Hundreds of young Korean men in military uniforms
- Notes
- Hae Sung's mandatory military service; he later tells Nora he kept thinking of her here. The slug reads INT. but plays as a field exterior. Title card '12 YEARS PASS' precedes this section.
- Camera
- High wide on the formation, then isolating the single lifted face
- Lighting
- Harsh open daylight
- Mood
- Memory
NYC TAXI - APPROACHING NYC
ambitionTwenty-four-year-old Nora rides a yellow cab from LGA toward Manhattan, staring out at the gleaming outline of New York City, in love with the view.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- yellow cab
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora's adult arrival in New York, paralleling Hae Sung's arrival by cab in the rain years later.
- Camera
- Over-the-shoulder from inside the cab, skyline beyond
- Lighting
- Fading dusk plus reflected city lights
- Mood
- Ambition
GRAD SCHOOL - CLASSROOM
belongingNora smiles and takes notes during a feedback session as classmate Robert quotes the line 'The long journey of rotting' from her play.
- Characters
- NORA; JANICE; RACHEL; ROBERT
- Props
- play pages; notebook
- Wardrobe
- Janice as a hipster; Rachel intentionally badly-dressed
- Notes
- Introduces grad-school friends Janice and Rachel and classmate Robert.
- Camera
- Medium across the table favoring the listening writer
- Lighting
- Even classroom daylight
- Mood
- Belonging
NORA'S DORM ROOM
revelationGoogling old Seoul friends with her mom on the phone, Nora discovers Hae Sung has posted on her dad's movie's Facebook page that he has been looking for her, and composes a message to him.
- Characters
- NORA; MOM
- Props
- laptop; twin bed; wooden desk; Korean law firm website
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The reconnection inciting incident. Crappy dorm room that recurs throughout the Skype sequences. Childhood friend Dong Yun is referenced but never appears on screen.
- Camera
- Medium favoring her face lit by the laptop
- Lighting
- Daylight room, cool screen-glow accent
- Mood
- Revelation
ALL-NIGHT SOJU BAR - SEOUL - 3 A.M. KST
surpriseSurrounded by a dozen empty soju bottles and his out-of-their-minds drunk friends, Hae Sung pulls weeping Friend Three to his chest just as his phone buzzes with a Facebook notification from 'Nora Moon.'
- Characters
- HAE SUNG; FRIEND ONE; FRIEND TWO; FRIEND THREE
- Props
- dozen empty soju bottles; Hae Sung's phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Hae Sung's adult grad-student friends (Friend One/Two/Three) recur across multiple soju-bar scenes; distinct from Na Young's childhood classmates of the same labels.
- Camera
- Medium into the booth, the lit phone catching focus
- Lighting
- Warm grimy practicals plus phone glow
- Mood
- Surprise
STREETS OF SEOUL - LATER, WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING
solitudeTotally drunk Hae Sung stumbles through the waking streets of Seoul alone as the dawn breaks.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- None
- Camera
- Wide, the lone figure small in the empty street
- Lighting
- Cold pre-dawn ambient, sparse streetlamps
- Mood
- Solitude
HAE SUNG'S FAMILY APARTMENT - SEOUL - MOMENTS LATER
quietHae Sung unlocks the automatic password door and stumbles in as quietly as his drunkenness allows, trying not to wake his parents.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- automatic password door lock
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Hae Sung lives with his parents, a detail Nora later remarks is 'really Korean.'
- Camera
- Tight on the threshold and his careful entry
- Lighting
- Dark interior, sliver of dawn from the doorway
- Mood
- Hushed quiet
HAE SUNG'S ROOM - SEOUL - MOMENTS LATER
wonderWaking hungover, Hae Sung re-reads Nora's message and opens her Facebook profile; a blink-and-you-miss-it flash of little Na Young smiling appears before he grins at her grown face.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- glass of water; Hae Sung's phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Subliminal single-frame flash of child Na Young's face from the art gallery
- Notes
- 'TIME PASSES IN A BLINK' transition within the scene. The childhood-flash device recurs at the Madison Square Park reunion.
- Camera
- Close on his face and the held phone
- Lighting
- Soft daylight, screen-glow accent
- Mood
- Wonder
HAE SUNG'S KITCHEN - SEOUL - MOMENTS LATER
secret joyOver a traditional Korean breakfast and hangover soup, Hae Sung's mom notices his unusually good mood, and he flattens his expression to hide it.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG; HAE SUNG'S MOM; HAE SUNG'S DAD
- Props
- traditional Korean breakfast; hangover soup (bean sprout broth); newspaper
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Establishes Hae Sung's ordinary salaryman father and housewife mother; 'a perfectly ordinary Korean family.'
- Camera
- Medium across the breakfast table favoring the son
- Lighting
- Soft kitchen daylight
- Mood
- Secret joy
GRAD SCHOOL LIBRARY - NEW YORK - EVENING EST (MORNING KST)
delightNora grins ear-to-ear at Hae Sung's punny 'carrot' reply meaning 'Of course' to her 'do you remember me?', while Janice glances up.
- Characters
- NORA; JANICE
- Props
- laptop
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- First of the dual-timezone Skype sequence cross-cutting between New York and Seoul.
- Camera
- Medium on her face and screen, friend at frame edge
- Lighting
- Library practicals plus screen glow
- Mood
- Delight
UPPER WEST SIDE STREETS - NEW YORK - MOMENTS LATER - EVENING EST (MORNING KST)
elationUnable to contain her grin, Nora's brisk walk back to her dorm breaks into a full sprint down the New York streets.
