A strong first feature debut for writer and director Hong Sung-Eun, Aloners is the perfect ode to the universal feeling of loneliness and isolation that was so deeply intensified during the pandemic.
Our protagonist is Jin-ah (Gong Seung-Yeon), a young adult who works at a credit card complaint hotline. Jin-ah dons her earbuds as soon as she sets out the door for work each morning and keeps them on at almost all times, using her phone as a proverbial shield her from conversations with neighbors, strangers, colleagues, and even family. A confluence of events, including the death of her mother, training a new hire at work, and the discovery of her neighbor’s body more than week after he died alone in his home, begin to invade Jin-ah’s space and mind, as she wonders whether her isolation might have gone too far.
This is a solid debut from Hong, and it couldn’t be more timely. The narrative hinges almost entirely on Gong as a one-woman show, and her performance is subtle enough to be convincing but occasionally gives way to enough emotion to pull the viewer in. It’s a brief 90-ish minute flick that gains momentum for the majority of its runtime.
My only quibble with Aloners is that the ending feels at once abrupt and subtle. The film is about exterior events slowly cracking away at Jin-ah’s shell. There’s no single catalyst that questions her desire to be alone; gradually and ambiguously, several scenes add up until she suddenly has a realization. This realization is also subtle in its nature. Honestly, it’s probably the most true-to-life depiction of a gradual wake up call for a life change, but it lacks the energy or oomph needed in the film’s final act to really land the film.
I’m all for less is more in film, but occasionally that mindset can give way to films that end up being forgotten as the months pass. Only time will tell if Aloners sticks with me or becomes lost in a sea of perfectly good films that feel a bit slight. All in all, though, Hong is a filmmaker to watch, and Aloners is an intimate portrayal of a voluntary social isolation.