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"I call this reality"
Next Sohee was based on a real-life incident from 2016. Director July Jung was dismayed that even after the incident, high school externs were being exploited by corporations and schools leading some students to injury, death, and abuse.
Kim So Hee goes to a vocational high school and is offered a job at a “prestigious” call center. Older employees were let go, with the company changing over to high school externs. Her job is to dissuade customers from canceling their service and getting them to sign up for other services. Customers’ wishes are ignored, delayed, and deferred as much as possible which leads to very angry customers who can become verbally abusive to the teenagers. The operators are listed on the board in order of productivity. Paychecks are regularly short changed and incentives delayed. Different contracts are signed. Quitting or getting fired means punishment at the school and reflects in a student’s permanent record. Many of the operators come from poor families who need the money they bring home which adds extra pressure. When vibrant So Hee loses hope, and the unimaginable happens, Detective Oh Ji Won is brought in to investigate. What she finds is not one perpetrator, but an entire system designed to exploit teenagers in a revolving door of abuse.
The film is divided into two parts---before the “incident” and afterwards. While the pre-story helps to develop sympathy for So Hee, it dragged on too long for me given that the second half of the film focused on retracing those same steps. Kim Si Eun and Bae Doo Na both gave complex performances which certainly helped cover some of the weaker elements of the film.
Watching the corporations, schools, and inspectors make excuses for the poor treatment and financial exploitation of the students was sickening. Everyone closed ranks and per usual blamed the victim. The corporations hired students because they were inexperienced and easy to intimidate, underpay and overwork, abuse, and replace when burned out. The schools only wished to fill their quotas to keep their doors open, threatening students who couldn’t handle the abuse. Instead of training students they were de facto employment agencies. Some students quit school after they quit their jobs to avoid the repercussions. Failure at any level made finding work more difficult.
Next SoHee was a difficult film to watch because as is often true in real life there was no satisfactory resolution. Poor, imperfect kids were unimportant, largely expendable and only valuable as a commodity as long as they continued to perform. With no oversight or labor protections they were and are completely vulnerable to danger, abuse, and exploitation. In 2026 there were supposedly new labor laws implemented, we’ll see if they have any teeth to back them up and if the society is serious about protecting their children and preventing the corporations from feeding on them. Greed is a deadly master.
8/30/26
Trigger warnings: Suicides
Kim So Hee goes to a vocational high school and is offered a job at a “prestigious” call center. Older employees were let go, with the company changing over to high school externs. Her job is to dissuade customers from canceling their service and getting them to sign up for other services. Customers’ wishes are ignored, delayed, and deferred as much as possible which leads to very angry customers who can become verbally abusive to the teenagers. The operators are listed on the board in order of productivity. Paychecks are regularly short changed and incentives delayed. Different contracts are signed. Quitting or getting fired means punishment at the school and reflects in a student’s permanent record. Many of the operators come from poor families who need the money they bring home which adds extra pressure. When vibrant So Hee loses hope, and the unimaginable happens, Detective Oh Ji Won is brought in to investigate. What she finds is not one perpetrator, but an entire system designed to exploit teenagers in a revolving door of abuse.
The film is divided into two parts---before the “incident” and afterwards. While the pre-story helps to develop sympathy for So Hee, it dragged on too long for me given that the second half of the film focused on retracing those same steps. Kim Si Eun and Bae Doo Na both gave complex performances which certainly helped cover some of the weaker elements of the film.
Watching the corporations, schools, and inspectors make excuses for the poor treatment and financial exploitation of the students was sickening. Everyone closed ranks and per usual blamed the victim. The corporations hired students because they were inexperienced and easy to intimidate, underpay and overwork, abuse, and replace when burned out. The schools only wished to fill their quotas to keep their doors open, threatening students who couldn’t handle the abuse. Instead of training students they were de facto employment agencies. Some students quit school after they quit their jobs to avoid the repercussions. Failure at any level made finding work more difficult.
Next SoHee was a difficult film to watch because as is often true in real life there was no satisfactory resolution. Poor, imperfect kids were unimportant, largely expendable and only valuable as a commodity as long as they continued to perform. With no oversight or labor protections they were and are completely vulnerable to danger, abuse, and exploitation. In 2026 there were supposedly new labor laws implemented, we’ll see if they have any teeth to back them up and if the society is serious about protecting their children and preventing the corporations from feeding on them. Greed is a deadly master.
8/30/26
Trigger warnings: Suicides
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