- Characters
- NORA
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- None
- Camera
- Tracking alongside as she breaks into a sprint
- Lighting
- Evening ambient and warm streetlamps
- Mood
- Elation
NORA'S DORM ROOM/HAE SUNG'S ROOM - NEW YORK/SEOUL - EVENING EST/MORNING KST
reconnectionNora and Hae Sung's faces meet for the first time on the Skype screen and they dissolve into uncontrollable, kid-like giggling, recognizing each other instantly.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Cross-cut Skype scene spanning two locations; Hae Sung agrees to keep calling her Na Young. He reveals he studies engineering.
- Camera
- Over-the-shoulder onto the laptop, both faces in play
- Lighting
- Warm room light plus video-call glow
- Mood
- Reconnection
NORA'S DORM ROOM/HAE SUNG'S ROOM - NEW YORK - NIGHT EST (DAY KST) - HOURS LATER
longingAfter hours of talking, Hae Sung awkwardly admits 'I missed you,' and Nora replies 'Me too. It doesn't make any sense,' before they reluctantly hang up.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Hae Sung promises to email; their plan to keep talking begins here.
- Camera
- Close on her profile lit by the laptop, his face on screen
- Lighting
- Dark room, single screen glow
- Mood
- Longing
NORA'S DORM ROOM - NEW YORK - NIGHT EST (DAY KST) - TWO HOURS LATER
yearningBrushing her teeth on her bed, Nora draws a homemade Korean keyboard on paper to write a too-long email to Hae Sung in bad Korean.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- hand-drawn paper Korean keyboard; laptop; toothbrush
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- 'TIME CUT' within the scene; Nora is still writing the over-long email afterward.
- Camera
- High angle onto the bed, paper keyboard and laptop in frame
- Lighting
- Warm bedside lamp, screen accent
- Mood
- Yearning
/EXT. SEOUL COFFEE SHOP/NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK - EVENING KST/MORNING EST
intimacyFrom a crowded hip coffee shop, earbudded Hae Sung Skypes a half-asleep Nora who has clearly just rolled out of bed at 7 a.m.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- earphones; phone/laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Part of the dual-location Skype montage; the time-difference logistics keep recurring.
- Camera
- Medium on the seated man, her sleepy face on his screen
- Lighting
- Warm café practicals
- Mood
- Intimacy
/EXT. NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK/SEOUL BUS - EVENING EST/MORNING KST
tendernessDressed up for dinner, Nora Skypes Hae Sung who is on the bus to school, subtly shielding his phone from the people beside him.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- phone; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Nora totally dressed up, ready to go out to dinner
- Notes
- Seoul bus is a moving Skype location within the montage.
- Camera
- Medium on the man shielding his phone among passengers
- Lighting
- Daylight bus interior, phone glow
- Mood
- Tenderness
HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL/NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK - EVENING KST/MORNING EST
playfulnessHae Sung teases that Nora's Korean has gotten rusty as she lies in her pajamas waking up on his laptop screen.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Nora in pajamas, lying in bed
- Notes
- 'The first moments of her day, and the last moments of his.'
- Camera
- Over-the-shoulder onto the laptop, both faces readable
- Lighting
- Warm evening lamp, screen glow
- Mood
- Playfulness
NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK/HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL - EVENING EST/MORNING KST
banterHae Sung ribs Nora about her Nobel-Prize ambition, and she now says she's set her sights on the Pulitzer.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Extends the recurring prize-ambition motif (Nobel -> Pulitzer -> later Tony).
- Camera
- Medium on her, his face on the laptop
- Lighting
- Dusk room light plus screen glow
- Mood
- Banter
NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK/HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL - LATE NIGHT EST/AFTERNOON KST
affectionHae Sung stares and smiles at Nora through the screen, telling her she's the same as the 12-year-old in his memory, which makes her fidget and smile back.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- None
- Camera
- Close on her smiling, fidgeting face, his on screen
- Lighting
- Dark room, single screen glow
- Mood
- Affection
NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK/HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL - MORNING EST/EVENING KST
anticipationGetting ready for class, Nora tells Hae Sung about her upcoming Montauk artist residency and asks if he's seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Plants the Montauk residency where Nora will later meet Arthur.
- Camera
- Medium following her movement, laptop in frame
- Lighting
- Bright morning daylight
- Mood
- Anticipation
HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL - LATE NIGHT KST
longingAlone and late at night, Hae Sung watches Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind on Nora's recommendation.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- TV/laptop screen
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- He follows Nora's movie suggestion; a small act of devotion.
- Camera
- Static medium on the lone watcher in the dark
- Lighting
- Screen flicker only
- Mood
- Quiet longing
GRAD SCHOOL - CLASSROOM - MORNING EST
distractionNora writes Hae Sung a long email instead of her school assignment as Janice and Rachel peek at her screen, over voice-over of him refusing to come to New York.
- Characters
- NORA; JANICE; RACHEL
- Props
- laptop
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Voice-over exchange ('Why would I go to New York?') foreshadows the deadlock that breaks them apart.
- Camera
- Medium with the two friends flanking and glancing in
- Lighting
- Morning classroom daylight
- Mood
- Distraction
HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL/NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK - MORNING KST/EVENING EST
tensionHae Sung explains he's going to China to learn Mandarin while Nora needles him to come learn English in New York instead.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Sets up Hae Sung's Shanghai language-exchange program.
