“Where does the soul go once it leaves the body?” For religious and philosophical reasons, viewpoints may all differ, but fundamentally, human beings have constantly asked this question. Like a lit matchstick, human life ignites the beauty and ugliness of life intensely and without reserve. The undertaker says, “The more funerals I hold, the more I think that death might not be a period but a comma.

Director Jéro YUN, who has been actively working in documentaries and fiction films, returns with his latest documentary, Breath, which explores the theme of death. After losing his mother, the director becomes fixated on life and death, and the documentary captures his journey as he delves into the materiality of death. The film begins with the director’s loss. Then it shifts to a funeral director who meticulously cleans and shrouds a dead body, provoking questions about the physicality of a body after death. The documentary also follows a special cleaning worker and looks into the sticky and tough traces that life has physically left behind. The latter part of the film portrays the lifeless body of a former president who served in the military and once wielded immense power, underscoring the insignificance of wealth and power in the face of death. Although stories about death may seem familiar, the documentary prompts somber reflection by examining the stillness of a body that can no longer breathe. (MOON Seok)