A Man Under the Influenza (2007)

Walk away tall...

A Man Under the Influenza was a short film by July Jung. Set in a seedy restaurant, it was enough to make you lose your appetite. There’s a good reason for health inspectors.

On a hot summer day, a young man wearing a heavy brown sweater and coughing walks into a dingy basement restaurant. The menu is small and he orders kimchi fried rice. Another patron is sneezing and blowing his nose in front of a fan. Two foreigners argue over who invented television. And the owner rails at anyone leaving food on their plate and not behaving up to his standards all while the cook kills flies with her ladle.

This is what a restaurant in Hell would look like to me. The man in the brown sweater at the center of attention sweats and feels compelled to eat the food in front of him, trying not to inspect the suspicious bits. The vignettes appeared unrelated. All I gleaned from the film was that we often feel social pressure to do things we know we should not. It’s okay to not eat. It’s okay to walk away. I kept hearing my father’s voice as this film played on, “If it doesn’t feel right, get the hell out of there.” Wise words to live by and I suspect the man in the brown sweater will wish he’d followed it.

4 August 2026

Trigger warnings: Fly killed.
Pre-Covid Note: It was wild seeing sick people coughing, sneezing, and eating in a small area.

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