- Camera
- Over-the-shoulder onto the laptop, both faces in tension
- Lighting
- Morning daylight, screen glow
- Mood
- Tension
NORA'S DORM ROOM - NEW YORK - EVENING EST (MORNING KST)
frustrationInto a failing Skype connection, Nora asks 'Can you hear me?'
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- First beat of the cross-cut dropped-call sequence.
- Camera
- Close on her frustrated face and the glitched screen
- Lighting
- Low dusk room light, cold screen glow
- Mood
- Frustration
/EXT. SEOUL COFFEE SHOP - MORNING KST (EVENING EST)
frustrationHae Sung patiently waits for his breaking-up screen to load in the coffee shop.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- phone; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Part of the dropped-call cross-cut.
- Camera
- Medium on the waiting man and his stalled phone
- Lighting
- Warm café daylight
- Mood
- Frustration
HAE SUNG'S ROOM - SEOUL - EVENING KST (MORNING EST)
frustrationInto Skype, Hae Sung asks 'Can you hear me?'
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Part of the dropped-call cross-cut.
- Camera
- Close on his face and the glitching laptop
- Lighting
- Dusk lamp, cold screen accent
- Mood
- Frustration
GRAD SCHOOL LIBRARY - MORNING EST (EVENING KST)
impatienceNora impatiently waits for Hae Sung to load on her library screen, asking 'Hello?'
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Part of the dropped-call cross-cut.
- Camera
- Medium on her impatient face and the laptop
- Lighting
- Cool library daylight
- Mood
- Impatience
SEOUL COFFEE SHOP - MORNING KST (EVENING EST)
disconnectionHae Sung waits a very long time for Nora to load, and the call fails.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- phone; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The failed call that begins to strain the long-distance relationship.
- Camera
- Close on the man and his failing phone
- Lighting
- Warm café daylight
- Mood
- Disconnection
NORA'S DORM ROOM - NEW YORK - MORNING EST (EVENING KST)
missed connectionNora sleeps through Hae Sung's repeated Skype calls, over voice-over of him asking when she'll come to Seoul and her replying 'Why would I go to Seoul?'
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Voice-over mirrors the earlier 'why would I go to New York?' exchange, crystallizing the impasse.
- Camera
- Wide with sleeper foreground, calling laptop behind
- Lighting
- Soft morning daylight, pulsing screen glow
- Mood
- Missed connection
/INT. SEOUL CABLE CAR/NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK - MORNING KST/EVENING EST
heartbreakHae Sung flips his phone camera on a Seoul cable car to show Nora the entire skyline, and just as she says 'I miss you,' the image freezes and the call goes impossibly quiet.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- phone; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The frozen, beautiful Seoul view over a dropped 'I miss you' is the emotional pivot toward the breakup.
- Camera
- Wide skyline through the cable-car glass, phone in frame
- Lighting
- Bright hazy morning over the city
- Mood
- Heartbreak
HAE SUNG'S UNIVERSITY - SEOUL - AFTERNOON KST (LATE NIGHT EST)
dreadSmoking with friends after class, Hae Sung gets Nora's text on his phone: 'Can we talk?'
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- cigarette; phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Sets up the breakup conversation that immediately follows.
- Camera
- Medium on the man reading the text, friends soft behind
- Lighting
- Warm afternoon daylight
- Mood
- Dread
NORA'S DORM ROOM IN NEW YORK/HAE SUNG'S ROOM IN SEOUL - ALMOST MORNING EST/LATE AFTERNOON KST
breakupAcross the Pacific by Skype, Nora asks for a break because she keeps looking up flights to Seoul instead of committing to her life, and Hae Sung tears up trying not to cry before hanging up sharply.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- laptop; Skype
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The first goodbye of their adult lives; 'Were we dating or something?' lands the ache. Closes the second act.
- Camera
- Intercut close-ups, her face and his on screen
- Lighting
- Cold pre-dawn light, screen glow
- Mood
- Breakup
HAMPTON JITNEY - MONTAUK BOUND
retreatNora naps curled in her seat, missing the beautiful New York views rushing past the bus windows as she leaves the city.
- Characters
- NORA
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Bridges directly into the Montauk residency where she meets Arthur.
- Camera
- Medium of the curled sleeper, scenery blurring past
- Lighting
- Bright morning light through bus windows
- Mood
- Retreat
MONTAUK RESIDENCY BARN HOUSE
arrivalNora arrives by cab at the Montauk artist residency barn house where she will stay for a month.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- cab
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The barn house has distinct downstairs, upstairs hallway, Nora's room, kitchen, and picnic-table areas, all one location.
- Camera
- Wide establishing of the barn house and the small arriving figure
- Lighting
- Bright natural daylight
- Mood
- Arrival
MONTAUK RESIDENCY BARN HOUSE - DOWNSTAIRS
discoveryNora enters the rustic, book-filled barn house, finds no one there, and heads upstairs to find a room.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- books; art on the walls
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Downstairs area of the barn house.
- Camera
- Medium wide following her into the empty house
- Lighting
- Soft interior daylight
- Mood
- Discovery
MONTAUK RESIDENCY BARN HOUSE - UPSTAIRS
discoveryNora passes a bedroom full of suitcases and chooses the nicer of two unoccupied bedrooms across the hall from each other.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- suitcases
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The suitcase-filled room across the hall is Arthur's, set up before he appears.
- Camera
- Medium down the hallway, the suitcase room visible across
- Lighting
- Soft daylight from a hall window
- Mood
- Discovery
BARN HOUSE - NORA'S ROOM
belongingNora adds her name, Nora Moon, to the wall where previous artist residents wrote theirs, then begins unpacking in the spider-webbed but perfect room.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- bed; fan; large wooden desk; names written on the wall
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Signing the wall echoes her childhood naming and the immigrant act of claiming a place.
- Camera
- Close on the signed wall and her writing hand
- Lighting
- Soft natural daylight
- Mood
- Belonging
SEOUL SUBWAY TRAIN - LATE NIGHT KST (AFTERNOON EST)
restraintHunched over his phone on a clean Seoul subway, Hae Sung writes a very long email to Nora, then deletes it as the doors open and he gets off.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Seated beside a drunk salaryman and a making-out couple. Recurs with the motif of unsent messages.
- Camera
- Medium on the hunched man and his phone
- Lighting
- Cold subway fluorescents
- Mood
- Restraint
ALL-NIGHT SOJU BAR - SEOUL - LATE NIGHT
drowning sorrowHae Sung silently downs every full and half-full glass of soju on the table one by one, then declares 'tonight we drink 'til we die' as his friends laugh and cheer.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG; FRIEND ONE; FRIEND TWO; FRIEND THREE
- Props
- soju bottles; soju glasses
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Marks his imminent departure for Shanghai; he flies out 'this Sunday.'
- Camera
- Medium into the booth, glasses and faces in frame
- Lighting
- Warm grimy bar practicals
- Mood
- Drowning sorrow
BARN HOUSE - NORA'S ROOM
arrivalFrom Nora's window we glimpse Arthur arriving by cab with a dirty duffle bag and walking the dirt path toward the barn house, his face never clearly seen, as Nora sleeps.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- dirty duffle bag; cab
- Wardrobe
- Arthur in a ratty t-shirt and cheap jeans, hair disheveled, looking hungover
- Notes
- Arthur's deliberately withheld first appearance; his face is hidden until the 'we finally meet Arthur properly' moment.
- Camera
- Through the window past the sleeping woman to the faceless arrival
- Lighting
- Warm afternoon daylight, window haze
- Mood
- Arrival
BARN HOUSE - NORA'S BEDROOM TO KITCHEN - MIDDAY
curiosityNora clocks that the bedroom across the hall is now full of Arthur's things, grabs a cup of fresh coffee, and walks outside.
- Characters
- NORA
- Props
- cup of coffee; Arthur's belongings
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Kitchen area of the barn house.
- Camera
- Following medium from bedroom doorway to kitchen
- Lighting
- Bright midday interior light
- Mood
- Curiosity
BARN HOUSE PICNIC TABLE - MOMENTS LATER
meetingArthur and Nora's eyes meet for the first time across the distance; she tells him he got the worst room, and they look at each other for a beat.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- First spoken meeting of Nora and Arthur; picnic-table area of the barn house.
- Camera
- Wide two-shot across the open ground between them
- Lighting
- Soft natural daylight
- Mood
- First meeting
BARN HOUSE PICNIC TABLE - NIGHT - SOMETIME THAT SUMMER
intimacySlightly drunk Nora explains the Korean concept of In-Yun to the residency artists amid empty wine and beer bottles, her voice carrying over silent scenes of Hae Sung in Shanghai.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- empty bottles of wine and beer; pints of beer
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Introduces In-Yun, the film's central concept of fate across past lives. Nora's V.O. bridges to the Shanghai scenes.
- Camera
- Medium across the table favoring the speaking woman
- Lighting
- Warm low outdoor practicals against night
- Mood
- Intimacy
PLANE TO SHANGHAI
transitionHae Sung flies to Shanghai in silence as Nora's In-Yun voice-over plays over him.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora's In-Yun V.O. continues across the Shanghai sequence.
- Camera
- Medium on the silent man by the window
- Lighting
- Bright daylight through the cabin window
- Mood
- Transition
SHANGHAI DORM ROOM
transitionHae Sung sleeps in his small, crappy dorm room with a magnificent view of Shanghai, an info package about his language program on the bed.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- language exchange info package (Korean and Mandarin)
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Mirrors Nora's crappy dorm room with a great view; both are transient students far from home.
- Camera
- Wide taking in the cramped room and the grand window view
- Lighting
- Dim interior, glowing dusk cityscape beyond
- Mood
- Transition
SHANGHAI NIGHT MARKET
atmosphereHae Sung lights a cigarette and shares the pack with fellow language students in the steaming fish market full of late-night lovers, oblivious to a cute Korean girl glancing at him.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG; GIRL
- Props
- cigarettes; food stalls
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Introduces the cute language-exchange GIRL who likes Hae Sung; she pays off in the noodle shop scene.
- Camera
- Medium in the crowd, the watching woman at the edge of frame
- Lighting
- Warm market practicals and steam
- Mood
- Atmosphere
SHANGHAI NOODLE SHOP - LATE NIGHT
sparkOver bowls of noodle soup, Hae Sung accidentally meets the cute girl's eyes; she smiles, he smiles back, and they clearly like each other.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG; GIRL
- Props
- bowls of noodle soup
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Implies the start of Hae Sung's relationship with the woman who becomes the girlfriend he later puts on hold. Nora's In-Yun V.O. about eight-thousand layers lands over this.
- Camera
- Medium two-shot across the noodle bowls
- Lighting
- Bright shop fluorescents, rising steam
- Mood
- Spark
BARN HOUSE PICNIC TABLE - NIGHT - SOMETIME THAT SUMMER
falling in loveRealizing she's been explaining In-Yun only to Arthur after the other artists drifted off, Nora half-jokes they were somebody to each other in another life, and Arthur leans across the table and kisses her deeply.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- pints of beer
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- We finally meet Arthur properly; the In-Yun seduction line that becomes their origin story. Title card '12 YEARS PASS' follows, jumping to present day.
- Camera
- Intimate two-shot across the table into the kiss
- Lighting
- Warm low practicals against the dark
- Mood
- Falling in love
TORONTO PEARSON AIRPORT - A FEW DAYS LATER
establishmentA suspicious CBP officer asks if Nora and Arthur are related, and we see them clearly as adults in their 30s for the first time, just before an 'AN IMAGE' of the two in silence.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR; CBP OFFICER
- Props
- passports / travel documents
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Reprises the childhood airport beat; the 'AN IMAGE' device echoes the only other such image (child Hae Sung and Na Young). Establishes them as married writers.
- Camera
- Medium at the counter, settling to a held two-shot
- Lighting
- Flat airport fluorescents
- Mood
- Establishment
EAST VILLAGE STREET
contentmentNora and Arthur make funny faces at each other across a New York street at a red light, then cross and walk away hand-in-hand as Nora tells us 'We're married.'
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- pedestrian walk signal
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- East Village street recurs heavily through the present-day act.
- Camera
- Medium that follows them through the crossing
- Lighting
- Natural city daylight
- Mood
- Contentment
REHEARSAL ROOM - NEW YORK
reflectionA young Korean-American actress performs Nora's monologue about crossing the Pacific Ocean while Nora and her director trade rapid notes across the table.
- Characters
- NORA; HELENA; STAGE MANAGER; ACTRESS
- Props
- director's notepad
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The play monologue ('Some crossings, you pay for with your whole life') voices the film's immigration theme.
- Camera
- Wide holding performer and the note-trading table
- Lighting
- Flat practical room light
- Mood
- Reflection
BOOKSTORE - BROOKLYN - LATER THAT DAY
domesticityAt his book signing for his novel 'Boner,' Arthur turns from his fans to give Nora a quick thank-you kiss as she hands him a bagel sandwich without looking up from her phone.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- Arthur's novel 'Boner by Arthur Zaturansky'; bagel sandwich; Nora's phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Establishes Arthur as a published novelist; bagels recur as Hae Sung also brings Nora one.
- Camera
- Medium catching the turn and quick kiss
- Lighting
- Warm bookstore interior light
- Mood
- Domesticity
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APT - LIVING ROOM - NEW YORK
tendernessPost-sex and hungry, Arthur uses the one good Korean phrase he knows ('Ah... what can ya do?') as he and Nora land on chicken wings.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Arthur's pet Korean phrase 'eotteokhana' is the same one Hae Sung later utters far more naturally at the reunion.
- Camera
- Medium two-shot on the couch
- Lighting
- Soft daylight through apartment windows
- Mood
- Tenderness
EAST VILLAGE STREET - LATER
anticipationWalking hand-in-hand, Nora tells Arthur that Hae Sung is coming to visit this week, on vacation.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Sets up Hae Sung's present-day visit to New York.
- Camera
- Tracking medium alongside the walking couple
- Lighting
- Natural city daylight
- Mood
- Anticipation
ALL-NIGHT SOJU BAR - SEOUL - LATE NIGHT
denialNow in his 30s and calmer, Hae Sung insists to his needling friends that his New York trip is just vacation, then Friend Three gleefully shows him a forecast of rain for the entire trip.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG; FRIEND ONE; FRIEND TWO; FRIEND THREE
- Props
- soju bottles; phone weather forecast
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Same lifelong friend group, now older. The rain forecast pays off as New York greets Hae Sung with a downpour.
- Camera
- Medium into the booth, the raised phone catching the eye
- Lighting
- Warm dingy bar practicals
- Mood
- Denial
NEW YORK CITY - WHEN HAE SUNG ARRIVES
forebodingNew York welcomes Hae Sung with pouring rain, its wettest and saddest self.
- Characters
- None
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Heavy rain effects over the city
- Notes
- Pays off Friend Three's rain forecast.
- Camera
- Wide cityscape in heavy rain
- Lighting
- Flat grey storm light
- Mood
- Foreboding
MIDTOWN HOTEL LOBBY - NEW YORK
alienationSoaked to the bone, his shoes squeaking, Hae Sung wrestles his suitcase through a revolving door into the hotel lobby as unaccommodating New Yorkers bump past him.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- yellow cab; suitcase; revolving door
- Wardrobe
- Hae Sung completely soaked through, a wet rat
- VFX/Stunts
- Heavy rain effects
- Notes
- The midtown hotel (lobby, Hae Sung's room, awning) is one location across several scenes.
- Camera
- Medium on the struggling soaked man at the revolving door
- Lighting
- Cool lobby light, grey daylight from outside
- Mood
- Alienation
MIDTOWN HOTEL - HAE SUNG'S ROOM - MOMENTS LATER
gloomHae Sung opens the curtains of his room to find it raining and raining and raining.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- curtains
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Rain outside the window
- Notes
- Hae Sung's hotel room recurs as a place of his loneliness.
- Camera
- Medium from behind as he opens the curtains
- Lighting
- Grey diffuse daylight through wet glass
- Mood
- Gloom
MIDTOWN HOTEL - AWNING AT THE ENTRANCE - LATER THAT DAY
waitingUnder the awning, Hae Sung finally manages to light a cigarette while watching the relentless rain and tourists armed with 'I <3 NY' umbrellas.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- cigarette; 'I <3 NY' tourist umbrellas
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Heavy rain
- Notes
- None
- Camera
- Medium under the awning, rain and umbrellas beyond
- Lighting
- Grey rain-light, small warm cigarette glow
- Mood
- Waiting
MIDTOWN HOTEL - LOBBY
lonelinessHaving given up on sightseeing, a miserable Hae Sung lounges in the lobby watching local NY news, drinking and eating alone as the rain pours.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- TV (local NY news); phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- None
- Camera
- Wide on the lone man in the large empty lobby
- Lighting
- Warm low lobby practicals, TV flicker
- Mood
- Loneliness
NEW YORK CITYSCAPES - EVENING TO NIGHT
reliefLike a miracle, the rain finally stops over the New York cityscapes.
- Characters
- None
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Turns the weather just before the reunion the next morning.
- Camera
- Wide cityscape as the weather clears
- Lighting
- Clearing dusk light, emerging city lights
- Mood
- Relief
MADISON SQUARE PARK - NEXT DAY - SUNRISE
reunionAfter an excruciatingly long wait by the Reflecting Pool, Nora appears and calls out 'Hae Sung!'; the two stare like they're seeing a ghost before hugging, with a blink-and-miss flash of child Na Young.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- water lily in the Reflecting Pool
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Subliminal single-frame flash of child Na Young's face
- Notes
- Their first in-person meeting in twenty years. Hae Sung utters 'what can I do?' (eotteokhana), the phrase Arthur mangled earlier, now fitting perfectly. They loop 'Woah' the way the girls looped 'I'm fine. And you?' on the plane.
- Camera
- Wide that closes from the long wait to the embrace
- Lighting
- Low warm sunrise light
- Mood
- Reunion
MADISON SQUARE PARK SUBWAY STATION - MOMENTS LATER
transitionNora and Hae Sung walk down the station stairs and briefly wait before the train arrives and carries them off.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- None
- Camera
- Wide down the platform as the train approaches
- Lighting
- Mixed station tungsten and fluorescent
- Mood
- Transition
SUBWAY - R TRAIN - LATER
restraintStanding together holding the same subway pole, Nora and Hae Sung keep a careful distance, hands not touching, smiling awkwardly but sweetly amid a garbled PA announcement.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- subway pole
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The deliberate non-touching gap encodes the film's restraint.
- Camera
- Medium two-shot framing the shared pole and the gap
- Lighting
- Cold subway fluorescents
- Mood
- Restraint
BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK - LATE AFTERNOON
vulnerabilityWalking toward Jane's Carousel by the Dumbo pier, Hae Sung admits to Nora that his marriage to his girlfriend has stalled because he feels 'too ordinary,' as they feel suddenly old.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- Hae Sung's phone (photos)
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora mentions her husband for the first time to Hae Sung; she takes photos of him. Jane's Carousel and the Manhattan-bridges view are hero locations across several Brooklyn Bridge Park scenes.
- Camera
- Wide tracking with the walking pair toward the carousel
- Lighting
- Warm low late-afternoon sun
- Mood
- Vulnerability
BY THE WATER - BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK
tensionSurrounded by lovers making out and taking selfies along the lit-up carousel pier, Nora and Hae Sung look like a couple while trying hardest to ignore everyone, reading each other's minds.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora describes marriage as 'planting two trees in one pot'; discusses Arthur playing Hwa-Too and loving Yook-Gae-Jang.
- Camera
- Medium two-shot inside the crowd of couples
- Lighting
- Dusk fading into warm pier lights
- Mood
- Tension
IN FRONT OF JANE'S CAROUSEL - SOMETIME LATER - SUNSET
confessionSitting before Jane's Carousel at sunset, Hae Sung confesses he looked for Nora because she kept entering his mind during his military service, and they agree they're 'not babies anymore.'
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Hae Sung's reason for searching her out, tied back to the military fields scene where he 'looked up, remembering.'
- Camera
- Medium two-shot seated before the carousel
- Lighting
- Golden sunset plus carousel glow
- Mood
- Confession
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APARTMENT
quiet dreadArthur plays Overwatch as the zen monk Zenyatta when Nora gets home and admits he was right that Hae Sung came to see her, just as his team's 'DEFEAT' flashes on the TV.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- XBOX One; Overwatch game (Zenyatta); TV
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The 'DEFEAT' on-screen at this admission is a pointed visual irony about Arthur's position.
- Camera
- Medium holding both figures and the TV screen
- Lighting
- Low lamp plus cold TV light
- Mood
- Quiet dread
MIDTOWN HOTEL
lonelinessBack in his suffocatingly small hotel room, Hae Sung takes off his shoes, sits on the bed, looks out at the cityscape, and suddenly looks incredibly lonely.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Intercut against Nora's domestic night with Arthur.
- Camera
- Wide with the small seated figure against the city window
- Lighting
- Dark room, city glow from the window
- Mood
- Loneliness
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - BATHROOM - LATE NIGHT
jealousyAs Nora moisturizes after showering, Arthur quietly probes whether she's attracted to Hae Sung, and looks hurt when she admits she was a crybaby Hae Sung used to just watch.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Props
- moisturizer
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora's 'he's a Korean-Korean' reflection on identity; Arthur's curiosity mixed with jealousy.
- Camera
- Medium catching her at the mirror and him in the doorway
- Lighting
- Warm vanity light against cool tile
- Mood
- Jealousy
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - MOMENTS LATER
reassuranceGetting ready for bed, Arthur insists he has no right to be mad while Nora deadpans she'll throw away her life and run away to Seoul, then assures him 'I know you.'
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Arthur calls Hae Sung her 'childhood sweetheart'; establishes Hae Sung leaves 'the morning after tomorrow.'
- Camera
- Medium two-shot in the bedroom
- Lighting
- Warm bedside lamp
- Mood
- Reassurance
MIDTOWN HOTEL - HAE SUNG'S ROOM - SAME TIME
solitudeHae Sung gets out of the shower, into bed, and turns off the lights into pitch dark.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Intercut 'pitch dark' beat that rhymes with Nora and Arthur's dark bedroom.
- Camera
- Static medium as the light goes out
- Lighting
- One lamp extinguishing into dark
- Mood
- Solitude
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APARTMENT - BEDROOM - LATE NIGHT
intimacyIn the pitch-dark bed, Arthur confesses he feels like 'the evil white American husband standing in the way of destiny' and admits he gets scared that Nora dreams in a Korean he can't understand.
- Characters
- NORA; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Arthur's central monologue about their unromantic origin story and his fear of the place inside Nora he can't reach; reveals he's learning Korean to understand her dreams.
- Camera
- Close two-shot in near-darkness
- Lighting
- Near-black, a thread of streetlight
- Mood
- Raw intimacy
BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK - LATE NIGHT
atmosphereLate at night, the Dumbo pier glows impossibly romantic with Manhattan lit up bright, a few straggling lovers staying out making out.
- Characters
- None
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Empty-location interlude emphasizing the romance Nora and Hae Sung cannot have.
- Camera
- Wide of the empty glowing pier and skyline
- Lighting
- Night ambient, bright city lights across the water
- Mood
- Aching atmosphere
LINE FOR THE FERRY / SECURITY
tendernessWaiting in the long tourist ferry line, Hae Sung produces a full breakfast bagel for ravenous Nora and asks what prize she wants to win now; she lands on 'A Tony,' making him crack up.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- breakfast bagel; Hae Sung's bag
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The bagel mirrors Nora bringing Arthur a bagel sandwich; the prize question completes the Nobel/Pulitzer/Tony ambition motif. 'Still psycho' callback to the childhood 'don't cry, you psycho.'
- Camera
- Medium two-shot in the ferry line
- Lighting
- Bright open daylight
- Mood
- Tenderness
ON THE FERRY - MOMENTS LATER
restraintOn the top deck railing, the moment is intolerably romantic; Nora can't make eye contact while Hae Sung looks at her openly, since he's not the one who's married.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Ferry sequence spans several continuous scenes; the Statue of Liberty is a hero backdrop.
- Camera
- Two-shot at the railing favoring his open gaze
- Lighting
- Bright open daylight off the water
- Mood
- Restraint
ON THE FERRY - MOMENTS LATER
longingAgainst a jewel-like Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty, Nora photographs Hae Sung, and the two politely decline a tourist family's offer to take a photo of them together, bewildering the family.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- Hae Sung's phone (photos)
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Declining the couple's photo quietly insists they are not a couple.
- Camera
- Medium with the skyline and statue beyond
- Lighting
- Bright clear daylight
- Mood
- Longing
ON THE FERRY - BACK OF THE STATUE OF LIBERTY - MOMENTS LATER
melancholySeeing the Statue of Liberty from behind, Hae Sung observes 'She's turned against us.'
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The statue's turned back is a quiet metaphor for closed possibility.
- Camera
- Wide pairing the couple with the statue's back
- Lighting
- Bright daylight
- Mood
- Melancholy
ON THE FERRY - HEADING BACK TO MANHATTAN
reckoningNora shows Hae Sung her wedding photos of herself in a modernized Hanbok beside Arthur in a black suit, and Hae Sung, deep in thought, shifts his gaze from her younger self to the real Nora beside him.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- wedding photos on phone; modernized Hanbok (in photo); Arthur's black suit and bow tie (in photo)
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The city 'looms over' them as the ferry returns, foreshadowing the heavier evening ahead.
- Camera
- Over-the-shoulder onto the phone, then his face
- Lighting
- Afternoon daylight
- Mood
- Reckoning
EAST VILLAGE STREET - LATER
apprehensionWalking in silence toward Nora and Arthur's place, Hae Sung confirms that Arthur knows he's coming and wants to meet him.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Heading to East 10th Street and 1st Avenue, where Nora and Arthur live.
- Camera
- Tracking medium behind the silent walking pair
- Lighting
- Evening street ambient and warm windows
- Mood
- Apprehension
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APARTMENT
recognitionHae Sung naturally takes off his shoes at the door, and Arthur, startled by how well his wife and her childhood sweetheart fit together, smiles warmly and greets him in halting Korean.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- The three meet for the first time; Arthur's shoe-removing habit (Nora taught him) contrasts Hae Sung's instinct. Arthur asks what Hae Sung wants to eat; he says pasta.
- Camera
- Medium three-shot at the doorway
- Lighting
- Warm interior lamplight
- Mood
- Recognition
EAST VILLAGE STREET
warmthWalking the busy East Village streets, Hae Sung mimes the Statue of Liberty to describe their day, and the trio laughs over Arthur admitting he's never actually been there.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Hae Sung chides Nora that she should go to the Statue with her husband; the three settle into an easy rapport.
- Camera
- Tracking medium with the laughing trio
- Lighting
- Warm street and storefront light at night
- Mood
- Warmth
EAST VILLAGE RESTAURANT - MOMENTS LATER
harmonyThrough a restaurant window, the three eat amazing pasta and laugh, inaudible over the crowd, with Nora seated in the middle translating.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR
- Props
- bowls of pasta
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora literally and figuratively sits between the two men, mediating.
- Camera
- Static wide through the restaurant window
- Lighting
- Warm interior glow seen through glass
- Mood
- Harmony
EAST VILLAGE BAR / SPEAKEASY - LATE NIGHT
catharsisDrunk and painfully honest, Hae Sung tells Nora 'I didn't know that liking your husband would hurt this much,' opening a magical space between them; the film now plays the opening scene from inside their booth.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR; GUY; GIRL
- Props
- cocktails; Arthur's phone
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Returns to the opening booth from the trio's perspective. Hae Sung's 'what if' monologue and the realization that 'who you are is someone who leaves'; Nora answers that the Na Young he remembers doesn't exist but did exist, left behind with him 20 years ago. Hae Sung and Arthur share their own In-Yun. The young white GUY and GIRL from the opening flirt across the bar.
- Camera
- Medium into the booth, the bar couple beyond
- Lighting
- Warm low speakeasy practicals
- Mood
- Catharsis
NORA AND ARTHUR'S APARTMENT
lonelinessHae Sung says goodbye to Arthur and invites him to Korea; after the door shuts, we hold on Arthur left alone in the home he shares with Nora.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR
- Props
- Hae Sung's bag
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Nora steps out to walk Hae Sung to his Uber; the held image of Arthur alone rhymes with the later image of Hae Sung alone in the Uber.
- Camera
- Medium at the door, then holding on the man left alone
- Lighting
- Warm interior lamplight
- Mood
- Loneliness
EAST VILLAGE STREET - VERY LATE NIGHT - ALMOST DAWN
suspensionWaiting for the Uber in heavy silence, Hae Sung opens the car door but doesn't get in, turns, and blurts 'Hey!' which works like a magical spell transporting them to their long-lost past.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG
- Props
- Uber (rideshare car)
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Time-warp portal effect / 'glitch in the matrix' transposing the past onto the present street
- Notes
- The two-minute wait is meant to be excruciating and real. 'Hey!' echoes Hae Sung's childhood 'Hey!' before the first goodbye, triggering the memory transposition.
- Camera
- Medium on the open door and his turn, street shimmering
- Lighting
- Pre-dawn blue, warm car taillights, subtle warp glow
- Mood
- Suspension
NA YOUNG'S NEIGHBORHOOD - PYOUNGCHON - LATE-90S - ALMOST DAWN
closureTwelve-year-old Na Young and Hae Sung stand before her childhood apartment building exactly as at their first goodbye, but now bathed in the soft glow of very late night, as if they've waited here 24 years to truly say goodbye.
- Characters
- NA YOUNG; HAE SUNG
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- VFX/Stunts
- Memory transposition: childhood goodbye replayed in present-night lighting
- Notes
- The original after-school childhood goodbye (scene 11) magically re-staged at almost dawn; the long-delayed real goodbye.
- Camera
- Wide re-staging the childhood goodbye in dawn glow
- Lighting
- Soft dreamlike almost-dawn glow
- Mood
- Closure
EAST VILLAGE STREET - 5 A.M. - ALMOST DAWN
releaseHae Sung asks 'What if this is a past life too, and we are already something else to each other in our next life?' before getting in the Uber; the car turns the corner and Nora, walking home, begins crying harder with each step, just as she did as a little girl, before melting into Arthur's arms.
- Characters
- NORA; HAE SUNG; ARTHUR
- Props
- Uber (rideshare car); Arthur's cigarette
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Resolves the crying motif from the very first Korea scene: 'this time, little Hae Sung is not there to watch her cry.' Arthur, waiting outside smoking, embraces her and she leads him inside. The held exterior of the apartment building closes Nora's story.
- Camera
- Wide following the car off, then her walk into the embrace
- Lighting
- Cool first-light dawn, warm window and cigarette accents
- Mood
- Release
UBER
acceptanceAlone in the back seat as the Uber drives away, Hae Sung looks out the window at New York waking up and faintly smiles, feeling both massive and small.
- Characters
- HAE SUNG
- Props
- Uber (rideshare car)
- Wardrobe
- Standard
- Notes
- Deliberately reflects the childhood backseat image of sleeping Na Young in Na Young's mom's car. Final scene: 'End of film.'
- Camera
- Close on the lone passenger by the window
- Lighting
- Soft dawn light through the car window
- Mood
- Acceptance